Railbird 2004–2019

Horses Archive

Perfect Fleetheart

– The SoCal filly remains unbeaten after wiring Hollywood’s Wednesday opener as the 3-2 favorite. Fleetheart could start next in a Del Mar stakes race. Considering how well she’s handled everything asked of her so far (up in class, surface change, stretching out, etc.), it’s exciting to contemplate how she might perform at the stakes level …

– Trainer Steve Asmussen is the subject of a lengthy and sympathetic profile that gets right into the doping rumors: “People who say I’m a cheater? Well, that’s the dumbest thing I ever heard,” he says. “On average, mine cost a 100 [thousand], yours cost 10 [thousand], and you’re wondering why I’m beating you? It ain’t any kind of drugs or anything else. The horses are just faster.” Well, that clears things up.

– Paul Moran is right: “[Invasor] may be the most under-appreciated superstar thoroughbred of the modern era.” Invasor was a star on the verge of true greatness in the very classical sense of sheer class dominance. We don’t see much of that anymore.

Posted in Horses on June 28, 2007

Scat, Daddy

Florida Derby winner Scat Daddy has been retired with a tendon injury: “Our vets told us he would need 90 days rest, so we would have run out of time to get him back for the major races this year, and the decision was made to retire him to stud,” explained trainer Todd Pletcher (DRF). That 90 days was too long to wait for a minor injury to heal suggests owners Michael Tabor and Derrick Smith were planning to retire the son of Johannesburg at the end of the year anyway, which isn’t all that surprising, but is still a bit disappointing. Maybe Bill Finley’s onto something with his idea of restricting certain races to starters whose sires were at least five years old when the horse was conceived.
Elsewhere: Valerie at Foolish Pleasure argues it’s fraud to retire Scat Daddy to stud with his current record. “Here is a colt whose daddy Johannesburg was a champion 2 year old but a total bust at three … this horse proved nothing to me, except that, like his daddy, he could run successfully for a very short period …”

Posted in Horses on June 25, 2007

Fleetheart Returns

– Fleetheart, emerging star of the SoCal allowance ranks, returns to the track in Hollywood’s first race on Wednesday. The four-year-old filly is a perfect 3-for-3 since beginning her career last October and has shown considerable toughness and talent in all of her starts. She’s stretching out from six furlongs to 1 1/16 miles for the first time and it looks like she’ll have some competition from Fun Logic, breaking to her outside, who won at the distance two starts back. But Fleetheart also looks like the lone speed in this five-horse field, and she should have no problem handling the distance, being by Northern Afleet, sire of Afleet Alex, and out of Guarded Optomist, an unraced Spend a Buck mare with five winners out of six foals to race, including Guardianofthegate, winner of the 1 1/8 miles Columbia Stakes (on the turf) at Tampa back in 2003. If she wins on Wednesday, a Del Mar stakes appearance could be next on Fleetheart’s schedule. “Hopefully, she’ll do well and we’ll have that thought to ponder,” said trainer Vladimir Cerin (DRF).

– Steve Davidowitz writes of synthetic surfaces, “We are more than two years into American racing’s experiments with artificial racing surfaces and it is impossible to make a single coherent statement about them” (TrackMaster, via). Actually, there is one coherent thing to be said about the synthetic experiment: Handicappers have to throw out everything they know about speed handicapping. It’s not that speed is suddenly irrelevant on Polytrack or Cushion Track, but that class and pace are more prominent factors.

Posted in Horses on June 24, 2007

Invasor Retired

Invasor, working with stablemate Like Now, on Saturday morning. Photo by Adam Coglianese/NYRA.
No! No! No! I haven’t been this disappointed since Afleet Alex was sent to stud. It seems Invasor suffered a fracture of the sesamoid in his right hind leg during this morning’s workout. He’ll be moved to Shadwell Farm, where he’ll stand in 2008. Blood-Horse has the edited press release.
Video: Watch Invasor win the Dubai World Cup, Donn Handicap, Breeders’ Cup Classic, and the Uruguayan Triple Crown, and trainer Kiaran McLaughlin talk about his star.
Related: Invasor’s retirement scrambles the early end-of-the-year honors picture considerably. Street Sense, Curlin, and Rags to Riches are the three-year-olds currently in the running for Horse of the Year; Corinthian leads a weak older horse division. (I realize the TBA standings contradict me, but Lava Man and Molengao are proven only in California.) Who will emerge in late summer and fall? And without Invasor, what does the Breeders’ Cup Classic field look like? Might this open the way for Rags to Riches to face males again? (If she were to win the Classic, imagine the publicity!) Much as we’ll all miss the reigning Horse of the Year, his absence certainly creates an interesting dynamic for the second half of the year.
Haskin gets it right about what was so great about Invasor: “He wasn’t the fastest horse; he wasn’t the most powerful horse; and he didn’t blow you away with an explosive move. But he knew how to beat you.”

Posted in Horses on June 23, 2007

Invasor Works a Bullet

Wrapping up his prep for next Saturday’s Suburban Handicap, Invasor breezed five furlongs over Belmont’s main track in :59.2 this morning, in company with stablemate Like Now. The work was the fastest of 23 at the distance. Invasor is on a six-race winning streak, which includes last year’s Suburban, and hasn’t raced since winning the Dubai World Cup in March. So far, it looks like his toughest competition next Saturday will be Met Mile winner Corinthian. Now, that’s a race to go to the track for …

Posted in Horses on June 23, 2007