Go, Jackson
Oh, impetuous Dutrow, you trash talked the wrong guy:
LEXINGTON, KY (August 13, 2008) – Jess Jackson, majority owner of Curlin, 2007 Horse of the Year, invites Big Brown to race Curlin in the Grade 1, $500,000 Woodward Stakes at Saratoga Race Course in Saratoga Springs, New York on Saturday, August 30, 2008. Jackson has committed to donate $50,000 from the Jackson Curlin for Kids Fund to the non-profit Belmont Child Care Association, Anna House, if Big Brown, winner of the 2008 Kentucky Derby, Preakness, Haskell and Florida Derby, accepts the invitation.
“Big Brown’s camp recent remarks about Curlin inspired me to offer an incentive to get these two great horses to race at the legendary track at the Spa,” said Jackson. “Both horses are eligible for this race and both have plenty of time to prepare for what would be thoroughbred racing at its very best and in the name of a great cause.” …
“This type of competition between horses is exactly what thoroughbred racing needs — an event that introduces the excitement and competition of racing to a broader audience,” Jackson said. “Imagine Horse of the Year Curlin racing against Derby Winner Big Brown, on a legendary track. I would love it, the fans would love it, and the horses would love it.”
That would be fun (and a terrific way to close Saratoga), but don’t expect IEAH to announce any change in plans for Big Brown. Michael Iavarone has said they’re looking for a mid-September grass race (possibly an overnight stakes written by NYRA specifically for the Kentucky Derby winner, in which he would likely face a small field of overmatched allowance horses) and pointing to the Breeders’ Cup Classic afterwards.
Update: And in fact, the Classic figures in the IEAH reply:
When told of the offer, Mike Iavarone, co-president of IEAH Stables, replied, “I have a better offer. We’ll donate $250,000 to various charities if Curlin meets us in the Breeders’ Cup. These are the things we do anyway. We strongly feel that championships should be decided at the Breeders’ Cup and that in order to give both horses the proper time to prepare for each other, we believe the race we meet in should be on racing’s biggest stage.”
Unfortunately, Iavarone doesn’t stop talking there.
The bizarre back and forth continues: Now Jackson says, meet us in the Jockey Club Gold Cup.
Last word: No way, says Iavarone, jokingly proposing a 3-on-3 basketball game to settle the matter instead.
On Track
Ventured to the backstretch earlier than usual this morning, arriving around 5:30 a.m., between rainstorms, to watch Curlin train, only to hear that the expected move had been canceled due to the weather and sloppy track condition. “I’m not going to work him,” said trainer Steve Asmussen. “It’s too wet.” Turns out, the exercise was merely delayed, with the big chestnut working six furlongs in 1:14.62, in company with stablemate Hawaii Calls, over the muddy Oklahoma surface after the break. Curlin’s final serious Woodward work is scheduled for next Monday, over the main track.
Also on the work tab was Pyro, second in the Jim Dandy, pointing to a start in the Travers. The 3-year-old worked six furlongs in 1:16.01 over the training track.
Odds & Ends
Above All Odds and connections await the sixth on Saturday.
– Caught this intriguing tidbit in a Times Union piece on the Saturday card, otherwise known as the Going to Hell in a Handbasket Without a Graded Stakes day:
The first Saturday of the meet was top heavy with stakes races…. That won’t happen next year. Hayward said the Breeders’ Cup people already have told him there will be no Win and You’re In here.
“We were told they aren’t going to do any races at Saratoga or Arlington in the summer,” Hayward said.
That sounds like a potentially significant change. Does this mean a retrenchment of the Breeders’ Cup Win and You’re In promotion for 2009?
– David Carr is writing about media, but this simple insight into how technology is changing news production and consumption could be as easily applied to marketing racing, especially to the tech-savvy and connected:
For the last few years, the locus of control has been shifting and consumers not only expect to customize their media experience, they demand it as a condition of engagement.
Here comes everybody: Part 1, Part 2 …
– Almost missed this news, since it was buried midway through a DRF article:
The multiple graded stakes winner Bit of Whimsy came out of her ninth-place finish in the Diana Handicap with a minor injury, and her connections have decided to retire her from racing …
Bit of Whimsy showed little in her final three races, going winless since the G2 Mrs. Revere last November, and she was to have been retired at year’s end regardless, but she was a fine turf filly and will be missed on track by this fan.
All Clear
Training over the repaired main track on Saturday morning.
The sky is blue, clouds are few, and any rain predicted is expected to pass to the north. After yesterday’s early afternoon wash out, the main track is restored to normal, the turf listed as yielding. So far, the weather is perfect for an 11-race Saratoga card featuring four overnight stakes for NY-breds. Complaints about the line-up can be found here and there, but I prefer to think NYRA is doing horseplayers a courtesy, freeing fans from any distracting local graded stakes that might take away from Arlington Million day (well covered by both Superfecta and Gathering the Wind), while (mostly) full fields make for an afternoon of good betting.
I embarrassed myself a bit earlier on the backstretch by saying that I liked Plan, recently purchased by IEAH, in the Arlington Million when what I meant was the Secretariat; as for the Million, reduced to seven due to the scratch of Sudan, I’m leaning towards Einstein, “progressively … better as he’s gone along,” to upset likely favorite Archipenko. The Beverly D. comes up the toughest of three, with a class field all around, including Mauralakana, hometown filly Dreaming of Anna, and the dangerous Precious Kitten. Cornelio Velasquez abandons Saratoga for the day to ride 8-1 ML Rosinka for Graham Motion. Interesting …
Unexpected Dark Day
– A summer squall complete with thunder, lightning, and hail forced cancellation of the Saratoga card after the second race due to portions of the racetrack washing out. “There are big holes in there from the middle of the track all the way down to the rail — I mean huge,” jockey John Velazquez told DRF. (Apparently, the area of the track most affected has been trouble before: “Every time it rains hard like that, we have the same problems around the five-sixteenths pole,” said Edgar Prado.) Repairs were expected to take at least an hour, and even then, “there was no guarantee that the track would be up to standard.” The forecast calls for partly sunny skies and no rain on Saturday, but barely a day has passed this meet without drizzle or monsoon, so you might want to take that report with some skepticism and defensively handicap. [Or not, since dawn breaks clear and cloudless. An afternoon without rain seems possible …]
– Back a year later, taller, possessed of a 75-5 regular season record, and a knack for 3-point shots, the 6th grade Texas Titans handily beat the Saratoga jockey colony 49-32 in a basketball game held Thursday night to benefit the Disabled Jockeys’ Fund. It was an exciting rematch, with the riders holding their own through the third quarter, then tiring in the fourth and looking increasingly desperate and disorganized (in a good humored sort of way) as the kids started racking up points in the closing minutes. (Full report on Brooklyn Backstretch.) On Monday August 18, the jockeys take on the New York State Police in an annual charity softball game benefiting the same worthy cause. Play begins at 7:00 p.m. at the East Side Recreation Field. [Game delayed due to weather.]
Duck, Duck
– I think we all knew it was an unlikely August meeting, but a Blood-Horse report confirms. Big Brown will not race against Curlin at Saratoga:
“The Woodward isn’t in our thinking right now,” said Pompa, a 25% owner of Big Brown. “The timing isn’t right for the horse. Mike Iavarone (of co-owner IEAH Stables) and I discussed it, and we’re not going to Saratoga. There is no reason to rush him back. He’s coming off a tough race.”
The Jockey Club Gold Cup isn’t in their thinking either, but Pompa did say they hoped to meet Curlin in the Breeders’ Cup Classic, the race Jess Jackson hedged on while talking to the media in the Tuesday NTRA teleconference. “We’d like to go there but that’s an untested surface and I’m very uncertain about it,” he said, when asked about bringing Curlin to Santa Anita. “We’ve been invited to race in Japan, Hong Kong and other venues in the U.S. We’re keeping all those options open.” Yeah, these two are never going to race against each other, although I do agree with Jackson that it is up to Big Brown’s connections to make any such meeting happen. Curlin is burnishing his reputation this year, and has nothing to prove chasing the 3-year-old …
– Speaking of Curlin, here he is, hanging out and enjoying some hay in his Oklahoma stall, looking content and a little bit curious about all the attention he was attracting (I was not alone in stopping by Asmussen’s barn this morning to admire the handsome Horse of the Year, under the watchful eyes of his personal guard):
– Met Mile winner Divine Park, bravely being pointed to the Woodward despite Curlin’s plans, worked four furlongs in :47.36 over the Saratoga main track. “I’m looking forward to the opportunity to meet the champ,” said trainer Kiaran McLaughlin. “It would be great for Divine Park if he happens to beat him, and if we finish second or third it’s still a positive” (DRF). Nick Zito also plans to be sportsmanlike and enter freshly-minted millionaire Wanderin Boy in the race.
Restored
– Big Brown wins the Haskell, Brash Dutrow returns:
Curlin couldn’t win the Derby, we could,” Dutrow said. “Curlin couldn’t win this race, we could. Curlin got beat [by] a filly. We haven’t. Our horse is undefeated on the grass. Curlin isn’t. I don’t know why people think Curlin is such a good horse. We’re way better than Curlin.”
In his favor, Big Brown won off an eight-week layoff after the worst race of his career, digging deep to get past Coal Play — loose on the lead from the start and running the best race of his career — in the final yards and earning a Beyer speed figure of 107, and he did at least somewhat restore his reputation as the division leader. But he didn’t resemble the dominant colt that romped through the spring — on Sunday, he looked badly beat at the eighth pole — much less look ready to take on the reigning Horse of the Year, and the drifting out was worrisome (especially in light of that last work on the turf), suggesting whatever ached or bothered in the Belmont continues to cause trouble.
IEAH co-president Michael Iavarone said the Breeders’ Cup Classic at Santa Anita is the year-end goal for Big Brown, with the late September MassCap at Suffolk Downs under serious consideration as a final prep:
“We’ve already talked and they are class guys,” said Iavarone, who said he would probably make a decision in the next few weeks. “They are interested and we are interested and they’re definitely in the crosshairs. Let’s see how things work out.”
After the Whitney, trainer Nick Zito also mentioned the MassCap as a possible next start for gallant Commentator. The 7-year-old gelding isn’t quite super horse Curlin, but his preferred running style and occasional brilliance raises the specter of a very interesting stretch run should the two meet up at Suffolk …
That is, if Big Brown gets even close to East Boston. There’s also talk of a turf try and while Dutrow said the colt looked “great” leaving Monmouth Park, backstretch ‘birds whisper Big Brown exited the Haskell sore and that it’s a matter of mere days until his retirement is announced.
– It was standing room only this morning when trainer Carl Nafzger, jockeys Edgar Prado and Milo Valenzuela, and horses Inside Information, Ancient Title, and Manila were inducted into the Racing Hall of Fame. As part of the ceremony, after Dr. Dean Richardson delivered a funny and modest welcome address, the 19 living members of the Hall present in the audience were called before the crowd, their accomplishments and names recited. Among them, rider Laffit Pincay, making his first trip ever to the Hall.
As usual, on scene Brooklyn Backstretch has a full report.
In the Second
… at Saratoga today, Spaniard makes his second start for trainer Bob Baffert. The 2-year-old Candy Ride colt, a half to certain Test Stakes favorite Indian Blessing, comes to the Spa off a sixth-place finish in a June maiden special at Hollywood that has yielded three next out winners (one at Hollywood, with a BSF of 80, two at Del Mar, with BSFs of 73 and 80), and gets leading rider John Velazquez. Sure to be sent to post at better odds, however, is Nowhere to Hide, a Vindication colt with a bullet work on July 12 debuting for trainer Nick Zito, who is 3-1-2-0 with juveniles at the meet so far, all at decent odds (5-1 on flashy winner Miss Ocean City, 4-1 and 3-1 on the others). Steve Asmussen sends out Coach Gravy, an unfortunately named Grand Slam colt out of G3 Meld winner Caiseal Ros, while former Pletcher assistant Seth Benzel, still seeking his stable’s first win, starts Orientate baby Viscount, bought for $350,000 at Keeneland and sporting an improved gate work on July 26.
Quite the Spectacle
Saratoga doyenne Marylou Whitney and soap star Susan Lucci enter Congress Park in a rickshaw …
Preceded by dragon dancers …
While a golden blow-up Buddha welcomes guests to the annual Whitney Gala at the Canfield Casino …
‘Note Possible for Travers?
Reports Ed Fountaine in the New York Post this morning:
Godolphin Stables is considering a run in the “Midsummer Derby” for Music Note, coming off an 11-length romp in the July 19 Coaching Club American Oaks at Belmont Park, when she ran the mile-and-a-quarter, the distance of the Travers, in a sparkling 2:01.66.
Now, this is an interesting possibility. As much as I’d like to see a rematch between Music Note and Proud Spell in the historic Alabama (and agree with commenter Ed that it could well be the race that determines year-end 3YO filly honors), the Travers does have a $1 million purse, it gives the filly an additional week of rest off the CCAO, and the field, headed by Jim Dandy winner Macho Again, isn’t exactly shaping up as all that strong. [Thanks to Brooklyn Backstretch, not quite as enthusiastic about the idea, for the alert.]
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Jessica Chapel writes and edits in Massachusetts. Railbird is a Thoroughbred horse racing blog published from June 2004 to July 2019. More / Contact
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