Breeders' Cup Classic: By any standard, Calhoun and Thomas have been on a roll
Trainer Bret Calhoun received a cold call from owner Chester Thomas in early 2018, they met a few days later at Calhoun’s barn at Fair Grounds, and afterward Thomas – who races as Allied Racing Stable – decided to place horses in Calhoun’s care.
Among them was a 2-year-old colt by Goldencents who wouldn’t get to the races until November. But that colt, By My Standards, and another son of Goldencents, Mr. Money, collectively knocked off the Louisiana Derby, West Virginia Derby, Indiana Derby, Pat Day Mile, and Matt Winn Stakes in 2019.
“I told him at the end of last year, ‘We had a hell of a year, I’d like to do it again, but it doesn’t always happen that way,’ ” Calhoun said.
No, sometimes it gets better.
While Mr. Money was the workhorse for Calhoun and Thomas last year, and is headed to the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile this year, it is By My Standards who has risen to the fore this year to rank as one of the best older horses in the country and the standard bearer for the barn.
By My Standards has won four times in six starts this year, with victories in the New Orleans Classic, Oaklawn Handicap, and, most recently, the Alysheba, all Grade 2 stakes. His only two losses were second-place finishes to Improbable in the Grade 1 Whitney and Tom’s d’Etat in the Grade 2 Stephen Foster, losses he will get a chance to avenge against those rivals, and the likes of top 3-year-olds Authentic and Tiz the Law, in the $6 million Breeders’ Cup Classic on Nov. 7 at Keeneland.
“It’s been a fairy-tale run,” Calhoun, based currently at Churchill Downs, said in a telephone interview.
This year marks the 10-year anniversary of Calhoun’s greatest weekend in racing. At the 2010 Breeders’ Cup at Churchill Downs, he won the Filly and Mare Sprint with Dubai Majesty, and the following day the Turf Sprint with Chamberlain Bridge, a gelding who is Calhoun’s most accomplished runner. Chamberlain Bridge won 19 times in 53 starts and earned just shy of $2 million.
“You win the first day and think there’s no way you can win a second, but Chamberlain Bridge came back and won,” Calhoun said. “Ten years later, you appreciate just how unbelievably hard these races are to win.”
By My Standards is poised to supplant Chamberlain Bridge as Calhoun’s richest horse ever, and if he does so by winning the Classic, well, that would top it all. He heads into the Classic with more than $1.7 million in earnings from a dozen starts, and Calhoun – who has won nearly 3,200 races in his 25-year career – is confident By My Standards ranks right up there with the very best older dirt horses in the country.
“The only thing separating him from a perfect season is running against two top horses where he was at a disadvantage,” Calhoun said. “The two times he was at a disadvantage the way the pace came up. But he got beat by really nice horses.”
Those two losses were the only times Gabe Saez was unavailable to ride By My Standards this year. They are 4 for 4 together, and Saez has the mount in the Classic.
By My Standards first burst to national prominence with his 22-1 upset in last year’s Louisiana Derby, and his dazzling workouts at Churchill Downs leading up to the Kentucky Derby made him an attractive longshot at 18-1. But he emerged from the Derby with foot issues that required lengthy time off and did not race again until February.
“At first, we thought he just had a quarter crack, but when we dug in deeper we found wall separation,” Calhoun said. “We just let it grow out and started over.”
By My Standards has largely avoided disruptions caused by the coronavirus pandemic. There were races for him when Calhoun desired. He’s stayed on a steady path since his return.
“We’ve been very fortunate to stay on schedule,” Calhoun said. “Never had to miss anything.”
By My Standards’ racing mirrors his training. He is a consistently impressive workhorse.
“He was always a good-training horse, but as we got closer to the Derby, that was when he became super impressive, just one after the other, and since then he’s been pretty spectacular,” Calhoun said.
He’ll have to raise the level of his game just a bit more Nov. 7, while going 1 1/4 miles for the first time this year.
“I was more nervous going a mile and a sixteenth in the Alysheba than I am the mile and quarter of the Classic,” Calhoun said. “When he gets into a nice rhythm he just keeps running.”
He’s just clicking along, like Calhoun’s partnership with Thomas.