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Prominent Owner Paul Pompa, Jr. Passes Away

Paul Pompa, Jr., who campaigned dual Classic winner Big Brown (Boundary) in partnership, passed away unexpectedly Saturday, according to Jerry McClenin, Pompa’s cousin-in-law and stable manager. He was 62 years of age.

Big Brown was trained by Pat Reynolds to a spectacular debut victory at first asking at Saratoga in 2007 after which IEAH Stables bought into the colt Turned over to Richard Dutrow, Jr., Big Brown won the GI Florida Derby, GI Kentucky Derby and GI Preakness S. before being eased when going for the Triple Crown in the GI Belmont S.

Other graded winners campaigned by Pompa included Grade I winners Backseat Rhythm (El Corredor) and Connect (Curlin) as well as other graded winners D’Funnybone (D’wildcat), Night Prowler (Giant’s Causeway) and Tommy Macho (Macho Uno). In 2020, he has been represented by the likes of GIII Peter Pan S. winner Country Grammer (Tonalist), homebred GIII Quick Call S. hero Turned Aside (American Pharoah) and ‘TDN Rising Star’ Regal Glory (Animal Kingdom). The latter is a daughter of Mary’s Follies (More Than Ready), acquired privately by Pompa in 2009 and who has since bred Japanese Group 3 winner Cafe Pharoah (American Pharoah). The bulk of Pompa’s success was with trainer Chad Brown, but others of his graded winners were conditioned by Todd Pletcher and Linda Rice.

This story will be updated

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Derby Disappointment Behind, Drury Looking Forward to Preakness

At this stage exactly four weeks ago, trainer Tom Drury, Jr. was sitting pretty with Art Collector (Bernardini), who figured the solid second choice in the GI Kentucky Derby four days hence. But, as happens all too often in this game, fate intervened, and 24 hours later, Bruce Lunsford’s homebred was a high-profile defection from the Run for the Roses. A month later, the colt will again try to play the role of spoiler, this time as the morning-line 5-2 second favorite to Derby hero Authentic (Into Mischief) in Saturday’s GI Preakness S. at Pimlico.

“I guess doing this as long as I have, you go through this so often,” the conditioner told a group of media assembled for an NTRA teleconference Monday afternoon. “A horse is injured or something goes wrong or you don’t get into a race you want to get into. You almost become a little desensitized to it because you’re used to it happening.”

He continued, “That being said, it was tough, but there are so many other things that it could have been. It was something that could be addressed pretty easily and knowing that the Preakness was right behind the Derby, we just immediately turned the page and started moving on to the next race. There wasn’t really any time to sit around and cry about it. We had four weeks to get ready for this one and we needed to focus on getting him as good as we could get him for this race.”

Art Collector’s injury was so minor that by Sept. 12, he was back on the worktab at the Skylight Training Center. The bay has since recorded two good-looking moves at Churchill, five furlongs in :59.40 (2/38) Sept. 19 and a half-mile in :48 flat this past Saturday. From Drury’s perspective, Art Collector is sitting on go for the raid on Old Hilltop.

“I think his last two works have shown his hand a little bit,” he commented. “I don’t think you could ask for a horse to work any better. He seems like he’s happy enough, he’s kind of throwing his ears up galloping out. At this stage, he seems like a horse that’s doing well and we can go take our best shot with.”

Art Collector has proven to be anything other than pace-dependent during his current four-race winning streak. Though he wired the field in a Churchill allowance in June and again in the Runhappy Ellis Park Derby Aug. 9, he settled a few lengths off the speed in the GII Toyota Blue Grass S. and raced past Swiss Skydiver (Daredevil) to win with a bit in hand. Drury said that post three should give Brian Hernandez, Jr. some options.

“I would expect him to be forwardly placed until they get into the first turn and then Brian can decide where to go from there,” Drury explained. “Ideally you’d like to be forward going by the stands for the first time. One of my favorite things about this horse is that it seems like he’s got a little stop-and-go to him. You can use him, but then get him to shut back off if you need him to. Sometimes in these races like this, that can be very beneficial. You can use him to get where you want him to be, but then get him to come back off the bridle and wait for another cue.”

Tom Drury’s horse of a lifetime has taken the better part of 35 years to find. And he’s very much enjoying the ride.

“We’ve had some really good horses go through the barn, but Art Collector has taken my career to places I never dreamed it would go. He’s just a member of the family,” Drury said.

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Preakness Hopefuls Tune Up

A trio of candidates for the GI Preakness S. at Pimlico Oct. 3 turned in their final serious moves Saturday morning at Churchill Downs.

Bruce Lunsford’s Art Collector (Bernardini), who was forced to miss the Sept. 5 GI Kentucky Derby owing to a minor foot injury, tuned up for the final leg of this year’s reconstituted Triple Crown by drilling a half-mile in :48 flat with big-race rider Brian Hernandez, Jr. in the saddle. The GII Toyota Blue Grass S. and Runhappy Ellis Park Derby hero was caught in fractions of :12.40, :24.40 and :35.80 before galloping out six furlongs in 1:13.60. The half-mile clocking ranked as the seventh-fastest of 78 works at the distance.

“Brian and I discussed it beforehand, and that’s what we were shooting for,” said trainer Tommy Drury about the methodical splits, “I told Brian, ‘He’s a 12s kind of horse. He seems to do that easy enough, so let’s just do what he does easily.’ Kind of textbook: 48, out in a minute. I think they had him three-quarters (of a mile) in 1:13. He seems to have bounced out of it well. Now we just stay out of his way for a week.”

“I think he got plenty out of his work last week, so we were just looking for something maintenance this week,” Drury said, “and that’s kind of his maintenance work. Brian was letting him cruise along. I didn’t see that he ever moved his hands. We got exactly what we were looking for.”

With jockey Florent Geroux at the controls and blinkers back on, Albaugh Family Stables and Spendthrift Farm’s Thousand Words (Pioneerof the Nile) went five furlongs in 1:00.60 in splits of :11.80, :24.40 and :48.20. He, too, was out three-quarters of a mile in 1:13.60. The $1-million Keeneland September yearling purchase was scratched from the Derby after flipping in the paddock.

“We were hoping that he would do something like this,” Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert said from California. “He had to work better than he did last week. Last week, he was just sort of lazy and didn’t get into it, but now he worked really well. This week he was very willing, which is very good. You want to see a horse that is very willing and he was very willing today.”

“I thought he worked a lot better today with blinkers,” Geroux told the Churchill notes team. “Last week was his first work over the track so he didn’t wear them but went very easy. It was a bit more of a serious work today.”

Swiss Skydiver (Daredevil) breezed five panels in 1:00.80 beneath Tyler Gaffalione. The GI Alabama S. winner and recent runner-up in the GI Longines Kentucky Oaks clicked off fractions of :12, :23.60 and :35.80 before pulling up six furlongs in 1:15.20. Trainer Ken McPeek later told Daily Racing Form that Swiss Skydiver has been given the green light for the Preakness.

Country Grammer (Tonalist), winner of the GIII Peter Pan S. and fifth-place finisher in the GI Runhappy Travers S., breezed a half-mile in :50.25 Saturday morning at Belmont in preparation for a scheduled Preakness start.

Liveyourbeastlife (Ghostzapper), runner-up in the GII Jim Dandy S., worked six furlongs in 1:16.20 at Belmont.

“He had a nice maintenance breeze this morning; nice and steady. I wasn’t looking for anything crazy,” trainer Jorge Abreu said.

Jesus’s Team (Tapiture), third in the Jim Dandy S., breezed five furlongs in 1:03.40 at Monmouth Park Saturday morning in preparation of the Preakness.

Undefeated Federico Tesio S. winner and ‘TDN Rising Star’ Happy Saver (Super Saver) and GI Belmont S. runner-up Dr Post (Quality Road) will both bypass the Preakness. Trainer Todd Pletcher said the former will target the GI Jockey Club Gold Cup Oct. 10 at Belmont Park.

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Nijinsky II Awarded QIPCO Diamonds and Pearls Award

British Triple Crown hero Nijinsky II (Northern Dancer) won the King George VI & Queen Elizabeth S. 50 years ago this year, and was awarded the QIPCO Diamonds & Pearls award, Ascot Racecourse and QIPCO announced on Thursday. The award celebrates the winner of a vintage renewal of the King George. Owned by Charles W. Engelhard, Jr. and trained by Vincent O’Brien, the bay delivered as the only 3-year-old in the field, having already claimed victory in the 2000 Guineas, Epsom Derby and Irish Derby. After his King George triumph, he would add the St Leger and become the last British Triple Crown winner to date. At stud, he sired 155 black-type winners, including G1 Epsom Derby winner Shahrastani and GI Kentucky Derby hero Ferdinand in the same year, 1986.

“I am delighted to receive the QIPCO Diamonds and Pearls award,” said Nijinsky II’s former jockey Lester Piggott. Nijinsky was a wonderful horse and was unbeaten at the time. There was a lot of hype going into the King George–the opposition was decent, they were good horses, every one of them had a chance. You had all the best–obviously we thought he would win. He came to the other horses in the straight so easily, it was hard to believe really but he won in a canter. It was a wonderful win and was probably the best performance of his career.”

Click here to view the video of Lester Piggott reliving Nijinsky II’s King George.

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