The Fickle Always Look Foolish

Fans can be so fickle sometimes that it makes one want to shake his or her head. The hype of last year’s crop was Union Rags, the stunning Dixie Union colt who had taken two graded stakes before falling a head short of the unbeaten Hansen, in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile. Hansen too received a lot of hype coming into 2012, but after finishing a well beaten second in the Holy Bull, his first start since the Breeder’s Cup, many were quick to jump off of his bandwagon. Union Rags started the year off, validating the hype in the Fountain of Youth, but after a troubled third, many were quick to question his abilities. Hansen regained some lost luster when he rated beautifully in the Gotham, before romping by three lengths. After that race he made his final stop in last weekend's the Blue Grass Stakes.

 

In that race, fickleness struck again as the racing world watched Hansen fall just over a length short at the wire. The winner, a worthy one, was the talented Dullahan. After the Blue Grass it did not take long before the commentators noted that Hansen would most likely be out of his element, should he attempt the 10 furlongs of the Kentucky Derby. Their reasoning…he obviously could not handle the distance of nine furlongs, so how could one assume he can handle 10? My response…..Are you serious?

 

People, please look at the facts of the race. Hansen had already proven he could rate off the pace when he won the Gotham Stakes. He is also already in the Kentucky Derby field based on earnings, so it is not like he needed the Blue Grass Stakes to boost his bankroll. Hansen also had two prior starts, both in stakes this year, meaning that there was no need to push for the win. Dullahan, however only had one prior start, on the turf, in the Palm Beach, meaning a good, strong performace would be needed, so that he could get the necessary conditioning. So, based on these facts, one can easily gather that one set of connections was only looking for a good, solid performance, while the others wanted to have their horse primed and ready for a win.

 

Now, before anyone begins to scream distance limitations, take a look at Hansen’s performance. Down in the 4 hole, inside of all the speed Hansen risked being boxed in, if he were to take back. So instead, Ramon Dominguez sent him to the lead, where Gung Ho hounded him through fractions of 23 flat, 46 3/5^th, and six furlongs in 1.11 and 1/5^th. Another thing to note, Hansen’s mile split of 1.35 2/5^th was nearly two seconds faster than any other mile split run on the main track. His final 1/8^th of a mile was roughly 12.68 seconds. For the pace he set, that is a very respectable closing furlong, and doesn’t give the impression of fading in the least. Hansen also finished nearly four lengths in front of the third place finisher, who was only a length off of him at the 3/8^th pole and two at the head of the stretch, meaning Hansen actually was able to lengthen his advantage.

 

The fact is Hansen did anything but disgrace himself. The fact is Hansen did anything but fade. The fact is Hansen ran a huge race and just simply got caught by a horse that relishes the track, received the perfect set up, and was primed to win because he needed the conditioning. The fact is that this race gave Hansen exactly what he needed to prime him for the race that really matters, the Kentucky Derby.