Cecil Gushes About The Humancomplaint

None of the 10 two-year-olds entered in Saturday’s $250,000 Bob Benoit California Cup Juvenile at 1 1/16 miles has ever raced beyond seven furlongs. Include the incomparably named The Humancomplaint in that grouping.

“Pedigree-wise, there’s a question as to whether he’ll go a distance,” trainer Ben Cecil said of the bay colt by Tribal Rule owned by J. Paul Reddam of I’ll Have Another fame. “But he certainly runs like he should appreciate the distance.”

A maiden in two starts, The Humancomplaint was second each time, closing well through the stretch in two sprints at Del Mar. “He’s a big, backward horse who’s kind of coming around slowly,” Cecil said. “The day he was second at Del Mar (in the I’m Smokin at six furlongs on Sept. 3), the track was pretty speed-favoring but he closed a lot of ground. He had a slow start in his first race and kind of lugged in due to greenness down the lane.

“He’s improving, but two turns is something new. Hopefully, he won’t have a problem with it.”

The name “The Humancomplaint” could serve as a slang moniker for any number of people, but Cecil attributed its origin to one person.

“The horse is named after one of Paul’s friends, who will be at the races Saturday,” Cecil said. “Reddam got him some free tickets to the Kentucky Derby and he complained that they weren’t good enough.”

The field for the Juvenile, which goes as race five: Warren’s Rocky, Alonso Quinonez, 20-1; Strong Wind, Joe Talamo, 3-1; The Humancomplaint, Rafael Bejarano, 7-2; Monument, Martin Garcia, 9-2; Star Rocker, Mario Gutierrez, 6-1; Ballard Ruler, Joel Rosario, 4-1; O Wild West Wind, Amir Cedeno, 50-1; Real Heat, Russell Baze, 6-1; Life a Riley, Garrett Gomez, 12-1; and Lovemeister, Martin Pedroza, 15-1.