Saratoga, Part II
Funny Cide, the most famous stable pony in racing.
Mid-meet stats: Riders John Velazquez and Cornelio Velasquez are tied at 19 wins apiece, Eibar Coa follows with 14 wins. Edgar Prado has the distinction of being the rider with the most seconds, with 22 placings to 13 wins. On the trainer side, Todd Pletcher leads with 10 wins from 41 starters, Gary Contessa is second with 7 wins from 65 starters. By percentage, though, Tony Dutrow leads with his 87% ITM rate, thanks to a 16-6-3-5 record through the first three weeks, and Dave Duggan (as LATG pointed out) has four winners from nine starters plus a second and third. Onward, into the second half of the most glorious meet, to better weather and graded stakes galore.
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.
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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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