Not a single person ended up witnessing the race. Yet those in attendance–and a nation of fans who tuned in via the NBC Radio broadcast or read about the outcome in coast-to-coast newspaper coverage–seemed to be in vehement agreement for weeks afterward that the best horse didn't win.

The Race of the Century on Apr. 6, 1968, was a promotional stunt, the sport's first major attempt at using a computer simulation for a form of entertainment. It was also, in part, supposed to serve as a testament to the emerging–even intimidating–power of computing technology.

It might have been a bust on both attempts.

But if your barometer is the old marketing adage “even bad publicity is good publicity,” the event could retrospectively be considered a hit.

Morning Telegraph chart of the 'Race of the Century'

The imagined get-together of 12 of the greatest Thoroughbreds from different eras drew a decent amount of ink and interest in its day, and even today the concept of a “fantasy race” lives on. Every few years now in the 21st Century, as new fan favorites get added to the list of “greats,” the idea of a recreated showdown among epic champions keeps getting dusted off and repeated, powered by whatever latest and greatest technology happens to be in vogue.

In 1968, the entity that made its case for being the pre-eminent prognosticator of America's all-time historical horse race was a British technology team from the University of Liverpool's Department of Computation and Statistical Science.

Several months earlier, a panel of 150 stateside sports writers and broadcasters had been tasked with voting on the 12 luminaries who would line up in the digital starting gate, and they came up with (in eventual randomized post-position order) Count Fleet, Exterminator, Man o' War, War Admiral, Nashua, Citation, Tom Fool, Kelso, Buckpasser, Equipoise, Swaps and Native Dancer.

There was some pre-race griping that the selectors had concentrated too heavily on horses who had competed between 1948 and 1968. Today we would say that a “recency bias” contributed to the lack of better representation from horses who had competed in earlier times.

First came the knockout…

In partnering with the British computing team, Gulfstream was riding on the tails of a publicity experiment hatched by boxing promoters and a Miami radio station that had featured a computer-generated “tournament” among heavyweight greats past and present.

That venture had drawn criticism because, somewhat improbably, all the highest-ranked dead boxers and all the Black champs got eliminated via computer, leaving the popular (and white and still-living) Rocky Marciano and Jack Dempsey to slug it out.

Both retired champs were conveniently hired on for promotional purposes. The underdog Marciano scored a surprising “knockout.” Muhammad Ali ended up suing the promoters for $1 million in damages because he claimed his reputation had been tarnished by losing to the ghost of Jim Jeffries.

As columnist Robert Lipsyte explained in the New York Times, not many in the boxing industry seemed concerned that the computerized championship had come off like a badly scripted pro wrestling match. “People within boxing were not terribly exercised about the tournament,” Lipsyte wrote. “They are respectful toward anyone who can come up with a gimmick to make a buck, and are generally tolerant of fixed fights.”

Native Dancer | Coglianese

In racing, presumably, there would not be as much acceptance for outcomes that were more orchestrated than computed.

Britain had already had a brief go at accepting bets on computer-generated racing in 1967, when bookmakers enlisted the help of programmers to stage “The Computer Gold Cup” after a bout of foot-and-mouth disease had shut down real horse racing for 40 days. Punters ended up not clamoring for that sort of action, and with the return of the real thing, simulated racing was cast aside.

It was against this backdrop that Gulfstream supplied the Liverpool team information about the selected horses' class, weight-carrying ability, and overall race records, and in turn the programmers fed that data into the computer. Final and fractional times, point-of-call margins, and winning margins were also included, but the computing team disclosed that those factors would not be given as much emphasis.

It took two full weeks to upload what was essentially past-performance data for a 12-horse field into the machine.

Man o' War's trainer, the then-84-year-old Louis Feustel, openly predicted the star colt who had won 20 of 21 races in the era just after World War I would “gallop” in the 1968 simulation despite the impressive credentials of his rivals.

“I'd have to fear Buckpasser a little. And maybe Citation,” Feustel told the New York Times several days prior to the event. “But Man o' War was the greatest. Even when he was walking or jogging, he wanted to get there first.”

Overwhelming fave…

Not many racegoers and turf writers disagreed with Man o' War's trainer. There was no pari-mutuel betting on the race, but Gulfstream had a pick-the-winner contest that offered prizes, and about 50% of the public chose “Big Red.” An estimated 40% of the published picks in the press also had him on top.

Yet some pre-race writeups tried to get inside the “brain” of the computer. Steve Cady of the New York Times took a contrarian approach in his handicapping by noting that despite setting American or world records at five different distances while winning under imposts up to 138 pounds, “An ominous note for Man o' War could be the emphasis placed on class of competition.”

Big Red's competition was practically non-existent late in his 3-year-old season, when he scared most it away and started favored at odds as low as 1-to-100 in six match races and four stakes that attracted only two other starters.

This, Cady reasoned, would count against Man o' War based on what reporters had been told about the computing methodology. The programming blueprint gave more credence to horses from larger foal crops who raced more often against larger fields.

Man o' War was made the (ridiculously high) 4-1 morning-line choice, with Count Fleet, who swept the 1943 Triple Crown, at 5-1, and Citation, the 1948 Triple Crown champ, at 6-1.

All entrants were assigned 126 theoretical pounds, and for the most part, they were “ridden” by the jockeys most associated with their prime performances in real life. The event was scheduled to be run prior to the first live race on Gulfstream's normal Saturday card.

Count Fleet grave marker | Sarah Andrew

When the race went off, the University of Liverpool team transmitted positions and margins to Gulfstream at five-second intervals, and it was the job of press box impresario Joe Tanenbaum to formulate that data into a narrative and call the race over the public address system and for NBC.

There was a gasp of disbelief from the masses facing the empty track when Tanenbaum announced that Braulio Baeza had sent Buckpasser to the lead. Buckpasser had just retired the previous season after being named a champion in all three years he raced, and the crowd would have been well aware that this audacious move was totally contrary to the leggy, elegant colt's standard off-the-pace tactics.

Buckpasser led by a head over Citation, with Man o' War stalking another head behind in third in the early going. Fans staring at the running order on otherwise blank closed-circuit TVs saw little change as the stalkers allowed Buckpasser to open up by two lengths entering the backstretch. The top trio held their same positions past the half-mile marker, but Buckpasser's  leading margin had been sliced in half.

Around the far turn, Citation, the sport's first million-dollar-earner, swooped to the lead and now the main danger was clearly Man o' War, relentless in his pursuit and less than a length behind.

Big Red drove furiously at the smooth, efficient-striding Citation, extending his stride at a point in the race where jockey Clarence Kummer was usually easing him up in a romp. Man o' War loomed within a head 70 yards out, but Citation was emboldened by the challenge, surging under Steve Brooks to edge away by a neck at the wire.

Buckpasser hung on for third, ahead of Exterminator, Kelso, Swaps, Nashua, Tom Fool, War Admiral, Northern Dancer, Equipoise and Count Fleet.

Aftermath, and beyond…

An un-bylined New York Times recap reported the results with a tone of incredulity.

“Although no press box handicapper would fault Citation, a number expressed the opinion that 'Man o' War must be spinning in his grave,'” the story stated. “One handicapper who had picked Citation confessed that he believed 'Man o' War would have run all those horses off the track, but when I saw the factors they were considering for the computer, I figured the answer would come out Citation.'”

Even the simulated two-minute winning time for the 10-furlong race came under criticism, with some turf scribes noting that it was a fifth of a second shy of the actual Gulfstream track record established by Citation's lesser-heralded stablemate, Coaltown, who did not even come close to getting voted into the Race of the Century.

Russ Harris of the Miami Herald wrote that “the manner in which the dream race was run created a broad credibility gap between the data machine and oldtime racing fans.”

Citation at Belmont | Horsephotos

Sports columnist Arthur Daley of the New York Times put it this way: “Computers are only as reliable as the information fed them. This one obviously [shuffled] through cards that had been folded, bent, spindled and otherwise mutilated. How else can you explain a front-running whirlwind like Count Fleet lagging all the way and running last? How else can you explain a come-from-behind charger like Buckpasser blithely stepping in front even though he always loafed once he was in the lead?”

Maurice Hymans, the linemaker for the race, agreed. “Buckpasser never went to the front. Can you imagine Count Fleet being outrun to the first turn by Buckpasser? Why did they have to go to England to do this? Don't we have computers in this country?”

Turf writer Sam Engleberg, described by Harris as a renowned speed handicapper, expressed a frustration that would resonate today with horseplayers everywhere.

“They ought to smash the machine,” Engleberg said. “Twenty years after he's dead, I lose a bet on Man o' War.”

Lipsyte, of the New York Times, was still writing about the Race of the Century four months after it occurred, and his column about computers and sports from Aug. 12, 1968, contained profoundly prophetic words about how technology would unfold over the next six decades.

Although Lipsyte did not use the term “sports analytics” that we now hear every day, he aptly predicted it.

“In the future, the matings of Thoroughbred stallions and mares will be completely directed by computerized information, and stroke analysis in golf, play analysis in football, and scoring in ski-jumping will be electronically aided,” Lipsyte wrote. “There is no reason, except money, why professional baseball and football teams could not have elaborate systems designed to pin-point weaknesses and call plays. As long as computers are programmed by human beings, sports can only profit, through increased efficiency and fewer injuries, from electronic coaching aids.”

Yet Lipsyte also warned of the ominous effects of an over-reliance on technology, both inside and outside the world of sports.

“The Machine, you see, will eat anything a man feeds it and will swallow everything,” Lipsyte wrote. “People who are fearful of such things as rifles, projectiles, unsafe automobiles and sharp objects are almost unanimous in their fear of The Machine. They are terrified that their one human characteristic, rational thought, will be borrowed, improved upon, and never returned.”

The post Back To The Future: The Day Citation Beat Man o’ War appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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And when I say horses, I mean horses. Copelan once held Citation on the end of a shank. Ellis, for his part, remembers being taken to see a stallion by his father, who had 20 years previously been the first to slip a halter over the same horse's ears as a foal. His name was Man o' War.

It's a genuine privilege, then, to sample the pristine recollection and observation that unites the old friends, especially on a day when they're able to make up for TDN's intrusion with the company of a rather more welcome interloper in Arthur B. Hancock III-a mere stripling, barely into his 80s. (Ellis is 92, Copelan 97.)

Man o' War, Citation, Sunday Silence. Where do we start? How can we ever finish? Somehow we must make do with an hour or so of chat and this inadequate record. Right now Ellis is talking about his maternal grandfather, a Civil War veteran who seems to have spent his entire waking life in the saddle. “He died the year I was born,” he says. “I don't believe he ever was in a car. One time he rode a horse up the steps of the Phoenix Hotel in downtown Lexington. He was up and down those courthouse steps all the time, as well. They'd ask him to lead the Labor Day parade down Main Street. My mother was standing there watching and she heard this lady behind her saying, 'Look at old Colonel Redd, leading the Labor Day parade. Never worked a day in his life!'”

In 1929 Ellis's father was hired to manage Dixiana Farm by its new owner, Charles T. Fisher.

“And he was there until he died in 1964,” Ellis says. “Wonderful place to grow up. Mata Hari was foaled in the same 'crop' as me, 1931. She was top of the Experimental Handicap over the colts. Ended up dam of Spy Song, good speed horse for Dixiana and a very good sire as well.

“Mata Hari was out a Man o' War mare named War Woman. I'm pretty sure she was supposed to go to E.R. Bradley's to breed to one of those stud horses over there, but they just couldn't get her loaded. Next day, same thing. And they had this unraced horse named Peter Hastings turned out there. They said, 'We gotta breed this damned mare!' So they brought her round to him, and the only runner he ever sired was Mata Hari.”

But it was on tales of Man o' War that Ellis was raised. Like the time a clocker sought out his groom at Saratoga.

“What's the name of that big red colt?”

“Man o' War.”

“Who's he by?”

“By himself, mostly.”

Sunday Silence in Japan | Junji Fukuda

Or the day he came to stand at Elizabeth Dangerfield's farm. “They'd turned him out the first time and, that horse, all he ever wanted to do was run,” Ellis says. “So he was flying, and she called the groom out and said: 'Tom, God's sake go catch that horse before he gets hurt.' And he said, 'Miss Elizabeth, if all those good horses in New York couldn't catch him, how d'you expect me to?'”

“I'd trade anything to have been brought up at a place like Dixiana,” Copelan complains. “I was raised in the city. My father was managing editor of the Cincinnati Times-Star, which was owned by the Taft family. I always wanted a pony, but my parents would never get me one. So I had to wait until I was in Ohio State when I borrowed a fraternity brother's car, went out to Darby Dan and got a job with the broodmares.”

Copelan always had the build to be a jockey and, back then, that was still his dream.

“There was a mile racetrack on the farm,” he recalls. “We weren't allowed up there, but I couldn't get my mind off it while I was rubbing these broodmares. So one day I waited until after everybody left at 4 p.m. They had this spotted pony there and I put a saddle on him and rode down between these paddocks, where they had a yearling that was going to be sold at Keeneland. I remember one of them was out of Bloodroot [1946 Broodmare of the Year]. Well, these yearlings had never seen a spotted pony. And so one of them came running, jumped out onto the road in front of me, jumped into the other paddock, then with that other yearling raced down to the end, they both jumped that fence, and down into Big Darby Creek.”

Copelan pauses. He's a masterly storyteller, unfurling the words with dry precision.

“I wanted to be dead,” he resumes. “I'd done something that was illegal and dishonest, and didn't know but what those two colts were drowned. So I rode that pony up to Will Corman's house-he was the manager-and knocked the front door. And Mrs. Corman came to the door. 'It's suppertime!' 'Yes ma'am, I know, but I need to see Will.' 'You come back after supper!' And she started shutting the door. 'Mrs. Corman, please God, listen to me: I've done something and I need Will.' So Will came out. 'Well, what the **** you done now?' So we went down there and by now it's getting dark. It was eight or nine feet down into the Creek, but finally we saw their eyes in the flashlight. And we put shanks on them and didn't they just hop up that bank. We hosed them off, and Will said, 'These two S.O.B.s can't be worth a quarter. There's not a goddamned scratch on either of them!' And sure as the world, neither one broke their maiden.”

Next morning Copelan was on the carpet before the hardboot legend, Olin Gentry.

“And he was very calm,” Copelan says, still exuding relief and gratitude 75 years later. “He said, 'You did a damned foolish thing yesterday. I hope you learned a lesson. I know you wanted to be a jockey. I remember when I did.' And no matter what anybody ever said about Mr. Gentry, after that they couldn't say it in front of me.”

During veterinary college Copelan spent a couple of summers as an exercise rider at Calumet. For one of them, Citation was on the farm for running repairs. Once having held a medical tray for that horse, not even a patient like Secretariat was going to find Copelan overawed.

As for Ellis, he served with the navy in Korea before joining Dixiana's trainer Jack Hodgins at the Fair Grounds. That was where he first became aware of Copelan, who had just started in practice there.

“We knew that we both came from this area,” Copelan says. “I saw him every day, and he saw me every day. But we never spoke to one another.”

“He had time to run around with girls,” Ellis retorts teasingly. “When you worked for Jack Hodgins, all you ever wanted was to grab an hour of sleep. He had a lot of old time racetrackers working for him, and after payday I never knew how many stalls, I'd have to clean next morning. When we shipped back up to Kentucky or Chicago, first you had to load the horses and then you had to load the drunks. But though he was a tough old so-and-so, he kept them on.”

The first time their paths crossed unavoidably, Copelan was sent to inspect a couple of 2-year-olds Ellis was trying to sell.

“He turned them both down,” Ellis says. “I thought to myself: what a ****. But he was right. Neither one of them was worth a ham sandwich.”

Deciding that the racetrack was no place for a newlywed, Ellis switched to press and advertising. In 1958 he started filling in for the regular host of a 15-minute radio broadcast, “Post Time,” long the principal national hub for the latest results. Eventually he took over–and he's been “too stupid to stop” ever since, since 1998 entertaining devotees with two hours of “Horse Tales” every Saturday morning.

In fact, neither of these gentlemen have made much concession to age, albeit Ellis has conceded that he can no longer tend the couple of retired claimers he used to train. Instead he visits them every Sunday at Old Friends, where they rub shoulders with household names.

Yet Copelan yields nothing to his friend in terms of professional longevity. Five years the senior of the pair, he only ended a 65-year career in 2018, at 91-a career so pioneering that you routinely hear him invoked as an inspiration by outstanding practitioners of the next generation. But does Copelan want to tell us about the innovations he authored, or the champions he repaired? Nope: once again, he's instead telling a story against himself.

“Lester Joffrion trained a horse for a wealthy man from Chicago, and thought he was off behind,” Copelan recalls. “So I went to Arlington and they brought him up with a rider on. I said, 'Okay, jog him up there 100 yards, and then turn around and jog him back.' 'Oh man,' he said, 'you can't do that with this horse.' 'What d'you mean?' 'Jog him up there, he'd run off with you.' And I said, 'Let's get this straight, you mean to tell me you can't jog this S.O.B. 100 yards?' 'That's right.' 'Get down off that goddamned horse.'”

Copelan went back to the car for the boots he'd used to pay his way through college, exercising horses at Beulah Park.

“And I had a white coverall, remember when veterinarians used to wear those? So up I get onto that horse, with Lester on the pony next to me. So we jogged the 100 yards, turned round, jogged back. And just for the hell of it I jogged him another 100. So now we're on the racetrack and I said, 'Let's just jog him off here as well.' And Lester said, 'Doc, you know what you're doing?' 'Of course I do.' 'Because, listen to me, this S.O.B. is tougher than hell.' 'Well, we'll see. Turn him loose.'”

Copelan pauses. We know what's coming. Sure enough, the horse takes off. Copelan recalls yelling back, asking how far this horse was ready to go?

“And I just heard this voice fading away: 'To the Rocky Mountaaaiins…”

You really need to hear those unhurried, wry tones for the full, hilarious effect.

“I hadn't been on a horse for a number of years,” Copelan continues. “And soon my ace leg, the shorter of the two stirrups, went paralyzed: I had no feeling in it. So I was putting my weight on the outside, and this horse was running his butt off. I really was afraid for my life. And I thought to myself: 'You wanted to show them? Now look at you, you're going to kill yourself.'

“I didn't even know whether I'd gone by the wire and was going round again. But suddenly I saw this crowd at the gate, where the gallopers were coming on, so I just eased him to the outside, woah, and he pulled right up. And Lester galloped over and said, 'You can't breathe can you, you dumb so-and-so?'”

He shook his head, panting. And we, too, find ourselves wordless-only with mirth-after the pay-off.

“And you know the second last page of the Racing Form, where they published the workouts, and the horse that worked the fastest was in black letters? Well, I got black letters for my half-mile.”

But that episode had a happy sequel. It turned out that the horse's groom Sonny Henderson was originally from Lexington and, later, when he'd had enough shipping up and down between Chicago and New Orleans, he applied for a job at the surgery.

“And he worked with us for maybe 35 years,” Copelan says. “He meant a great deal to me: a wonderful man, knew his job so well. He and I were about the same size, and he's buried in one of my suits.”

The presence at the table of his old friend's son now prompts Copelan to share a couple of memories of Bull Hancock. Like the time at Hialeah when Bull asked him to X-ray a horse's knee. Copelan developed the picture and was coming back through the gate when Bull spotted him.

“And he came toward me at what I considered a higher speed than normal,” Copelan recalls. “As you know, he was an imposing figure. And he had that hat on, that the sweat had leaked through. 'Well, what did the X-ray show?' 'Bull, he's got a slab fracture.' And he took off that hat, threw it on the ground and stomped on it. 'Hell, I promise you one thing, I'm not going to operate on that S.O.B., I'll tell you that!' And he turned around and started back over toward the barn. And I was glad he was going that way. And then turned round and said, 'What day you want him up there?'”

Arthur Hancock at Stone Farm | EquiSport

Drone was another that had the same injury. Copelan remembers arriving at the Thoroughbred Club dinner straight after getting the results. When told, the big man was again distraught. “Goddamit!” he bellowed. “Right, I'm going to stand him, $25,000 a share! Are you in?”

“And I said yes!” says Copelan with a chuckle. “I didn't have anything like that money. But John Thornbury [his partner in Sunnyside Farm] and I bought a share, and he was certainly a good investment.”

“Daddy said he was best horse he ever had,” Hancock observes. “He could outrun Dike by 10 lengths, and Dike was third to Majestic Prince and Arts And Letters in the Derby. It broke Daddy's heart when he had that fracture. I remember him saying at supper, 'Lord's got his finger pointed at me, I'm never going to win the goddamned Derby. Best horse I ever had, and this happens.'”

As a celebrated raconteur himself, Hancock is soon on a roll. He's telling us how Forli came to Claiborne after being confined to his stall for some time, recuperating from injury. This was before tranquillizers were available, so his father suggested they walk the horse three or four hours before turning him out.

Hancock mimics the reply made by the farm veterinarian, Colonel Sager, in his upstate New York accents: “Oh, Mr. Bull, he's like a hospital patient that's been in bed two months. He's not going to have any energy.”

“So Daddy said okay, and we took him out in the field,” Hancock recalls. “We lined the paddock, I was there in one of corners. Well, Forli took off, jumped a double fence, cleared the first, hit the second, flipped over. I jumped across into the other paddock and caught him. All he'd done was skin a stifle. And Daddy just said, 'Goddam, Colonel!'”

Another time Sager decided that he would solve a curious quirk in Nasrullah, who never wanted to be observed eating.

“As soon as you walked up to his stall, he'd just stop,” Hancock says. “Wouldn't eat, wouldn't chew, he'd just stand there like a statue. So the Colonel said, 'I'm going to break the old gentleman of that habit.' And he pulled a chair up right in front of the stall. Eventually he came back and said, 'I sat there for three hours and in all that time the old gentleman didn't move once. So I decided to let him enjoy his meal and left.'”

All too soon, it's time to go. The talk has been regularly interrupted by friends and admirers, several women planting a kiss on Copelan's pate. These are all remarkable men, of a vigor and sparkle that amply entitles them to outstay even Fred W. Hooper, who lived to 103. It was Hooper who sent Susan's Girl to Copelan after she broke down in California. He patched her up so well that she was able to return and win a championship at six, adding to those already won at three and four. Hooper expressed his gratitude by naming her son by Tri Jet for the man who had salvaged her. Copelan, the horse, won three Grade Is as a 2-year-old.

In terms of caliber, however, even that puts him behind his human namesake. At the end of lunch Copelan gives a flawless recital of High Flight, the extraordinary poem written by the Spitfire pilot John Gillespie Magee Jr., who was just 19 when killed in a mid-air collision in 1941:

Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of Earth

And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;

Sunward I've climbed, and joined the tumbling mirth

Of sun-split clouds – and done a hundred things

You have not dreamed of…

What amazing things we humans are capable of, at 19 or 97! It is the “surly bonds” of time itself that these gentlemen appear to have slipped. And if a younger person will always leave their company feeling younger still, that has absolutely nothing to do with a mere contrast in years. It's because these men remind us, whatever our age, to live to the full each new day that we're granted.

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Showing just a single Group 3 win in his first nine starts in Great Britain, the chestnut gelding had his breakout performance with a victory in the G2 Sky Bet Great Voltigeur S. last August at York and validated that run with a convincing success in the local Jockey Club Derby Invitational S. before rallying from 13th to get up by a half-length in the Breeders' Cup. Making his 4-year-old debut in the G1 Longines Dubai Sheema Classic, he closed furiously from last of 15 to just miss, finishing second by a neck. He followed that with a mildly-disappointing runner-up finish as a 1-4 chalk in the G2 Betfair Exchange Jockey Club S. last out Apr. 29 at Newmarket. Regular rider William Buick flies in for the mount.

“We were delighted with his first run back as a 4-year-old in the Sheema Classic. He was a fast-finishing second,” trainer Charlie Appleby told the NYRA notes team. “We know the tracks he loves are the more conventional flat galloping track likes Meydan and Belmont. The American tracks seem to suit him. The race at Newmarket was a prep to come to America. I know he was a beaten favorite on the day, but our European tracks don't seem to suit him so much. We were pleased that we got a run into him and he came out of the race well. I've spoken to the team at Belmont on a daily basis and they're happy with the way the horse has shipped and trained so far.”

Though favored at even-money on the morning line, Yibir has a major rival in Otter Bend Stables' narrow 7-5 second choice Gufo (Declaration of War), who will look to make amends for the worst race of his career behind Yibir in the Breeders' Cup. A hard-fought winner of the GI Resorts World Casino Sword Dancer S. last summer at Saratoga, the chestnut made a huge, early move in the GI Joe Hirsch Turf Classic S. before flattening out to third over this course Oct. 9, and finished out of the trifecta for the only time in his 15-race career thus far when 10th at Del Mar. Removing blinkers for his 5-year-old bow in the GII Pan American S. Apr. 2 at Gulfstream, the Christophe Clement trainee scored an eye-catching two-length triumph, his sixth black-type conquest.

Second that day was Abaan (Will Take Charge), the only other horse in single digits on the morning line. Prior to that run, the Todd Pletcher pupil picked up back-to-back Gulfstream stakes victories in the two-mile H. Allen Jerkens S. and 12-furlong GIII W. L. McKnight S. before running fourth at 3-5 with a troubled trip in the GII Mac Diarmida S.

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EBS was founded by Living The Dream Stables, thoroughbred racing syndicates managed by Greg Harbut and Ray Daniels.  Martinez's Agave Racing Stable, Living The Dream Stables and Rockin Robin Stables own Miss Bigly (Gemologist), an entrant in Saturday's GII Santa Margarita Stakes at Santa Anita.

“As a third-generation horseman, and one of the few African American professionals in the industry, I am extremely excited about Agave Racing Stable's gift to advance our mission,” said EBS Chairman Greg Harbut, whose great-grandfather was the groom of Man O' War.

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“Too much misery in the world,” Joerg told lex18.com. “Might as well make someone happy.”

KHRC executive director Marc Guilfoil explained that the postcard also shows Man o' War's longtime handler, Will Harbut, whose great-grandson Greg Harbut currently serves on the commission. Man o' War is also buried just a short distance from the commission's offices.

Guilfoil plans to display the historic postcard, along with Joerg's hand-written letter, in a prominent place in the KHRC office.

“It just floored me that somebody would take their time to do something like this,” Guilfoil said.

Read more at lex18.com.

The post ‘Re-Distribution Of Happiness’ Touches Hearts At Kentucky Horse Racing Commission appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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Like Lexington, Tapit has now sired four winners of the Belmont: Essential Quality, Tapwrit, Creator and Tonalist. Tapit also sired Belmont runners-up Tacitus and Frosted, as well as Belmont third finishers Hofburg and Lani. An asterisk might be added for last year's fluke 2020 Belmont, which was 1 1/8 miles, where Tapit was the grandsire in the race won by Tiz the Law, sired by Tapit's son Constitution.

Broomstick sired three GI Preakness S. winners (and two GI Kentucky Derby winners). Bull Lea had three Kentucky Derby winners, as did Falsetto, Sir Gallahad (Fr) and Virgil. No horse has sired four winners of either the Kentucky Derby or the Preakness.

So when we speak of a horse that has sired four horses of an American Classic such as Tapit, this is rarified blood only accomplished by the legendary Lexington.

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Channel Cat earned the highest Beyer Speed Figure in three starts of his 6-year-old campaign with a 98 number for the effort, which added to Sisterson's 2020 wins with Vexatious in the Personal Ensign at Saratoga Race Course and True Timber in the Cigar Mile Handicap in December at Aqueduct Racetrack.

“It's very humbling,” Sisterson said. “I grew up with a dream but every time I dreamed, the alarm clock went off. Fortunately enough, there wasn't an alarm clock that got in the way yesterday. But I can't take any credit for this. I have to thank Channel Cat, and Calumet Farm for all they do. Unfortunately, I can't have all 50 staff members who do all the hard work in the winner's circle. The microphones are on me, but I just represent the staff, because they do all the hard work.

“It's not me winning the Grade 1. It's a big team effort,” he added. “You'd like to win a Grade 1 anywhere, but in New York, I used to read about races like the Man o' War and the Personal Ensign and the Cigar Mile. To be in a position to even compete in them, it's an honor. I'm just thankful for everyone behind the scenes who work to allow our horses to compete at this level.”

Sisterson, who worked under prestigious trainers Doug O'Neill and newly named Hall of Famer Todd Pletcher, went out on his own in 2018. He's had success with Channel Cat, who started his career under Pletcher's care, before being transferred to Sisterson late in 2020.

After running fifth in the Grade 3 W.L. McKnight to start his 2021 campaign in January at Gulfstream Park, the son of English Channel ran a competitive second to Say the Word in the Grade 2 Elkhorn going 1 1/2 miles on the Keeneland turf on April 17.

Sisterson worked Channel Cat once on the Keeneland main track before shipping to New York for the Man o' War, where Hall of Famer John Velazquez sent him to the front, setting the pace before the half-mile mark while having enough in reserve to fend off favorite Gufo's late charge to win the head bob in the 1 3/8-mile route.

“We were coming back in three weeks, but we had monitored him coming out of the Elkhorn and breezed him on the dirt and he breezed very well over it,” Sisterson said. “He had put on weight and looked good and we had to go for the Man o' War yesterday because he was doing so well. It was a tough field but we had an advantage with Velazquez riding. We couldn't have asked for a better setup going into the race.”

Channel Cat has primarily used his late-closing ability in recent starts, but Velazquez changed tactics on Saturday, dueling Field Pass at the front before leading the eight-horse field while finishing strong enough to complete the course in 2:13.34 under heavy pressure. Velazquez added another Grade 1 win to his ledger a week after posting the Kentucky Derby-Kentucky Oaks double with Medina Spirit and Malathaat.

“Going from the barn to the paddock, Channel Cat definitely looked energetic leading into the race,” Sisterson said. “There's been a spark in his training. It didn't surprise me that he was forwardly placed. I don't tell jockeys what to do, I can only make mistakes and mess it up for them. All the credit goes to John Velazquez for winning that race yesterday.”

Another quick turnaround could be a possibility with the Grade 1, $750,000 Resorts World Casino Manhattan going 1 1/4 miles on the turf a potential spot for Channel Cat on Belmont Stakes Day June 5. Sisterson said he'll see how Channel Cat comes out of his victory before deciding to enter, leaving open the possibility of targeting the Grade 1 United Nations on Monmouth Park's Haskell Day card July 17.

Channel Cat ran fifth, just 3 3/4 lengths back to winner Bricks and Mortar, in the 2019 Manhattan in a year in which he ran third in the United Nations, won the Grade 2 Bowling Green and finished third in the Grade 1 Sword Dancer at the Spa. Overall, Channel Cat is 6-3-5 in 26 career starts and upped his career earnings past the $1 million mark with his Man o' War score [$1,373,522].

“It took us awhile to figure him out,” Sisterson said. “I take the blame for his poor performance in the McKnight. I was breezing the horse too fast in the mornings and he ran a flat race, so I gave him two weeks off and I backed off him and slowed his works right down. I have a great staff and we figured out the way Channel Cat likes to be trained. We usually don't run them back that quick, so I just want to make sure I'm not running him back too quick. We're not going to count out the Manhattan and we'll leave it up to Channel Cat.

“We'll get him back home to Keeneland and turn him out in the paddock,” he added. “If we don't feel the Manhattan is the right spot for him, we might try the United Nations at Monmouth and come and wait for Saratoga for him. We have options; he's won the Bowling Green at Saratoga, so he likes the turf course up there. I don't want to get greedy and be selfish here. We have to put it in Channel Cat's hands now.”

Sisterson also singled out Calumet's farm manager Eddie Kane for praise, with the Kentucky-bred Channel Cat just one of the operation's many success stories.

“The one person I'd like to dedicate Channel Cat's victory yesterday to is Eddie Kane, because if it wasn't for him, I wouldn't be in this position,” Sisterson said. “He does everything. To be able to represent Eddie and Calumet with a homebred and win a race like that, I have to give credit.”

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Second to dual Cartier Horse of the Year Enable (GB) (Nathaniel {Ire}) in the G1 King George VI and Queen Elizabeth for Aidan O'Brien at Ascot last July, the 5-year-old enters off a close third in the Bahrain International Trophy Nov. 20.

The rail-drawn, 8-5 morning-line favorite kicks off his campaign for Chad Brown, who also secured the 2014 GI Belmont Oaks Invitational S. with Minorette (Smart Strike) for the Coolmore partners.

“We received him over the winter at Payson Park and he's settled into a nice work pattern,” Brown said. “He came over very sound, and in great shape from Aidan. He sure trains like a horse with a lot of quality. I've seen him train on firm ground in Florida and he's fine with it. He can handle some cut in the ground.”

Brown continued, “I'm not trying to reinvent the wheel with him, so if he has speed, I wouldn't take that away from him. He's pretty forward in his breezes. He grabs the bit and goes on. If he breaks well and Irad [Ortiz, Jr.] wants to put him on the front, I would be happy with that.”

The field of eight also includes the talented Gufo (Declaration of War). His sophomore campaign was headed by a win in the GI Belmont Derby Invitational S. Oct. 3 and a close third, beaten just a neck, behind the talented Domestic Spending (GB) (Kingman {GB}) and Smooth Like Strait (Midnight Lute) in the GI Hollywood Derby last out Nov. 28.

Domestic Spending, of course, returned to dead-heat for a win in the GI Old Forester Bourbon Turf Classic S. on the GI Kentucky Derby undercard with the latter right there in a close third.

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“America's Day at the Races” will be live on Saturday, May 8 on FS2 from 2-6:30 p.m. featuring the live programming at Belmont Park, which gets into full swing with five graded stakes. The Grade 3 Peter Pan Stakes, the local a prep for the Grade 1 Belmont Stakes on June 5, and the Grade 1 Man o' War on turf, will be the highlights of the day. On Sunday, May 9, “America's Day at the Races” will air on FS2 from 12:30-6 p.m. ET.

Saturday, May 8

2:31 p.m. ―$150,000 Grade 3 Runhappy Stakes at Belmont Park on FS2

Mr. Amore Stable's 6-year-old Florida homebred Firenze Fire, a winner of 12 races and more than $2.2 million, is the 4-5 morning line favorite against four rivals in the Grade 3 $150,000 Runhappy Stakes for 4-year-olds and up at 6 furlongs. Trained by Kelly Breen, Firenze Fire, ridden by the three-time Eclipse Award-winner, Irad Ortiz Jr., is making his 2021 debut. Last year, Firenze Fire won two Grade 2 stakes races at Belmont, capturing the True North in June and the Vosburgh in September. Following the Vosburgh, Firenze Fire finished a fast-closing third in the Grade 1 Breeders' Cup Sprint at Keeneland. Michael Dubb's Chateau earned his first graded- stakes score in March when the Rob Atras-trained 6-year-old gelding captured the Grade 3 Tom Fool Handicap at Aqueduct. Chateau will try to rebound from a well-beaten fourth-place finish in the Grade 1 Carter Handicap on April 3.

Entries: https://www.equibase.com/static/entry/BEL050821USA4-EQB.html

3:34 p.m. ―$150,000 Grade 3 Beaugay Stakes at Belmont Park on FS2

Three fillies and mares out of last year's Grade 1 Maker's Mark Filly & Mare Turf ― Harvey's Lil Goil (third), Civil Union (fifth) and Nay Lady Nay (IRE) (eighth) ― will be making their 2021 debuts on Saturday in Belmont's $150,000 Grade 3 Beaugay Stakes at 1 1/16 miles on turf. Trained by Bill Mott, and breaking from the rail under Junior Alvarado, Harvey's Lil Goil won the Grade 3 Regret at Churchill Downs and the Grade 1 Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup at Keeneland last year. Allen Stable's 6-year-old mare Civil Union, a winner five times in nine starts for trainer Shug McGaughey, captured the Grade 2 Glens Falls Stakes at Saratoga and the Grade 1 Flower Bowl at Belmont in 2020. Last year, the Chad Brown-trained Nay Lady Nay won the Grade 3 WinStar Matchmaker Stakes at Monmouth Park and was third in the Flower Bowl.

Entries: https://www.equibase.com/static/entry/BEL050821USA6-EQB.html

4:06 p.m. ―$150,000 Grade 3 Vagrancy Handicap at Belmont Park on FS2

Holly Hill Stables' 6-year-old Pacific Gale leads seven fillies and mares in a wide open renewal of the Grade 3 Vagrancy Stakes at 6 ½ furlongs. Trained by John Kimmel and ridden from post six by John Velazquez, Pacific Gale, third in last year's Vagrancy, has won both her starts this year, taking the Grade 2 Inside Information and the Grade 3 Hurricane Bertie at Gulfstream Park this winter. Stepping into graded-stakes company for the first time, the Brad Cox-trained French Empire is also unbeaten this year, coming from off the pace to win her last two starts at Oaklawn Park. Tommy Town Thoroughbreds' 5-year-old Victim of Love, trained by Todd Beattie, is the defending champion, winning last year's Vagrancy by 1 ¾ lengths at 27-1. Victim of Love, who was third, beaten 2 ½ lengths, in last year's Grade 1 Ballerina at Saratoga, finished second in an allowance optional claiming race at Laurel Park on Feb. 26 in her lone start this year.

Entries: https://www.equibase.com/static/entry/BEL050821USA7-EQB.html

5:12 p.m. ―$200,000 Grade 3 Peter Pan Stakes at Belmont Park on FS2

Klaravich Stables' Risk Taking is the 7-5 morning line favorite against five fellow 3-year-olds for Saturday's $200,000 Grade 3 Peter Pan Stakes, the local prep for the Grade 1 Belmont Stakes on June 5. After rocketing down the Aqueduct stretch to win the Grade 3 Withers Stakes by 3 ¾ lengths, Risk Taking will try to rebound off his seventh-place finish in the Grade 2 Wood Memorial on April 3 as the 5-2 favorite. Irad Ortiz Jr., the nation's leading money-earning rider, has the mount from post six. Michael Shanley's Nova Rags, a chestnut son of 2012 Belmont Stakes winner Union Rags, won the Pasco Stakes at Tampa Bay Downs in February and then was second in Grade 3 Sam F. Davis Stakes , and fourth in the Grade 1 Curlin Florida Derby for trainer Bill Mott. Recent Hall of Fame inductee Todd Pletcher sends out Overtook, second in the Withers, and Promise Keeper, a 5 ½-length allowance optional claiming winner at Keeneland on April 8.

Entries: https://www.equibase.com/static/entry/BEL050821USA9-EQB.html

5:44 p.m. ―$700,000 Grade 1 Man o' War at Belmont Park on FS2

New York's first Grade 1 turf event of 2021 brings international intrigue to Belmont Park on Saturday as Michael Tabor, Mrs. John Magnier and Derrick Smith's 5-year-old Sovereign (IRE), winner of the 2019 Group 1 Irish Derby, makes his U.S. debut under new trainer Chad Brown, headlining an eight-horse field for the 1 3/8-mile Man o' War Stakes. Formerly trained by Aidan O'Brien, Sovereign was second by 5 ½ lengths to Enable (GB) in last year's Group 1 King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes at Ascot. He has not started since finishing third in the Bahrain International Trophy at Sakhir on Nov. 20. Irad Ortiz Jr. has the mount breaking from post one. Otter Bend Stables' 4-year-old Gufo has a Grade 1 victory among his five wins in eight starts, taking the Belmont Invitational Derby last October for trainer Christophe Clement. He was also a fast-closing third in the Grade 1 Hollywood Derby last out on Nov. 28. The Bill Mott-trained Moon Over Miami was third in the Grade 3 MacDiarmida and second in the Grade 2 Pan American at Gulfstream Park in his last two starts. Three Diamonds Farm's Field Pass chased Raging Bull into the stretch of the Grade 1 Maker's Mark Mile at Keenland on April 9, before winding up fourth.

Entries: https://www.equibase.com/static/entry/BEL050821USA10-EQB.html

7:19 p.m. ―$100,000 Grade 3 Santa Barbara Stakes at Santa Anita Park on TVG

LNJ Foxwood's 5-year-old Tapwater is the 9-5 morning line favorite against seven fillies and mares in Saturday 1 ½-mile Grade 3 Santa Barbara Stakes at Santa Anita Park. Seeking her first graded stakes win, Tapwater, a gray/roan daughter of Tapit, is trained by Richard Mandella and will be ridden from post three by Flavien Prat. Tapwater finished fourth, beaten four lengths, in her previous start, the Grade 2 Royal Heroine at Santa Anita on April 3. Canadian-bred Rideforthecause, trained by Michael McCarthy, seventh in the Royal Heroine, won last year's Grade 2 Canadian Stakes at Woodbine for trainer Gail Cox. Madaket Stables, Laura De Seroux, Marsha Naify and Mathilde Powell's Neige Blanche (FR) has raced four times in the U.S. since coming over from France last year, with her best finish being a third in last September's Grade 1 Belmont Oaks Invitational.

Entries: https://www.equibase.com/static/entry/SA050821USA7-EQB.html

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Next in terms of earnings is Channel Cat, who won the Grade 2 Bowling Green Stakes in the summer of 2019 as well and who finished second in the Grade 2 Elkhorn Stakes in his most recent race. Another horse which earned a big win in 2019 but not since is Ziyad, who was victorious in the Group 1 Grand Prix de Deauville in August of that year. He makes his third start in the U.S. since importing last fall and has two third place efforts since then. Gufo won the Grade 1 Belmont Derby over this course last fall and just missed in the Grade 1 Hollywood Derby before taking time off, returning for his 2021 debut in this race.

Moon Over Miami won the Dueling Grounds Derby last summer, a race which doesn't yet carry a graded designation but with a seven-hundred thousand dollar purse similar to that of the Man o' War. Field Pass won the Grade 3 Ontario Derby and the Grade 3 Transylvania Stakes last year and makes his second start of 2021 following a fourth place effort in the Grade 1 Maker's Mark Mile. Shamrocket has two wins in 13 career races, none in a stakes race although he was third in the Dueling Grounds Derby last summer. So High rounds out the field and is running in a stakes race for the first time while still eligible for allowance races.

Gufo returns to racing following five months off but that is of no concern when coming back in a marathon on turf like the Man o' War Stakes. Gufo won the second through fifth starts of his career starting in December, 2019, through July of last year when taking the Kent Stakes, then just missed by a head in the $500,000 Saratoga Derby Invitational in August. Next, in his first and only start on the Belmont turf, Gufo won the Belmont Derby in October with a 104 Equibase® Speed Figure which was very strong for a 3-year-old.

In his final race of the year, Gufo was exceptionally game when rallying from last of 11 to be in a three horse photo on the wire, losing by a head and a neck with a 107 figure. The horses which beat him that day, Domestic Spending and Smooth Like Strait, are near the top of the turf division in North America having just finished first (in a dead heat) and third last weekend in the Old Forester Bourbon Turf Classic Stakes. Now a more physically mature 4-year-old, Gufo should run even better than he did last year and that makes him the one to beat in this year's Man o' War Stakes.

Field Pass is also a 4-year-old and has a similar pattern to Gufo which suggests he could run a big race in this situation. Last summer, Field Pass proved his stakes quality when winning the Audubon Stakes and Transylvania Stakes in succession. In October, Field Pass earned a career-best figures of 109 when third in the Twilight Derby, won by Smooth Like Strait (who finished third in the Turf Classic last weekend). After winning the Ontario Derby on all-weather in November with a new career-best 110 figure, Field Pass finished fourth in the Mathis Brothers Mile Stakes (won by Smooth like Strait) before resting to begin his 2021 campaign.

In his comeback race last month, Field Pass was not disgraced when finishing fourth of nine in the Maker's Mark Mile and appears very well spotted to improve considerably in his second start of the year to be a factor in this race. Although he's never run this far, as a son of Lemon Drop Kid he should have no problem successfully running the distance because a STATS Race Lens query reveals the sire has produced four top graded stakes winners at similar distances.

Sovereign has been working steadily in Florida and New York for his U. S. debut. He is now in the barn of top trainer Chad Brown, who has a very strong knack with having his horses coming back from layoffs and making their U.S. debuts in top shape. A STATS Race Lens query reveals over the last five years, Brown has won with six of 22 (27%) similar starters in graded stakes. Sovereign earned the biggest win of his career when winning the Irish Derby in 2019 easily by six lengths. Since then, Sovereign has finished second or third in five races. One of those was when second to the incomparable mare Enable in the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes last summer at Ascot, an effort which earned a 117 figure good enough to win the Man o' War if repeated.

Honorable mention has to go to Ziyad, who earned a 111 figure last October in his U.S. debut when third and beaten just two lengths in the Sycamore Stakes. Similarly, Channel Cat earned a 115 figure last month when second in the mile and one-half Elkhorn Stakes. As such I wouldn't argue with anyone who considered them contenders to win this race.

Also, Moon over Miami earned a decent 109 figure when second in the Pan American Stakes at a mile and one-half at the end of March and may fit as a contender as well. I don't feel the same way about Shamrocket, who although earning a 109 figure at the end of March did so at a mile and one-eighth and in a non-graded stakes so appears a bit overmatched. So High is definitely overmatched in this field as his best effort earned an 89 figure and he is still eligible for the first allowance condition as well as was running in a claiming level race as recently as December.

Win Contenders:
Gufo
Field Pass
Sovereign (IRE)

Man o' War Stakes – Grade 1
Race 10 at Belmont
Saturday, May 8 – Post Time 5:44 PM E.T.
One Mile and Three Eighths on Turf
Four Year Olds and Upward
Purse: $700,000

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