JC / Railbird

Triple Crown Archive

Sunday Night Links

– The 2008 Kentucky Derby, now officially the worst ever.
– Larry Jones, eloquent in grief: “She went out in glory,” he said, choking on tears. “She went out a champion to us.”
– Rick Dutrow, exultant in victory: “I told you Big Brown couldn’t lose!” So he did, again and again.
– Wise Ernie says: “Hug your Spooky Moulders, kiss your Delta Seas … you never know which race is the last.”
– Onward, I guess, but to face what competition?
– “Yes, that’s it, contemplate the koan, meditate upon it … then arrive at this reconciliation: Big Brown is indeed quite talented, the other 3-year-olds are, for the moment anyway, woefully pedestrian, and the sum of those two realities can only mean Triple Crown.”
– I made the deal, signed up for all the good and bad. I still feel terrible. And not just because I was wrong.

Posted in Triple Crown on May 4, 2008

The Gender Gap

There wasn’t much excitement about the Belmont the week before the race. No Triple Crown was on the line and there would be no rematch between the Kentucky Derby and Preakness winners. Trainer Patrick Biancone was planning to enter his allowance winner Time Squared and owner Larry Roman his grossly overmatched colt, Digger. There was a $1 million purse for the taking, and no one seemed to want it. But then trainer Todd Pletcher entered Rags to Riches, and suddenly, a race was on. There was a storyline, the battle of the sexes, something for handicappers and racing fans to talk about.

We see fillies run against males so rarely in American racing that the angle couldn’t be anything but compelling — I certainly wasn’t immune, especially when it seemed that so many dismissed Rags to Riches purely because of her gender, overlooking her 4-for-5 record, three Grade 1 wins this year (her last in the Kentucky Oaks, in which she ran the last eighth in :12 under a hand ride), speed, and pedigree, and although she would have been my pick for all those reasons on Saturday, there was the added frisson of wanting to see her win just because she was a filly. It was silly, and I admired the nonchalance of her owners, Michael Tabor and Derrick Smith, who seemed a little amused by the fuss, before and after, pointing out that in Europe fillies run against males often and it’s not much cause for comment.

Except, it is in America. Here, we race with the entrenched belief that female and male horses can’t compete fairly against each other. It’s an attitude that hasn’t changed much since Ruffian met Foolish Pleasure for the match race that would be her death, and it emerged after the Belmont, when, amid all the superlatives being heaped on a very deserving horse, some began to grouse that it was the five pound weight difference that gave Rags to Riches the edge, or her five-week layoff, or that Curlin bounced (in fact, figure-wise, he hardly regressed). Look again at the way she recovered from the stumble at the start, her wide trip throughout, and how she dug in and refused to let Curlin by even though he came at her again and again in the stretch. Rags to Riches was simply the better horse, and her win had nothing to do with gender.

What’s interesting, though, is how much some want to make it about gender. In the post-race press conference, a reporter asked Pletcher if there was anything “not ladylike” about Rags to Riches that made it possible for her to beat males on the track. Here’s Sherry Ross in the New York Daily News expanding on that theme:

Todd Pletcher calls Rags to Riches “a little bit bossy,” a polite way of saying that if the Belmont Stakes-winning filly were Naomi Campbell, she’d be bloodying her trainer with a cell phone.

Rags to Riches is Paris Hilton, only with talent and a healthy appetite. One time when Pletcher peeked in her stall and interrupted a meal, he said the filly came lunging at him “and almost took my head off.”

So when Pletcher described her as being “ornery as ever” yesterday morning after her historic win in Saturday’s 139th Belmont Stakes, that was a very good thing. She is entitled to act every bit the diva after becoming only the third filly ever to win the longest leg of the Triple Crown.

Rags to Riches, a diva? Ridiculous. She’s a horse, and a very good one, and her behavior around the feed tub is no different than that of many thoroughbreds, male or female.

But there’s a bigger issue obscured by all this chatter: American racing is sexist, and not only in regards to its equine athletes.

More than half of the sport’s fan base is female, women occupy more than 40% of racetrack jobs, and almost a quarter of the 2007 National Handicapping Championship competitors were women (and they weren’t all, despite what one contest staffer claimed, “beards”), but from the backside to the frontside to the grandstand, women are overlooked. On the backstretch, that marginalization affects women’s quality of life, safety, and economic opportunities. On the frontside and in the grandstand, it means fewer high level officials and and prominent owners, trainers, and handicappers than there ought to be.

A few numbers:

– Of the 42 members of the TRA board of directors, one is a woman.
– Of the 14 members of the NTRA board of directors, one is a woman (and she’s the first woman ever appointed to the NTRA board).
– Of the 25 candidates currently up for election to the Breeders’ Cup board, two are women.
– Of the 14 seniors officers and managers of Equibase, one is a woman.
– Of the 42 TRA member tracks, only one has a female president or CEO; of the 59 non-TRA member tracks, four have female managers.
– Of the 15 senior executives at the Daily Racing Form, one is a woman.
– Of the 155 bylined articles that appeared in the Daily Racing Form in a recent week, 13 were by women.
– Of the 20 starters in this year’s Kentucky Derby, one was conditioned by a female trainer.
– In the 133 years of the Kentucky Derby, only 13 female trainers have entered a Derby starter.
– Of the eight Kentucky Derby blogs posted on the official Derby web site, one was authored by a woman.
– Of all the guests that have so far appeared on the Youbet.com handicapping webcast, Playing to Win, zero have been women.

I could go on; there are plenty more examples out there, in the sport’s barns and offices, publications and literature. But there’s no need, I’m not revealing anything surprising. The subject percolates up periodically (most recently in February, when Equidaily posted on the topic).

The question is, what can be done about it? Rags to Riches winning the Belmont is a tremendous marketing moment for the sport, especially when it comes to reaching out to women. But does the sport know what to do with the opportunity? I’m expecting it to fumble, as it does so often — the culture and infrastructure that could capitalize on her game classic triumph doesn’t exist. And that’s a shame, because for racing to thrive in the future, it needs women as fans, and as handicappers, officials, and executives.

Posted in Triple Crown, Women & Racing on June 11, 2007

‘Rags’ Makes History

Rags to Riches leaving the paddock before the Belmont.

There may have been only 46,870 people at Belmont yesterday (ThoroTimes), but you wouldn’t have guessed that from the cheers that greeted Rags to Riches in the post parade or the roar of the crowd as she crossed the wire a head in front of Curlin, becoming the first filly in 102 years to take the Belmont. Even trainer Todd Pletcher reportedly let go, crying “Come on, baby! Come on, baby! Come on, baby!” (NY Times), as his filly came down the stretch, Curlin dogging her every stride in a race that will probably go down as one of the best Belmonts ever.

Rags to Riches overcame a stumble at the start, a four-wide ride around the turns, and pacesetter C P West’s dawdling fractions through the first mile to get the historic victory. She and Curlin made their moves entering the stretch at the same moment, Rags to Riches asserting a narrow lead over the Preakness winner. The two ran the last quarter in a quick :23.83, in what race caller Tom Durkin termed “a battle of the sexes,” with the gutsy and determined Rags to Riches keeping her head in front down the lane. Eventual third and fourth-place finishers Tiago and Hard Spun ran well behind.

The blurs in front are Rags to Riches and Curlin, head to head in the Belmont stretch.

Rags to Riches scored a career high Beyer of 107 for the race, for which the final time was 2:28.74, and paid $10.60 as the 4-1 second favorite.

Where she starts next is up for discussion: “We might go the Coaching Club American Oaks and the Alabama or the Haskell and Travers,” said Pletcher (Blood-Horse). Wherever she races next, jockey John Velazquez, riding in place of regular jock Garrett Gomez, who was on Hard Spun instead, will likely retain the mount (Times Union).

Curlin leaving the paddock.

Curlin, so game in the Belmont coming off his tough Preakness win, may get a break now after five races in four months. “With his schedule to this point, I think picking his head up and giving him his breath is what he deserves,” said trainer Steve Asmussen after.

The Manhattan field going to the gate.

The Belmont wasn’t the only race on Saturday with such a thrilling finish. In the Manhattan Stakes, 8-year-old Better Talk Now showed he’s a still a force on the turf, “rallying furiously in the stretch” (DRF) to nose out English Channel at the wire, who finished a nose ahead of Shakis.

In the True North Handicap, longshot Will He Shine won easily after Keyed Entry blew the stretch turn and forced favorite Bordonaro wide. “My horse was scrambling to keep stride, and it took him about an eighth of a mile to find his stride,” said jockey Richard Migliore. “Once we caught up with Keyed Entry, that horse bore out really badly and took us out of the race” (WashPost). Noted: Bordonaro appeared wearing front bandages for the first time on Saturday.

Other results: Teuflesberg bounced back from his 17th place finish in the Kentucky Derby with a victory in the Woody Stephens (ESPN). My Typhoon followed up her win in the Jenny Wiley at Keeneland with another in the Just a Game Stakes, while Cotton Blossom ran down favorite Dream Rush to score in the Acorn.

At Hollywood Park: Lava Man, making his first start since finishing last in the Dubai Duty Free, finished second to the late-running After Market in the Whittingham Memorial Handicap (Blood-Horse). While the loss ended Lava Man’s nine-race California winning streak, it does set him up nicely for his next start, the June 30 Hollywood Gold Cup.

Posted in Triple Crown on June 10, 2007

Belmont Day

Like Alan, I’ll be watching this afternoon’s Belmont Stakes more as a fan than bettor, cheering on Rags to Riches. Sure, no filly has won the Belmont Stakes since Tanya in 1905, but of the 21 fillies that have started, two have won and seven finished second or third (that’s 43% in the money) and Rags to Riches has a good shot to become the third filly winner of the Belmont. There’s her pedigree (sired by Belmont winner A.P. Indy, half sib to Belmont winner Jazil), her class (three Grade 1 wins this year), and her freshness (she comes into the race off a five week layoff, trainer Todd Pletcher’s sweet spot). Curlin will be formidable, but he’s going against history as well — no horse unraced as a two-year-old has won the Belmont since 1885 (Courier-Journal, via). Cases can be made for almost all of the starters (and Steve Haskin tries hard to do just that), but for me it comes down to Rags to Riches with Hard Spun, Tiago, and Curlin following.

Posted in Triple Crown on June 9, 2007