Observers Call for Uniformity
The horse racing industry reacted to the on-track death of Eight Belles after the Kentucky Derby with a flurry of announcements addressing equine safety, but decentralized leadership, sharply competing interests and a lack of comprehensive, transparent statistical information undermine meaningful progress toward addressing key issues, according to leading figures in racing, government and animal advocacy organizations.
"The surface of the track, the medication, the breeding, the type of horseshoes -- all of these things -- it seems like if you had this information when a horse breaks down, it would be valuable to the industry," said Rep. Edward Whitfield (R-Ky.), a member of the House Commerce, Trade and Consumer Protection Subcommittee who would like to see reform in the sport. "They don't even require necropsies in Kentucky. They don't really have any records available to them of breakdowns in Kentucky."
Whitfield, a key sponsor of the anti-slaughter Horse Protection Act, and his wife, Connie Harriman-Whitfield, vice chair of the Kentucky Horse Racing Authority, said they are frustrated that racing is governed by 40 state racing commissions rather than a centralized authority similar to that in the NFL and Major League Baseball.
"One of the major problems in addressing these issues is the industry has no leaders," Harriman-Whitfield said. "It's divided, it's contentious, one competitor fighting against another. Maybe some recommendations are offered, but nothing is implemented. Then you have all these racing jurisdictions and each has different rules, [and] there are a lot of regulators that don't have a knowledge of racing."
A recent example of the lack of uniform leadership policy came in January, when the Maryland Racing Commission postponed a ban on the race-day presence of steroids in horses at the urging of horsemen and veterinarians.
The ban was set to be implemented at the opening of the Pimlico spring meet April 19, but Maryland Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association representatives insisted too many questions remained about drug withdrawal times, penalties and therapeutic usage. The commission pushed back its goal for a ban to Jan. 1, 2009.
The decision in Maryland had an impact on racing in Delaware and Pennsylvania, two states that banned steroid use this year, cutting down the interstate traffic in horses that normally would race at tracks throughout the mid-Atlantic region. Delaware, which struggles to fill its fields because of a horse shortage, recently adopted a penalty-free leniency period for runners who test positive for steroids through Sept. 30.
"It's one of the biggest problems racing faces," said John Franzone, chairman of the Maryland Racing Commission. "That's why you have an NFL. That's why you have a professional golfer's tour, so you don't have this renegade activity. It's not to say these individual states do a bad job, but... could we do a much better job? Absolutely."
While the number of horses euthanized nationally because of on-track injuries is less than two for every 1,000 starts, horses clearly are not as robust as they once were. In Maryland, the average number of runners euthanized yearly following on-track injuries climbed from 22.5 per year between 1996 and 2001 to 26 from 2002 through 2007, according to racing commission figures.
Most experts interviewed pointed to the casual and pervasive use of medications as well as a breeding industry that favors speed over soundness as prime causes for the decline in yearly starts per runner from a 57-year high of 11.31 in 1960 to an all-time low of 6.31 in 2007.
Issues of track surface safety have deeply divided the most experienced horsemen in the country, as some racetrack operators have dug up their dirt courses and replaced them with artificial surfaces before definitive data have been produced showing they reduce the risk of catastrophic injuries.
Attempting to address the issues, the Jockey Club -- the official registry of thoroughbreds in North America -- announced the formation this month of a Thoroughbred Safety Committee that includes some of the most respected names in the sport. The National Thoroughbred Racing Association, a promotional and lobbying group, called for greater coordination of safety initiatives. The sport's Racing Medication and Testing Consortium and the Welfare and Safety of the Racehorse Summit continue to develop policy.
None of these organizations have binding authority.
"That's the problem," said John Sparkman, bloodstock editor at the Thoroughbred Times. "Useless committees are not the way to do it. I'm trying to avoid a derogatory term, but the good gentlemen of racing, that's all they know how to do."
The Humane Society would like races for 2-year-olds discontinued and the Triple Crown series contested by 4-year-olds rather than 3-year-olds. It also would like to see a transition toward artificial surfaces as well as a ban on race-day medication and the use of drugs to keep injured horses in training. Wayne Pacelle, president of the Humane Society of the United States, said that without centralized leadership, racing likely would not rally to reform without negative incidents acting as triggers.
"Fear is a big motivator for industries that have problems to wrestle with," Pacelle said.
"Congress's authority is fear. There are laws that regulate interstate transport of animals. You have gambling of an interstate nature. Congress can weigh in on this issue and do something of value, or it can overreach. The industry has greater interest than anyone else in this debate in managing this discussion, and they can only do so if they are at the table."
Whitfield, however, said federal intervention would be highly problematic, with the horsemen's groups, breeders and track owners leaning hard on their congressional representatives for support.
"The only way it will work," Whitfield said, "is if you get enough prominent owners and breeders to get together and say, 'We want some federal guidelines.' "
(c) Copyright 1996-2008 The Washington Post Company
Brutal accidents show horse racing needs changes
The first race at Belmont Park on Sunday afternoon was nearing the finish when a 4-year-old filly named Just Foolin stumbled in deep stretch and fell, propelling her rider, Angel Arroyo, head over heels to the track, where he lay curled in a ball as the latter half of the 10-horse field went hurtling past -- one of the horses appearing to kick him, even as she tried to avoid him.
It was less than 24 hours after the tragic collapse and death of the courageously game filly Eight Belles moments after crossing the finish line second in the Kentucky Derby.
Unlike the Derby, which was attended by more than 157,000 at Churchill Downs, and watched by millions more on national television, there were only 4,576 fans in the mostly empty grandstand at Belmont, and the video of the race was seen only by racing fans watching at simulcast outlets, or on their computers.
If those hardcore handicappers cared about anything than other the results of the race, they were out of luck. They were never shown what was going on around Just Foolin, who was vanned off, nor were they informed -- at least not while I was watching and listening -- about the condition of Arroyo, who, it was reported Monday in the New York papers, had a bruised thigh.
It was yet another example of how, although the horses that run the races are noble thoroughbreds, the people who run the game are more like ostriches.
There was no way, however, that thoroughbred racing could put its collective head in the sand Saturday at Churchill Downs. Not with the world watching as Eight Belles lay on the track with two shattered ankles -- a painful, mortal injury that required immediate euthanization by lethal injection.
It was yet another in a increasingly disturbing series of accidents to have occurred on the rare days when casual sports fans are watching racing.
On Breeders' Cup day last October, a European champion colt named George Washington broke down in the Classic at Monmouth Park and had to be euthanized on the track.
Two years ago, Kentucky Derby winner Barbaro was trying to add the Preakness to his list of victories when he injured a leg. After months of treatment, he finally succumbed.
Racing no longer can ignore such accidents.
The sport, which once led the nation in attendance -- surpassing even major-league baseball, the National Pastime -- has plummeted in popularity since its heyday just before, and immediately after, World War II.
The sad, and grisly, scenes of the demise of such fine equine athletes as Eight Belles, Barbaro and George Washington -- along with the injuries suffered by everyday horses such as Just Foolin, who hadn't finished "in the money" (first, second or third) in five starts prior to Sunday -- only serve to turn people away from what, in many ways, is a truly beautiful, very exciting and very traditional sport.
In some ways, too traditional. There is a reluctance to change in thoroughbred racing, yet, clearly, some changes must be made, less a sport which once was revered across America become reviled.
One positive development has been the trend toward synthetic racing surfaces. Although the data is not yet conclusive, it appears that artificial tracks, such as those at Del Mar in California and Keeneland in Lexington, Ky., are safer than dirt tracks, such as those on which the Triple Crown races are run at Churchill, Pimlico (in Baltimore) and Belmont.
Other changes are not as easy to implement.
For generations, horses have been increasingly bred for speed, not durability. Instead of racing every week or two, as many did, most horses now race barely once a month, if even that often.
The legendary Seabiscuit raced an incredible 35 times as a 2-year-old -- more than most horses run now in their entire careers -- and won only five, even though he was trained by Hall of Famer "Sunny Jim" Fitzsimmons. It wasn't until "the 'Biscuit" was purchased the following year, in August 1936, at Saratoga, by West Coast auto magnate Charles Howard, and put into the hands of Tom Smith, that his career took off.
This year's Derby winner, Big Brown, has had chronic foot problems. He raced just once as a 2-year-old, and that was on grass. His Derby race was only the fourth of his career. Now, in order to win the Triple Crown, he'll have to race again a week from Saturday, in the Preakness, and if, as expected, he wins there, he'll almost certainly run in the Belmont Stakes three weeks after that, on June 7, in a demanding distance race that covers a grueling mile-and-a-half.
It's been 30 years since a horse won the Triple Crown. It was in 1978 that Affirmed outdueled Alydar three times. It is too tempting a prize to pass up. And so it is likely that Big Brown, who, prior to the Derby, had run three times in his life, will have to run three times in five weeks in order to win the Triple Crown.
That's a lot to ask of any horse in this day and age, especially of one prone to quarter-cracks (painful splits) in his hooves.
Big Brown is a product of a breeding industry that has dangerously narrowed thoroughbred bloodlines. Like the last 14 Kentucky Derby winners -- and Eight Belles -- Big Brown is a descendant of the late Native Dancer, a great racehorse who was highly successful in passing along speed and racing precocity to his offspring, but -- his own career cut short by leg injuries -- passed along that less desirable trait, as well.
Another change that would be beneficial would be the elimination of race-day medication. If a horse needs drugs to run, it shouldn't run. If it can't race clean, it shouldn't race at all. Medication allows unsound horses to train, and race, when they'd be better off in the barn.
The problem is that race cards have to be filled every day at tracks across the country. The larger the fields, the more money is wagered. Gambling is, after all, the reason most patrons go to the track, and the payoffs tend to be bigger when there are 10 horses in a race than when there are only five.
Sadly, one of the rare times racing authorities seem to pop their heads out of the sand is when the handle drops.
When a horse and jockey go down, as in the first race Sunday at Belmont, they look the other way.
(c) 2008 , Published by The Providence Journal Co
Want a Free Bet on the Kentucky Derby? All Horse Racing Has Your Ticket
LOUISVILLE, Ky.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--All Horse Racing, an international horse racing company, today announced the start of the annual Triple Crown Challenge with a free bet on the 134th Kentucky Derby.
To celebrate "The Most Exciting Two Minutes in Sports" and the Triple Crown, All Horse Racing is offering risk free wagers on the Kentucky Derby, the Preakness Stakes and the Belmont Stakes.
"The Derby is pure spectacle --from tony Millionaire's Row where celebrities hobnob to the testosterone charged infield-- the Kentucky Derby is America's biggest party and its favorite race. If you ever place a bet on a horse in your life, it should be on the Kentucky Derby," said Leonard Manley, Director of Marketing at All Horse Racing.
What will be the winning time of the 2008 Kentucky Derby?
Last year, Street Sense snuck ahead of the field with a winning time of 2:02.17. The year before, Barbaro won in a decisive 2:01.36 victory. Will this year's winner be faster or slower than 2:01.50? At All Horse Racing, members get to place a free horse bet and find out.
Will Big Brown court martial Colonel John or will Pyro scorch the field?
Big Brown has emerged as the favorite to win the Kentucky Derby. However, the unbeaten Florida Derby winner will have to contend with some others if he is to win the Run for the Roses. California Colt Colonel John, winner of the Santa Anita Derby, had a solid practice on the track completing 5 furlongs in 57.80 seconds.
Pyro, to be guided by Shaun Bridgmohan, was a favorite with the odds makers until his disappointing 10th place finish in the Blue Grass at Keeneland. But his earlier performances indicate he is not to be taken lightly.
Finally, there is Arkansas Derby winner Gayego --ridden by Hall of Fame jockey Mike Smith. Smith rode Giacomo to a fantastic surprise win in 2005. "Don't count him out," advised Manley. "This is the Derby --anything can happen-- and will happen."
Ladies First?
Eight Belles, trained by Larry Jones, will be surrounded by 19 colts come Saturday. If she wins the Derby she will join only three other fillies that have achieved this feat: Winning Colors in 1988, Genuine Risk in 1980 and Regret in 1915.
Can Calvin win 2 straight with Denis of Cork?
Last year, "Rajun Cajun" Calvin Borel won in fine fashion on Street Sense. If Borel wins on Denis of Cork he will be the first jockey to win two straight Derbys since Eddie Delahoussaye did in 1982 and 1983.
"Calvin's love of the game and his commitment to racing make him a crowd pleaser even though his mount is currently at 12-1 odds. But Mr. Borel can ride the rail like few others and if the other colts get into a pack, look for him to sneak Denis of Cork's nose straight ahead of the pack," said Manley.
As soon as the Kentucky Derby is over, All Horse Racing will offer its members risk free punts for Preakness Stakes betting and Belmont Stakes betting.
Other companies involved with online horse racing include Magna Entertainment Corp. (NASDAQ: MECA), Youbet.com (NASDAQ: UBET), TVG Network (NASDAQ: GMST), Penn National (NASDAQ: PENN) and Churchill Downs (NASDAQ: CHDN).
All Horse Racing is a recognised leader in the online horse racing industry with a focus on the thoroughbred and harness horse racing market. Members have the ability to place wagers online on over 100 racetracks including Churchill Downs, Del Mar, Philadelphia Park, Pimlico Race Course and Belmont Park. Real time audio and video feeds are available for hundreds of races each day.
(c)2008 Business Wire
Big Brown looks like solid Kentucky Derby favorite
Undefeated Big Brown will have to be something special to win the 134th Kentucky Derby on May 3.
Oddsmaker Mike Battaglia thinks he may be just that. Battaglia expects to establish the 3-for-3 colt who has yet to be challenged as a solid favorite, probably at 3-1, when the early line is set next Wednesday for the first leg of the Triple Crown.
The 3-year-old will be viewed as the horse to beat because his five-length romp in the Florida Derby after breaking from far outside is likely to mean more to handicappers than the daunting history he faces.
DERBY DOZEN: Tom Pedulla rates the top contenders
"What made it special is that he broke from the 12 hole," Battaglia says of Big Brown's memorable performance in the March 29 Florida Derby. "And you just don't win from out there."
Not until this very fast son of Boundary came along. Of 28 previous races at that 11/8-mile distance, 24 had been won by horses breaking from posts one through four. No starter had triumphed beyond post seven.
Also working against Big Brown is the fact that since 1900, one entrant has worn the famed blanket of roses after reaching Churchill Downs with only three previous starts. That would be the filly Regret in 1915.
Curlin took that challenge last year and finished third. He went on to win the Preakness and the Breeders' Cup Classic as eventual Horse of the Year.
Quarter cracks in both front hoofs sidelined Big Brown in January, so he enters the Derby with only two prep races. Street Sense took that path to success last year, but no other champion had been so lightly raced as a 3-year-old since Sunny's Halo in 1983.
Richard Dutrow Jr., Big Brown's trainer, can envision an upset. He's not expecting one, though.
"Maybe someone is going to run a real big race and is going to like the track and like the distance," he says. "But I feel we have the horse to beat and I feel confident we're going to win the race."
He likes everything he has seen in Big Brown since the colt wowed onlookers by taking command of the Florida Derby in the early strides and never letting go.
"Since he has run, he has been taking control of his training," Dutrow says. "When he sees a horse galloping in front of him, he wants that target. He seems to know, and he seems to be picking up on things you want a horse to know at this stage."
He seems to have the breaks going his way as well. An injury to War Pass helps his cause because it is one fewer horse with high early speed to contend with.
Battaglia plans to list West Coast star Colonel John as his second choice. "I really liked the way he closed ground to win the Santa Anita Derby," he says. "Colonel John is battle-tested. He was knocked around in the Santa Anita Derby, had to make a late run and did."
Colonel John has taken four of six career starts with two second-place finishes. The key, though, will be how he handles the transition from California's synthetic tracks to Churchill Downs' traditional dirt track.
According to Battaglia, any of three horses could emerge as his third betting choice. Blue Grass Stakes winner Monba, Arkansas Derby king Gayego and Pyro are all under consideration.
Copyright 2008 USA TODAY
Keeneland brings racing back to life
LEXINGTON, Ky. - About mid-February, symptons began. During March, they started intensifying. But not until Friday's opener of Keeneland's 16-day spring meeting did Derby fever officially begin its annual rose colored escalation up the thermometer.
Seems like yesterday that darkness was engulfing Churchill Downs after Derby 133 and racing fans around the country were celebrating jockey Calvin Borel as a "common man" folk hero after the rail-hugging ride he engineered aboard Street Sense. Funny how three weeks before the Derby, many of those same celebrants cursed Borel when Street Sense lost a three-horse win photo in Keeneland's Blue Grass Stakes.
The glitter wore off in the Preakness when Curlin overcame inexperience to outfinish Street Sense by a head.
During winter, it's difficult disposing of indelible images of the previous year's Derby and beginning another arduous trek to Churchill Downs. But now, images of the Twin Spires are in view for far-sighted fans yearning for 2008 Triple Crown action. Yet, no serious search for the Derby winner (or at least part of the trifecta) can begin or end anywhere other than Keeneland with Saturday's $750,000 Blue Grass Stakes. He (or she) is out there somewhere. It's time to get serious about perusing past performances,comparing competition, speed figures, pedigrees and connections.
In racing's upside-down world of tracks battling over alternative gambling legislation, race day medications and steroid use, Keeneland is an oasis - a charming, elegant exception to nearly every rule at every other track.
Given pleasant weather, about 25,000 (or more) will jam the plant each Saturday and at least half that many on Sundays. Weekdays are perfect when 8,000-10,000 hear bugler Bucky Sallee's call of "Boots and Saddle."
Through the years, the number of races has increased. Once only a daily double existed here and now, the most exotic wagering in the state is available. Yet, somehow, Keeneland has managed to keep things in perspective because people, and more importantly, horses, matter most.
A daily purse distribution of $650,000 lends a scent of money to the spring air. It's rivaled only by aromas produced by the Wolken family's Turf Catering Company that's fed every crowd since Keeneland's inaugural meeting in 1936.
When good horses come together as they always do at Keeneland, epic struggles occur and the results are exciting. Treasured memories are made, and that is why this rite of spring is so popular.
Young, old, rich, poor, college kids and tourists plan their year around Keeneland. Many come early and stay late. They won't concur on every horse. But they'll agree that Keeneland is a smorgasbord of top horses, bets, food and fun.
Keeneland is offering two wagers new to Kentucky. The Super High Five and a next weekend's Maker's Mark Mile/Blue Grass Stakes double.
The Super High Five, offered daily on the final race, requires selecting the first five in exact order. If there are no winners, the pool carries over. Mminimum wager is $1. Also returning are the $200,000-guaranteed Pick Four, offered Fridays on races 7-10.
On next Saturday's Blue Grass card, a $100,000-guaranteed Pick Six heralds the mix. Throughout the meet, there are 50-cent Pick Four and trifectas plus 10-cent superfectas.
(c) 2007 The E.W. Scripps Co.
Illinois Derby: Denis of Cork has to reassert himself
STICKNEY, Ill. -- It is hard to be the Kentucky Derby prospect of the moment when you don't race during an entire month.
Denis of Cork had pundits yapping when he sharply won the Southwest Stakes at Oaklawn Park, but come on, that was, like, a lifetime ago. Since the Southwest's running Feb. 18, we have seen Pyro cement his top-end status in the Louisiana Derby, War Pass flop at Tampa Bay Downs, and most recently, Florida Derby winner Big Brown come screaming onto the scene.
Denis of Who?
Overshadowed he may have been lately, but this is the same Denis of Cork who has yet to taste defeat in three starts. He will back in action - if not exactly back in the national spotlight, with the Wood in New York and the Santa Anita Derby in California the same afternoon - when he starts Saturday at Hawthorne in Chicago's biggest race until the Arlington Million, the $500,000 Illinois Derby.
Denis of Cork was one of seven entered in the Illinois Derby, a Grade 2 at 1 1/8 miles. Atoned, beaten a neck in the Tampa Bay Derby, almost certainly will be the second choice, with Z Humor and Golden Spikes the likely third and fourth betting favorites. Class-rising Real Appeal comes off a win, while Recapturetheglory and Instill both won two-turn dirt races here last fall.
The path to this race has not been straight for Denis of Cork, a Harlan's Holiday colt owned by William and Suzanne Warren, and trained by David Carroll. First, Denis of Cork had been expected to move from the Southwest onto the next Oaklawn stakes, the Rebel. Then, speed-figure zealots among his connections decided that Denis of Cork, fresh off his Southwest corker, needed only one final start to hit his peak on Kentucky Derby Day. The initial choice was the Wood, but, finally, Hawthorne became the choice.
Carroll, based at Churchill Downs, has only to ship his horse about six hours, rather than cross-country for the race. He will do so after Denis of Cork trains Thursday at Churchill; after arriving Thursday afternoon, Denis of Cork will exercise over the local surface Friday, and jog Saturday morning. Denis of Cork did his main work for this start last Sunday at Churchill, zipping five furlongs in 59.60 seconds.
On paper, Denis of Cork should win, but what Carroll wants is a high placing and the earnings that come with it, in order to ensure that Denis of Cork has sufficient graded stakes money to get into an oversubscribed Kentucky Derby field.
"I could see a scenario there where one horse gets loose on the lead or something, but I can't worry about that," Carroll said. "What he needs to do is leave there with a big check."
Copyright (c)2008 ESPN Internet Ventures
Ky Derby Trail: Is Pyro Really Too Slow?
Despite being ranked No. 1 or 2 on just about every Derby poll, Pyro, for some reason, has been branded by many a slow horse and simply the best of a bad lot. Yes, the pace in his two starts this year has been slow, and his final times have not exactly set the Fair Grounds teletimer aflame, but is this horse really as slow as many of the experts say he is?
His Beyer numbers have been called "modest." His speed figures have been termed "slow." One line in a column referred to "Pyro's two slow victories at Fair Grounds." One pollster, who had him ranked No. 1 all year, dropped him to No. 2 in a week in which he didn't even run, nor did the horse who replaced him atop the list. The pollster, upon second thought, had felt that perhaps the colt's accomplishments were an "illusion," and pointed out that he was a faster horse last year.
The odd part is that Pyro was 1-for-4 last year, losing three times to War Pass, and is 2-for-2 this year, winning both his starts by daylight.
On the Beyers, Pyro ran a 105 in the Bessemer Trust Breeders' Cup Juvenile (gr. I), a number that is only a few points below many Derby-winning figures. This year, he is slowly heading back to that number, running a 90 and a 95. Many people feel that 95 is still too low for a top Derby contender, and while that may be true on Derby Day, Pyro has shown he can run much faster, and no other 3-year-old has run higher than a 99 in two-turn stakes competition this year. So if Pyro's Beyers are slow, whose are fast? Sierra Sunset (99), who is off the Derby trail, Cool Coal Man (98), Visionaire (98), Elysium Fields (97), Denis of Cork (96), and Nikki'sgoldensteed (96) are not exactly tearing up the track, and none of these have a triple-digit Beyer to fall back on, as Pyro does. Who wants their horse to tear up the track in February and March anyway?
On Thoro-Graph, Pyro ran a "negative-1" in the BC Juvenile. The only horse to run that fast this year going two turns is allowance winner Hey Byrn. The fastest two-turn stakes horses have been Denis of Cork with a "1/4", Elysium Fields and Big Brown with a "1," and Sierra Sunset with a "1 1/2." Well, Pyro, who clearly has not been honed for his top effort, has run a "3 1/2" followed by a "2." So, even though he still has a lot more improvement left in him, he's already right there with the fastest 3-year-olds.
"He's doing almost identically what Carl Nafzger did with Street Sense," said Thoro-Graph's Jerry Brown. "Both horses ran well enough at two to win the Derby. It's not a question of having them improve; it's just a question of having them get back to their best race. Both these trainers have clearly taken a path where they're not going to have the horse expend any extra energy before then, and in both cases they decided to run on Polytrack in their last start before the Derby. Nafzger already knew his horse didn't love the surface, and Asmussen is smart and knows that all he has to do is basically get this horse back to where he was. He's clearly thinking about getting the horse to run his best race on Derby Day and I think he's doing everything right. At this point, I believe he's the most likely winner of the Derby.
"Everybody gets excited about races in February, and Derbys are not won in February. I think a lot of trainers these days are essentially manufacturing patterns, whether it's the influence of speed sheets or not. Todd Pletcher seems to think that way, and Asmussen clearly thinks that way. Whether or not they're looking at our data or Ragozin's, they're thinking in terms of a pattern."
Asmussen's pattern appears to have Pyro improving speed-wise every race without making a huge leap too soon and then having to resort to what Denis of Cork's connections were forced to do, which is skip a scheduled race to await a later race, all because the horse made a big jump from a "6 3/4" to a "1/4."
Garrett Gomez' agent Ron Anderson, who follows the Ragozin figures, still fears Pyro and believes he's in a class by himself. "The Derby is his race to lose, for me," he said. "I think Asmussen is making all the right moves with him. Horses don't accelerate on the dirt like he did in the Risen Star (gr. III). That was breathtaking. When people tell me he didn't beat anything I just walk away. I think he's unbeatable. If he should draw a bad post and runs into four blind switches, and has everything go wrong, then he can get beat. But if he only runs into three blind switches he's still gonna win. I just think he's a better horse."
Pyro has been called by an opposing owner "a physical monster," and you don't want a physical monster flexing his muscles and lifting his highest weight before the first Saturday in May. By prepping on Polytrack, often times a much slower surface than dirt, all Pyro has to do in the Toyota Blue Grass Stakes (gr. I) is pair up that "2," give or take a half a point, and that should set him up for his peak performance, returning to the dirt on May 3..
Yes, it all sounds so simple, but we're just exploring another aspect of handicapping the Derby before the major stakes begin next Saturday with the Florida Derby (gr. I). That's when the regular season commences and we start separating the men from the boys, as they face stiffer competition and larger, deeper fields. Pyro's detractors could prove to be correct, but at this point, he really hasn't done anything wrong and has far less question marks than any of the other Derby contenders.
Has the Cork already been popped?
The more one examines the last-minute decision to skip the Rebel Stakes with Denis of Cork to await the Wood Memorial three weeks later, the more it appears to be an act that defies all tradition. Yes, the times definitely are changing, and numbers and speed figures have superseded logic, common sense, and plain old horsemanship. We're now in an era where owners rely more and more on advisors, who tend to over-analyze and over-scrutinize. We can't say for certain that the decision is going to severely compromise the colt's chances in the Derby. What we can say is that the decision puts a much heavier burden on the shoulders of Denis of Cork, who is going to have to single-handedly rewrite the book on Derby preparation. If he is unable to, you cannot go back and start over.
We know owner William K. Warren to be a classy guy who loves the sport, and we’re sure he believes he's doing the right thing, and maybe he is. But now we learn that jockey Robby Albarado, who rode Denis of Cork to victory in the Southwest Stakes (gr. III), has elected to ride Country Star in a one-shot deal in the Ashland Stakes (gr. I) rather than ride a horse who is one of the favorites for the Kentucky Derby. Can anyone recall such a move?
So, Denis of Cork loses the benefit of a valuable prep race and his rider in the span of one week. All of a sudden the firm rope the colt was using to scale racing's highest mountain has started to unravel.
At this point, there is no right or wrong. How the colt does in the Derby will determine which one applies here. The only question that exists is, can Denis of Cork go into the Derby off only one race in 11 weeks and only four career starts and accomplish something that hasn't been done in 90 years?
With his talent, maybe he can, but if he can't then Warren and whoever is advising him will have to wonder what might have been had they left the natural order of things alone.
Copyright (c) 2008 The Blood-Horse, Inc
All Rights Reserved.
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