Original Sin takes Blame with spotless performance
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Original Sin has nothing to atone for after making his stakes debut Saturday at Churchill Downs.
Sure, the horse made mistakes in the past. Who among us hasn’t? He’d break flat-footed, fall too far behind the pace – nothing that awful. But since Brendan Walsh began training Original Sin before he returned in October from a long layoff, it looked like, with the right amount of attention and education, this horse could find his better angels. And in the Grade 3, $300,000 Blame Stakes, Original Sin soared to new heights.
Gone was his habit of losing touch with the speed. In fact, Original Sin raced in closest attendance to pacesetting longshot Liberal Arts. He stayed in the bridle while rating kindly for jockey Tyler Gaffalione, and Original Sin was right there for his rider when Gaffalione, after a half-mile split in 47.58, asked Original Sin to push forward.
Liberal Arts caved with no resistance, and after hesitating at the top of the stretch – Original Sin had never been anywhere near the front at that point in a race – he called on his ample stamina to win the Blame by a half-length.
“Normally, he leaves himself too much to do, but today he broke alertly and I didn’t want to take anything away from him,” Gaffalione said. “He got into a great rhythm. He was kind of waiting at the top of the lane, but as soon as they came to him, he reengaged.”
“They” was Who Dey, who made a strong run toward the lead at the furlong pole before getting turned away. Who Dey finished one length ahead of 11-10 favorite Hit Show, who suffered through a miserable, traffic-filled trip and closed ground in deep stretch when he finally got a chance to run. Hall of Fame, second choice at 5-2, might have led after Vibe was an early scratch, but he broke poorly, made a wide move on the far turn, and flattened to finish sixth, beating only a flat Rattle N Roll.
Original Sin paid $12.84 as the third choice and ran 1 1/8 miles over a fast track in 1:49.39.
A Calumet Farm homebred, Original Sin – a big, gray 4-year-old colt – is by Curlin out of Beauty and Light, by Unbridled’s Song. He made two starts for trainer Brad Cox late in his 2-year-old season and missed much of his 3-year-old year. Upon his return, he ran three good races, winning two of them, over one mile and 1 1/16-mile trips – distances, Walsh thought all along, that would prove shorter than ideal.
Original Sin threw in a clunker with no obvious excuse at Fair Grounds in February, but Walsh regrouped, and at Keeneland last month, Original Sin delivered a top performance, knocking out his second allowance condition in his first try at 1 1/8 miles.
“He’s been a progressive horse through the year, since last fall, gone through his conditions well,” Walsh said. “I was quietly confident he was ready to run a big race, whether it was going to be good enough or not.”
Humility and hard work – both virtues. Original Sin rewarded them, on top of his game in the Blame.
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