For all the questions Saturday’s Blue Grass Stakes and Arkansas Derby raised, the results also answered quite a few: We now know that First Samurai can’t get 1 1/4 mile; that With a City’s win in the Lane’s End was a fluke; that trainer Nick Zito isn’t going to this year’s Kentucky Derby, and neither is Strong Contender; and that Todd Pletcher probably isn’t going to get his first Derby win three weeks from now, although Bob Baffert may well get his fourth.
Baffert gained a third Derby starter when Sinister Minister won the Blue Grass Stakes wire-to-wire in the sizzling time of 1:48.85. The colt earned a 116 Beyer speed figure for the race, the highest figure scored by any horse so far this year. “I was hoping he would really pour it on today, so it was pretty exciting,” said Baffert after. “He’s a free-running horse, and you can’t rate him. He just takes off fast. This horse, I just think he’s waking up at the right time. I don’t think Brother Derek can get in front of this guy; I don’t think he wants to.” Retired jockey Gary Stevens, doing commentary for TVG, gushed about the performance:
“If you need a jockey, I’m ready to lose 20 pounds,” Stevens said. “That wasn’t a speed-bias performance. That was a dominating performance. That horse is a lot better than people think. I looked at him in the paddock, and he looked like a horse who really wanted to run. He was stronger down the stretch.”
“This has to be one of the finest displays of training in Baffert’s legendary career,” writes Brian Turner of the Blue Grass results on Brisnet. “It was only back in January that the colt broke his maiden for a tag and then he moved into the three-time Derby winner’s barn. Sinister Minister showed marked improvement in each of his two starts since and looked absolutely dazzling in winning the Blue Grass.”
He looked dazzling indeed, crossing the wire 12 3/4 lengths ahead of Storm Treasure, with Strong Contender coming in third, but the debate has already begun (and will only intensify in the next three weeks) as to whether or not the Blue Grass was a “freaky” race: Is Sinister Minister genuine, or is he a case of cheap speed emboldened when let loose on the lead over a speed-favoring track? A case can be made either way: Keeneland is notoriously kind to speed, although on Saturday that bias wasn’t particularly pronounced, with several (like Sun King in the Commonwealth) managing to come from off the pace to win.
I’m inclined to see the race as freaky, and not merely because of any possible track bias: The fact is that Sinister Minister, previously the winner of only a maiden claimer, won in super-fast time with another maiden winner, the 65-1 shot Storm Treasure, finishing second, both leaving graded stakes winners First Samurai and Bluegrass Cat in the dust, as well as the much-hyped and highly regarded Strong Contender. The only way to explain results like that is with words like freaky and bizarre, and one of the few things that can be taken with certainty from this race is that Sinister Minister, a colt that even his trainer calls unrateable, is sure to set a hot pace in this year’s Derby.
Also almost as certain is that he won’t be left alone again. As John Clay points out, most of this year’s top prospects “are of the mad-dash variety.” If they don’t necessarily have to set the pace, they like to be near it. Think Brother Derek, Barbaro, Sweetnorthernsaint — and Arkansas Derby winner Lawyer Ron, who took the lead after the first quarter and easily trounced his competition:
“I didn’t want to challenge the other speed, but he was real aggressive with me around the first turn,” said [jockey John] McKee, who has ridden Lawyer Ron in his past 10 starts. “He is just full of himself right now. On the backside, he just took a hold of the race. He never stopped running.”
Lawyer Ron earned a 98 Beyer for the race, which had a final time of 1:51.38, with the last furlong run in a slow :13.6. There was nothing too surprising about the results — it’s long been clear that Lawyer Ron is the best of the Oaklawn contingent, although he’ll be dogged by questions about his (lack of) speed and headstrong nature until the Derby — but it was nice to see Private Vow flash a little of his two-year-old form, briefly challenging Lawyer Ron in the stretch before he faded to third. Steppenwolfer closed well for second.
Posted by JC in Racing on 04/16/2006 @ 8:05 pm / Tagged Kentucky Derby / Follow @railbird on Twitter
– Sun King, with a mad rush up the stretch, won the Commonwealth Stakes at Keeneland by 2 3/4 lengths. “When I needed him in spots, he was there for me,” said jockey Corey Nakatani. Also on Saturday: Wend won the Jenny Wiley Stakes by 1 1/2 lengths. “She just did a super job,” said jockey Edgar Prado.
– It was 50 years ago this spring that Needles won the Kentucky Derby, but retired jockey Dave Erb’s memories of the race are still fresh.
– Legendary Calumet Farm, having survived the death of star stallion Alydar, bankruptcy, and the death of its most recent owner, is rebuilding with the goal of making it into the Kentucky Derby winner’s circle once more. “Calumet is not a museum,” said farm manager Bill Witman. “It’s a thriving, working horse farm every day.”
– “Jockey agent John Faltynski, who works with 18-year old Anna Rose Napravnik, recalled a recent post position draw in the Laurel Park racing office for one seven-horse field that turned comical. The officials began matching the posts with the entries, and nearly every trainer had his Napravnik named to ride.”
Posted by JC in News on 04/16/2006 @ 8:00 pm / Follow @railbird on Twitter
Lowell Sun racing correspondent Paul Daley pens an open letter to the Racing Hall of Fame Nominating Committee, calling for changes to the Hall’s balloting procedures in this week’s Sun column, reprinted with permission here.
Dear Edward L. Bowen, Chairman, and Nominating Committee members,
I sent my ballot on Tuesday via email regarding my votes for induction into the Class of 2006, to be held on Monday, August 7 at the Fasig-Tipton Sales Pavilion in Saratoga Springs.
I take this vote very seriously and feel compelled to strenuously lobby for a procedural change for next year’s balloting.
As I see it, the Racing Hall of Fame should be for inclusion rather than exclusionary. As in the Baseball Hall of Fame, there is every reason to include all qualified candidates, human and equine, which fit the highest standards of racing, and then let the voters choose a specified number of candidates, regardless of category, on his or her individual ballot. Then, if any candidate receives 75 percent of the votes cast, induction would be warranted. If no candidate received the requisite number of votes, so be it.
This year, the flaws in the current system are readily apparent, especially in the Contemporary Male and Contemporary Female categories.
First, let’s look at the Contemporary Females. Mom’s Command is not even listed as one of the three finalists, yet won the New York Filly Triple Crown and then the Alabama Stakes in 1985, as nominee Sky Beauty did in 1993. However, Mom’s Command also defeated every horse who ever beat her. None of the other nominees can make that claim. Yet, she was removed from the ballot this year.
I feel strongly that we must reward outstanding qualified candidates before time passes them by and they fade from the memories of the voters, keeping in mind that candidates such as Cigar, Azeri, Secretariat, Bob Baffert, and John Velazquez, for example, will always be first-ballot inductees when eligible. In the system I propose, there will always be room for both types of candidates.
How else will youngsters develop an appreciation of the sport if they can’t read about them on the walls of the Hall of Fame, in its library, or through interactive videos? As Hall of Fame trainer Ron McAnally said directly after his Bayakoa won the 1990 Breeders’ Cup Distaff following the tragic breakdown of Go for Wand, “They [horses] give their lives for our enjoyment.”
So, I am voting for Jockey Eddie Maple and trainer Robert Wheeler, both eminently qualified, before they fade from voters’ consciousness. Others, like Alex Solis, Shane Sellers, Velazquez, and Edgar Prado, as jockeys, will have numerous chances for induction when their time comes in the future. The same can be said for Roger Attfield, Baffert, Wally Dollase, and Neil Howard as trainers. But the time for Maple, Wheeler, and perhaps Mel Stute is now.
In a similar sentiment, I will not vote for any candidate in the Contemporary Female category this year because Mom’s Command, who wove her magic in 1984-85, has been taken off the ballot. I admit that this is not totally fair on my part, either, because Inside Information, Silverbulletday, and Sky Beauty are all very worthy fillies. However, I have no other way of taking a stand on the issue other than with this correspondence and knowing that mares such as Azeri and Beautiful Pleasure will soon join the list of eligibles.
Lastly, it’s truly a shame that only one of Best Pal, Manila, and Silver Charm, barring ties, will be inducted this year into the Hall of Fame in the Contemporary Male category. Each of them is deserving of induction in the Class of 2006 and will get my yes vote. One only hopes that their time does not pass when the likes of Point Given, Tiznow, and Mineshaft become eligible in the ensuing years.
Respectfully submitted,
Paul R. Daley
Lowell Sun Newspaper
Copyright © 2006 by Paul Daley. Reprinted with permission of the author.
Posted by JC in HOF/Awards on 04/15/2006 @ 10:15 am / Follow @railbird on Twitter
