Hovdey: Finally, some love for Masochistic

It wasn’t his fault.

You can’t blame Masochistic for testing positive for an inordinately high level of a common equine tranquilizer after the first race of his life, any more than you can blame him for finishing fifth of eight runners that day at odds of 8-1.

You can’t hold the horse accountable for running his eyeballs out in his very next race, which happened to take place at Churchill Downs on Derby Day, no less, nor for the questions his reversal of form raise with some Kentucky officials.

You can’t blame Masochistic for the fact that his trainer and half-owner eventually received a 60-day suspension and a $10,000 fine as a result of that first-race drug test, or that an impromptu protest sprung up around Masochistic’s appearance at Del Mar last summer, while the investigation into his first start was still dragging on.

And, given all that, it probably did not help the trajectory of the story that the other owner of Masochistic raced under a stable name that brings to mind an iconic setting from the most nakedly drug-crazed television series of the young century, unless you thought “Breaking Bad” was merely an unhappy line from an Equibase racing chart.

Even his name added flames to the firestorm. If Masochistic had a choice, he would have called himself Major Tom, or Cool Hand Luke, or Basketball Jones – anything but a word that brings to mind the deviant pleasures derived from pain and humiliation (I know, I know – don’t knock what you haven’t tried).

To hold a horse responsible for the foibles of his human associations is folly, and yet the backstory of Masochistic clings to him like a piece of toilet tissue stuck to the heel of a well-dressed gent. He has done everything he can to establish his own identity independent of the sensational headlines – new trainer, new co-owner, new attitude. He even won a Grade 1 race against a very tough field in his last appearance at Santa Anita Park.

Now Masochistic is returning to Del Mar on Sunday in the $300,000 Bing Crosby Stakes, a Grade 1 event at six furlongs that could add another layer of positive spin to a story that once was heading south in a hurry. After his performance in the Triple Bend a month ago, expectations are high, with the prospect of the Breeders’ Cup Sprint on the not-so-distant horizon.

The Crosby will be Masochistic’s third start for Ron Ellis, who took over when original trainer A.C. Avila sold his half of the horse to longtime Ellis client Samantha Siegel and commenced his 60-day suspension. That was in March.

Since then, Masochistic has gone from a trouble-making run-off to a house pet, at least by his standards.

“He came with a reputation,” Siegel confirmed. “You can’t rate him in the morning. You can’t rate him in the afternoon. But we thought it was worth a try. A couple of days after Ron started galloping him on the training track at Santa Anita, he wasn’t rank at all.”

It’s no surprise that any horse would mellow out in the Ellis camp. While his record with quality horses has included colts and geldings like Rail Trip, Buzzards Bay, Benchmark, and champion Declan’s Moon, he has been especially adept at getting the most from an array of top-class females like Twice the Vice, Key Phrase, Pharma, Exotic Wood, I Ain’t Bluffing, and the tempestuous Teddy’s Promise.

The trainer’s first good horse was the multiple stakes-winning sprinter To B. or Not, who put Ellis on the map at the age of 20.

“He was a nice horse, but Masochistic’s in a whole different league,” Ellis said.

He’d better be. Siegel, whose Jay Em Ess Stable gives tribute to her late parents, Jan and Mace, spent $600,000 for her share of Masochistic. This is a good hunk of change for half of a 5-year-old gelding with just six starts and a single stakes placing to his name.

“You certainly wouldn’t pick him out as a rocket ship,” Siegel said. “He’s not built like a sprinter. In fact, he’s kind of nondescript. If you didn’t know who he was, you wouldn’t give him another thought when he walked by.”

In action, though, Masochistic demands attention. Before, he was a breakneck speedster who just kept going. Now, he listens to the commands of his rider, Tyler Baze, rather than the buzzing between his ears.

“It’s been interesting to see his personality change as he adapted to life in Ron’s barn,” Siegel said. “He went from a horse who was in the back of his stall, with a ‘leave-me-alone’ attitude, to nickering at you like, ‘No, hey, come over here, feed me a carrot, don’t walk away.’ ”

If nothing else, Masochistic has lucked into a web of coincidence and good karma that could make his second chapter read more like “Seabiscuit” than Mickey Spillane.

“I was training for Wayne Hughes when he had Masochistic’s sire, Sought After,” Ellis recalled. “He hurt himself as a yearling and never ran, but there was a good chance I might have had him if he’d made it to the track.”

William Shamlian, who races as the Los Pollos Hermanos Stable (Gus Fring, we miss you so), has had claiming horses with Ellis in the past, and, as it turns out, Siegel and Shamlian were classmates at Beverly Hills High.

As for the name …

“It’s perfect,” Ellis said. “Mace Siegel would always say you had to be a masochist to own racehorses.”