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Up the Stretch Awards–‘The Stretchies!’

For the past few years, we have celebrated the highs and sometimes lows, of the Royal Ascot meet with A Tip of the Top Hat awards.

Originally over these five days, we presented `The Down the Stretch’ awards, but the homestretch at Ascot is a gradual uphill tussle. I think it is much harder for a thoroughbred to pull, to dig down deep on the incline in the final three furlongs. Very trying and tiring. Thus, the Up The Stretch Awards.

Here are the 2020 STRECHIE winners.

The winner of the QUICK TURNAROUND AWARD is also the hero and the goat this week. We in the colonies don’t see thoroughbreds, especially at this high level, return to the racing wars so soon after a race. Hey Jonesy (Ire) (Excelebration) {Ire})

finished 22nd in a field of 23 on Tuesday at 33-1 in The Buckingham Handicap. So when you saw this longshot roll right back with only four days rest, and leave the starting gate at only 17-1 on Saturday in the seven-furlong Wokingham S., wouldn’t you scratch your head and wonder where the money was coming from? Even more baffling is the fact that this gelding beat 21 others to win by a nose! Well, there you have the goat on Tuesday, becoming the hero on Saturday. His victory was the low point in the week for me.

The very BEST PERFORMANCE BY A HORSE was Stradivarius (Ire) (Sea the Stars {Ire}, a sensational stayer, bred and owned by Bjorn Nielsen. The now 6 year-old won the G1 Gold Cup for a remarkable third year in a row. Like Forego and Kelso, Stradivarius seems to be getting better as he ages. His margin of victory was 10 geared-down lengths. And on Thursday, Frankie Dettori riding for trainer John Gosden on the gallant now-6 year-old completed this very difficult hat-trick. Leading the stretch procession was simply breathtaking.

The HIGHWAY ROBBERY STRETCHIE goes to Pinatubo (Ire) (Shamardal) in the G1 St. James’s Palace S. Pinatubo had won six out of six as a two-year old, and was the heavy heavy favorite on Saturday. He finished second, and (in U.S. dollars) paid $2.02 for a $2 tote bet in England.

BEST SINGLE RIDE AWARD goes to Ryan Moore, who I think may have been the only rider who could have coaxed, muscled, bullied and pushed Circus Maximus Ire (Galileo {Ire}) to a nose tally in the G1 Queen Anne S. I should also salute the gutsy and tough winner, trained by Aidan O’Brien.

TOP TRAINER UP THE STRETCH AWARD goes to the classiest of gentleman, John Gosden. He gave himself a good excuse for Stradivarius before the race, if he had lost. John was not comfortable with the soft designation of the course. How wasted his words. It looks like Stradivarius could run on mushy porridge and still win.

THE INVADER AWARD goes to Wesley Ward. A super professional outstanding trainer, who is also a great ambassador for America at the highest level of European thoroughbred competition. Wesley finally got his 11th Royal Ascot victor on Friday with Campanelle (Ire) (Kodiac {GB}). He is the most famous American trainer at Ascot because of his extraordinary groundbreaking efforts at the Royal meeting. And the locals love him.

THE RITZ UP THE STRETCH AWARD is not now called the Leading Jockey of the Royal meeting. I’m going back to the previous moniker. Give THE RITZ AWARD to Frankie Dettori, showman, exuberant, crowd loving Italian, who is also, at age 49, one of the best jockeys in the world. Like Kelso, Forego and Stradivarius, Frankie gets better and smarter as the years pile up. When I was working at Santa Anita, many journalists and broadcasters said Bill Shoemaker should retire. Soon after that, “Shoe” rode the winner of the Kentucky Derby. Don’t retire Frankie.

LUNCH OF THE WEEK award this year will go vacant. Scribes like me enjoyed the extravagant buffet spreads in the Ascot Press Box. But this year those great repasts were non existent. Somehow the ballpark franks I have been having for lunch, even with Skyline chili, just doesn’t get the same dining star rating from Bobby Flay. Maybe next year?

THE BACHELOR AWARD goes to Tom Marquand, who won his first Royal Ascot race 24 hours after his girlfriend Hollie Doyle won her initial Royal tally. Tom took the Queen Alexandra S. on Who Dares Wins (Ire) (Jeremy).

THE JOHN HENRY AWARD (for old timers) goes to a repeat winner. The 94 year-old owner of Tactical (GB) (Toronado {Ire}), hero of The Windsor Castle S. Every year, for the past 86 years, she has attended all days of the Royal Meeting. If you don’t think being a fan of this beautiful and exciting sport keeps you young, check out how racing has kept owner, breeder, and fan still on top of her game. She is also the Queen of England, Elizabeth II. Hope to see you next June.

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Travers Up Next for Tiz the Law

Sackatoga Stable’s Tiz the Law (Constitution) exited his win in Saturday’s GI Belmont S. in fine shape and will now be pointed towards the Aug. 8 GI Runhappy Travers S.

“He came out of the race great,” said Robin Smullen, assistant to trainer Barclay Tagg. “He ate up and then he came out and grazed for an hour. His legs are good, his attitude and energy are good.”

Mapping out the next few days for the Belmont winner, Tagg said, “He’ll walk for three days and we’ll graze him every afternoon like we do. The fourth day we’ll take him out and jog him once around backwards to see how he moves and how he is and if he eats up that night, we’ll go to galloping. And 10 days after that we’ll give him an easy breeze, a half-mile.”

Tagg added, “I’ve never won the Travers and I want to win it. It’s very important to me.”

Trainer Todd Pletcher is considering the Travers and the July 18 GI Haskell S. at Monmouth Park as possible next targets for Belmont runner-up Dr Post (Quality Road).

“Both of those races are in play. It just depends on how he bounces out of the race,” Pletcher said. “We were always confident that a route of ground will not be an issue for him. He finished up well. It was a very encouraging effort.”

Dr Post was making just his fourth start in the Belmont, following a maiden win at Gulfstream Mar. 29 with a win in the 1 1/16-mile Unbridled S. in Hallandale Apr. 25.

“Considering he broke his maiden the day after Tiz the Law won the Florida Derby, that’s a lot of progress to make in a short period of time,” Pletcher said. “Hopefully he keeps improving.”

Trainer Linda Rice was satisfied with Max Player (Honor Code)’s third-place finish in the Belmont.

“Coming off a 4 1/2-month break, I thought it was a very creditable effort,” Rice said. “You can build on this going forward. Going a mile and a quarter shouldn’t be a problem as well.”

As for what could be next for the GIII Withers S. winner, Rice said, “We’ll keep all the options open for now and sort it out when we get him back to the track in a week to 10 days.”

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Galilean, Grinning Tiger Among Nominees For Race Honoring Soi Phet

Galilean and Grinning Tiger, a combined 4-for-4 at Los Alamitos, are among 12 nominees to the $100,000-guaranteed Soi Phet Stakes, a one-mile race for 3-year-olds & up bred or sired in California.

The seventh renewal of the race formerly known as the Bertrando will be run Saturday, June 27, the second day of the Summer Thoroughbred Festival at Los Alamitos in Cypress, Calif.

The race honors Soi Phet, a gelded son of Tizbud trained by Leonard Powell for the Benowitz Family Trust, Mathilde Powell and Paul Viskovich who won five stakes races at Los Alamitos before his retirement at age 11 in 2019. The first of his local victories came in the inaugural Bertrando in 2014 and he won the race again in 2018.

Owned by a partnership that includes West Point Thoroughbreds and trained by John Sadler, Galilean, a 4-year-old son of Uncle Mo, scored in his career debut at Los Alamitos Sept. 22, 2018, then captured the King Glorious Stakes by nine lengths nearly three months later. Both of those victories came for Hall of Fame trainer Jerry Hollendorfer.

Grinning Tiger, who scored a pair of 7-1 upsets in sprints in 2019 in his first two races at Los Alamitos, comes off a shocking gate-to-wire win in the Crystal Water Stakes on the Santa Anita grass June 6.

Owned by Tyree Wolesensky and trained by Anthony Saavedra, the 92-1 stunner was the eighth win in 27 starts for the 5-year-old son of Smiling Tiger.

Other nominees include Brandothebartender, Cono, 4-year-old fillies D's Lovely Sophia and Silk From Heaven, King Abner, fifth in this race a year ago, Lieutenant Dan, Loud Mouth, Lymebyrd, Take the One O One and Three Ay Em.

Entries for the Soi Phet Stakes will be taken Wednesday, June 24.

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Baffert Will Point to Oaks with Gamine, Doesn’t Rule Out Preakness

Coming off one of the most talked about performances of the year, Gamine (Into Mischief) is headed back to the barn of Bob Baffert, who will wait a few weeks before deciding what’s next for the 3-year-old filly.

Nothing could have overshadowed the win in the GI Belmont S. by Tiz the Law (Constitution), but Gamine came close in the GI Acorn S. With John Velazquez aboard, she won by 18 3/4 lengths and her time for the mile, 1:32.55, shattered the stakes record (video). Her effort earned a 110 Beyer figure, 10 points higher than the 100 assigned to Tiz the Law in the Belmont.

“I knew she could win, but I didn’t know she would put in that kind of performance. That was just insane,” Baffert said.

Baffert said the main goal for Gamine is the Sept. 4 GI Kentucky Oaks, but he’s not sure what route he will take to get her there. Gamine will likely have one start between now and the Oaks and possibilities include the GI Ashland S. at Keeneland July 11 and the GI Coaching Club American Oaks July 18 at Saratoga.

If Gamine is to face males the most likely spot for that would be in the Oct. 3 GI Preakness S. Owner Michael Lund lives in the Baltimore area.

“I didn’t nominate her to the Triple Crown because I didn’t want to be tempted,” Baffert said. “But things change and we’re not ruling anything out. Maybe the Preakness. If we take a shot that would be the most likely race. First I have to get her home and go from there.”

Gamine made headlines before her first race. She was the $1.8-million sale topper at Fasig-Tipton Midlantic 2-year-old sale last year. It didn’t take her long to impress Baffert.

“She always did things just like the super 3-year-old colts I had,” Baffert said. “She showed me brilliance from day one. Just like Charlatan, Uncle Chuck, Nadal, Authentic, horses who show you early on that they are something special.”

Gamine debuted Mar. 7, breaking her maiden at Santa Anita. Baffert then sent her to Oaklawn, where she had to fight to beat Speech (Mr. Speaker) by a neck.

“She was doing so well for the Acorn,” Baffert said. “I thought this was going to be her breakout race and it was. That was a pretty decent field she beat. With the timing, the Acorn was a perfect spot for her. I had been working her easy, sitting behind horses. She had been relaxing really well. Then she drew the one. I told Johnny that she is fast and just let her run. You can’t take too much of a hold on her because then she’ll try to get out and she is a little headstrong. We’ll get her back here, freshen her up, give her a couple of weeks without breezing her. When they run like that, that fast, I like to give them a couple of weeks off.”

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