11/18/2009

Bobby's Girls

Much was said of the man at the funeral service for Bobby Frankel on Tuesday afternoon, at L.A.'s Hillside Memorial Park, hard by the 405 Freeway. At one end, Juddmonte Farm's Garrett O'Rourke described Frankel as "crusty" while at the other, Julio Canani said Bobby had "a heart from a puppy." No one stood to disagree with either sentiment. The 400 or so in attendance represented the thousands who were there in spirit, including the many who stepped up with fine internet tributes. One of the best was posted by former trainer and longtime Frankel disciple Jude Feld on his Racehorse Report site (http://www.racehorsereport.com/). It's worth a read.

If Frankel had a say, though, he would complain that there was not nearly enough mention of the horses who helped turn the kid from Brooklyn into a household name, as long as that household had a passion for good Thoroughbreds. It speaks to the great breadth and depth of his record that there are, quite literally, too many memorable Frankel stakes stars to enumerate. But of all Frankel's long list of remarkable runners, none of them pleased him more than his fillies. He could throw ferocious colts at the opposition year after year--Life Cycle, Mehmet, Al Mamoon, Marquetry, Empire Maker, Medaglia d'Oro, Ghostzapper and his beloved Exbourne, to cite only a few--but it was with his fillies that Frankel connected on a very personal level, and this he did not try to hide.

In arbitrary fashion and no particular order, I have chosen what I consider Frankel's top 10 fillies from a training career that spanned 43 years. Additions to the list are both expected welcomed. Here goes:

Intercontinental upset Ouija Board in a thriller of a Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Turf. Megahertz was a pint-sized terror on the California grass. Keeper Hill gave Frankel his first classic in the 1998 Kentucky Oaks, while Possibly Perfect was his first filly champion, in 1995. Somehow, Frankel and his crew tamed the tempestuous Toussaud to win several big ones, which also got them ready to handle her equally headstrong daughter, Honest Lady. Bobby won just about any race he wanted to in New York with Sightseek and champion Ginger Punch. And even though Breeders' Cup winner Ventura was his darling diva at the end, Frankel's all-time heartthrob was Flute, and not just because she won the Kentucky Oaks and the Alabama. That's Flute with Bobby after the 'Bama, eight years ago.

Posted by Jay Hovdey 11/18/2009 01:48:13 PM
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11/15/2009

Hard Choices

The campaign for both Rachel Alexandra and Zenyatta to be hailed in some way as 2009 Horse of the Year is picking up steam. A number of reporters have fantasized about it in print. The boss, Steven Crist, gave it his stamp of hopeful approval in his Daily Racing Form column. The implementation of the idea has been discussed at levels much higher than this.

Before weighing in on the merits of the concept, there are a couple of pesky technical questions I'd like to ask. First, and of relatively minor concern, is what to call them/it. Will each of them be known, forevermore, as a Horse of the Year? (Horse, unlike sheep, is not both singular and plural.) Would I be able to refer in print to Zenyatta as 2009 Horse of the Year without qualification, or without mentioning Rachel Alexandra (just as the Kentucky Derby is irrevocably attached to Yum! Brands)? Or will they be Co-Horses of the Year (not sure yet about the punctuation there), just as Alec Baldwin and Steve Martin will be co-hosts of the Oscars next year, yet funny in very different ways? In essence, will the award be diluted, or expanded, to include the two great champions? At the very least, the engravers will want to know.

Second, the mechanics of codification worry me. What would the Eclipse Award ballot look like? What I've heard so far is something like this:

_________________________  (fill in name of choice for Horse of Year)

_________________________  (mark YES if choice is both Rachel Alexandra and Zenyatta)

Sorry, kids, but this won't work. If I am a diehard Rachel rooter, why should I sacrifice my principles and compromise on power-sharing when I know in my heart my filly is the superior racehorse? The same thing goes for those who are convinced the sun rises and falls on Zenyatta. But with that second option hovering, such a ballot forces the voter to wonder if it's better to play safe and take half a loaf, or go all-in.

Crist, and others, have suggested that those who do not want to see Horse of the Year shared are radical true believers in the merits of either RA or Z who would rather go down with the ship that compromise. Perhaps. There is a little of the evangelical in all of us. However, this particular voter worries more about the message sent and precedents set by such a fundamental shift in the process.

For starters, to insist that the events of 2009 are unlikely to ever happen again is both misleading and depressing. Such a sentiment, I feel, is born of a prevailing sour mood in the racing world that everything stinks and wouldn't it be great if we could turn back the clock to the 1970s again. When grand racehorses like the mare and the filly come along, emerging from the darkness, there is a tendency to get giddy.

There is also an element tracking back to the condescending American attitude that fillies are simply not as capable as colts, and because they are not, these two must be creatures of such soaring superiority that they must be immediately canonized. Were Rachel and Zenyatta doing their thing in Europe, folks would be rightly impressed. They would be mentioned in the same breath as Miesque, Salsabil, All Along, Three Troikas, Triptych, Dahlia, Allez France, Goldikova and Zarkava, among others. And that would be sufficient.

To change the rules for Horse of the Year in this manner this one time would deprive the losing side of a good grumble, or the smug superiority that they were right all along and history will ultimately be on their side. A little smug superiority once in awhile is good for the soul. Anyway, such a bait and switch would be a slap in the face of the many voters throughout the previous 38 years of Eclipse Awrds who wrestled with decisions and managed to make them. And it would send a weird, inverted signal to those who view horse racing with a skeptical eye. They can compromise on something like this? The display in the window of the candy store? And yet there is no consensus on such vital issues as a unifying commissioner, medication rules, interstate licensing, inequities of takeout, or the fate of retired athletes, both human and equine?

A comment on this particular blog challenged the leaders of racing to exhibit the wisdom of Solomon and make it a tie for Horse of the Year between Rachel Alexandra and Zenyatta. May I respectfully suggest he got the legend wrong. When the two women argued over the child, King Solomon threatened to cut the baby in two. The real mother immediately backed down and was rewarded by the king with sole custody, not joint.

It's a tough decision, voters. Now go and make it.

Posted by Jay Hovdey 11/15/2009 03:17:32 PM
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11/09/2009

End Game

 

A half century ago, the exploits of older horses were held in higher regard than they are today. They were the glamour division. Today the emphasis has flipped, and the reputation of Rachel Alexandra is derived not only from her outsized ability, but also from the opportunities she had to display those abilities on a widely exposed stage.

That's why last Saturday was so satisfying for those of us who have followed Zenyatta's career at close range. Finally, a sizeable audience got to discover what the big deal was all about. No amount of assurances could have prepared media and fans for what she did, even though it was in perfect sync with what she had accomplished so many times before. Of the 28 handicappers and reporters polled by USA Today, five picked Zenyatta. Of the 29 Daily Racing Form handicappers, reporters and editors required to make a Classic selection, five picked Zenyatta. I asked our two cats and two dogs. Only the chihuahua picked Zenyatta.

The game has seen the Zenyatta-Rachel Alexandra scenario before, when a great older horse co-exists with a 3-year-old of comparable stature. Affirmed and Spectacular Bid were the towering stars of 1979. Buckpasser was still feared when Damascus roamed the 1967 landscape, while Kelso and Carry Back made 1961 a season to remember.

The difference, obviously, is that matters pertaining to who was Horse of the Year were settled on the racetrack. Kelso handled Carry Back and Damascus dusted Buckpasser in momentous versions of the Woodward. Affirmed defeated Spectacular Bid in the Jockey Club Gold Cup. All questions were answered.

By contrast, the parallel lives led by Rachel and Zenyatta have encouraged as many frustrations as satisfactions. It is, quite literally, impossible to know if one horse can beat another until they meet. This is why betting is both offered and encouraged. It is also a fact of life that year-end honors are often settled by woefully subjective means, which is what the 230 or so Eclipse Award voters will be faced with when it comes time to choose a 2009 Horse of the Year. There will be only questions--like this one from Bill Finley on ESPN.com--and no answers. Only opinions:

"Winning the Classic is a huge deal and a Classic win outweighs any single victory turned in by Rachel Alexandra this year. Yet, does one Classic win mean more than combined wins in the Preakness, Haskell and Woodward? No." 

Or yes, depending upon how much weight you give races restricted to a certain age group.

The ensuing debate could be reminiscent of the year of Tom Fool and Native Dancer. That was 1953, so don't feel bad if recollections are hazy. The 4-year-old Tom Fool went 10-for-10, racing from January to October. Nine of the 10 took place in New York and included the Met Mile, the Suburban, the Carter and the Brooklyn in a span of 50 days. His last four races were betless exhibitions against a total of six opponents. The 3-year-old Native Dancer raced from April to August and won nine of 10, losing only the Kentucky Derby. The closest they came to running against each other was on April 25 at Jamaica, when Tom Fool won an overnight handicap in his season debut and Native Dancer took the Wood Memorial by 4 1/2 lengths in the next race on the card. When the dust settled, Tom Fool was the overwhelming choice for Horse of the Year.

The following year, despite running only three times (and winning all three), Native Dancer was named 1954 Horse of the Year. Granted, the 3-year-olds weren't much. High Gun was voted best of a democratic bunch. But it was almost as if Native Dancer needed only to show his kind gray face a few times, just for appearances, because it was unthinkable that a horse of such quality and widespread popularity could end his career with out being called Horse of the Year. Any year.

As they stood screaming and waving at Santa Anita last Saturday afternoon, while the big mare trotted back to the winner's circle, I kept thinking about an exchange from the movie "Tombstone" between Texas Jack Vermillion and Turkey Creek Jack Johnson, after Wyatt Earp had gone unscathed through a hail of bullets from Curly Bill Brocious and the deadly Cowboys:

“You ever see anything like that before?”

“Hell, I ain’t never even heard of anything like that.”

Chances are we won't see anything like Zenyatta's Breeders' Cup Classic again for a long, long time...unless, that is, the 4-year-old version of Rachel Alexandra does it in next year's Classic at Churchill Downs to cap a Horse of the Year season of her very own.

Posted by Jay Hovdey 11/09/2009 04:43:53 AM
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11/07/2009

Day Two...Fire It Up

During the 2003 running of the Breeders' Cup races at Santa Anita Park, fires raged throughout Southern California and firefighters from dozens of jurisdictions battled the blazes. This year, except for one flare-up to the east, the track has been spared the smoke and ash that filled the skies. But if anyone needs a firefighter, all the need to do is come to the Santa Anita infield. More than 1,700 firefighters, representing county and municipal forces, as well as the U.S. Forest Service, were the guests of the Breeders' Cup and the Oak Tree Racing Association at a special infield party. They were joined by about 400 members of the USO, along with a half dozen or so real live firefighting vehicles, including the brawny hook and ladder from the nearby Rosemead station of the Los Angeles County FD.

L.A. County firefighters Brian Murphy (left) and Rick Rodrigues tip the Classic.

******

Mike Pegram was consoling himself with a cold one at Holy Nola's bar in the clubhouse mezzanine after Lookin at Lucky was anything but in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile. His fate was probably sealed at the draw, when he got post 13 going the mile and one-sixteenth. Still, had even the slightest ray of fortune shone his way, the Smart Strike colt might have found that tough head he was beaten by Godolphin's Vale of York on the line.

"I'll hand it to the other colt," Pegram said. "He beat us to that hole when he had to. But if they think they've got a better horse, they can put up that million they just won and I'll run against them again tomorrow."

Of course, Big Mike didn't mean tomorrow, but whenever, and he made a good point about Vale of York running a dead game race of his own. After a perfect trip, the Godolphin colt, under Ahmed Ajtebi, needed to make a quick right to get a clear run in the final sixteenth. Lookin at Lucky, after seeing every leaf on the hedges rimming the outside of the track, was still grinding away for Garrett Gomez. With a burst, they could have closed the door on Vale of York. Instead, the two colts ended up engaged, side by side, and Lucky lost a tough one.

"I'll tell you what," Pegram added, "there's no way you can say we took a called third strike." No question, Lookin at Lucky went down swinging, and he did nothing to harm his profile of a colt with Kentucky Derby written all over him. Pegram and trainer Bob Baffert have had their sights on Louisville from the moment Lookin at Lucky started breezing. Vale of York will surely hightail it to Dubai now for the winter, and that will be that. A horse trained in the Middle East for the Derby has yet to hit the board. Pegram envisions a more conventional route for his colt.

"If it was up to me, I'd run him in the Hollywood Futurity, give him January and February off, then bring him back somewhere on dirt," Pegram said. Sounds like a plan.

*****

Tyler Baze wishes he had a trip as good as Lookin at Lucky in the Turf Sprint. Riding Gotta Have Her, a daughter of Breeders' Cup Mile winner Royal Academy, Baze was bumped and battered and took up more than a couple of times through stretch, while California Flag went on his merry way up front, in a race of his own. Gotta Have Her was never going to catch him, but it would have been closer than the 1 3/4 lengths she was beaten by the freaking California Flag.

"Tyler was almost in tears," said Jenine Sahadi, whose work with Gotta Have Her has reminded fans why she won Breeders' Cup Sprints with Elmhurst and Lit de Justice. "I had to tell him you're always going to have trouble coming down the hill in a field like that. He did a great job. I'm proud of both of them."

A half hour later, Baze was back to give Cost of Freedom a rocking chair ride in the Sprint and led deep into the stretch. Didn't do a bit of good, though. They were caught in a whirlwind finish by Dancing in Silks and Crown of Thorns to finish third, beaten a nose and a head.

*****

Posted by Jay Hovdey 11/07/2009 02:29:17 PM
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11/06/2009

Day One Done

These will be the lasting images of Breeders' Cup Friday, 2009:

Upon encountering his winning trainer John Shirreffs on the track after the Ladies Classic, an ecstatic owner-breeder Marty Wygod whipped off Shirreffs' trademark dark blue cap with the Mill Ridge logo and replaced it with a Breeders' Cup lid bearing the name of Life Is Sweet. Shirreffs did not protest...

After defeating favored Ventura in the Filly & Mare Sprint, Informed Decision was led into the winner's circle by her owner, George Strawbridge. Check that--George Strawbridge was pulled into the winner's circle by a still vigorous Informed Decision. "You saw that, did you?" Strawbridge said a little bit later. "Apparently I'm not even qualified for a minimum wage position. But she is so tough, even after running a race like that." Strawbridge also confirmed that champion turf mare and defending champ Forever Together would now be retired after her third-place finish to Midday in the Filly & Mare Turf...

Henry Cecil has not made winning a Breeders' Cup race a priority. He'd started only six before this year, without success, although Indian Skimmer and Royal Anthem hit the board in the Turf. An hour after Midday's easier-than-it-looked, one-length victory in the Filly & Mare Turf, the victorious Cecil was found wandering in the paddock gardens crowd, having a smoke and enjoying a quiet moment of anonymity. "You can come close, but you don't really know if you can do it until you finally do it," Cecil said. At 66, Cecil was attaining a late-inning highlight after 23 European classic wins and nine British championships. He will have another swing on Saturday with Twice Over in the Breeders' Cup Classic, while his nephew, Ben Cecil, saddles Ferneley in the Breeders' Cup Mile...

Despite Cloudy Knight's dead-game effort in the Marathon, Rosemary Homeister came up Man of Iron's dirty nose short of joining Blythe Miller and Julie Krone as women to have ridden Breeders' Cup events. Homeister was asked if she might have moved a tad soon when her big chestnut swooped from sixth to the lead around the final turn, but Rosemary insisted the 9-year-old Cloudy Knight pulled his way to the front all by himself. Miller, winner of the 2000 BC Steeplechase and now retired, was watching the Marathon alongside Cloudy Knight's trainer, steeplechase ace Jonathan Sheppard, who was happy enough with the result. "I can see why," Miller said. "I don't think that horse will be going over jumps any time soon."...

Golfing great and racehorse breeder Gary Player, walking through the crowd on the way to the paddock for the Ladies Classic, stopped and signed a number of autographs and posed for photos along the way. One enthusiatic fan saw Player and shouted to his pal, "Hey, look! It's Yves St. Laurent. Hey, Yves!" Did I mention that Grey Goose Vodka and Dos Equis were Breeders' Cup sponsors...

Six different trainers and owners and five different jockeys won Breeders' Cup races on the Friday program (Julien Leparoux doubled). The winners were trained in Ireland, England, Chicago, Pennsylvania, Kentucky and California. This is how a Breeders' Cup is supposed to work.

Posted by Jay Hovdey 11/06/2009 08:04:58 PM
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Day One

On the way to Santa Anita Friday morning, during a pit stop at a Quik-E-Mart, a video screen behind the counter displayed a graphic filled with the images of racing horses asking customers to buy five bucks worth of Hot Spot plays and enter A New Breed of Winners, hooked to the results of the Breeders' Cup Classic on Saturday at Santa Anita. First prize is $50,000.

A few miles down the road, attached to a late model German vehicle cruising up ahead, was a vanity license plate that read "L8 CLSR" in a frame adorned with "NTRA--Talk Derby to Me."

Tiring of Car Talk, I did some serious Sirius dial-flipping on the old radio. The first selection that came up was by Radiohead (post 11, Breeders' Cup Juvenile, picked fourth by Brad Free at 15-1). A couple tunes later it was The Breeders doing "Cannonball" (post 6, Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint, picked on top by Free at 8-1).

Who says horse racing isn't mainstream? At least for today and tomorrow.

The combination of benign weather and grand setting has always made Santa Anita the best place for an event like the Breeders' Cup. Whether or not the track can survive the brutal domestic public relations from a second straight presentation over its Pro-Ride synthetic main course is problematic. The Euros may love it for their grass horses who want to play on sand, but as far as a growing chorus of American fans are concerned, no playing field since the days of threadbare Astroturf has suffered such organized denegration. Last year, when the Breeders' Cup went two whole days without a fatality, critics were momentarily silenced. This time around, after another year of rocky evidence as to the efficacy of synthetics, even a death-free Breeders' Cup won't be enough to quell the call for a return to dirt.

Memories, though, are embarrassingly short. It was in 1986 that horsemen and horseplayers left the first Santa Anita/Oak Tree Breeders' Cup shaking their heads in frustration. Four of the five main track races were won by horses either pressing close or setting the pace, while quality closers spun their wheels in fruitless pursuit. Brave Raj, the Juvenile filly winner, was the exception, sitting fourth, pouncing and drawing off to win by 5 1/2 (she never raced at three). Otherwise, you needed the style of Lady's Secret, Smile, Capote or Skywalker to deal with what was criticized as speed biased in the extreme.

It is a noble goal to hope that every Breeders' Cup race will have not only a positive pari-mutuel impact, but also mean something in the context of championship Thoroughbred history. Doesn't always work that way, and especially not when the racing surfaces are called into some kind of question (see the sodden runnings of Monmouth, Lone Star, and Belmont in 1995, or Churchill Downs in 2006, when the main track rail was the only place to be). Man or nature--take your pick. Something or someone is always tinkering with the ground.

In a perfect world--one in which upwards of $25 million had not been spent on California's synthetic experiment--this weekend's eight main track Breeders' Cup events would have been played out on soft, sandy loam with minimal kickback, watered just right and spread over a forgiving base. Someday, this could still happen. And then there will be health care reform.

Posted by Jay Hovdey 11/06/2009 02:29:34 PM
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11/05/2009

The Other Classic

Why is this man smiling? That's easy...scoreboard. Now that the World Series is out of the way, trainer Eoin Harty (a die-hard Yanks fan from Dublin by way of California) can concentrate on putting the finishing touches on Colonel John for his career finale in the $5 million Breeders' Cup Classic at Santa Anita on Saturday.

Colonel John finished sixth in the big race last year, and he has been touting his people with brisk works and strong gallops leading up to the race. His sire, Tiznow, won the Classic twice, and Colonel John's best race came in the 2008 Travers at the Classic distance of a mile and a quarter. Still, he's had a number of chances in good company--in races like the Derby, the Swaps, the Goodwood, and the Pacific Classic--and has found a way to lose. Those backing him Saturday should hold out for a healthy price.

As for Harty's front-running haberdashery, his wan't the only Yankees cap seen around Santa Anita the morning after Game Six. Trainers Bill Mott and Jim Cassidy protected their tender pates with Bomber blue, as did Santa Anita assistant clerk of scales Charlie "Do It All" McCaul. In fairness, they were all wearing those hats long before the Phillies flopped. But, sadly, they will still be wearing them this winter when the Series result is long forgotten. Ah well, let them have their memories.

*******

Anyone who happened to read my column about Garrett Gomez in the Friday editions of Daily Racing Form and on the DRF website will have absorbed some misinformation. Gomez does not, repeat not, ride Sword Dancer Stakes winner Telling in the Breeders' Cup Turf on Saturday. Javier Castellano will be in the saddle. Gomez in fact rides 11 of the 14 Breeders' Cup events.

The Gomez card (Gayego, Lookin at Lucky, Ventura et al) is obviously having an impact on the very early betting in the new Head2Head Jockey Advance Wager. Not that the Cup menu needs another item, but this one could be fun for casual players. Wins only count, with a tie at the end of the two days treated as a dead heat. Julien Leparoux, with 11 mounts (Forever Together, Informed Decision, Einstein) is getting bet, as is Rafael Bejarano, whose line-up of seven mounts is really not that strong (Ferneley, Monzante, Get Funky). There is a field bet that includes all others, and one of "others" is Alex Solis, who won two races when the Breeders' Cup was an eight-race program at Santa Anita in 2003. Solis rides Magical Fantasy in the Filly & Mare Turf and Richard's Kid in the Classic.

*******

On Friday, Rosemary Homeister will try to join Blythe Miller (2000 Steeplechase) and Julie Krone (2003 Juvenile Fillies) on the list of women who have ridden the winner of a Breeders' Cup event. Homeister will be riding Cloudy's Knight for Jonathan Sheppard and owners Shirley and Jerrold Schwartz of Chicago, who sent their horse to the Hall of Famer last year after he'd recovered from a soft tissue injury. Cloudy's Knight has won twice for Sheppard in two tries, and will be going in the $500,000 Breeders' Cup Marathon at 1 3/4 miles on the main track.

"When I was asked if I would take an 8-year-old coming back from an injury, I was naturally a bit skeptical," Sheppard said. "Then I was told he'd won more than two million dollars. That got my attention. I've learned I shouldn't make too many snap judgments. I once got a call from a gentleman named W.T. Young who was relatively new to the business and wondered if I'd train a son of Storm Bird for him. I'd never heard of him, so I said I call him back in a couple of days. I'm glad I did."

You guessed it. The colt was Storm Cat. Sheppard has no idea how Cloudy's Knight will handle the synthetic surface, but he at least knows that if worse comes to worse, the old horse might have a future over the jumps.

"We actually did let him go over a few little logs back home at first," said Sheppard, North America's all-time leading steeplechase trainer. "But when it was apparent he was staying sound, we stopped that and went on with him. He seemed to enjoy it, though."

Posted by Jay Hovdey 11/05/2009 10:28:33 PM
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11/04/2009

Freak Flag Flying

Everything was going just fine, said trainer Brian Koriner, with a simple trip to the starting gate and a scheduled gallop Wednesday morning until California Flag saw a bunch of European horses saunter past in the three-quarter mile chute. That's when the gray horse decided to join them, dumped rider Colleen Hartford, and went rogue.

Aaron Gryder, always on the watch for a good mount, was on the backside minding his own business when he looked up and saw California Flag coming his way. A stablehand stepped up to collar the Cal-bred, but then he had to go back to work, so Gryder volunteered to take CF back to his barn. "I'm just the hotwalker," Gryder said as he led a sheepish California Flag home. Joe Talamo still has the mount.

"Everybody's okay," Koriner said a little while later. "A little quarter mile blowout the Wednesday before the race never hurt anybody."

Just because California Flag is the course record holder and morning line favorite for the $2 million Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint doesn't mean he has to behave like a reasonable animal. None of them are machines, or if they are, they are very unpredictable machines who require constant supervision.

In the meantime, defending Turf Sprint champ Desert Code is going about his business so far beneath the radar that he was dissed at 20-1 on Jon White's official morning line. Ouch. "That's okay," said trainer Dave Hofmans. "We'll sneak up on them again." Hofmans' two other Breeders' Cup winners paid $41.70 (Alphabet Soup, 1996 Classic) and $83.40 (Adoration, 2003 Distaff) on two-dollar bets. Desert Code returned $75 last year, so maybe 20-1 is an underlay.

Posted by Jay Hovdey 11/04/2009 05:41:35 PM
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Overload

It does my heart good to realize I can still be shocked, stunned, delighted and even disappointed--take your pick--over something as routine as the draw for Breeders' Cup races. It happened Tuesday afternoon for the 26th time.

--I remain shocked and embarrassed that North American horse racing is so feebly represented in the $3 million Breeders' Cup Turf. Telling won the Sword Dancer fair and square, although he'd lost the 11 races before that after exhausting his conditions. Presious Passion is a grand animal, with a flamboyant running style that is both a blessing and a curse. Monzante, who won an Eddie Read, has never been near 12 furlongs. And Allegre, while not quite the second coming of Ricks Natural Star, may need a flashlight to find Dar Re Mi by the end of the ordeal. This is the same race won by such homegrown heroes as Manila, Great Communicator, Prized, Fraise, Chief Bearheart, Buck's Boy, Johar, Better Talk Now and English Channel. They weep.

--At the same time, I was stunned that the vast resources of Ireland's Coolmore-Ballydoyle operation could not muster a single representative for either the Turf or the $2 million Breeders' Cup Mile. After all, these grass races are run for the benefit of Europeans. Aren't they? The least they can do is show up to the party.

--I continue to be disappointed that four of the 14 Breeders' Cup races are populated by 2-year-olds. Even more disconcerting, of the 149 runners in the main bodies of the 14 races, 49 are mere babies. Babies! What is this, the trials for the Rainbow Futurity, or the ultimate pageant of the Thoroughbred breed, in all its great variety? Two Juvenile races might have been one too many. Four is nothing but filler.

--I am delighted that there will be a rematch in the $5 million Breeders' Cup Classic between Richard's Kid and Einstein, the 1-2 finishers in the Pacific Classic at Del Mar. Richard's Kid is owned by Arnold Zetcher, the former Talbot's CEO who is at the forefront of a group intent on purchasing Santa Anita Park. Stronach heads the bankrupt company being forced to sell Santa Anita to pay off massive debt. Best of all, in case no one noticed, the race will be run at Santa Anita.

--I was not surprised to see Bob Baffert have such bad luck at the draw (the 2-year-olds Lookin at Lucky and Always a Princess on the far outside, going 1 1/16 miles, and Zensational on the rail in the Sprint). For Pete's sake, the man won the first four races on last Sunday's Santa Anita card. Karma is an evil mistress, and tends to roll in cycles. Baffert is counting on the pendulum swinging back his way by the weekend.

--And I can't wait to watch Zenyatta toy with the boys.

I was also relieved to see Gary Stevens alert and on the job with HRTV during the post-draw interview session. Last Saturday, the Hall of Famer-turned-trainer took the worst of a bizarre chain reaction when a filly in the next saddling stall backed into the heavy wood and metal partition and knocked it to the ground. Valet Manny Avila (who gallops Richard's Kid and Always a Princess for Baffert), was helping Stevens saddle his filly, and was momentarily pinned beneath the partition. The filly shied into Stevens, and banged his head into the another partition. That one held. "This is nothing," Stevens said, pointing to the traces of a nasty scrape near his left temple. "It's what was going on inside my head that had me worried." As for Avila, he escaped with a few scratches and bruises. "Look at this," he said, waving his scratched Callaway sunglasses. "The least they can do is buy me a new pair."

Posted by Jay Hovdey 11/04/2009 03:20:18 AM
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10/31/2009

The Last Hurrah

While watching Zenyatta work at Hollywood Park Saturday morning, I was struck by two thoughts. Others came along later, but two at a time is a challenging load, so I figured I'd better write them down:

1) There was a day, and not too long ago, when the debate over the best horses did not digress into which surface they liked or disliked, and b) that was Zenyatta's last work.

To the first point, those who have only recently joined the conversation will assume that the advent of synthetic tracks ignited the wildfire of opinions, excuses, and handicapping angles when it comes to a horse handling a surface, or not. In fact,it has been more than a quarter of a century since modern track superintendents began tinkering with their dirt tracks, sealing them, ripping them, and power-harrowing them to death in an ongoing attempt to turn back the ravages of wear and time. The policy created, often quite by accident, definitive swings in the depth and texture of the ground, and helped institutionalize the concept of track bias.

In simpler times, the good ones didn't care. Turf, dirt, mud, molasses--it did not matter to horses like Kelso, Damascus, Dr. Fager and Ack Ack, and it probably wouldn't have mattered to Seattle Slew, Affirmed and Spectacular Bid, but they never got the chance to try the grass. Sure, Round Table got a rap for floundering on soft turf, but he also won major stakes on every other kind of ground, coast to coast, from 7 to 13 furlongs, for four solid seasons--so cut him some slack. In fact, it was only later that Cigar became the poster boy for surface sissies. He was barely a Grade 3 animal on the grass, for which he was supposedly bred, yet a two-time Horse of the year and Hall of Famer on dirt...any dirt. He ended up winning on nine different dirt courses, and where he lost--Del Mar and Woodbine--it wasn't the surface to blame.

It is a crying shame that Zenyatta's record will be forever asterisked by the 13 out of 14 races she will have run over synthetic surfaces. There have been several comments from readers of this site noting quite correctly that those 14 races have come over a wide variety of synthetic products and conditions. Unfortunately, such esoterica tends to fall on deaf ears in the current, polarized climate. And, unless synthetic surfaces become the norm (what are the odds?), history will not care.

What matters now is that the rest of this week be spent savoring every possible sighting of Zenyatta, from her final gallops at Hollywood, to her crosstown return to Santa Anita on Wednesday, and then to her valedictory appearance in the Breeders' Cup Classic on Saturday afternoon. Her nifty workout Saturday morning was "picture perfect," according to Steve Willard, her regular morning rider who was aboard workmate Green Cat. Willard then offered to draw the picture in the shedrow sand.

In the photo above, Zenyatta and Mike Smith are just coming off the track in the company of Freddy Miller and his pony, who answers to Hooty. "We got him a couple years ago from Carla Gaines, just for Zenyatta," Miller explained. "We had two other ponies, but she intimidated them so bad they'd both kick at her. She can do anything to Hooty and he just don't care." Miller has been around good mares long enough to call Zenyatta the best he's seen since Drumtop, the daughter of Round Table he galloped for Roger Laurin. Drumtop, a foal of '66, beat the boys for fun in races like the Canadian International Championship, the Hialeah Turf Cup, and the Bowling Green.

We'll find out Saturday if Zenyatta can join the ranks of mares like Drumtop, Shuvee, Gallorette, All Along and Miesque, by beating the best bunch of mature males the game can offer. And by concentrating on that sticky question for now, the poignant reality of her final appearance will be deferred. Zenyatta still has a lot of work to do. For the good ones, to the very last, that's the way it should be.

 

Posted by Jay Hovdey 10/31/2009 06:57:29 PM
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