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Making Claims: A Closing Argument To Put Awesome Again In The Hall Of Fame

In “Making Claims,” Paulick Report bloodstock editor Joe Nevills shares his opinions on the Thoroughbred industry from the breeding and sales arenas to the racing world and beyond.

From the centuries-old nurseries to the furthest-flung outposts, the goal of Thoroughbred breeding is to get a horse like Awesome Again – the kind of horse that secures a legacy for decades.

Awesome Again laid the foundation for over 20 years of high-level success for the Adena Springs operation as a runner and a stallion, and he provided one of the biggest victories in the storied career of owner Frank Stronach when he took the 1998 Breeders' Cup Classic. Though he stood just 16 hands tall, the 26-year-old left a massive footprint on the breed, and a hole just as big when he died on Dec. 15.

It sure feels like Awesome Again should be in the National Museum of Racing's Hall of Fame, but he isn't. In fact, he's been eligible for 17 years, and he's still on the wrong side of the velvet rope.

Awesome Again's recent death has the Thoroughbred world reflecting on his life and accomplishments, which means this is as good a time as there's going to be to stage a “last stand,” and make one final case for putting a deserving horse in the Hall of Fame.

To be sure, Awesome Again suffered no shortage of acclaim over the course of his life. He was named to Canada's Hall of Fame in 2001, and the Ontario-bred's achievements were so great, he was given a Special Sovereign Award in 1998 when he didn't have enough starts in his home country to qualify for the regular run of Sovereign Awards. More than two decades after making his final start, he remains the highest-earning Canadian-born Thoroughbred of all-time, amassing earnings of more than $4.3 million.

To determine why Awesome Again belongs in the Hall of Fame, I have identified some of the factors that go into my own Hall of Fame selection process when the ballot comes in the mail (chiefly, sustained high-level success and dominance over his opponents), and some potential shortcomings on Awesome Again's resume that have apparently kept him out. Then, I examine “The Bar:” the horses in the Hall of Fame who are perceived to have the least acclaim in a given category while still getting enshrined; and I identify how Awesome Again meets or exceeds that standard.

Before we dive in, it's important to note that Hall of Fame credentials are based on racetrack performance, meaning Awesome Again's outstanding stallion career, and his role in maintaining Adena Springs' high standing in the business, cannot be taken into consideration. Since 1990, the only horses to claim both a Hall of Fame spot and the leading North American sire title were Alydar and A.P. Indy; both of which earned their spots in the pantheon for their on-track exploits.

With that out of the way, let's poke some holes in the case against Awesome Again's Hall of Fame bid.

Standard: Sustained Success
Perceived Weakness: Awesome Again didn't beat Grade 1 competition until age four.
The Bar: Lava Man and Waya

It's easy to argue that Awesome Again had a lopsided career over the course of his two seasons on the track. He was a perfect six-for-six as a 4-year-old, and he didn't have a Grade 1 victory during his sophomore campaign. That 3-year-old run included wins in the Queen's Plate and the Grade 2 Jim Dandy Stakes, compared with five graded wins the following season.

It's unusual for a Hall of Famer to get in without a Grade 1-caliber 3-year-old campaign, but it has been done. Lava Man didn't win his first graded stakes race until the middle of his 4-year-old season, while the French mare Waya, a 2019 inductee, didn't get her first Grade 1 triumph until the end of her 4-year-old season. Like Awesome Again, both horses went on to become top-shelf runners once they matured.

The Hall of Fame loves a precocious horse, but that's not the only way through the door.

Standard: Sustained Success
Perceived Weakness: Awesome Again only had one season at the highest level
The Bar: Dance Smartly, A.P. Indy, and Winning Colors

Awesome Again was a Queen's Plate winner and took home a Grade 2 victory at three, and it's fair to count that as supporting evidence for a Hall of Fame resume, but not the meat of it. His ascent to the top of the handicap division took place during his 4-year-old season, when he went a perfect six-for-six. Among those wins during his 1998 campaign were triumphs in the Breeders' Cup Classic, the G1 Whitney Handicap, the G2 Stephen Foster and Saratoga Breeders' Cup Handicaps, and the G3 Hawthorne Gold Cup Handicap. Then, he retired, essentially leaving one season where he was a top threat.

One season at the very top of the mountain is admittedly pretty light for a Hall of Fame resume, but not entirely unheard of. Fellow Ontario-bred Dance Smartly was very good on her home turf at two, but she didn't hit her true ascent until age three when she won the Canadian Triple Crown and capped her season off with a Breeders' Cup Distaff score. She fell back to earth at four, and never won another graded stakes race.

Similarly, Winning Colors earned her first stakes victory in January of her sophomore season, and she never won another graded stakes race after she wowed in the Kentucky Derby, missing out in her next nine graded tries.

Just so we're not just picking on the fillies in this segment, consider A.P. Indy. His first graded stakes win came in the G1 Hollywood Futurity on Dec. 22 of his juvenile season. His run between that win and his Horse of the Year-clinching triumph in the 1992 Breeders' Cup Classic was remarkable, but it all happened within the span of less than 12 months.

If Awesome Again needed to stay competitive at the top for at least a calendar year, it's fair to start the clock with his third in the G1 Travers Stakes as a 3-year-old and run through his Breeders' Cup Classic score the following year, and that leaves his Queen's Plate and Jim Dandy out of the conversation. If one year at the top is enough, he's got it.

Standard: Sustained Success
Perceived Weakness: Awesome Again raced only 12 times
The Bar: 11 current Hall of Famers; Justify and American Pharoah in the near future

Yes, Awesome Again would be on the lower end of the spectrum among the Hall of Famers, a group that has eight members with 100 or more starts, led by 1899 Horse of the Year Imp with 171. However, he'd be far from the least experienced member of the group.

The great A.P. Indy made the cut with 11 starts. Ghostzapper, Awesome Again's greatest son, got the call to Saratoga Springs with the same number of starts.

The average is probably going to get even lower in the coming years, as Triple Crown winners American Pharoah and Justify all but certainly get their invitations. American Pharoah retired with 11 career starts, while Justify raced just six times. If and when Justify gets the call, he will have the fewest starts of any Hall of Famer, usurping 1800s stars Lexington and Sir Archy with seven each.

Standard: Dominance Over Competition
Perceived Weakness: No Eclipse Awards
The Bar: Alydar, Lava Man, Lure, Best Pal, Ancient Title, etc.

Sometimes, an all-time great has the misfortune of being in the same division as another all-time great, and there are only so many year-end honors to go around. There are a lot of good horses in the Hall of Fame without Eclipse Awards on their mantles, and there are a lot of good horses who might never get in who have one or more on their resumes – even Horses of the Year. Having one always helps, but it's not a prerequisite.

While we're on the subject, it's worth noting that Awesome Again finished second in the voting to Skip Away – a horse he beat in the Breeders' Cup Classic – in the 1998 Horse of the Year voting.

To save us all some writing and reading, this answers the question “Was Awesome Again considered at any point to be the best horse in his division, if not the best horse in training?” At least 34 voters thought so in 1998. For at least his straight-arrow stretch drive in the Classic, they were absolutely right.

Standard: Dominance Over Competition
Perceived Weakness: He only has two Grade 1 wins
The Bar: Xtra Heat

This is one of the biggest factors keeping Awesome Again out of the Hall of Fame, and it's understandable. There are Grade 1 win machines out there who would get laughed out of the building if they were considered for this lofty spot. Even though one of those wins was in the Breeders' Cup Classic, two Grade 1 victories would put Awesome Again near the bottom of the list if he made it in the club – counting horses that ran after the modern graded stakes system was implemented, of course.

But he wouldn't be at the very bottom.

Xtra Heat, who earned the champion 3-year-old filly title in 2001, was enshrined in 2015 with just one Grade 1 win to her name – the 2001 Prioress Stakes.

Granted, there are some other factors to consider here. Xtra Heat won loads of other graded stakes races, and she got achingly close to Grade 1 glory elsewhere, including missing out by a half-length when she tested male competition in the Breeders' Cup Sprint. The mare more than earned her spot among the immortals, but if the bar to get in is one Grade 1 score, Awesome Again doubled it.

Standard: Dominance Over Competition
Perceived Weakness: Who did he beat?
The Bar: We don't need no stinking bar.

Here is a list of the horses Awesome Again beat in the 1998 Breeders' Cup Classic alone:

– Hall of Famer and eventual 1998 Horse of the Year Skip Away
– Hall of Famer and dual classic winner Silver Charm
– Champion and Belmont Stakes winner Victory Gallop
– European champion Swain
– Argentine champion Gentlemen
– Belmont Stakes winner Touch Gold
– Grade 1 winners Coronado's Quest and Arch

Of course, if we let horses into the Hall of Fame off a single victory, even if it's against an incredibly deep field on the biggest stage, we'd be celebrating the career of figurative Hall of Famer Arcangues, and then we'd have to re-examine the entire admission process. So, I've put together a tale of the tape to display just who Awesome Again beat over the course of his career:

– Two Hall of Famers (and he beat Silver Charm twice)
– Three Eclipse Award winners (and he beat Silver Charm twice)
– Three international champions
– Three U.S. classic winners (and he beat Silver Charm twice)
– One Canadian classic winner
– 13 Grade/Group 1 winners
– 31 total graded/group stakes winners

Only two horses in that distinguished group got their revenge and finished ahead of Awesome Again in races he didn't win: Grade 1 winners Behrens and Precocity.

That's a lot of winning crammed into 12 races.

Make no mistake, Awesome Again is a fringe Hall of Fame candidate. He wouldn't still be waiting on his call, and I wouldn't have to argue this hard, if he wasn't. Still, if we're looking at what makes a Hall of Famer, it's fair to say he's at least done the minimum to get over the line, based on the ones already on the other side.

It's time to finally lift the hook off the velvet rope and let Awesome Again into the Hall of Fame club. Let's take one more look and see if he's on the list.

The post Making Claims: A Closing Argument To Put Awesome Again In The Hall Of Fame appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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Always Shopping Shows Her Versatility With Via Borghese Triumph

Repole Stable's Always Shopping, a graded-stakes winner on dirt last spring, continued her success story since being moved to the turf this summer by rolling to a second straight grass stakes victory in Saturday's $100,000 Via Borghese at Gulfstream Park in Hallandale Beach, Fla.

The fifth running of the 1 3/16-mile Via Borghese for fillies and mares 3 and up served as a supporting stakes to the $100,000 Mr. Prospector (G3), where Sleepy Eyes Todd bested a field that included Grade 1 winners Firenze Fire and Mind Control and defending champion Diamond Oops.

Always Shopping ($7.40) was the third win of the day for jockey Irad Ortiz Jr. and first in the Via Borghese for both Ortiz and trainer Todd Pletcher. The winning time was 1:54.34 over a firm turf course.

Ortiz settled Always Shopping in third as Traipsing broke sharply and took the field through moderate fractions of 24.31 and 50.11 seconds, tracked by 99-1 long shot Lady Panda. Always Shopping tipped to the outside on the turn and took over the lead once straightened for home, powering through the stretch to win by three lengths.

“It worked out perfect,” Ortiz said. “I thought I was going to sit second but [Traipsing] broke sharp and I didn't want to use my horse to get position. So I stayed third. She was comfortable. I waited for the time to go and when I asked her she responded very well.”

Pletcher was impressed with the way Always Shopping finished up to earn her fourth career win and third in a stakes. She won the 1 1/8-mile Gazelle (G2) last April on dirt and the 1 1/16-mile Monroe Sept. 7 at Gulfstream in her second career try on turf.

“We anticipated [Traipsing] would be on the lead. I thought we might be laying second but Irad was in a comfortable spot and he said she was taking him wherever he wanted her to go throughout the race,” Pletcher said. “She really jumped in at the top of the stretch and kicked on hard. They weren't going very fast early, but they were late.”

Great Island outran Always Shopping's stablemate, Cap de Creus, to be second, but was disqualified for bearing out in the stretch and placed third behind Cap de Creus, ridden by Hall of Famer John Velazquez.

“I was delighted to get her stakes-placed. We've knocked on the door a few times, so that was big,” Pletcher said. “It looked like Johnny had to steady her pretty hard at one point but it was a good effort.”

Always Shopping, a daughter of Awesome Again out of multiple stakes winner Stopshoppingmaria, by More Than Ready, was bred by Repole. She now owns two wins from three tries over the Gulfstream turf and pushed her career bankroll over $400,000.

“She seems to like the course here,” Pletcher said. “There's a great program of stakes here so we'll look to keep her going in those.”

The post Always Shopping Shows Her Versatility With Via Borghese Triumph appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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This Side Up: An Awesome Legacy For a Positive Future

So this dismal year slinks under our resentful glare towards the back gate, like an uninvited guest who has wrecked a party by outrageous behavior. Soon, perhaps, there will be a cheerful ringing of the doorbell and we can welcome one to revive spirits around the world.

In the meantime, somehow, the Thoroughbred is managing to hold together the strands linking all our yesterdays and whatever tomorrow may bring. I’ve often remarked, during recent months, that horsemen will be well served by the patient perspectives they require even at the best of times. Continuity is not optional, when a horse needs feed or exercise. But we are also indebted to many people beyond the shedrow: for maintaining, more or less unbroken, a calendar of graded stakes and bloodstock auctions that will keep the breed functional. Admittedly a few fixed points of reference were unfixed, some unnecessarily. But just consider what continuity, in the annals, has meant for the final big juvenile race of the year.

It’s pretty perplexing, on the face of it, that the Los Alamitos Derby should have lost its Grade I status last year. The two previous winners, Improbable (City Zip) and McKinzie (Street Sense), have in the meantime amply confirmed their elite stature. Mastery (Candy Ride {Arg}) did so as emphatically as possible in his only subsequent start, and the other winners since the closure of Hollywood Park were Mor Spirit (Eskendereya) and Dortmund (Big Brown).

Winners in the last years at the original venue, on synthetics, included Shared Belief (Candy Ride {Arg}), Violence (Medaglia d’Oro), Lookin At Lucky (Smart Strike), Pioneerof The Nile (Empire Maker) and Into Mischief (Harlan’s Holiday). And though the race was only inaugurated in 1981, the preceding roll of honor (on dirt) includes A.P. Indy (Seattle Slew), Real Quiet (Quiet American) (outstaying Artax {Marquetry}), Point Given (Thunder Gulch), Captain Steve (Fly So Free) and Best Pal (Habitony). Five Derby winners have been beaten in the race: Ferdinand (Nijinsky), Alysheba (Alydar), Thunder Gulch (Gulch), Giacomo (Holy Bull) and Gato Del Sol (Cougar II).

Then there are brilliant but tragic names, faded by time: the second running was won by Roving Boy (Olden Times), who broke down fatally on his return–in poignant symmetry with Landaluce (Seattle Slew), who had brought the female juvenile championship to California as well, before being struck down by colitis. Grand Canyon (Fappiano), meanwhile, melted the stopwatch at 1:33 in 1989 (race then still at a mile) only to be lost to laminitis the following year.

Fate dispenses its favors as randomly among horses as anywhere. But any who persist in discerning some latent coherence beneath events may wonder whether destiny has summoned Positivity (Paynter) into the gate for this year’s race, in the week that we lost his venerable grandsire.

Had Awesome Again been born under the same malign star as Roving Boy or Grand Canyon, we would have been denied not only one of the best performances ever to miss a formal championship, in the GI Breeders’ Cup Classic of 1998, but also a long stud career decorated by one of the very best racehorses of the modern era in Ghostzapper. As it was, he was able to retire into the cherishing hands of Old Friends, and can be mourned at 26 as one of the most important Thoroughbreds ever bred in Canada.

His own sire Deputy Minister, of course, was an Ontario-bred grandson of Canada’s ultimate pride, Northern Dancer. As ever, we also need to credit Awesome Again’s dam, especially as Primal Force (Blushing Groom {Fr}) subsequently produced champion juvenile Macho Uno (Holy Bull). (Incidentally, as Primal Force’s sire was a grandson of Nasrullah, Awesome Again combined the two main highways from Nearco.) But it is as a son of Deputy Minister that I always had high hopes for Awesome Again.

Where lots of other people obsess about the putative interplay of sire-lines, I tend to view broodmare sires as a more reliable foothold for building a family. The phenomenon is easier to observe than explain, no doubt: as when the sires of those bluest of blue hens, Urban Sea (Miswaki) and Toussaud (El Gran Senor), both happen to be out of mares by Buckpasser. Anyhow, one way or another Deputy Minister has definitely recycled his own prowess as a broodmare sire.

As it happens, Touch Gold–from the same crop as Awesome Again–was out of a Buckpasser mare; so maybe his daughters, in turn, will produce useful broodmare sires in the likes of Commissioner (A.P. Indy) and Upstart (Flatter).

Awesome Again, for his part, is damsire of a young stallion with strong credentials in Accelerate (Lookin At Lucky). And all good breeders should definitely be interested in fillies by Keen Ice: his sire Curlin is out of a Deputy Minister mare, and his dam is by Awesome Again. (Moreover, Keen Ice’s fourth dam is Chic Shirine (Mr. Prospector); while earnings of $3.4 million across four seasons very much speak to that toughness we associate with Deputy Minister–not least in the case of Awesome Again, in his pomp at four and responsible for a many horses that thrived with maturity, like Game On Dude.)

And if Awesome Again’s outstanding legacy is obviously a son, then Ghostzapper is himself already damsire of a Triple Crown winner. (Albeit Bravazo, another son of Awesome Again himself now starting at stud, tried his best to prevent that happening when getting closer to Justify (Scat Daddy) than did any other horse, closing to half a length in the GI Preakness S.)

It is through Paynter, however, that Awesome Again may have a fitting memorial carved at Los Alamitos. Positivity could prove an important horse for Paynter, whose flagbearer Knicks Go put his name back in lights at the Breeders’ Cup. This colt has so far been confined to Cal-bred sprints, but stretching out could elevate his form along with the company he keeps. After landing a maiden on debut in May, at just 4.5 furlongs, he graduated to win a 5.5 furlong stake before rallying after an all-the-way winner, the pair a street clear, in the Golden State S. over seven. It’s a blue-collar family, for sure, but Positivity’s dam is by Ghostzapper’s half-brother City Zip. That looks a pretty evocative formula for the carrying of speed.

Obviously, they changed the race conditions when Hollywood Park closed, and the small print now specifies that only Bob Baffert can win. Certainly the $1-million yearling Spielberg (Union Rags) has been campaigned like one of the stars of his barn and he follows Red Flag (Tamarkuz) here after running flat on a quick turnaround in the GIII Bob Hope S. That was a breakout performance from Red Flag, however, after looking green winning his maiden on turf, and he is in the very best of hands.

It looks a short enough field, on paper, but then taking away those Grade I laurels can be self-fulfilling. All I know is that the gate will be usefully congested by the specters of those who have gone before, whether illustrious past winners (and losers) in this race; or the lamented grandsire of Positivity.

At least Awesome Again was able to complete his second career. Poor Tapizar was also lost this week, to an accident shortly before his departure for a fresh start in Japan. Actually, he was out of a Deputy Minister mare, so may yet achieve some distaff influence even with his premature loss. (Everyone certainly looks forward to seeing what Monomoy Girl may achieve, in that regard, once finally retired.)

In the meantime, however, let’s “accentuate the positive, eliminate the negative” and not mess with “Mr In-Between.” There’s a new year coming, during which we can legitimately hope that “positive” and “negative” will be restored to their former use, in days before anyone ever heard of COVID-19 testing.

So let’s celebrate the many good things bequeathed by Awesome Again; and, however his grandson gets on in his Futurity mission, let’s accentuate the Positivity for 2021.

The post This Side Up: An Awesome Legacy For a Positive Future appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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‘Awesome Indeed’: Awesome Again Dies At 26, Full Veterinary Report Pending

Old Friends distributed the following press release on Dec. 16:

1998 Breeders' Cup Classic winner Awesome Again died very suddenly yesterday at Old Friends Thoroughbred Retirement farm in Georgetown, Ky. The stallion was 26.

Michael Blowen, founder and President of Old Friends, made the announcement this morning.

The exact cause of death is unknown; however, a full necropsy is pending and a full veterinary report will follow.

The Canadian-bred son of Deputy Minister, Awesome Again had an exemplary resume as both a racehorse and a stallion. He broke his maiden at Hollywood Park in just his second start as a 3-year-old in 1997. He returned a few weeks later to capture that year's Queen's Plate Stakes at Woodbine. Back in the U.S. that summer the son of Deputy Minister went on to win the Grade 2 Jim Dandy Stakes and was third to Deputy Commander in the Travers Stakes (G1) at Saratoga.

At four, he completed an undefeated season that included five graded stakes victories, among them the Stephen Foster Handicap (G1), the Whitney Handicap (G1), and one of the most memorable editions of the Breeders' Cup Classic (G1), where, looking defeated, he rallied in the stretch to defeat Grade 1 winners Coronado's Quest and Swain and that year's Kentucky Derby/Preakness hero, Silver Charm.

He retired from racing in 1998 with nine wins from 12 starts and earnings of $4,374,590.

As significant in the breeding shed as he was on the track, Awesome again sired three champions: Ghostzapper, 2004 Horse of the Year and champion older horse; Ginger Punch, 2007 champion older mare; and Nominee, a multiple champion in Trinidad and Tobago. His other elite runners include Old Friends retirees Game on Dude — who captured 14 graded stakes and is the only three-time winner of the Santa Anita Handicap in history — and Awesome Gem, who captured the Hollywood Gold Cup at age seven; Breeder's Cup Distaff winner Round Pond; Breeders' Cup Juvenile winner Wilko; and 2019 Belmont Stakes winner Sir Winston.

He sired 13 millionaires and five multimillionaires as well as four Breeders' Cup Champions. Awesome Again was also the first Breeders' Cup Classic winner to sire a Breeders' Cup Classic winner (Ghostzapper).

Awesome Again had been retired from stud duty at Frank Stronach's Adena Springs in Paris, Ky., in 2019 and was pensioned to Old Friends in October of this year along with the stallions Milwaukee Brew and Silver Max.

“Anyone who ever saw Awesome Again on the racetrack or at Adena Springs knew he was aptly-named,” said Old Friends' Blowen. “I'm just sorry his time at Old Friends was so short because I know he would have made a searing, lasting impression on his many fans, and I'm so sorry that circumstances prevented him from displaying his greatness for a lot longer. Awesome, indeed.”

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