From the Eighth Pole to the Wire - 5/19/14

Calichromification

There are two ways of looking at what the racing world is in store for over the next 19 days … “Here we go again,” or “There is nothing quite like the anticipation of a Triple Crown winner.” A skeptic by nature, but a fan at heart, I feel myself lost somewhere in the middle. On the one hand, I can picture so many Belmont disappointments since I last saw a Triple Crown being won in person many moons ago. Is California Chrome better than Spectacular Bid, or Sunday Silence, or Smarty Jones? I worry that there are going to be a lot of sad faces as the field crosses the wire in the 2014 Belmont Stakes. Then again, perhaps it is better to have lost love, than to never have loved at all. Why shouldn’t we enjoy the next fortnight plus? It is exciting after all. Sure he could lose, but what if California Chrome does it? We are talking 36 years since the biggest achievement in horse racing was last pulled off. A large amount of current racing fans had no idea what an Affirmed was more than three and a half decades ago. This would be big. This would be huge. Tough guys would rejoice, and women would swoon. You know what? California Chrome doesn’t need to better than Spectacular Bid, Sunday Silence, or Smarty Jones. He just needs to be better than the rest of this year’s Belmont Stakes field.

Laying in the Weeds … Ready to Pounce

Poor little old California Chrome. First the inexpensively bred chestnut of California needs to be twice as good as the Kentucky blue bloods just to get any sort of respect. Then his team has to fight for the right for the stylish colt to wear his nasal strips in New York. Nasal strips? I mean, are we really talking nasal strips here?!? Finally, and potentially most damaging to the legacy of California Chrome, are all these good horses who took the day off in the Preakness. While California Chrome was down in Baltimore doing the dirty work, the Arkansas Derby winner, Danza, the Wood Memorial winner, Wicked Strong, the Peter Pan winner, Tonalist, and the Kentucky Derby runner-up, Commanding Curve, were all goldbricking in their stalls likely only wondering when the next peppermint was coming their way. For all we know, any or all were receiving a nice Swedish Massage, at the same time that Chrome was running his heart out for 120,000 plus screaming fans. It doesn’t really seem fair, does it? Danza, Wicked Strong, Tonalist, and Commanding Curve will all come to Belmont well rested and ready to pounce on the Derby-Preakness winner. And if you thought Ride On Curlin tested Chrome in the Preakness, remember what Danza did to that one at Oaklawn. Poor little old California Chrome.

Revolutionary could be Classic Drosselmeyer

While I do believe he is a cut below the very best of the older male division, I’ve always liked Revolutionary, and it was a pleasure to see him revisit his exciting victories in last year’s Withers and Louisiana Derby, with a ‘from the clouds’ rally to get up in the final strides of Friday’s Pimlico Special. It brought back all the good feelings for the colt I had last year before the Kentucky Derby, and it also reminded me of another runner who adorned the white silks of WinStar Farm a few years ago, in Drosselmeyer. Another well bred colt that I also liked early on, Drosselmeyer was one that did not meet my high expectations for much of his career. As a matter of fact, at the same point in his career, where Revolutionary is now, there can be a strong argument that the current WinStar runner has accomplished more. Of course we all remember how Drosselmeyer ended his career. Finally fulfilling all the promise that he showed while on the Kentucky Derby trail, Drosselmeyer closed fast to finish second in the Jockey Club Gold Cup, before coming back a few weeks later to storm down the middle of the track, and upset the Breeders’ Cup Classic field. Does Revolutionary have that kind of future? After the Pimlico Special, I have renewed optimism.

The Ruining of Ria Antonia

As is always the case, there was another end to the spectrum from the jubilant celebration of California Chrome moving one step closer to a Triple Crown. Bouncing around from trainer to trainer should have been evidence enough that Ria Antonia is being mismanaged, but instead we all had to watch the filly struggle home in last place against the boys in racing’s Middle Jewel. Rachel Alexandra, she is not. Finishing more than 30 lengths behind the winner, you had to feel for a nice filly who clearly had no business being entered in the Preakness. Perhaps the Loooch Racing Team was given false hope when their filly almost came within 15 lengths of Untapable at the wire in the Kentucky Oaks. I don’t know what they were thinking, but what I do know is how so many talented horses have completely soured from racing after drubbings like this. Word is that her primary owner had a deep stack of tickets placed on her nose in the Preakness. I hope the potential thrill of looking like a big shot is enough for him to sleep at night if he ruins this talented filly.

Green Mask in New Hands

Get a load of the running line for the winner in Saturday’s Paradise Creek Stakes from the Daily Racing Form … “Green Mask tucked along the inside, appeared unsettled during much of the early going, with Otoy directly alongside at the time, got taken hold and was tipped outward as the first fraction was being recorded, had the pilot squeeze a bit tighter on the reigns entering the bend displaying eagerness” … yadda, yadda, yadda … “had intentions of splitting the front runners nearing the three-sixteenths marker thwarted when the pacesetter began to drift outward” … yadda, yadda, yadda … “kicked into his best stride, and edged away” Besides being the world’s longest run on sentence, I found this to be an apt description of a very talented horse winning despite a very difficult trip. Now 3-for-5 lifetime, you may remember rave reviews of Green Mask on this column last fall after winning his debut at Keeneland. After that, he showed up, but faded going a route in the Real Quiet Stakes at Hollywood Park in his second lifetime start, and then threw in an absolute stinker at Ocala in January. I’m not sure what happened down there, but since, he’s been transferred to Christophe Clement’s barn, and if his big win at Keeneland in April, or Saturday’s stakes win at Belmont, while trying turf for the first time, are any indication, there is still reason to believe that Green Mask is one talented son of a gun.

No Stars in the Susan

While the Kentucky Oaks had Untapable, and a number of other highly regarded young fillies, Friday’s Black-Eyed Susan left me wanting. Don’t get me wrong, the stretch drive of Stopchargingmaria finally edging by Vero Amore was a good one, but the winner is less a threat to Untapable than half the field were in the Oaks. As has been the case in many recent years, Pimlico’s sister race to the Preakness plays a distant second fiddle to the Kentucky Oaks in quality. Perhaps we need to reinvent the Triple Tiara. As is, it probably wouldn’t work, but drum up a nice $5 million sponsorship bonus for any filly that can sweep the Kentucky Oaks, Black-Eyed Susan, and Mother Goose series, and I could see this thing taking off. Or even better yet, if the Preakness and Belmont do indeed move a little back in the calendar, which Pimlico desperately wants, then the Triple Tiara, each one day before it’s Triple Crown counterpart, would be a very natural fit on the schedule. Combine a bonus with the preferred schedule, and the fillies could have something that rivals the boys in excitement. Otherwise, I think the days of seeing a Kentucky Oaks winner in the Black-Eyed Susan are long gone.