Hog Creek Hustle's connections game for BC Sprint tilt

ARCADIA, Calif. – Hog Creek Hustle fits the underdog role well. After winning the Grade 1 Woody Stephens at Belmont Park at 18-1, the Overanalyze colt missed winning the Grade 1 H. Allen Jerkens at Saratoga by a few inches, this time at 10-1.

Hog Creek Hustle will start Saturday in the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Sprint at Santa Anita as one of the longest shots in the field, which will only serve to reinforce the resolve of his connections to stun the racing world. Patty Tipton and Stewart Smith and five other partners who campaign the dark bay colt under their Something Special Racing banner are relishing the fight ahead.

“We aim to win it,” said Tipton, a Lexington, Ky., entrepreneur who oversees the partnership.

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Tipton and Vickie Foley, the trainer of Hog Creek Hustle, have been close friends for the better part of the last 25 years. Tipton grew up in the rural environs of south Montgomery County, Ky., in what is informally known as Hog Creek.

“It’s so small, probably not even 100 people, that there’s not really a town, just an area,” said Tipton.

Foley has been in racing her entire life. Her father, the late Dravo Foley, began training horses in the late 1950s, and both Vickie and her brother, trainer Greg Foley, grew up kicking around their dad’s shed row at Churchill Downs and other Kentucky tracks.

As their first-ever Grade 1 winner, Hog Creek Hustle has been a breakthrough horse for both owner and trainer. Purchased for $150,000 at the 2017 Keeneland September yearling sale, the colt has been a stretch runner from the very beginning, winning his August 2018 debut, a five-furlong race at Ellis Park, from well off the pace.

Over time, after trying Hog Creek Hustle in several two-turn races, including the Fair Grounds series of Kentucky Derby preps, Foley realized the colt packed a stronger punch in shorter events. A runner-up finish behind Mr. Money in the Pat Day Mile was followed by his Woody Stephens triumph, then the Jerkens, with both New York races coming at seven furlongs. His lone subsequent start, and his first versus older horses, resulted in a fifth-place finish in the six-furlong Phoenix at Keeneland – and therein lies the rub that will exclude Hog Creek Hustle from the core of favorites Saturday, even with Hall of Fame jockey Mike Smith riding.

Tipton and Foley were betwixt and between when trying to decide whether to run in the six-furlong Sprint or the Dirt Mile, which, unlike at some other tracks, is run around two turns at Santa Anita.

“He’s never proven that two turns is his best,” said Foley. “Seven-eighths would’ve been perfect for us, but you can’t have everything. If he gets enough pace up front, he’s going to have that kick. Now, they may not stop, but he’s going to make his run.”

Hog Creek Hustle has struck a favorable impression with onlookers with his training and demeanor since arriving here late last week from Churchill. He’ll need more than just that, however – he’ll need racing luck and an all-time best effort to threaten the likes of Mitole and Imperial Hint in what shapes up as a terrific renewal of the Sprint. Tipton is a believer.

“They said we couldn’t do it before,” she said. “Let’s see if we can prove them wrong again.”