Posts Tagged ‘gio ponti’

We are pleased to introduce a new weekly feature today, the Paulick Report Forum brought to you by Breeders’ Cup. Every Wednesday, we’ll talk with a Thoroughbred industry player about the game we all love, trying to get a better understanding of where we’ve been and where we may be headed. One thing I’ve learned throughout my years in this industry is that nothing comes easy. We are a sport and a business fraught with divisiveness, incoherence and confusion. But at the same time we are blessed to have many participants with great intelligence, insights and dedication. In short, we never know where the next good idea may come from.

We hope you will read each week’s Forum, offer your thoughts on the subject being discussed, and suggest to us other areas where we can advance the discussions that need to take place to get our industry moving in the right direction once again. Thanks to the Breeders’ Cup for their sponsorship of this process. 

It surprised me when Christophe Clement said that he has spent half of his 44 years in the United States. Maybe it’s the heavy French accent he still retains, or simply the blur of the years going by so quickly. But the third-generation horseman has made America his permanent home since 1991. He’d spent a couple of years here in the 1980s, working for Taylor Made Farm and trainer Shug McGaughey, before returning to Europe, where he served for four years as assistant to Luca Cumani in Newmarket, England. Earlier in his life, he had apprenticed for the master horseman Alec Head in Chantilly.

Clement, coming off an outstanding year when Gio Ponti won two Eclipse Awards for the Ryan family’s Castleton Lyons as turf male and older male champion, is preparing the 5-year-old son of Tale of the Cat for a possible run at the $10-million Dubai World Cup. He’s looking at a prep race at Tampa Bay Downs on turf in February prior to taking on the world’s best over the Tapeta Footings surface at the new Meydan racetrack in Dubai. Gio Ponti is coming off a second-place finish to Zenyatta in the Breeders’ Cup Classic over the Pro-Ride synthetic track at Santa Anita.

In this, our first Paulick Report Forum brought to you by Breeders’ Cup, Clement provided some insights about the sport of Thoroughbred racing and how it’s changed during his lifetime.

What is it about international racing that is important to you?
First of all, with the Dubai race I can give you 10 million reasons. If it was a million-dollar race, I wouldn’t be going. I would be going instead to the Santa Anita Handicap. In the case of the Dubai World Cup, the purse has a lot to do with it.
 
But international racing is important. I’m just a trainer, but if I was a breeder or an owner, I would say it is very important for the breed to know which horse is the best and which sires are better. I saw an article in the TDN that said, as recently as 20 years ago, 80% of the world’s leading stallions stood in the United States. Today that number is 50%. The United States does not permeate world breeding the way it was 20 years ago.

From a personal standpoint, I don’t get as many fillies or mares sent from Europe to race here and then be bred to American stallions. Their owners are keeping them in Europe.
 
Why the shift?
A couple of things. First there is medication. People refuse to talk about it, but a lot of people in Europe still don’t want to breed to U.S. sires because those horses raced on medication. A lot of Europeans do not understand why we continue to allow medication while the rest of the world is doing OK without it.

That’s one of the factors. It is an issue for some people. There are two things I would like to see changed. I am convinced Grade 1 races should not be handicaps. It’s not healthy to use weight to try and beat the best horses. Allowance conditions are fine. This is something Bobby Frankel and I talked about, and Bobby was against handicaps in Grade 1s. I also believe there should be no medication in Grade 1s because we use these races to improve the breed.

So why do we continue to permit it?
I don’t know. Every track is different. There is no federal authority. No racing commissioner. The Graded Stakes Committee took grades away from Pennsylvania because they failed to do the proper testing, but there is limited means to enforce national rules. I’m just a trainer. These are some of my thoughts. I’m trying to win a race tomorrow.

You said there were two major reasons for the shift in stallion power away from the U.S.
Right. Secondly, the two groups, the Maktoums and Coolmore, have given European breeders access to some very good stallions because they are retaining some of the best racehorses. Twenty or 30 years ago the world’s best horses came to Gainesway—horses like Lyphard, Riverman, and Blushing Groom. This year, apparently no American farms bid for Sea the Stars. 20 years ago an American farm would have. Aside from Giant’s Causeway and Kingmambo, it’s been quite a while since an exciting European horse came to the United States as a sire. The top milers in Europe are no longer coming here, either.

What training methods have you adapted from your European background?
I am more American than European. I’m 44 and have spent more time in this country than anywhere else. But I’ll say this. When Sir Michael Stoute or Andre Fabre wake up in the morning they have a choice of tracks on which to train their horses. Here it’s the main track or the training track. Those guys have a much wider choice for their horses.

We should have access to all surfaces: dirt, turf and Polytrack.  If you have a good dirt track, like in New York, a good turf course, and a good Polytrack surface to race or train over on days when it’s very wet, it would be very popular. But the problem is who pays? It would be very expensive. In an ideal world, that’s the way it would be. A dirt track should be safe if maintained the right way. Turf is safe, and off the turf races could be run on a Polytrack.

You recently cut back on the number of horses you have in California. Is it because of the problems with Santa Anita’s surface?
It’s Mother Nature. I’m not against Santa Anita. They did everything they could. Wherever you are, you have to deal with Mother Nature. It’s been very wet out there. One reason Gio Ponti came back East is I found that the flight to Dubai will be easier from Florida than California.

In the United States all trainers think they are track superintendents, but the track superintendents know their job. There is no ideal surface 365 days a year. Bob Baffert was really negative on Polytrack, but he’s such a smart guy and a good trainer he’s really adapted. He’s doing great on that surface.

What can American trainers learn from others around the world?
When you work for the people I’ve worked for, you learn that change is not always negative. People in racing don’t like change. Change is not always a bad thing. We should be more open minded about change. A typical thing is the synthetic tracks: trainers should be more open minded. Of course it will not be perfect from day one, but it is ridiculous to be so against it, just as it is ridiculous to be against dirt racing. It doesn’t have to be one or the other. The Kentucky Derby is on dirt and should remain on dirt, and the Belmont Stakes is on dirt and should remain on dirt. But we shouldn’t exclude Polytrack from our racing because it represents change.

Finally, how do you feel about Rachel Alexandra’s owner Jess Jackson’s recent comments that the field for the 2009 Breeders’ Cup Classic was not nearly as good as the 2008 race when his Curlin was defeated?
I think it’s just another reason that he should have participated in the race.

Copyright © 2010, The Paulick Report

Savvy businesses recognize value. Advertise in the Paulick Report.



Sign up for our Email Flashes to get the latest news, analysis and commentary from Ray Paulick

It’s finalist day for the 2009 Eclipse Awards. With perhaps the exception of Dolphus Morrison as a finalists for breeder, no real surprises among the list of candidates. Headlined by Rachel Alexandra and Zenyatta as the only two listed in the Horse of the Year category, the complete list of the finalists are listed below.

- Bradford Cummings

Female superstars Rachel Alexandra and Zenyatta lead an all-star cast of finalists for the 2009 Eclipse Awards, recognizing excellence in Thoroughbred racing. Winners in all categories will be announced at the 39th annual Eclipse Awards ceremony, to be held Monday evening, January 18, at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel in Beverly Hills, Calif.

The announcement of the finalists was made today by the National Thoroughbred Racing Association (NTRA), National Turf Writers Association (NTWA) and Daily Racing Form (DRF), the three presenting organizations of the Eclipse Awards.  

The three-year-old filly Rachel Alexandra, winner of all eight of her starts in 2009, including the Preakness Stakes; and the five-year old mare Zenyatta, who won all five of her races last year and culminated her undefeated career by becoming the first female to win the Breeders’ Cup Classic, are the two candidates for Horse of the Year. Rachel Alexandra and Zenyatta were the only two horses to receive votes in the Horse of the Year category.  

The Eclipse Awards finalists (in alphabetical order) are:

·          Horse of the Year:                Rachel Alexandra, Zenyatta        

·         Two-Year-Old Male:               Lookin At Lucky, Noble’s Promise, Vale of York (IRE)

·         Two-Year-Old Filly:                Blind Luck, Hot Dixie Chick, She Be Wild            

·         Three-Year-Old Male:             Mine That Bird, Quality Road, Summer Bird

·         Three-Year-Old Filly:              Careless Jewel, Flashing, Rachel Alexandra

·         Older Male:                             Einstein (BRZ), Gio Ponti, Kodiak Kowboy                      

·         Older Female:                         Life Is Sweet, Music Note, Zenyatta

·         Male Sprinter:                        Dancing in Silks, Kodiak Kowboy, Zensational

·          Female Sprinter:                    Informed Decision, Music Note, Ventura

·         Male Turf Horse:                    Conduit (IRE), Gio Ponti, Presious Passion          

·         Female Turf Horse:                Goldikova (IRE), Midday (GB), Ventura

·         Steeplechase Horse:             Mixed Up, Red Letter Day, Spy in the Sky

·         Owner:                       Godolphin Racing, Juddmonte Farms, Mr. and Mrs. Jerome S. Moss

·         Breeder:                                 Adena Springs, Juddmonte Farms, Dolphus C. Morrison   

·         Trainer:                                 Steve Asmussen, Bob Baffert, John Shirreffs       

·         Jockey:                                 Ramon Dominguez, Garrett Gomez, Julien Leparoux

·         Apprentice Jockey:               Luis Batista, Christian Santiago Reyes, Luis Saez  

The Eclipse Awards are named after the great 18th-century racehorse and foundation sire Eclipse, who began racing at age five and was undefeated in 18 starts, including eight walkovers. Eclipse sired the winners of 344 races, including three Epsom Derbies.  

The 2009 Eclipse Awards ceremony will be held on January 18 at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel in Beverly Hills, Calif., and televised live on TVG.

By Ray Paulick
Belmont Park offers five Grade 1 races today, beginning with the Beldame (you remember, the race where TVG boosted the purse in hopes of getting Zenyatta and Rachel Alexandra, connections for neither of which appeared to take very seriously). I’ll be writing a live blog providing results of Belmont’s races (following the Beldame is the Vosburgh for sprinters, the Flower Bowl for fillies and mares on turf, the Joe Hirsch Turf Classic Invitational for male turf horses, and the Jockey Club Gold Cup, which pits the top-class 3-year-olds Summer Bird and Quality Road against Macho Again, who nearly caught Rachel Alexandra in the Woodward Stakes. I’ll provide some of the other day’s graded stakes activity from Hawthorne, where the Grade 2 Hawthorne Gold Cup is being run, as the serious final prep races for the Breeders’ Cup World Championships get under way.

(All photos by Eric Kalet.)

Here is a link to today’s Belmont Park Equibase charts.

Post time for the Beldame is 3:23 p.m. Eastern.

The rains came midway through the Belmont card, and though the main track was still called fast when Music Note entered the gate as the 1-5 favorite in the Beldame, it was a very wet, fast track. Music Note may have had a few nervous moments, as track announcer Tom Durkin said, when she was pinned down on the rail in the long run down the backstretch while tracking pacesetter Unbridled Belle.  But jockey Rajiv Muragh, moved the daughter of A.P. Indy to the outside around the turn and she wore down Unbridled Belle to get the win by 2 1/4  lengths, covering the distance in 1:48.49.  Unbridled Belle (who set soft fractions of :24.24, :47.99 and 1:11.66) held second, with Copper State third and Captain’s Lover fourth in the five-horse field. Captain’s Lover and Unbridled Belle were coupled, and Captain’s Lover and John Velazquez did their best to keep Music Note down on the rail, but Captain’s Lover couldn’t keep up after five furlongs.

Music Note was winning for the seventh time in 11 starts for Godolphin. This was just her third start of the year, following a fifth-place finish in the Ogden Phipps at Belmont Park and a victory in Saratoga’s Ballerina. She finished third behind Zenyatta and stablemate Cocoa Beach in last year’s Breeders’ Cup Ladies’ Classic (formerly the Distaff). The Saeed bin Suroor-trained filly paid $2.50 for the win.

Couple of college football notes: Michigan State upset previously unbeaten Michigan, 26-20, in overtime. Alabama crushed the University of Kentucky Wildcasts 38-20.

3:58 p.m. … The rain at Belmont has gotten worse, making it tough to even pick up the horses on the television feed. Good luck Tom Durkin, though the fact the Vosburgh is a four-horse field makes it a lot easier for him.

Kodiak Kowboy got up in the final strides to beat odds-on favorite Fabulous Strike by a half-length in the six-furlong Vosburgh under Shaun Bridgmohan. The 4-year-old son of Posse owned by Rick Porter Fox Hill Farms and Tom Simon’s Vinery Stables was back in the care of trainer Steve Asmussen for the Vosburgh after being transferred from Asmussen to Larry Jones a little over a year ago.

Fabulous Strike got a stalking trip, settling just off the pace of Go Go Shoot, with Munnings in third and Kodiak Kowboy the trailer. Go Go Shoot went a quick opening quarter-mile in :22.33 over a very rain-soaked track. Fabulous Strike moved to the lead on the turn under Ramon Dominquez, but Kodiak  Kowboy was beginning his rally before straightening out for the stretch run. He appeared to have all the momentum, but hesitated when he was getting the muddy kickback from Fabulous Strike. Bridgmohan shifted Kodiak Kowboy to the outside and he quickly regained his best stride and went on to win by a half length. Munning was third after never really threatening.

This was the 10th win from 22 starts for Kodiak Kowboy and the second in a Grade 1 race, following his victory earlier this year in the Carter Handicap at Aqueduct. He had finished second to Pyro in the Forego and third behind Fabulous Strike and Go Go Shoot in the Aflred G. Vanderbilt Handicap in his previous two starts. Kodiak Kowboy ran third for Jones in last year’s Vosburgh.

Kodiak Kowboy covered the six furlongs on a sloppy main track in 1:10.08 and paid  $11.60.

4:15 p.m. … When Matt Carothers sings Happy Birthday to Ken Rudulph on TVG, that can mean one of two things: mute button or HRTV. We’ll go for the latter. I have a feeling I’m not alone.

4:30 p.m. … Congrats to Equibase for putting together a useful late changes/scratches service. I won’t ask what took so long. Here is the link to Belmont’s late changes. Presious Passion wasn’t listed as a scratch from the Joe Hirsch last time I looked, but that was the word from the television talking heads.  Carribean Sunset has been scratched from the Flower Bowl, while Gio Ponti’s entrymate Winchester and Ready’s Echo have been scratched from the Hirsch.

The rains are still falling heavily at Belmont Park as the field of fillies and mares heads toward the gate for the Flower Bowl.

4:40 p.m. … Julien Leparoux gave the ever-consistent Pure Clan a perfectly timed ride in the Flower Bowl, getting up in the final sixteenth of a mile, then pulling away to beat Criticism by 2 3/4 lengths over a boggy Belmont turf course. Queen of Hearts was third and Moneycantbuymelove fourth.

Leamington took the early lead in the Flower Bowl, putting up very slow splits of :26.81 for the quarter, :53.81 for the half-mile and 1:20.43 for six furlongs on the soft turf, with Criticism tracking her. Leparoux had  Pure Clan in good position in fifth, then rallied on the final turn and took dead aim at Criticism and jockey Javiar Castellano. 

It was the eighth victory in 15 starts and 14th 1-2-3 finish for the Lakland Farm runner trained by Bob Holthus. The daughter of the Storm Cat stallion Pure Prize was coming off a third in the Beverly D. Stakes at Arlington and had one previous Grade 1 victory in last year’s American Oaks on the Hollywood Park turf course. Pure Clan was never a factor in last year’s Breeders’ Cup Filly &  Mare Turf at Santa Anita.

Final time of the 1 1/4 mile Flower Bowl was 2:12.43 after a mile fraction of 1:46.63. It was a bog out there, but Pure Clan didn’t seem to mind it one bit.

5:08 p.m. … It’s true that you don’t see the Phipps Stable silks at Thistledown that often, but the trip by Gone Astray from Belmont Park to Cleveland was well worth it as the son of Dixie Union sat off the early pace set by War Fighter, moved to the lead at midstretch and drew away impressively by 2 1/4 lengths. The Shug McGaughey-trained colt was coming off a big win in the Pennsylvania Derby. Gone Astray covered the 1 1/8 miles in 1:50.56 War Fighter was second, with Ice Road third. Gone Astray was the 2-5 favorite.

5:15 p.m. … Gio Ponti looked like a winner in the Joe Hirsch Turf Classic Invitational when he cruised up alongside pacesetter Interpatation at the top of the stretch, but the Bobby Barbara-trained 7-year-old gelding by Langfuhr found a second wind in the final furlong and rerallied to beat Gio Ponti by 1 3/4 lengths on an extremely soft turf course.

Robbie Albarado rode the winner, who was getting just his sixth career win from 50 starts for owner Elliot Mavorah. He set all the fractions of :26.01, :54.22, 1:22.20 and 1:48.77 for the opening mile After a mile and a quarter time of 2:14.59, Interpatation completed the 1 1/2 miles in 2:41.22, about 17 seconds slower than the course record.

Interpatation hadn’t finished in the top three in his last seven starts. His last in the money finish came when second to Grand Couturier in the 2008 Joe Hirsch Turf Invitational. Gio Ponti, on the other hand, came into the Joe Hirsch off four consecutive Grade 1 victories, but the 1 1/2 miles of the race and the soft conditions may have exposed the 4-year-old son of Tale of the Cat’s distance limitations, as he had never raced farther than 1 3/8 miles. 

Interpatation paid $89.50 on a $2 wager to win. Telling, the original third-place finisher, was disqualified and placed fourth behind Grand Couturier for interference.

5:30 p.m. … Awesome Gem and David Flores ran down Nite Light to win the $500,000 Hawthorne Gold Cup going away at Hawthorne Park, giving West Point Thoroughbreds the first leg of a big potential parlay that could culminate with a victory in the Jockey Club Gold Cup only a few minutes from now with Macho Again. Going Ballistic was third and You and I Forever fourth in the mile and a quarter Gold Cup, a Grade 2 event. 

5:50 p.m. … The rain  has subsided as the field entered the gate for the Jockey Club Gold Cup, which begins midway around the clubhouse turn on this 1 1/2 mile oval.  

Summer Bird and Quality Road put on a show, racing together the length stretch while well off the rail, but Summer Bird prevailed by one length to win the Jockey Club Gold Cup on a sloppy dirt track. Pacesetting Tizway was third, with Macho Again never really getting untracked and finishing fourth.

Summer Bird only has four career victories to his credit, beginning with a maiden win at Oaklawn Park in March. But the son of Gainesway stallion Birdstone, owned and bred by Drs. K.K. and Devi Jayaraman and trained by Tim Ice, has built quite a resume with the other three victories, all Grade 1–the Belmont Stakes in June, the Travers in August, and now the Jockey Club Gold Cup in early October–to make him the clear leader for an Eclipse Award in the 3-year-old male division.

Kent Desormeaux allowed Summer Bird to settle off the early pace set first by Tizway through the opening quarter mile in :24.96 and then by Quality Road through a half mile in :49.73 and six furlongs in 1:13.12.  Sensing that Quality Road might have it too easy on the front end, Desormeaux moved Summer Bird toward the lead before hitting the far turn, and engaged Quality Road in earnest when the pair hit the top of the stretch, the mile in 1:37.62. With Summer Bird on the outside, the pair raced together to the final sixteenth, when Summer Bird edged away gradually for the win, the 1 1/4 miles in 2:02.51 on the sloppy track. 

There were plenty of  other races on the day that I didn’t blog about, but George Jacob and Jill Baffert’s Misremembered won the Grade 2 Indiana Derby, which offered a $500,000 purse. Victor Espinosa rode the winner, a son of Candy Ride. Giant Oak finished second, a half length back, with Karama third. Win Willy, the slight favorite over Misremembered, finished fifth.

 JOCKEY CLUB GOLD CUP QUOTES

The only North American Grade 1 action of the weekend takes place north of the border at Woodbine on Sunday when seasoned turf specialists compete in a pair of rich stakes: the $750,000 Northern Dancer Turf presented by VTECH, at 1 1/2 miles and the $1-million Woodbine Mile over eight furlongs.

Both races will be shown exclusively on TVG, the Northern Dancer scheduled at 4:34 p.m. Eastern and the Woodbine Mile at 5:42 p.m.

While the Woodbine Mile offers the richest purse, the Northern Dancer comes up as a more competitive field in my book. Each race has attracted a field of 10.

Champs Elysees, a 6-year-old son of Danehill, bids for a repeat in the Northern Dancer, but the competition is rich in talent and experience. Marchfield, a son of A.P. Indy, just defeated Champs Elysees in the Grade 2 Sky Classic Stakes at Woodbine going 1 3/8 miles on Aug. 23. Just as Well, another won of A.P. Indy, made a run at turf division leader Gio Ponti but could do no better than second in last month’s Grade 1 Arlington Million. Marsh Side won last year’s Grade 1 Canadian International at Woodbine at the same 12-furlong distance, and the globe-trotting 7-year-old German-bred Quijano was second, beaten a nose by Champs Elysees in last year’s Northern Dancer.

The Woodbine Mile features a rematch of last year’s one-two finishers, Rahy’s Attorney and Ventura, but Bribon, winner of this year’s Metropolitan Mile Handicap on the Belmont Park dirt, makes it interesting as he tries turf for the first time. Another horse that can’t be counted out is the 3-year-old Grand Slam colt, Grand Adventure, unbeaten in three starts on the Woodbine Turf but 10th in his only other race, the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf at Santa Anita last fall.

Ventura, a 5-year-old mare by Chester House, has compiled a remarkable record of consistency for trainer Bobby Frankel and owner-breeder Juddmonte Farms. She has finished first or second in 15 of 18 lifetime starts, and while her best distance may be seven furlongs, she is a Grade 1 winner on turf going a mile.

The Woodbine stakes are far from being the only races worth watching. Saturday’s Futurity (4:43 p.m.) and Matron (5:15 p.m.) on HRTV and TVG are important 2-year-old races, and the same afternoon’s $750,000 Super Derby (6:12 p.m., HRTV) marks the return of UAE Derby winner Regal Ransom for the red-hot Godolphin trainer Saeed bin Suroor.

 

There are some big races at Saratoga, Arlington Park and Del Mar this weekend, highlighted by Commentator’s bid for a third consecutive Whitney Handicap at Saratoga on Saturday, the International Festival of Racing the same afternoon featuring the trio of Grade 1 races–the Secretariat Stakes, Beverly D. and Arlington Million–and unbeaten Zenyatta’s bid for a 12th consecutive win in Sunday’s Grade 1 Clement Hirsch at Del Mar.

ESPN will be televising the Beverly D and Million from 4:30 to 6 p.m. Eastern, while HRTV will provide live coverage of the Secretariat. This year’s fields emphasize the international aspect of the Arlington  Festival, with Aidan O’Brien sending Black Bear Island over from Europe for the Secretariat and the Beverly D and Million each attracting three foreign runners. The invaders may have the upper hand in the Beverly D; horses trained by Alain de Royer-Dupre, Dermot Weld and Criquette Head are always dangerous. The Million will be a test to see how good Christophe Clement-trained Gio Ponti really is. The son of Tale of the Cat is coming off three consecutive Grade 1 wins at distances ranging from a mile to 1 3/8 miles, and he has shown a devastating closing kick.

The 8-year-old gelding Commentator only has one way of going, on the front end, and there appears to be only one horse in the field of seven—the allowance winner Tizway—who might put early pressure on Commentator.  The Argentine horse Asiatic Boy figures to be very tough in the Whitney for Kiaran McLaughlin. Both TVG and HRTV will be showing the Whitney (post time at 5:47 p.m., just five minutes after the Arlington Million. The Test Stakes for 3-year-old fillies a half-hour earlier gives Saratoga its second Grade 1 race of the afternoon. Unbeaten Cat Moves (another by Tale of the Cat) will be very tough in there.

Out West, Del Mar will pack ‘em in to see Zenyatta try to defend her crown in the Hirsch. She won the race last year (when it was a Grade 2 event) by only a length, turning in her patented stretch run to get the job done easily enough. The daughter of Street Cry hasn’t scared anyone off though, as there will be a field of 10 for the 1 1/16-mile race. Life Is Sweet, second in Zenyatta’s 2009 debut, the Milady at Hollywood Park, could be the biggest threat to end her remarkable streak.

The Clement Hirsch goes at 7 p.m. Eastern and is shown exclusively on TVG and the various sports channel that pick up the racing channel’s big race broadcasts.

By Ray Paulick
Spring is in the air, with temperatures topping 70 in Kentucky, and visions of Roses in the minds of many horse owners around the country. Today’s Triple Crown preps start in New York with Aqueduct’s Gotham Stakes and continue in California with last year’s 2-year-old champion, Stardom Bound, the heavy favorite in the Santa Anita Oaks. But the capper for today’s outstanding racing is the Santa Anita Handicap — the Big ‘Cap — the race the great Seabiscuit won in 1940, the fixture that attracted an all-time record crowd to the Great Race Place in 1985 when Lord At War won in front of 85,527 fans.

Perhaps the Big ‘Cap hasn’t been quite as prominent since the Dubai World Cup took the spotlight away from winter racing for the handicap horses when it was inaugurated in 1996. It still carries a $1-million purse and carries Grade 1 status, along with a whole lot of prestige.

I’ll be providing commentary for the next few hours, beginning with the Gotham Stakes, won with a huge performance by California invader  I Want Revenge, who pressed Mr. Fantasy on the lead for the opening seven furlongs, then kicked away at the top of the stretch to score by a wide margin–my guess in nine lengths. Imperial Council got up for second, just edging Mr. Fantasy at the wire, with  Masala fourth. Final time on a fast track was 1:42.65 for the 1 1/16 miles after fractions of :23.76, :48.45, 1:12.69 and 1:36.46. 

This was the first "off synthetic" race for the Jeff Mullins-trained  son of Stephen Got Even, who was coming off a third-place finish behind Pioneerof the Nile in the Robert B. Lewis Stakes on Santa Anita’s Pro-Ride surface. Joe Talamo has been in the saddle for the last five starts of I Want Revenge (pictured, left), who races for David Lanzman.  It was I Want Revenge’s second win in seven starts, but he’s never been worse than third, after beginning his career at Hollywood Park last July and breaking his maiden in his fourth start in October at Hollywood Park, his first race around two turns.

Back to the Big ‘Cap for a second. If you haven’t seen the YouTube video of Seabiscuit’s victory, check this out by clicking here.

4:46 p.m. (Eastern) …. Jeff Mullins is hot. His first-timer Leavenworth just aired in the fourth race at Santa Anita, a 6 1/2-furlong maiden event for 3-year-olds. Son of Forest Wildcast was ridden by Tyler Baze and drew down the stretch impressively. On to Nicarnor’s second race…

4:51 p.m. … Well, that was more like it. Nicanor (Barbaro’s full brother if you didn’t know) finished a game second at 8-1 behind 4-5 favorite Custom for Carlos in a seven-furlong maiden race at Gulfstream Park. Under Jose Lezcano, Nicanor broke well from the nine post, took the lead while setting fractions of :22.83 and :46.57 for the half, then yielded at the top of the stretch to Custon for Carlos , who was just off Nicanor’s outside flank from the beginning. It looked as though Nicanor might fade back as he did in his Jan. 31 debut (when he grabbed a quarter coming out of the gate) but he kept to his task, and was actually cutting back into Custom for Carlos’ lead when they hit the wire. Custom for Carlos (a More Than Ready colt trained by Eddie Kenneally and ridden by Kent Desormeaux) won by about a length, getting the distance in 1:23.55 after a six-furlong split of 1:10.55. 

All in all, a good race for Nicanor. I’d like to see him stretch out next time, though I’m certainly not going to second guess trainer Michael Matz. Chart.

4:58 p.m. … Here are the quotes from the New York Racing Association from the connections of Gotham Stakes runners. I particularly enjoyed Kiaran McLaughlin’s comments wondering why Jeff Mullins and I Want Revenge didn’t stay on the West Coast.

5:30 p.m. … A lot of early money on another Brian Koriner runner, Hannahs Classy Boy, in the sixth race, a downhill turf allowance. He is 15-1 on morning line and 9-2 early. 

5:35 p.m.  …. Regarding Edgar Prado not riding Nicanor at Gulfstream. As much as I’m sure he’d like to have been on the colt, when any jockey has a chance to win a $1-million race, money trumps maiden races. Prado is at Santa Anita riding that terrific card, including Monba for Todd Pletcher in the Big ‘Cap.

5:40 p.m. … Here’s the answer about why HRTV and TVG both showed the Gotham Stakes on tape delay. Fran LaBelle of the New York Racing Association tells us that "the rights to the Gotham are part of the Belmont Stakes agreement with ESPN/ABC. Although they chose not to broadcast the race, we did not get their OK for anyone else to show it live, so we asked both HRTV and TVG to show the race on a delay." How’s that for arrogance — not on the part of NYRA but by ESPN/ABC? They have the rights to televise a race live, but elect not to show it and don’t want anyone else to, either. Who gets the shaft? You tell me.

5:42 p.m. … Jeannie, you are correct  in your comment about Gomez picking up those mounts. My mistake. Prado was named to ride. Will have to see what happened.

5:45 p.m. … How’s this for back-to-back Big ‘Cap winners? Affirmed in 1979 (the first Santa Anita Handicap I saw in person), followed by Spectacular Bid, the best horse I’ve seen in my lifetime. Video of 1979 and 1980.

5:50 p.m. … From Gulfstream Park publicity department, here are comments on Nicanor’s second-place finish from connections of the winner and Nicanor.

6:30 p.m. .. The much-awaited interview with Michael Iavarone of IEAH, who has backed off a little bit on his ambition of running Stardom Bound against colts in the Kentucky, "My exuberance after the Las Virgenes might have been a little accelerated," he says during an interview on HRTV. After that victory, Iavarone said the Kentucky Derby was the absolute goal. A good win will probably get her a chance against colts in the Santa Anita Derby, Iavarone says, but he’s taking it one race at a time. Gary Stevens says the daughter of Tapit has been tough to gallop all week, and he hopes jockey Mike Smith can get her off the rail and relaxed in the race.

They are approaching the gate, with Stardom Bound 1-5 and no one else in single digits. Miss Silver Brook is second choice at 10-1.

6:38 p.m. … Wow….what a wild stretch run, with four noses on the line. Not sure if Stardom Bound got her nose up. Stardom Bound was last early and rallied about eight wide into the stretch. 

Stardom Bound gets the head-bob photo. Third Dawn, a longshot by Sky Mesa who had just broken her maiden last out for John Sadler, was narrowly beaten…probably by a nose.  There’s a good chance Third Dawn would have been taken down, however, as she shifted out into the path of Stardom Bound with about a sixteenth of a mile to run. Also in the photo was Hooh Why, another nose back, with Nan about a head behind her on the rail in fourth.

There was a stewards inquiry but no change was made in the order of finish.

Burg Berg set the slow early fractions of :23.78, :47.54, and 1:12.12 for the first six furlongs, with Hooh Why and Robbie Albarado not far behind. Hooh Why moved to the front at the top of the stretch, but several fillies were on her heels. One of them, Miss Silver Brook, had to check sharply about 70 yards from the wire. Final time was 1:43.62 after a mile split of 1:37.17.

"Extremely wide, jockey error on my part," Mike Smith said after the race when asked  on HRTV how wide he went. "I was anywhere from 15 to 20 at one point," he said. "I’m just so grateful that she’s so talented." 

"I need a defibrillator right now," Iavarone told HRTV a few minutes after the race was declared official. "I think she worked pretty hard today against the girls. She’s going to really have to improve herself to be able to handle horses like Pioneerof the Nile. But I’m going to talk it over with the guys and see what they think. If they think that they want to go forward, then I’m willing to go forward. But she worked pretty hard against the girls today."

This was Stardom Bound’s fifth consecutive victory in a Grade 1 stakes. She lost her career debut sprinting by a nose at Del Mar, then was second in the Grade 2 Sorrento Stakes at Del Mar. She broke her maiden in the Del Mar Debutante, then reeled off wins in the Oak Leaf Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies and Las Virgines, the latter her first start of 2009. She raced for Charles Cono and trainer Chris Paasch through the Breeders’ Cup and was sold for $5.7 million to IEAH at Fasig-Tipton Kentucky in November and transferred to Robert Frankel.

Oaks Chart.

7:05 p.m. …. Santa Anita publicity department quotes…

MIKE SMITH, STARDOM BOUND, WINNER: “It seemed like she got lost out there early. We had a terrible trip. When I moved out with her turning for home, everybody else went out at the same time and we got caught really wide. From the sixteenth pole home, I thought we could grind ‘em down, but I was worried. At the wire though, she put her ears up and she was playing with the pony coming back. Maybe this is the kind of race she needed. I guess you could say it was a not-so-heady ride.”   

7:06 p.m. … Line of the day from Jeff Siegel of HRTV. "Not a bad warm-up race," he said of the Oaks.

7:30 p.m. … While I quickly down a dinner before the Kilroe and Big ‘Cap, thought I’d link to one of the best Big ‘Caps I ever attended. Here’s the video.

7:35 p.m. …. To answer an earlier question: Would Stardom Bound have won by more if not forced to alter course late? Yes, I think so, but she wouldn’t have won by more than a neck. As Frankel said, she ran 10 lengths farther than anyone else.

What a nice tribute HRTV has put together in honor of the late Frank E. (Jimmy) Kilroe, the longtime director of racing at Santa Anita. He was from another era, when racing secretaries were opinionated in assigning weights to horses and stuck by their opinions. Times have changed, and with so many other opportunities handicaps are no longer relevant.

7:45 p.m. … Is Ventura really that good? The Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint winner is even-money in her second try against colts in North America, her first try resulting in a second-place finish behind Rahy’s Attorney in the Woodbine Mile last fall on yielding turf.

7:50 p.m. … Ventura’s trainer, Robert Frankel, said he wants her to be up close to the pace, in the first flight, behind Hewitts, in the Kilroe Mile. He told HRTV he was very proud of Stardom Bound, but I wonder what he might have said if asked about Mike Smith’s ride. Probably something not fit for the family hour on television….which reminds me of one of my favorite quotes from a trainer about a jockey. Charlie Whittingham, when he trained Gato del Sol (in his later years), was stunned when jockey Sandy Hawley took the late-running Kentucky Derby winner to the lead early in a mile and one-half turf race. "If I had a rifle, I would have shot him out of the saddle," Whittingham joked.

7:57 p.m. … It just doesn’t get any better. Ventura looked like a sure winner of the Grade 1 Kilroe Mile at the eighth pole, opened what looked like a safe lead, but got nipped right on the money by the fast-finishing Gio Ponti, to lose by a nose…the photo makes it look like about two inches. Ramon Dominguez rode the winner for trainer Christophe Clement. Gio Ponti is a 4-year-old colt by Tale of the Cat whose biggest previous win came in the  Virginia Derby when he beat Court Vision by a nose.

Jockey Garrett Gomez said Ventura "took a couple of steps in (at the sixteenth pole), and I had to straighten her back up." Gomez took Ventura back to fifth off the early pace set by Hewitts, who laid down fractions of :23.26, :46.31 and 1:09.86 on firm turf. Hewitts was under pressure from Wise River down the backstretch. Dixie Chatter made the first run at the lead at the top of the stretch, but Ventura edged passed him inside the eighth pole and appeared to be en route to the win. But Gio Ponti (pictured, left) came flying down the outside to just get up, completing the distance in 1:33.65 after a seven-furlong split of 1:21.69.

Ramon Dominguez said he talked with Clemente earlier in the day for instructions on how to ride Gio Ponti, who was coming off a fifth-place finish in the Strub Stakes behind Cowboy Cal on Feb. 7. "He told me to try and save ground and wait as long as I could," Dominguez said. "I was trying to follow Ventura, who seemed like she was getting a great trip, and from then on it was going to really be a horse race."

The Kilroe was the sixth win in 11 starts for Gio Ponti, who races for Castleton Lyons. Chart.

8:10 p.m. … A couple more memories of the Santa Anita Handicap. The Bid ‘Cap was always the biggest day of the Santa Anita meeting when I lived in Southern California, and it still attracts crowds of between 40,000 and 50,000 on-track. But I don’t think anyone was prepared for the crowd that showed up in 1985, the year Lord At War won the race for Peter Perkins, trainer Charlie Whittingham and jockey Bill Shoemaker. That day, a total of 85,527 turned out, an all-time Santa Anita record. The atmosphere was incredible.

There were "only" 72,752 at Santa Anita three years earlier when John Henry went for his second consecutive Big "Cap win, and that was another truly exciting day. John Henry won easily the previous year (with good old Flying Paster among those chasing him home), but he was in for the stretch duel of his life (except, perhaps the Arlington Million against The Bart) against the Whittingham trained Perrault in the 1982 Santa Anita Handicap. Laffit Pincay Jr. used all of his strength to get Perrault to the wire first, but his left-handed whipping caused the horse to drift out significantly, impeding John Henry, who got the victory via disqualification. It’s something you hate to see in a Grade 1 race, but the stewards made the only call they could.

Here’s a recap of John Henry’s two wins in the Big ‘Cap, including the head-on of the stretch run between John Henry and Perrault. Video.  Honestly, watching the replays and just thinking about the excitement of Santa Anita that afternoon sends shivers up and down my spine. 

8:25 p.m. …. OK, Christine, because you mentioned Broad Brush’s sire, Ack Ack, here’s the video of his Big ‘Cap win. Another win for Charlie Whittingham, the second of his eight Santa Anita Handicap wins. There was nobody that could train an older horse like the Bald Eagle could, and later in life he showed he could even win the Kentucky Derby a time or two! Video of Ack Ack.

8:30 p.m. … HRTV’s ace handicapper Jeff Siegal picks longshot Monba in the Big ‘Cap. I’m going with Court Vision, who hasn’t been on a synthetic track since breaking his maiden at Keeneland. They are loading into the starting gate….

8:35 p.m. … Einstein wins the Big ‘Cap under Julien Leparoux, getting a perfect trip from just off a very slow pace, winning easily under high weight of 121 pounds. Champs Elysees finished well to get second ahead of Matto Mondo, who set the pace, with Monba fourth. According to HRTV, the Helen Pitts-Blase runner was the first East Coast based horse to win the Santa Anita Handicap since Broad Brush beat Ferdinand. 

Blue Exit was pulled up approaching the far turn with a fractured cannon bone, was vanned off and later euthanized, according to Santa Anita’s publicity department.

"We got a good pace, not too fast, not too slow," said Leparoux. "When you are behind horses like this it is very easy to relax, and he’s a good horse." "It’s an unbelievable feeling," said Pitts-Blase. "He means the world to me and it’s my biggest win."

Matto Mondo, who was co-favored with Court Vision at 9-2, set fractions of :24.52, :48.31, 1:12.93, and 1:35.59 under Rafael Bejarano. Einstein was never far behind and moved to the lead at the top of the stretch, gaining command at the eighth pole and drawing off to win by about a length. Final time was 2:01.93 for the 10 furlongs on the synthetic Pro-Ride surface. Colonel John, the morning line favorite, was scratched by trainer Eoin Harty when he spiked a temperature on Saturday morning.

Einstein was winning for the 10th time in 24 starts (his first time on synthetics). He races for the Midnight Cry Stable, which also owned two-time Horse of the Year Curlin when he broke his maiden and retained a minority interest in the horse for the remainder of his career. Pitts was Curlin’s trainer when he broke his maiden.

Santa Anita Handicap chart. Will try to get an update on Blue Exit. But otherwise, that’s it for Big ‘Cap day.

Copyright © 2009, The Paulick Report

Sign up for our Email flashes to get the latest news, analysis and commentary from Ray Paulick

Visit the Paulick Report for all the latest news throughout the racing world.