Chris McGrath | Horse Racing Free Tips

‘We Almost Shocked The World’

They know perfectly well, by this stage, that the apostrophe shouldn't be there. They've been asked, and told, about it often enough. But you know what? They're fine with that. They have come round to the view that it fits the horse, that quirky outlying touch; fits their whole story. Because really there's no way they should be here, either.

“Every year, 20,000 foals are born,” reflects Anthony Sagan. “And only 20 make it to the Derby. But not only did we make it, we were a length off winning it. We almost pulled it off, almost shocked the world.”

Sagan's father Phillip is one of the two octogenarian namesakes in the entourage who prompted the naming of Two Phil's (Hard Spun), that consoling sunbeam through the black clouds that had gathered over our sport last Saturday.

Even the 20 who drew a gate for the GI Kentucky Derby had not yet finally confounded the odds. No fewer than five were withdrawn between declaration and post time, three substitutes completing a field of 18. But Two Phil's, bred from the only Thoroughbred the Sagan family ever bought and ignored by every expert in the first session of the Keeneland September Sale, not only showed that he belonged. He actually took command turning into the stretch, and saw off every challenger bar Mage (Good Magic).

Second place, so near and yet so far, notoriously invites mixed feelings. But the Two Phil's team are still buzzing from an unforgettable day, even if it's only human to dwell on the bittersweet sense that Two Phil's touched, but could not quite grasp, the hem of turf history.

“Yes, we were happy and sad all in the same moment,” Sagan admits. “We were so proud of the horse and what he's accomplished. And we were sad because we just almost did it-and the odds of us getting ever back to there are… Well, it's like winning the lottery, will be in the billions. So many people try to get to the Derby every year, so many big-time owners and sheikhs and billionaires. And a little guy like us, we almost pulled it off.”

Mage and Two Phil's | Coady Photography

There had been corresponding support for the team all week, on the backside, and above all during the coveted “walkover” with Two Phil's, and the 17 others elected by fate, from the barns to the paddock. Being relative novices–the Sagans had previously only dabbled in a few Standardbreds–they were taken aback by the emotional intensity of that ritual.

“We didn't even realize that it was such a big deal, and what it entailed,” Sagan acknowledges. “It was an incredible experience; I can't even describe it. People along the rail, yelling and cheering and high-fiving us, screaming for Two Phil's: 'Let's go!' I'd never seen anything like this in my life. We didn't know how many fans the horse had out there. I think he'd kind of become a fan favorite, kind of the hard-working, blue-collar horse.”

He was also a Chicago horse, in spirit at least. His trainer Larry Rivelli won every Arlington training title from 2014 until the track's heartbreaking closure in 2021 by the same corporation that now provided the stage for this fairytale. Co-owner Vince Foglia of Patricia's Hope LLC, meanwhile, had been leading owner there since 2015. And Jareth Loveberry, who started out round a “five-eighths bull-ring” at Great Lakes Downs 18 years ago, had won its last two riding titles. Cast adrift from Arlington, here they were coming ashore with a horse that asked no favors and gave no quarter.

Poignantly, the Sagan family had spent their harness days at another doomed Illinois circuit, Maywood Park. In dipping their toe into the Thoroughbred world, however, they gave $40,000 for an unraced 3-year-old filly by a failed stallion, General Quarters. She had been recommended by two seasoned horsemen, Jerry La Sala and Gene Lotti, and their judgement was vindicated when Mia Torri became a dual stakes winner and twice finished second in graded stakes.

At this point they reached the first of many junctions, many roads not taken, on the winding road that ultimately led to last Saturday.

“The smart move would have been to sell her,” Sagan concedes. “At one point, we were being offered $300,000–plus for Mia Torri as a broodmare prospect. But she always had a special meaning to us. We'd named her after my grandma. And I always had a gut instinct, even when she got hurt and had to retire, that she could be something more. Horses like this don't come around very often. If you take the money, and then go out and buy some others, what are the chances you'll find one as good as this? The odds are way against you.”

It didn't look as though the gamble would pay off after Mia Torri lost her first foal, but she went back to Hard Spun for her second cover. This priceless conduit to the great Danzig had been picked out for the Thoroughbred rookies by Steve Leving, another stalwart of the Chicago racing scene. (Indeed, he would eventually re-enter the saga as Loveberry's agent.) Hard Spun was tough, classy, versatile, and fairly priced-and he also complemented the mare physically.

“Fortunately, the foal got the father's body and frame,” Sagan recalls. “Mia Torri's well put together, but she's not a really big, powerful-looking mare. But right from when he was born, he also got his mom's head: her demeanor, her attitude, her mental fortitude.”

The colt was foaled, raised and broken by Elise Handler at Spruceton Farm, Kentucky: yet another instance, in this story, of someone seizing a rare opportunity and reaching the highest standards. Handler got him through some of the usual baby issues and by the time the Keeneland inspectors came, they wanted to put him into Book I of the September Sale. But here was another twist in the road.

“Because with his pedigree he probably didn't probably belong in that first book,” Sagan says. “These people were experts, they knew what they were doing, and obviously saw something they liked in him. But placing him where they did probably kept us involved in the horse. Because if he'd been in Book III, we would probably have sold for $100,000.”

As it was, Hip 62 didn't meet his reserve at $150,000. They tried again, at OBS the following spring, and Jimmy Gladwell has since told Sagan that the colt had outworked all his other charges that winter. But he didn't sparkle in his breeze and it was clear that he would fall through the market cracks.

“You know what?” Gladwell said. “He's better than this. Take him home.”

With the fathers of Sagan and La Sala both sharing the same name, the colt was registered as Two Phil's and entered training with Rivelli, whose main patron Foglia also bought into the horse. (Latterly, the horse having put himself in the Derby picture, Madaket Stables came in for a piece too.) And the rest is history: Two Phil's emulated Hard Spun by winning the race now known as the GIII Jeff Ruby S., before finishing second in the big one.

Two Phil's | Coady Photography

The Turfway race also produced Rich Strike (Keen Ice) to stun everyone in the Derby last year, but Two Phil's arrived with far wider belief behind him–not least after taking to the track so well in the GIII Street Sense S. last fall. So, while the whole team was cognizant of their privilege simply in securing a Derby gate, they weren't just in town for the ride.

“Just qualifying for the race, yes, that was a major accomplishment for this horse,” Sagan says. “But we believed that we had a real chance to win. I got there on Monday, because I knew that this was a once-in-a-lifetime shot and wanted to take it all in. And every morning on the backstretch people came up, wanted to take pictures and talk.”

A big Chicago crew assembled on raceday: Sagan's sisters, his nieces and nephews, a bunch of cousins and friends. And of course, Foglia had a lot of people with him, too, as did Rivelli. It felt like they had a long afternoon ahead, hanging out, walking around, soaking it up. The two Phils, characters both, did a spot on NBC. And before they knew it, it was time for the walkover.

Then a media group not only trained a camera on Sagan but hooked him up with a microphone and even a heart monitor.

“They said they wanted to share the experience of an owner watching the Derby,” Sagan recalls. “I said, 'Guys, I might swear a little bit!' They said not to worry, they'd get rid of that. But if we won, this would be all over the world news. My dad was down on the rail, but he couldn't even pick his head up. He was so nervous, he wouldn't watch it. He wanted to win for my mom. She just passed in December, she loved the horse, and would have been so proud to be a part of this. So, it was emotional for all of us.”

That heart monitor must have melted when Loveberry pounced from his stalking position.

“When he took the lead in the stretch, it really felt like we were going to win the Derby,” Sagan says. “I knew this horse has a huge heart, how hard he tries every time. Every other horse that had been near the front, they all finished 14, 25, 50 lengths back. But Two Phil's kicked on and got beat a length. The race he ran wins the Derby, like, nine out of 10 years. He ran a phenomenal race but hats off to Mage, we just came up short.”

Though Rivelli has decided to sit out the GI Preakness S., Two Phil's has put himself firmly in the elite of the crop and promises all kinds of excitement in the second half of the campaign. Meanwhile he has also brightened the future for his dam, who was bred back to Omaha Beach this spring. The Spendthrift stallion is already sire of her 2-year-old colt, apparently very handsome but just held up by a minor issue as a $32,000 RNA at Fasig-Tipton's Kentucky October Sale. He is in pre-training with Gladwell, while a yearling colt by McKinzie is being prepared for a likely appearance at the September Sale.

Sagan pays warm tribute to the way everyone involved, from farm to racetrack, has contributed to the development of Two Phil's.

“We're family-oriented people,” he says. “We try to stay with family businesses, and we're loyal. Everyone did a great job and we're happy that they got on the radar with Two Phil's. These horses don't come around too often, so it's pretty special for all of us. Jareth gave him a great ride. He saw the hole, he went for it, and almost pulled off an amazing upset. And with Larry, the horse always comes first. He gets them the best treatments, the best vitamins, the best feed. And he's got a great team.”

Team Two Phil's at Derby Draw | Coady Photography

After a fairly harrowing week for our community, this horse can help to keep the faith in the game's redemptive potential-if only we can do our bit right.

“Listen, I know there's a lot of black eyes around Thoroughbred racing right now,” Sagan accepts. “And these big tracks like Churchill make so much money, they should be doing everything they can to make conditions as safe as possible.

“But yes, horse racing needs these stories to keep the game going. How about Cody's Wish? That's another feel-good story. Some of these horses have a lot of meaning to people. We need to put that out there, make people realize that this game is not just about money and fame. Guys like us are a perfect example. This was sport, a hobby, something we love. Sure, it's awesome to succeed. But it wasn't our goal to make money. That's almost impossible to do. We managed to pull it off, but the horse did it, not us. He does all the work, and he deserves all the credit.”

Sagan is little too modest here. He's a poker player, after all, and has always been a gambler. And it took a risk-taker's instinct to keep his family aboard for this thrilling adventure. It would have been a more prudent option, no doubt, to take the money for Mia Torri; and not to persevere with her son when repeatedly rejected at market.

“But if you've got a good product, you stick with it, and that's what we did,” Sagan says. “We did feel this mare was going to be special. But yes, it's like a fairy story. You have one horse, you breed her, and you almost win the Derby. I remember the day he was born. Elise sent me a picture. It was an awesome thing, like, wow. But never in our wildest dreams could we imagine that any of this could happen.”

Hence the connection people demonstrated with the horse, making that Derby walkover: here was living, breathing, hard-running proof that everybody has some kind of chance.

“In the betting line, he was not a longshot,” Sagan notes. “He was 9-1, actually the fourth choice. But the story of this horse is what makes him a longshot. How he was bred, where he came from, and all the things that happened to him along the way. He was the underdog.

“Everyone on the backside was saying how good it was to see a new face get to this spot in the game. Mostly it's Pletcher, Cox, Baffert, the same guys with three or four horses every year, and the same ownership groups. Nothing against any of them. They put a lot of money into the game, and deserve any success they get. But it's good that a small-time guy with one horse can get to the Derby. It gives hope to other people that play this game. It shows that anything's possible.”

The post ‘We Almost Shocked The World’ appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

Sadler Staying On Flight Path

As noted by colleague Bill Finley earlier in the week, we've just passed the 50^th anniversary of Secretariat's sophomore debut. Yet even two years ago hardly anyone had heard of an unraced son of Tapit, meanwhile acclaimed by many as the best American Thoroughbred since.

Okay, so he had been a seven-figure yearling; and everyone who had participated in his education knew that he was something special. In fact, John Sadler was so aware of the impending responsibility that he was saying nothing. For one thing, if people had any inkling of the talent he was about to detonate, the races wouldn't have filled. But also because this, like all secrets, was a burden as well as a privilege.

Looking back, Sadler accepts that doing justice to Flightline felt like so intense a duty that it could not come without some personal cost.

“I kind of devoted my time to him to a point where I probably shut some people out,” he admits. “The odd dinner at night, that kind of thing. I really drilled down, I said to myself, 'I'm going to walk this walk with this horse.' I wanted to be right alongside him, every step, because I knew it was going to be so special. So here I am today, light mood, happy as heck, because I always said my time to celebrate would be when it was over. Very early on, I said to myself: 'I'd like to pitch a perfect game.' That's a career goal. And we did.”

But so much of life is about the pursuit, rather than the actual moment of fulfilment. Sadler, tall and bronzed, looks in great shape at 66. But now that he has consummated a generational dream, can he still maintain the same motivation?

“We've been pondering that a lot,” he acknowledges. “But like B. Wayne Hughes of Spendthrift Farm used to say, 'My health insurance is that group of yearlings over there.'”

So, while he knows that he can hardly expect another Flightline, Sadler also feels that the true horseman's appetite, happily enough, can never be finally sated.

“I'm pretty confident I'll have a lot of good horses come my way, because I still want to do it,” he says. “If there's a time to not do it, I'll know when that is. Somebody said I'd retire right after Flightline. But rushing into a decision like that, with horses, is always rash. Time will see where we're at. I've got some really good young people in my operation. They've invigorated me the last several years and really make me excited about the future. My assistant Juan Leyva is just going to be a phenom, and I've a couple of other guys like that. So I'm really not feeling a lot of pressure.”

And, actually, that's just why it's appropriate to catch up with Sadler now, when the dust has settled and Flightline is embarking on a new career at Lane's End. Because the horse himself was such a meteor, burning with almost agonizing brightness as it became clear how fleeting his passage was likely to be, that he almost became a communal possession. As such, we rather lost sight of his more intimate context: of the decades of groundwork that prepared Sadler for the task that would define his career.

That long accretion of experience didn't just make him eligible, but also duly appreciative. Yes, he could feel vindicated–not least after the notorious torments he endured, for much of his career, at the Breeders' Cup–but the true gratification was personal, not public. Because for the great horsemen, it's about the process, the daily and seasonal cycles of engagement. If that ultimately produces a champion, then it all makes sense. And, that being so, then of course you continue with the immersion.

“Totally, a lifestyle,” he replies, when asked how he views his vocation now. “It's the journey that I've always loved: horses coming in, and seeing where they go. You don't want to be like a claiming trainer, slashing around here and there, but to develop horses. I think that's where my strong suit is. And for this to hit at this time, in the latter part of my career, is so special. When I started out, I wanted to be known as a good professional. I know I achieved that. But then to get these great horses is gravy on my career.”

Because don't forget that Sadler started out right at the other end of the scale. With no background in the game, he learned under tough, old-school horsemen, and laid the foundations of his own career with tough, fast Cal-breds.

“I've had to battle stereotypes my whole career,” he muses. “When you're a young trainer, you get locally-bred horses and those happen to be sprinters. And we did well with them. So, as I started getting better horses over the years, and won important races over a distance of ground, that's fun. But every year they'd write how Sadler can't win at the Breeders' Cup. And you'd be beaten a head. Or find yourself running against Miesque. I think I did that three years, and I ran against Goldikova a couple of times, too. And when you do that, it doesn't matter if you have the best turf horse in California.”

Flightline | Breeders' Cup Eclipse Sportswire

But if Sadler had a long wait for the best materials, in one respect he could not have been more blessed.

“Oh, absolutely!” he exclaims. “I came under a brilliant class of horsemen. They may not have all been perfect human beings. In that era, they might have smoked or drank too much. But they were self-made guys and really knew what they were doing.”

He absorbed priceless insights assisting racetrack vet Dr. Jack Robbins, observing the day-to-day methods of clients like Ron McAnally and Gary Jones.

“It was great practice,” he says. “I loved that we were going in all these different barns: you could take something from every one of them and then build your own program. And Dr. Robbins himself was so smart. A tremendous veterinarian, obviously, but also a successful horse owner, one of the charter members of the Oak Tree Racing Association. Tough guy, opinionated guy, smoker, drinker, but just a great man.”

Robbins could see that his protégé was unusually attentive. Sadler might say, “Oh, Doctor, I went over to such-and-such a barn and suggested a vitamin shot for that horse.” And Robbins would reply, “Oh John, no, that was a terrible idea!” And then he'd wink.

Sadler also learned a great deal as assistant to Dave Hofmans, though his big break came in 1979 when Eddie Gregson had taken on a big client and was looking for someone, he could trust to take four or five to Golden Gate Fields. There were things going on–a pari-mutuel strike, people shipping out–and Sadler quickly learned not to turn down horses. By the end of spring, he was up to 30 or 40.

Gregson's heartbreaking end, by his own hand, still grieves all who knew him. “He was really a bright guy, very sensitive, he knew food and wine and was very cultured,” Sadler recalls. “It caught everybody off guard, nobody saw that coming. But you never know what goes on with people. A great guy and a great trainer also.”

Besides these mentors, Sadler cherishes no less affection for the horses who also assisted his education. He'll never forget the $100,000 match, at Santa Anita in 1991, where his Cal-bred speedball Valiant Pete (The Irish Lord) beat Quarter Horse champion Griswold in a world record dash. And then there was the $50,000 claim Olympic Prospect (Northern Jove).

“He didn't run very well the day we claimed him,” Sadler recalls. “But he became really an important horse for me, early on. You couldn't train him very hard, but he ended up winning every sprint stake in the state. One day Patrick Valenzuela got on him, I can't remember what happened to the usual jock, in a race called the Potrero Grande [now the GIII Kona Gold S.]. He just let him roll, and they went that first half-mile in 42-and-change. And won! I mean, he was tiring at the end. But I've never seen that, before or since.”

With that kind of background, it meant a great deal to Sadler gradually to disclose a mastery with two-turn horses. Whatever pinnacle it might also represent in the story of the breed, let's not forget that Flightline last summer–by a bewildering 19¼ lengths–was his barn's fourth different GI Pacific Classic winner in five years, all owned (part-owned, in this case) by Sadler's cherished patrons at Hronis Racing.

That streak was started by the slow-burning Accelerate (Lookin At Lucky), whose campaign at five would have made him a lock for Horse of the Year but for landing in the same ballot as an unbeaten Triple Crown winner. He remains Sadler's richest runner at $6.7 million. “I just love him to death,” Sadler says. “His foals are going to be like him, they'll be later types, but I've two or three [of his first crop] that I really like and I'm expecting a lot of them to come forward as the year goes on.”

But Flightline was a freak from the outset. “He never hid his talent,” Sadler says. “April Mayberry called me from the farm and said, 'John, this horse gives me goosebumps.' She's been doing it a long time, and the only other to give her that feeling had been Zenyatta. So, we were expecting a lot when he came in. And even after the first, short piece of work, we were all just going, 'Wow.'

John Sadler with Flavien Prat | Benoit

“I mean, usually, I have to train them up. This horse, it was just a straight line. He's already there. He was so willing, from day one he just wanted to do it. Most of the early training was about getting him to relax and carry his speed. Even when he broke a little slow, he was very keen to charge out there between horses and push them aside. So, it was just about calming him down a little.”

While it was bittersweet only to race Flightline six times, Sadler absolutely understood his retirement. It would have been virtually impossible to find domestic opposition, unless or until a sophomore champion proved willing to take him on, while the insurance of fresh challenges overseas would have been eye-watering.

Whatever life after Flightline may comprise, it's been an incredible odyssey for the stockbroker's son who gazed across a paddock fence one summer vacation and fell in love with the horses grazing there. It should plainly end in the Hall of Fame, for which Sadler has a belated nomination this year. In some ways, perhaps he doesn't stand out from the production line of his profession merely in terms of his craggy six feet and four inches. And he does admit that there have been times when he has sensed a little resistance, notably in East Coast perceptions.

“You get that a little bit,” Sadler concedes with a shrug. “But you know what, when you've been training a long time, I don't really let those things bother me. I love training a stable of horses. I like where I train. I'm very comfortable doing what I'm doing. And, when you've been doing it a long time, you tend to end up with clients that are people you really like. So, I feel I'm in a good place. Like I said, I've hit most of the marks I want to. You can't worry about that kind of stuff. I mean, anything can happen with horses–and that's what's fun.”

That willingness to fight your corner, feisty and independent, was something he always loved about the California circuit.

“I was always trying to model after the guys that might not have had the best horses, but were always very hard to beat,” he remembers. “Even back then, they went out and won everywhere. I loved Tommy Doyle going over to win the Belmont [in 1975, with Avatar]. When California ships out, the results have always been amazing–and continue to be, to this day.

“We don't have gaming or casinos but we have the most beautiful tracks in the world and we always hold our own. Yes, when there's 15 protestors, versus 40,000 on opening day, and I'm signing autographs with Flavien Prat for an hour and a half, it's the 15 protestors that get all the noise. But California's led the way in all sorts of reforms. It's an adjustment, but you either embrace it or get stuck in the past.”

Sure enough, California has now given us one of the all-time greats soon after producing the only Triple Crown winners of modern times; not to mention a mare that arguably reached a wider public than any of them. Zenyatta's trainer, incidentally, is also deservedly nominated for the Hall of Fame–and would certainly join Sadler in stressing their shared debt to David Ingordo, now purchaser of three GI Breeders' Cup Classic winners.

“I was a friend of David's father so I've known him since he was in short pants,” Sadler says with a chuckle. “Actually, I do have a picture of him in short pants! He calls me Uncle John sometimes. So, it's been fun for me, and a source of great pride, to see how his business has developed. He's a tremendous, tireless worker, and obviously brilliant at it.”

Whether on behalf of his closest circle, then, or the entire Turf community, Sadler says he's profoundly grateful for the benediction he shared over the past couple of years.

“Many of the horses Flightline beat were really never the same afterwards,” he remarks. “He was a very dominant colt. At the Breeders' Cup one morning, Juan was coming off the track just as Epicenter was going up and Juan said he could feel Flightline rise up under him, literally making himself bigger like a rooster, as that horse came by.”

And something else happened that week. One morning Sadler's phone rang and there was Ron McAnally, 90 years old and still rooting for that lofty young man who used to follow Dr. Robbins round the barn.

“John,” McAnally said. “Don't let those photographers bother Flightline. I had that once with a horse, they were pestering him every five minutes, and he didn't run any good.” Sadler hardly needed telling, but was still blown away. “Okay, Ronnie, I really appreciate that.”

Ron McAnally | Benoit

McAnally, of course, had bred Rock Your World (Candy Ride {Arg}), who won the GI Santa Anita Derby for Sadler a couple of years ago. That connection had given him an extra buzz, and now it was adding something memorable to the Flightline adventure, too.

“That was a special call for me,” Sadler says. “He's one of the good guys and it was great that he wanted to pass that on to me, that he was still thinking of me. Like I said, as a young trainer I relied on the older guys a lot. I had great mentors. You'd sit around in the cafeteria, and these guys were so colorful, some of them in that era were doubtless politically incorrect–but they knew their stuff.”

By the same token, nothing pleases Sadler more today than when a young trainer seeks his counsel. Evidently that doesn't happen as often as a generation ago.

“That's a shame because horsemen are really very generous with their knowledge,” Sadler says. “I think to be a good horseman is intuition based on experience. And I do have the background: I walked hots, I groomed, I came up from the bottom of the stable. I didn't come in at the management level. So, I put in the years. And it's been a great journey. None of this happened overnight. It's like the guy that did 50 movies before he won the Academy Award. It's a lifetime of work.”

The post Sadler Staying On Flight Path appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

This Side Up: Veterans’ Day at Oaklawn

When it comes to ageing, as the wiseguys remind us, it's when you're over the hill that you begin to pick up speed. And it's true: the magnolia trees where I live are coming into blossom, and I swear that each passing year compresses both the duration of those brief candles and, above all, the intervals in between. The inference is a dismal one: time flies when you've had your fun.

So on a weekend when we temporarily suspend our search for the adolescent Thoroughbred maturing sufficiently to beat his peers on the first Saturday in May, let's celebrate the fulfilments that remain available later in life–whether on two legs or four.

The GIII Essex H. is the kind of race that warms the cockles of my heart. Last year it retrieved graded status, and deservedly so after increasing its purse fivefold between 2016 and 2021–a telling snapshot of the thriving Oaklawn program. And this time round it throws together a couple of evergreen veterans who show that whether age turns us into vinegar or vintage wine is largely up to us.

Listen to this edition of This Side Up.

In the case of D. Wayne Lukas, it actually stands to reason that he should still maintain the standards of his heyday even with a much smaller barn. True, he does seem as blessed in indefatigability as in the genius he always brought to his vocation, and harnessing one to the other has simply given a fresh dimension to his unique status in our community. A wider application, however, surely applies to the principle that any decline in the physical powers even of lesser mortals is compensated, and amply so, by experience.

It's not as though anyone sends an expensive Thoroughbred to a given trainer because he might otherwise have made a cage-fighter or lumberjack. I've never understood why “ageing” trainers (an alarmingly elastic concept) should have become unfashionable as they certainly are in my homeland. Some of the biggest yards in Newmarket these days seem to be supervised as a perk accompanying appointment as head boy at various prep schools. As I have frequently remarked, if I owned the Derby favourite, and he had a foot in a bucket of ice the evening before the race, I would rather my trainer was dealing with the problem for an umpteenth time, and not the first.

It would be nice to think that a few people pondered this after the longest-serving trainer in Newmarket won the Arc last autumn, and I was delighted to learn that Sir Mark Prescott will be training for the new monarch this year. On the other side of the water, meanwhile, Lukas himself offered a similar prompt to reflection with Secret Oath (Arrogate) in the GI Kentucky Oaks last year. Though he was now closer to 90 than 80, perhaps one or two people recognized that the guy might finally be getting the hang of the game.

Admittedly it was hard, after Rich Strike (Keen Ice) emerged from nowhere (both figuratively and literally) the next day, to resist a wistful sense that Secret Oath in that form might well have cut down the boys in the Derby after all. While her form then tapered off, last weekend she looked as rejuvenated as her trainer when resurfacing at the track where she first made her name.

That was a gratifying sight, after her breeders had resisted all blandishments to keep her in the Briland family. And Last Samurai, who represents Lukas in the Essex, similarly looked better than ever when taking his earnings past $1.6 million in the GIII Razorback H. Even in his fourth campaign, however, he remains a relative greenhorn compared to the horse who closed for fourth that day.

Rated R Superstar (Kodiak Kowboy) won this race last year, as he had back in 2019 when a callow 6-year-old, and now bids to retain the trophy on his 68th career start. Here's a horse, then, to renew the perennial question: who do we blame for the fact that the modern Thoroughbred is treated like porcelain? Is it the trainers themselves? Or do they only treat horses this way because of the raw materials they're nowadays given by breeders?

One trainer who sets himself apart in that respect is Kenny McPeek, who actually trained Rated R Superstar through his first 30 starts, including when third in the GI Breeders' Futurity. And on Saturday McPeek takes on his old buddy with another who exactly matched that effort as a juvenile, in Classic Causeway.

This time last year, this horse had just won the GII Tampa Bay Derby and was sketching out an apt memorial as one of just three colts in the final crop of Giant's Causeway. True to that legacy of toughness and versatility, in the summer Classic Causeway reinvented himself in startling fashion, winning a Grade I on turf just two weeks after finishing third in the GIII Ohio Derby. Few American trainers today would dare attempt anything like that, so who can presume to anticipate what he might yet achieve back on dirt?

This week McPeek has already dusted off another of last year's sophomores to make a really heartening return. It certainly seems a long time since Smile Happy (Runhappy) beat Classic Causeway (then in another barn) in the GII Kentucky Jockey Club S., not having been seen since his midfield finish in the Derby. But his rehearsals last spring had confirmed him among the best of the crop, and it's very wholesome to be reminded that there is life after the Triple Crown trail. Three years ago, after all, Last Samurai himself trailed in a distant fifth of six in the GI Arkansas Derby; while his rivals Saturday also include Silver Prospector (Declaration Of War), who had bombed out in the previous running of that race.

So let's hope that Litigate (Blame) can likewise return to build a career commensurate with his talent and potential after the hugely disappointing news that he's out of the Derby. All of us have some kind of stake in this horse doing enough to earn a place at stud, given that he has Numbered Account (Buckpasser) facing Thong (Nantallah) on either side of his pedigree. As that indicates, he has been in the best of hands throughout and hopefully his time will still come.

Even without him, the GII Louisiana Derby next week looks deep enough for horses to show that they could have a legitimate shot at Churchill but without banking enough points to prise open a gate. If that happens, however, nobody should despair. You might yet end up with a millionaire contesting the Essex H. in 2025. There are worse fates. Because what they say of people is probably just as true of many a horse: youth is wasted on the young.

The post This Side Up: Veterans’ Day at Oaklawn appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

This Side Up: Tapping At That Derby Door Again

We had the Forte (Violence) bit last week. Now for the piano. The champion juvenile resumed his sonata in virtuoso fashion, reprising themes established in its first movement with familiar verve. From his barnmate Tapit Trice, in contrast, we have so far only had a couple of experimental arpeggios–but even those have sufficed for their trainer to remove the local trial winner from his path in the GIII Lambholm South Tampa Bay Derby on Saturday.

Now there are perfectly coherent grounds within his own game plan for evicting Litigate (Blame) to New Orleans, where he can open the final cycle of higher-graded qualifiers by contesting more starting points, and more money, over more real estate. Litigate having already sampled stakes competition, it's Tapit Trice who would seem more likely to remain in need of experience before the first Saturday in May. (Four of Todd Pletcher's five previous Tampa Bay Derby winners took in either the Wood Memorial or Blue Grass en route to Churchill.)

Even as things stand, however, a lot of people feel that the gray has the potential to wind in the geographical spread that typically makes the Kentucky Derby what it is–a showdown, on neutral ground, between the emerging leaders of their various local packs. While the center of gravity for the hibernating crop has arguably tilted away from Florida in recent times, with Oaklawn and the Fair Grounds offering a strengthening foil to the Californian talent pool, this time the two key protagonists could conceivably be strolling the same shedrow at Palm Meadows.

Listen to this week's edition of This Side Up here.

Tapit Trice has explored different dimensions of his talent despite a brief career to date, having set up his flamboyant allowance display with a gutsy maiden defeat of a colt who underscored his own talent when second in the GIII Gotham S. last week.

In that context, I can't omit to complain that Raise Cain (Violence) surely merits rather more respect than he has been receiving for a visually quite staggering exhibition at Aqueduct. You only have to think back to last year's Derby to see what can sometimes happen when a horse switches from synthetics to dirt, while hindsight discloses in Raise Cain's earlier races a pretty cogent foundation for what he did last Saturday.

Even switching from grass to synthetic prompted a barely less revelatory performance from Congruent (Tapit) in the John Battaglia Memorial S. (Both Raise Cain and Congruent, incidentally, graduate from the mystery tour that gave us Rich Strike (Keen Ice) last year). For now, however, Congruent is primarily a reinforcement for a sire whose admirers are rooting for Tapit Trice largely because it would be a travesty for the Derby to remain the single glaring omission on a glorious resume.

At 22, Tapit is in the evening of his career and his books will increasingly be curated with all the prudence you would expect of the Gainesway team who have managed his career so superbly. (And who also, by the way, bred and co-own Tapit Trice.) As such, his remaining shots at the Derby are clearly finite. It was looking pretty promising two winters ago, when he had Essential Quality playing the Forte hand, with Greatest Honour and Proxy coming through pianissimo. In the event, Essential Quality instead made Tapit the only modern stallion to produce four winners of the GI Belmont S.

Essential Quality | Sarah Andrew

To put that record in its epoch-making context, it is shared with a 19th century stallion whose stock was adapting exceptionally well to the novel demands of what–relative to the punishing four-mile heats contested by Lexington himself–was almost a form of sprint racing. (For instance, Lexington also produced nine of the first 15 winners of the Travers, then over 14 furlongs.) The idea of showcasing the speed of younger horses, in a single dash, had gained prestige through the Classics introduced in Britain the previous century. For many of us, however, that arc has since been followed too steeply–to the point that the Belmont is now a unique test of the American sophomore's stamina.

I've often remarked on the dilution of the Kentucky Derby tempo since the willful exclusion of sprint speed by the points system, and conceivably this has also contributed Tapit's wait for the winner he so deserves. Setting aside last year's aberration, the race is no longer making the same demands that formerly identified the kind of speed-carrying genes we should be looking to replicate. Essential Quality, for instance, found himself in a procession of a race, the protagonists maintaining their relative positions virtually throughout.

Unluckily, moreover, the colossus who bestrides even all Tapit's other work was only able to explore a second turn as an older horse. Otherwise, of course, Flightline offers the perfect template for anyone who spends seven figures on a Tapit yearling, such as the one now hot favorite for the Tampa Bay Derby. Whether Flightline should command a higher fee than his sire is another matter: it will be 2026 before he can sire the winner of a maiden claimer, while Tapit has 30 Grade I winners and counting.

Flightline | Horsephotos

Not that we can ever neglect the bottom half of the equation. The Fappiano mare Jeano, for instance, appears not only as third dam of Essential Quality but also as fourth dam of none other than Forte. This branch of the La Troienne dynasty has already produced a Derby winner in Smarty Jones. But while Tapit finished midfield that day, covered in slop, he now stands on the brink of a fresh series of landmarks in his second career.

Tapit Trice is bidding to become Tapit's 99th graded stakes scorer and (through Thursday, at any rate) his 991st individual winner. The earnings of his stock, already unprecedented, have just tipped $195 million. Moreover these tallies have been achieved at an exceptional clip, underpinned by equally outstanding ratios for starters (84 percent of named foals) and winners (63 percent).

And that's what I adore about the legacy he has been putting together: Tapit has not allowed the huge books of the commercial age to distort his efficacy, instead maintaining a dependability poignantly at odds with the extraneous frustrations that hindered his own fulfilment on the racetrack. How apt that Tapit claimed the earnings record from one whose ferrous qualities earned him celebrity as “The Iron Horse”. Of what, then, must he be made? Tungsten? Whatever it may be, he's worth his weight in it–no less than that first Derby, as and when it finally comes, will absolutely feel worth the wait.

The post This Side Up: Tapping At That Derby Door Again appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post