Triple Crown
Real Quiet, RIP
Victory Gallop and Real Quiet at the wire in the Belmont (Flickr/Budmeister)
Pity Real Quiet, dead at 15 following a paddock accident. Narrowly denied the Triple Crown by Victory Gallop in the 1998 Belmont Stakes, news of his death on Monday was overshadowed by news of Rachel Alexandra’s retirement. “As one who feels he has made it his life’s work to perfect the art of the rotten beat,” writes Mike Watchmaker, “I have always empathized with Real Quiet.” Amanda Duckworth remembers the Kentucky Derby winner, nicknamed “The Fish,” as an underdog, which was, for her, much of his appeal.
Real Quiet’s final race was the 1999 Hollywood Gold Cup. He retired a winner.
Kantharos Out
Unfortunate news: It was announced via press release Tuesday afternoon that undefeated Saratoga Special winner Kantharos suffered a career-ending sesamoid fracture in his left foreleg while galloping out after a five-furlong work over the Oklahoma training track on Monday morning. Dave Grening reports in DRF that the colt “appeared to be uncomfortable” as he was cooling out. X-rays revealed the injury.
There goes the leading 2-year-old East coast male. Farewell, Kantharos. We hardly got to know you in three races, but you sure looked promising.
Whoever wins the G1 Hopeful Stakes will head into the fall as a division leader. The race is shaping up a highly competitive affair, an interesting early test, with buzz babies such as Boys at Tosconova*, Wine Police*, and Settle for Medal likely to start on Monday. Sovereign Default is also possible for the race. A first-out winner at Belmont, Sovereign Default scratched from the Special — “I thought Sovereign Default could benefit from the three additional weeks,” said trainer Rick Violette — but he beat another likely Hopeful starter, Stay Thirsty, in that race on July 15. Stay Thirsty, second that day, returned to win a Saratoga maiden special, as did Air Support, the fifth-place finisher. Punster, third, and Dax, sixth, have both run second in their next starts.
I’m surprised there’s been so little comment on Magna’s announced Preakness 5.5 bonus, which will award $5.5 million to the connections of a horse who sweeps a series of Kentucky Derby prep races at one of the company’s tracks and then the Preakness Stakes, and seems very likely to affect the running of next year’s Triple Crown season. To be eligible, a horse must win the Robert B. Lewis or San Felipe at Santa Anita, or the El Camino Real at Golden Gate, then the Santa Anita Derby, or the Holy Bull or Fountain of Youth, then the Florida Derby. This year, Sidney’s Candy (San Felipe-Santa Anita Derby) would have been a candidate. In 2009, Pioneerof the Nile (San Felipe-Santa Anita Derby) and Quality Road (Fountain of Youth-Florida Derby) would have been eligible. It’s entirely possible that in 2011, two horses could be running for the bonus. It’s also conceivable that connections of a Santa Anita or Florida Derby winner could pass on the Kentucky Derby. Why not take a crack at $5 million with a fresh horse in a smaller field? There’s prestige, and then there’s big money.
12:50 PM Addendum: Ed DeRosa has a post today on the scheme and what it mean for Triple Crown marketing. “It was the birth of a great idea … but it may be the death of the Triple Crown series as we know it.”
*Boys at Tosconova and Wine Police worked on Wednesday at Saratoga. Steve Davidowitz and company’s Grade One Racing doesn’t have notes up for the moves yet, but previous work notes — especially for Boys at Tosconova, who worked with Pleasant Colony winner Trickmeister a couple weeks ago — are seriously good. I highly recommend the site, which is free through the Breeders’ Cup. There’s a terrific wealth of info on individual horses available.
Preakness Notes
“The best horse won,” writes Andrew Beyer, who picked Lookin at Lucky for the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness Stakes and must have been pleased when the colt took the second leg of the Triple Crown by three-quarters of a length in a time of 1:55.47, good for a Beyer speed figure of 102 (replay). Trainer Bob Baffert certainly was, telling Claire Novak after the race:
“This was a different kind of win,” he said. “This was a redemption win. This horse is such a warrior. He wants to win. He tries so hard. So I wanted to win it for the horse, you know, because he tries so hard every time. It’s easy to lose a little faith in him … I heard people say he gets in trouble because maybe he’s not that good. So today, when I saw Martin hit that wire, I was so happy for that horse.”
Sweet vindication, and not only for believing in his horse after all the troubles of Lucky’s last three races, but for making a rider switch from Garrett Gomez to Martin Garcia. “They have been winning at a steady, phenomenal 32 percent clip,” writes John Scheinman of the Baffert-Garcia combo, “and whatever magic the two have between them is alchemic.”
There was no magic for Gomez in the Preakness, riding Dublin for trainer D. Wayne Lukas. Post position 12 proved as disastrous as Lukas anticipated when entries were drawn. Explained the rider:
“The first three jumps were not good. He tried to go into the gap and made a right turn with me. When I straightened him, they were all gone and we were pretty much out of it.”
Dublin finished fifth after he exited the gate veering outside. You could say the break cost him the race; he ran the first quarter more than 18 lengths off the lead in a dismal :26 flat. He then ran the second in :23.29, the third in :23.73, and wrapped up in :43.44. All of those times were faster than Lookin at Lucky’s (faster, in fact, than any of the top four finishers). Lucky closed in :43.81 after running splits of :23.45, :23.87, and :24.34. What most struck me, though, looking at the fractions, is how much Dublin’s Preakness run looks like Ice Box’s Derby run, and that the difference in how their finishes are being perceived is a great example of the strength of the visual impact made by a runner-up appearing to close swiftly on a leader in the final yards of a race, compared to an also-ran finishing out of the money.
Both the Kentucky Derby and Preakness winners will skip the Belmont Stakes, which is lousy news for NYRA, an organization that could use a little financial boost. Baffert said that Lookin at Lucky would be prepped for the Haskell Invitational Stakes on August 1, while trainer Todd Pletcher indicated that Super Saver would be freshened for a late summer return. The Derby winner, apparently looking drawn on Saturday, finished eighth as the 9-5 favorite. “What are you gonna do? It was the two weeks,” said Pletcher.
Or is it that this crop of 3-year-olds isn’t so hot? “You have to wonder about the quality of the group,” says Michael Veitch. Yes, you do, when watching the juvenile champion grind out a short lead over a maiden winner to take the Preakness, and the Derby winner wilts at a mile to finish worse than any other at Pimlico since Monarchos in 2001. Two-thirds of the way through the spring classic season, it’s hard not to think about what could have been: “[I]f Eskendereya had stayed sound,” speculates Steve Crist, “we might well be looking at a runaway Derby-Preakness winner going for a Crown this year.” Watch the Wood Memorial replay if you doubt.
About
Jessica Chapel writes and edits in Massachusetts. Railbird is a Thoroughbred horse racing blog published from June 2004 to July 2019. More / Contact
Elsewhere
Find Jessica on Pinboard and Instagram, Railbird on LibraryThing and Twitter.
Etc.
Links
Search
Boston Racing
Spreadsheets/Data
← Home
Copyright © 2000-2023 by Jessica Chapel. All rights reserved.