Horse racing

A tale of two Rachels

LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- Rachel Alexandra had a visitor yesterday. A young girl named Rachel wanted to meet the 3-5 favorite for the Kentucky Oaks. It was her wish, and the Make A Wish Foundation made it come true. The 7-year-old girl is seriously ill.

Hal Wiggins, the filly’s trainer, could hardly contain his emotion this morning as he told the story of the two Rachels. The towering filly, Wiggins explained, seemed to lower her head to allow the girl to deliver a pat of affection. They could be together again Friday, in the winner’s circle, after the Oaks.

Shortly after the renovation break at 8 o’clock this morning, Rachel Alexandra went out for what was to be a routine gallop. But her gallops are hardly routine. She was bursting with energy and nearly pulled the exercise rider, Rudy Gallegos, out of the irons.

“She’s like a keg of dynamite,” Gallegos said afterwards.

Rachel Alexandra has won four consecutive stakes by a total of 23 1/4 lengths, but the margin could have been greater. Her rider, Calvin Borel, has yet to call on the filly’s best. In the Fair Grounds Oaks, he stood up in the irons and began easing her with a sixteenth of a mile remaining.

She has won three of those four races by leading from start, but Wiggins said that getting to the front early isn’t necessary. Although a handful in her gallops, she’ll rate behind another horse, as she showed in the Martha Washington at Oaklawn Park and in an allowance victory last year at Keeneland.

“The only time we planned on going to the lead with her was at the Fair Grounds,” Wiggins said. “The track was sloppy that day, and we didn’t want that stuff kicked back in her face.”

Wiggins said he doesn’t expect Rachel Alexandra to grab the early lead Friday. A trio of fillies trained by D. Wayne Lukas occupy the inside three post positions. Wiggins said he anticipates one of them going for the lead out of the gate.

But, of course, everybody expects Rachel to have the lead when the field turns into the stretch. Slying Spur loves an "off" track. Gabby's Golden Gal and Justwhistledixie have trained impressively here. But Rachel Alexandra is, at the risk of stating obvious, very special. The best filly to come along since Rags To Riches, Rachel is the most impressive horse I've seen this week.

Derby notes

I Want Revenge, the 3-1 early favorite for the Kentucky Derby, had a good morning at Churchill Downs. He jogged up the one-mile chute and then galloped a mile, evincing good energy throughout. This was his first time back to the track after Tuesday’s half-mile workout.

Papa Clem worked three-eighths of a mile in 34 seconds this morning, galloping out a half-mile in :47.20.

“He was so comfortable,” said his rider, Rafael Bejarano. “I didn’t have to push him or nothing. Past the wire, I just him gallop out strong.”

I was stranding up by the one-mile chute when Papa Clem worked, and so I didn’t see it, except for the gallop-out. And he looked full of energy.

Desert Party continues to make a positive impression. He doesn’t seem bothered at all by the many visitors to the stable area or by the photographers.

Chocolate Candy also had a good morning. He galloped 1 1/2 miles, or slightly more, and seemed relaxed, but willing.

Ran began falling this morning about 8:30, taking a respite about noon, but it remains in the forecast.

 

The Derby Field

Kentucky Derby
Purse: $2,202,200
Distance: 1 1/4 miles

1. West Side Bernie, 30-1
2. Musket Man, 20-1
3. Mr. Hot Stuff, 30-1
4. Advice, 30-1
5. Hold Me Back, 15-1
6. Friesan Fire, 5-1
7. Papa Clem, 20-1
8. Mine That Bird, 50-1
9. Join In The Cance, 50-1
10. Regal Ransom, 30-1
11. Chocolate Candy, 20-1
12. General Quarters, 20-1
13. I Want Revenge, 3-1
14. Atomic Rain, 30-1
15. Dunkirk, 4-1
16. Pioneerof The Nile, 4-1
17. Summer Bird, 30-1
18. Nowhere To Hide, 50-1
19. Desert Party, 15-1
20. Flying Private, 50-1

Willy out, moral failings and a joke present

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Mac Robertson did not succumb to the fever that, it seems, has grabbed hold of so many trainers in the last two weeks. He didn’t enter Win Willy in Saturday’s Kentucky Derby here at Churchill Downs.

The winner of the Rebel Stakes at Oaklawn Park was not entered, Robertson explained, because of a suspicious x-ray of an ankle. It may be nothing, or just the start of something. Either way, prudence and caution have urged Robertson not to enter the colt. And unlike some trainers, he has followed this advice.

Nevertheless, 20 horses were entered, a full field. Nowhere to Hide was the latest to join the Derby party. Trained by Nick Zito, he ran fourth in the Risen Star Stakes at Fair Grounds and fourth in the Tampa Bay Derby. Shaun Bridgmohan will ride.

And is it my imagination, or do several Lone Star Derby horses seem to be entering the Kentucky Derby instead? Mine That Bird, who ran fourth at 13-1 in the WinStar Derby at Sunland Park, would be at least 12-1 at Lone Star. What chance, or business, does he have in the Kentucky Derby?

That raises an unavoidable and unhappy question: When is running a horse in the Kentucky Derby a moral failing? When does it indicate an ethical deficiency and a puerile conscience? The answer: every year, it seems, especially in recent years.

Not for every horse, of course, but for only a few. Yes, it’s a moral failing to run in the Kentucky Derby when doing so subordinates the horse’s future and career and welfare to a voracious ego or to grandiose delusions.

Derby notes

This year, there may be no Wow Horse – you know, the horse that goes out there and just lights up the place like a sunburst. The track was muddy this morning, but several horses made good impressions. No Wow, but a lot of Nice.

Dunkirk, who arrived Tuesday, was on the Churchill track for the first time this morning. He’s nearly as long as the Derby’s history and he’s a good mover. Mr. Hot Stuff looked eager again this morning. Pioneerof The Nile, the Santa Anita Derby winner, wasn’t allowed to do much, going out after the renovation break for a routine gallop, but he’s strikingly handsome, with conspicuous dapples, and he looks as if he’s thriving.

Friesan Fire returned to the track for the first time since Monday’s sizzling workout. With his trainer, Larry Jones, riding, Friesan Fire went to the starting gate for a little “schooling.” That, Jones said, put the colt on edge.

But Desert Party made the best impression, partly because after hearing so much about him I half-expected to be disappointed. I wasn’t. As a 2-year-old, he was leggy and gangling. But he has developed into an imposing sort, and when he galloped, he bowed his neck as if straining to keep his power under control.

“He looks like a different horse,” said Eoin Harty, who trained Desert Party before the colt was sent to Dubai.

The Hot Stuff story

Mr. Hot Stuff can be exuberant, which might lead you to think his name is descriptive. In fact, he’s named after ski suit. Well sort of.

As Eoin Harty tells the story, he found a “repulsive” ski suit in a trash can in Colorado during the Christmas holidays. He has the ski suit to prove it, and it is indeed repulsive, a floral print of a thing with colorful explosions of fruit and ocher and ascomycetous fungi. It is uniquely and grandly repulsive. And so naturally Harty thought it would make a perfect Christmas present.

A joke present, of course. Harty was giving his wife some very nice gifts for Christmas, but this repulsive ski suit would probably be the first thing opened if placed within a large box, and it would no doubt summon waves of laughter from the depths of his wife’s sense of humor.

Right.

She hated it apparently. Hated it so much that she quickly returned it to its rightful place, a trash can. And that’s where Susan Casner found it. She’s the wife of Bill Casner, who in partnership with Kenny Troutt owns WinStar, which, of course, owns Mr. Hot Stuff. They were there, too, for the Holidays, and Susan Casner saw the repulsive ski suit, the floral print of a thing with colorful explosions of fruit and ocher and ascomycetous fungi. She naturally thought it would make a perfect Christmas present.

A joke present, of course, for their son-in-law, Clark Anderson. Remarkably enough, Anderson rather liked the joke, liked it so much that the very next day he wore the suit on the slopes, along with a jocular cap that proclaimed him to be, yes, “Hot Stuff.” Since he’s a superb skier and has his formal moments, he quickly became Mr. Hot Stuff.

And that’s how the horse got his name. It’s a great name – well, it’s better than Floral Print of A Thing with Colorful Explosions of Fruit and Ocher and Ascomycetous Fungi.

 

Rachel's 3-5 for the Oaks

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Rachel Alexandra, the filly some observers believe to be the best 3-year-old here at Churchill Downs, drew post position No. 6 for Friday’s Kentucky Oaks, where she will be the 3-5 favorite in the morning line.

She has won four consecutive stakes, including the recent Fantasy at Oaklawn Park by nearly nine lengths. Monday morning here, she had a head-turning workout (a half-mile in 46.40). And so, understandably, only seven were entered against her:

1. Tweeter (30-1). From the barn of Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas, the daughter of Unbridled’s Song won for the first time in her career four weeks ago at Keeneland.

2. Be Fair (15-1). Another from the Lukas barn, she ran fourth in both the Ashland Stakes at Keeneland and the Honeybee at Oaklawn.

3. Stone Legacy (30-1). Lukas runners will occupy the first three stalls in the starting gate. Stone Legacy has one victory in eight starts but has run well at Churchill.

4. Gabby’s Golden Gal (10-1). From the Bob Baffert stable, she won the recent Sunland Park Oaks by 13 lengths. Hal Wiggins, Rachel Alexandra’s trainer, spoke highly of this filly, saying she made a very positive impression when he saw her recently.

5. Justwhistledixie (5-2). Trained by Kiaran McLaughlin, she has won five consecutive races, including the Bonnie Miss and the Davona Dale at Gulfstream Park. She would appear to be the most serious threat to Rachel Alexandra.

6. Rachel Alexandra (3-5). No other horse dominates a division the way she dominates the 3-year-old fillies. The only close race she has had this year was the Fair Grounds Oaks, which she won by 1 3/4 lengths. But, of course, jockey Calvin Borel started pulling her up with a sixteenth of a mile remaining in that one.

And, by the way, she learned her first lessons in Texas. As a 2-year-old, she was at the Diamond D Ranch in Lone Oak, owned and operated, of course, by the Dodwell family (Ed, Caroline and Scooter.) Over the years, Diamond D has prepared more than 100 stakes winners for their racing careers. “She’s the best one that’s ever been at the ranch,” Ed Dodwell said about Rachel Alexandra.

7. Nan (30-1). Trained by Craig Dollase, Nan ran fourth in the Santa Anita Oaks. In two tries, she hasn’t run well on dirt.

8. Flying Spur (8-1). Owned by Mike Rutherford of Houston and trained by Bill Mott, she could be interesting if the track is muddy here Friday, and that seems to be more than just a possibility, but a probability. She ran second to Rachel in the Fair Grounds Oaks on a sloppy track.  

 

I Want Revenge works for the Derby

LOUISVILLE, Ky. –   He started more quickly than he finished, and he didn’t gallop out with much energy, but, of course, his trainer and jockey said it was perfect. And maybe it was, but count me skeptical.

I Want Revenge worked a half-mile in a bullet 47.20 this morning at Churchill Downs in preparation for Saturday’s 135th Kentucky Derby, where he almost certainly will be the favorite. It was a good work, no doubt about that, but it wasn’t the kind of move that grabs you by the lapels and says, “I’m going to win.”

He took a long run-up to the half-mile pole and ran first quarter-mile, according to the official clock, in 23.20 seconds, and so he finished up in 24. On my watch, he was a little slower, but either way, his first quarter was faster than the second, and he galloped out in 1:00. 80

“I think we accomplished what we needed to do,” said his trainer, Jeff Mullins.

The Churchill surface has produced some very fast times the last two days. And I Want Revenge turned in the fastest half-mile of the morning. But immediately afterwards, heavy rains fell and the track quickly became muddy; so nobody really was going to work any faster.

“He worked the way he normally does,” said his jockey, Joe Talamo, who was up for this morning’s move. “After the work,” Talamo said later, “he eased himself up and started to relax.”

Derby notes

The runner-up in last year’s Breeders’ Cup Juvenile, Square Eddie won’t run in Saturday’s Kentucky Derby after all. His trainer, Doug O’Neill, explained this morning that sore shins will keep Square Eddie, who has run only once this year, out of the Derby.

And Todd Pletcher just announced that he would not enter Take The Points, who could have moved into the field with the defection of Square Eddie. Pletcher said he was certain, however, about entering Dunkirk and Join In The Dance. That means Atomic Rain could get into the field of 20, and he immediately was loaded onto a van and put on the road from New Jersey to Kentucky.

Join In The Dance, by the way, is owned by a partnership that includes Rashard Lewis, who scored 17 points Sunday for the Orlando Magic in their playoff game against Philadelphia. Game seven of that series, which is tied at 2-2, is scheduled for Saturday. The game should be over in plenty of time for Lewis to get in front of TV and watch the Derby.

A few horses made positive impressions this morning during their routine gallops, most notably Mr. Hot Stuff, West Side Bernie and Hold Me Back.

Flying Private has had “three very good weeks,” said his Hall of Fame trainer, D. Wayne Lukas. The Fusaichi Pegasus colt displaced his palate, Lukas said, in the Arkansas Derby, where he ran fourth. He also finished second in the Lane’s End.

And I went by Larry Jones’ barn this morning to get a look at Friesan Fire. After his sensationally fast workout Monday (five furlongs in 57.80 seconds), I expected to see the colt acting a little spent. But he seemed very alert and energetic.

Trainer Al Stall Jr. joked that some people were trying to talk him into coming in “off the bench,” meaning they tried to talk him into entering Terrain in the Derby. But he said Terrain soon will be going to Texas for the Lone Star Derby.

Smooth Air is out with colic

GRAND PRAIRIE -- Smooth Air remained at the Lone Star Equine Hospital this morning for observation. The 6-5 favorite for the $300,000 Texas Mile at Lone Star, Smooth Air had a very rough night with colic. He obviously won’t be running Saturday.

Everything had seemed to be going well for “Smoothie,” as he’s called. He had an uneventful trip from Florida, arriving here Tuesday. He seemed to adapt to his new surroundings quickly. His trainer, Bennie Stutts Jr., described him as a “happy” horse, and Smooth Air indeed appeared to be just that.

Fed about 3:30 Thursday afternoon, he “ate up” everything. Stutts returned to barn B4, where the horse was stabled, to check on him at 8 p.m. No problem. “Smoothie” remained happy. And if Stutts had looked at the past performances for the Texas Mile, he was probably rather happy himself because Smooth Air appeared to be a standout.

But two hours later, at his hotel, Stutts received a telephone call from Lone Star security, who, by the way, should be applauded for watchfulness. The security officer told Stutts that the horse coughed and appeared to be ill.

Stutts rushed to the racetrack. As he explained this morning, Smooth Air has something of a history with colic, and so he knew what to expect. “This wasn’t the first time,” the trainer said.

Colic, quite simply, is abdominal pain. Frequently it’s caused by a spasm of the intestines, but it can also involve twisting or infection or lesions, and it also can originate in the stomach. It can be fatal.

Stutts remained with the horse all night. The 71-year-old trainer has only five horses in his stable, and Smooth Air is easily its star. The winner of the Hutcheson Stakes and the Ohio Derby last year, he won the Gulfstream Park Handicap in his most recent outing, and with a win Saturday he would have gone over $1 million in earnings. But that’s not why Stutts feels so close to the horse.

As the trainer explained earlier this week, he and Smooth Air have been through much, ups and downs, twists and turns. When he was a youngster, in 1959, Stutts stood on the hood of a car parked in the Churchill Downs stable area to watch his first Kentucky Derby. At the time, he was working as a groom for his father, who trained horses, and the young Stutts dreamed of perhaps participating in the Derby himself one day. Well, Smooth Air took him there last year; took him to the Breeders’ Cup, too. The trainer understandably feels a profound responsibility to the horse, as well as a genuine affection. Even admiration.

With a broad smile, Stutts spoke about how determined Smooth Air is, how consistent. The trainer obviously enjoyed talking about the horse, and although the comparison is rather trite it’s nevertheless true to say he sounded very much like a parent talking about a child. Although a little horse by most measures, Smooth Air consistently gives big performances and outruns expectations. And so Stutts remained with the horse all night and remained there still this morning. 

“He’s much better now,” Stutts said, sounding much relieved, as if he had just set down a heavy piece of anxiety that he had carried up several flights of stairs.

Smooth Air will probably be released from the hospital this afternoon, Stutts said, quickly adding, as if eager to protect the horse from unreasonable ideas, “But there’s no way he can run.”

When he gets home, he explained, he’ll probably take Smooth Air to the University of Florida to try to see if somebody there can discover a reason for the colic. The main concern, he said, is the horse’s health, and after that’s safely restored they’ll consider racing again.    
 

Smooth Air in Texas

GRAND PRAIRIE -- Smooth Air, one of the most consistent and tenacious horses racing today, could become a millionaire with his next outing, Saturday’s $300,000 Texas Mile at Lone Star Park. He’s scheduled to arrive here Tuesday, said Mike Shamburg, the Lone Star stakes coordinator.

Smooth Air won the Gulfstream Park Handicap in his most recent outing, his sixth victory in 14 career starts. The 4-year-old who won last year’s Hutcheson Stakes and Ohio Derby has finished worse than third only twice – 11th in last year’s Kentucky Derby after a rough trip and seventh in the Breeders’ Cup Classic, where he made his only start on a synthetic surface. Trained by 71-year-old Bennie Stutts and called “Smoothie” around the barn, Smooth Air has earned $932,200 in his career.

The time of the Texas Mile could work perfectly for Smooth Air. The next object is to be the Metropolitan Handicap in New York on May 25.

Also among those nominated to the Texas Mile are Catmantoo, Dixie Meister, Encaustic, Halo Najib, Jonesboro, King Dan, King Darius, Por Que, Tricky Causeway and Upstream. Halo Najib, who ran second in the San Carlos at Santa Anita, is a stakes winner of $360,993. He’s trained by Mike Mitchell, who won the 2004 Texas Mile with Kela.

Mitchell is also expected to bring Kays And Jays for Saturday’s $50,000 Richland Hills, Shamburg said. A recent winner at Santa Anita, Kays And Jays has earned $120,200 in her five-race career. Leading trainer Steve Asmussen said he’ll send out Shining Moment in the Richland Hills; she hasn’t started since finishing third in the Dixie Belle Stakes at Oaklawn Park.

Two other stakes will be on the card Saturday – the $50,000 Irving Distaff and the 50,000 Grand Prairie Turf Challenge. Asmussen said he’ll run Nice Inheritance, a multiple stakes winner of $323,029, in the Irving Distaff, where she could take on Love To Tell, winner of the Bayou Handicap at Fair Grounds.

Among the possibilities for the Grand Prairie Turf Challenge are Southern Region, Atlantic Slick, Har D Boy, Harbour City, Tamqeen, The Cat Who and Ticfaw.

The Mullins mess: Or whatever happened to professionalism?

Jeff Mullins told a New York newspaper that he didn’t know he was breaking any rules. He said he made an “honest mistake.”

No, he made stupendously stupid mistake, this guy who once called horseplayers idiots. And the consequences could be disastrous for the sport. It’s a mistake that could steal attention away from I Want Revenge and could even distract fans’ focus away from the Triple Crown. It’s a mess of a mistake, exactly and profoundly what horse racing doesn’t need. And to save the sport and the Triple Crown considerable pain and relentless embarrassment, the owners of I Want Revenge might want to find another trainer for the Kentucky Derby favorite. Actually, if the Aqueduct stewards suspend Mullins and he appeals, as he almost certainly will, and if the whole mess threatens to bleed into May and onto the sport’s biggest stage, finding another trainer would be the best thing the owners could do for racing.

Of course, you’ve heard by now that Gato Go Win was scratched out of Saturday’s Bay Shore Stakes at Aqueduct because the security officers at the detention barn said that Mullins gave something called Air Power to the horse just before the race. It doesn’t matter if Air Power is an innocuous cough medicine; in New York no medication of any kind is allowed on race day except furosemide. To make matters worse, Mullins, who trains the colt, reportedly had a syringe with him, which is also a violation.

The stewards, of course, could say, “Big deal, you silly boy,” and could simply fine Mullins $1,500. It could all disappear and slip beyond popular attention just about the time the Easter Bunny leaves a basket of eggs and chocolate on Mullins’ doorstep. But, of course, an investigation is underway.

Two races after the Bay Shore, Mullins sent out I Want Revenge in the Wood Memorial, and the colt overcame a bad in-the-air break and tight traffic to give a terrific performance that will probably make him the Kentucky Derby favorite. It was an inspiring effort, further proof that this indeed is an outstanding group of 3-year-olds.

And so it seemed as if this was going to be an inspiring Triple Crown, with superlative horses converging on the most famous of races to form a lasting rivalry, a sensational start to the sort of series that could place the sport conspicuously before the nation’s awareness and might create a triptych that could inspire old fans and maybe even invite new ones. And now this. What a mess; what a public relations nightmare; what an embarrassment. How many stories and reports and broadcasts and how much time in the national television coverage of the Kentucky Derby will focus on this imbroglio rather than on the race and the horses and the beauty of the sport?

And Mullins says he didn’t know the rules. In effect, he said he was ignorant, which isn’t hard to believe.

He probably didn’t know the rules. Many trainers lack education; many lack skills and knowledge. And many are just unprofessional. That doesn’t mean they’re bad persons. It just means it might turn out that for the good of the sport they probably shouldn’t train the favorite for the Kentucky Derby.