Bluegrass Angus learning to keep his cool

VANCOUVER, British Columbia – The future appears to be bright for Bluegrass Angus, who rocketed to the head of the class of the local 3-year-old division with an impressive 6 1/4-length romp in the River Rock Casino last Saturday.

He was coming off a runner-up finish in the Jim Coleman Province after being almost out of control in the paddock and then completely washed out in the post parade.

Trainer Craig MacPherson was relieved when Bluegrass Angus was much better behaved in the paddock in the River Rock.

“It was a step in the right direction and he certainly put in a big performance,” MacPherson said. “The biggest difference was that he really settled nicely with the pony on post parade. The last time he got pretty rambunctious.”

In the Coleman, he broke on top with Richard Hamel aboard, and after setting decent fractions he gave way late to Cederberg. He started off the same way in the River Rock, and it looked like he might be in trouble when Sam Slick blew by him coming out of the first turn. It didn’t seem to bother him, however.

“He didn’t mind being behind the other horse,” Hamel said. “Did you notice how he rebroke at the quarter-pole? He’s a nice 3-year-old.”

“It was a great ride by Richard,” MacPherson said. “He didn’t panic when Sam Slick went by him. He learned a lot about the horse and the horse learned something as well.”

Along with the many hours MacPherson spent schooling Bluegrass Angus in the paddock, the blinkers coming off had a lot to do with the improved attitude and performance.

“I actually messed up in the Province,” MacPherson said. “I had never trained him with blinkers, and when he was here last year he didn’t run with blinkers. I didn’t notice he ran with them on in his first start at Gulfstream this year, so I didn’t enter him with blinkers off. When we arrived at the paddock I was informed I had to put them on. He’s already high strung, so you can imagine how much fun that was.”

Bluegrass Angus received an 87 Beyer Speed Figure in the River Rock. As a point of comparison, last year Alert Bay earned an 89 Beyer for his win in the Grade 3 British Columbia Derby. Alert Bay turned out to be an exceptional horse, winning his next four start, including the Grade 2 Mathis Brothers Mile and the California Cup Turf Classic at Santa Anita.

“Talk to me about Beyers when he stretches out,” Hamel said. “I think he’ll go long, but until he does I’m not going to get too excited about anything.”

MacPherson wasn’t convinced that the son of Bluegrass Cat is a legitimate B.C. Derby contender.

Bluegrass Angus will stretch out to a middle distance for the first time when he runs in the 1 1/16-mile $50,000 Chris Loseth on July 1.

“We’ll know more him after the Loseth,” MacPherson said. “He is still a work in progress. He has an abundance of energy. He’s like the Energizer bunny. We’re just going to keep working at getting him to settle down.

Bluegrass Angus has the pedigree to be successful going a middle distance. His sire, Bluegrass Cat, won the Grade 1 Haskell Invitational at 1 1/8 miles. He also finished second in the Kentucky Derby and Belmont.

His dam, Lady Dynasty, was strictly a sprinter, but she is a half-sister to Digital Dan, who won the Alberta Derby and finished third as the 4-5 favorite in the 1999 B.C. Derby when it was a Grade 2 race.

◗ The handle at Hastings is significantly higher this year compared to 2014. After 14 days, the total live handle is $8,171,035. That represents a 22 percent increase over 2014 when $6,691,311 was wagered over the same time period. Most of the gains have come from off-track wagering.