David Fawkes is surrounded by opportunities and options, by colorful packages with decorative ribbons and bows. The problem is he can’t have them all, or rather he can’t open them all simultaneously, and so he has to choose. And the choices are tough.
Fawkes, of course, trains one of the country’s best 3-year-olds in Big Drama, who appears capable of competing at the highest level at a variety of distances, from three-quarters of a mile to – well, certainly to 1 1/8 miles. His performance Saturday night at Charles Town in the Red Legend Stakes sparkled. It was nothing short of sensational.
Don’t disparage the race because it was run at Charles Town. Some talented horses were entered, but they barely warmed up Big Drama. He broke sharply, relaxed encouragingly under a firm hold, dragged jockey Eibar Coa to the leaders in the second turn and then drew clear with an explosive surge down the stretch to win by seven lengths, completing the seven furlongs in 1:24. It was the ideal prep. But a prep for what exactly?
“Right now, we’re looking at the Haskell,” Fawkes said, “and we’re looking at the King’s Bishop.” The connections are also looking, he said, at the West Virginia Derby and, further down the road, at the Breeders’ Cup, although which Breeders’ Cup race is hard to say. But that’s the sort of horse Big Drama is: He can be considered simultaneously for a major race at seven furlongs and another at nine furlongs and for no fewer than three Breeders’ Cup races.
He has won six of his nine outings, and that includes a disqualification after finishing first in the Swale Stakes at Gulfstream Park. With his victory at Charles Town, the handsome son of Montbrook went over a million bucks in earnings.
He never has run a poor race, having won from three-quarters of a mile to a mile and a sixteenth. He finished fifth in the Preakness, but even there he was tenacious, despite having every reason to capitulate, despite just about everything going wrong for him.
“It all started with Rachel,” Fawkes said, referring to Rachel Alexandra’s joining the Triple Crown party at Pimlico. “Her running style made things more difficult. And then we drew the one-hole. He acted up in the gate – when I heard somebody was acting up, I couldn’t believe it was him; he’s never done that. And the race didn’t set up for him.”
And that morning, Fawkes said, Big Drama became cast in his stall, rolling into a position where he couldn’t get his legs underneath him. Nothing went right, in other words, and still he ran fifth, about five lengths behind Rachel Alexandra at the wire. But he got back into the winning habit at Charles Town, and his performance there suggests he could be a major player in the division for the remainder of the year.
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Posted by: Patrick | July 14, 2009 at 08:02 AM
If Big Drama were a building he would most often be the Bennington Battle Monument in Vermont or the JP Morgan Chase Tower in Texas.
This summer, if he were to choose between the Empire State Building and 30 Hudson Street, i would have to go with Big Drama being the Empire State Building.
Just my two cents.
Posted by: Skronk | July 03, 2009 at 06:35 PM