Artemis Agrotera pulls a Forego in the Gallant Bloom

In my initial excitement immediately following yesterday’s thrilling Gallant Bloom finish, in which heavily favored Artemis Agrotera nailed La Verdad right on the wire, I typed the words, “Artemis Agrotera pulls a Forego in the Gallant Bloom!” Hyperbolic? Absolutely … But on the other hand, how often do you see a horse make up that much ground in the final sixteenth of an important stakes race? Take a look …

You can see why I was a bit smitten with the performance in the first few minutes after the race. Simply put, it was a thriller. It was also unexpected. Not that Artemis Agrotera won, she was sent off an overwhelming 2-5 favorite, but rather how she won.

Going in, I considered Artemis Agrotera to be one of the finest sprinters in the land. She earned that respect after a fireball of a performance last time in the Grade 1 Ballerina at Saratoga. The thing that made yesterday’s late rally so stunning was that the three-year-old, New York-bred  daughter of Roman Ruler is a front runner. In all of her previous races, and certainly her wins, Artemis Agrotera had always been on, or near, the early lead. She was not yesterday.

As La Verdad sped along alone on the lead through blistering fractions, Artemis Agrotera was languishing nearly ten lengths behind, and looking anything like the monster that had run them off their feet at Saratoga. Honestly, I would not have wasted even a plugged nickel on her chances at the time. But once again showing her talent, only this time in a completely different way than she had done in the Ballerina, she reeled in the loose speed with every stride through the stretch. Sure enough, she won in the most thrilling of all possible ways. It was exhilarating to watch.

Now back to the Forego line … I am in no way trying to say that Artemis Agrotera ran like Forego yesterday. Rather, I was only making a comparison between the way she looked getting up in the final strides in the Gallant Bloom to how Forego did it so many years ago. Keep in mind, I was one of those in attendance on the unforgettable fall day at Belmont Park that was the 1976 Marlboro Cup. After my hasty one-liner of yesterday, I needed to go back and look at one of the most thrilling races in American racing history...

So did my statement, immediately after yesterday’s exciting win, hold water, or was it significantly closer to blasphemy? On further review, I blew it. I fumbled on the goal line, and I walked in the winning runner in the bottom of the ninth.

After all, La Verdad is no Honest Pleasure. Not even close. Nor was she finishing as strong as that champion did against Forego. The Grade 2 Gallant Bloom, while a viable prep for the Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Sprint, can not be compared to the Marlboro Cup of the 70’s. At the time, there was no more important race of the second half of the season in the United States. And she certainly did not carry the 137 pounds that Forego hefted to victory 38 years ago. In fact, Artemis Agrotera carried 19 pounds less yesterday.

Forego is one of the greatest horses of all time. There will only be one Forego. Artemis Agrotera is not even playing on the same field. Still, I loved what I saw yesterday, and who knows? Perhaps in six weeks she will take Santa Anita by storm and defeat an excellent field of female sprinters in the Breeders’ Cup. A win like that would undoubtedly earn Artemis Agrotera an Eclipse Award. Forego won a few of those himself, didn’t he?