Jarvis high on Lord Rosberg after Ascot Graduation performance

VANCOUVER, British Columbia – Lord Rosberg may have lost to Blue Dancer in the $75,000 Ascot Graduation for 2-year-olds last Monday, but he proved that he is not just a one-trick pony and will be a force to be reckoned with in the local 3-year-old stakes division at Hastings next year.

Trained by Pat Jarvis, Lord Rosberg romped to three easy front-running wins sprinting prior to stretching out to a middle distance in the Graduation. It is a short run to the first turn going 1 1/16 miles at Hastings, but it was assumed that Lord Rosberg had enough speed to clear early despite drawing the outside post in the nine-horse field.

However, there were three horses drawn inside of him who had the same idea, and he would have ended up going four wide around the first turn the whole way if Frank Fuentes hadn’t taken a hold and moved him into a stalking position behind the front-runners. Lord Rosberg still lost a lot of ground before Fuentes could get him to settle in behind the three-horse battle developing in front of him.

Despite the sloppy conditions, Lord Rosberg seemed content to sit behind the speed before Fuentes called on him to make his move on the stretch turn, where once again he lost a lot of ground while going four wide. He collared Blue Dancer in midstretch, and they fought it out to the wire, where Blue Dancer bobbed his head at the right time to win by a nose. Jarvis was pleased with the effort.

“Of course it is disappointing to lose, but you couldn’t have asked for anything more,” she said. “He must have run a mile and an eighth, and to lose by a nose, well, that’s racing.”

Jarvis wasn’t surprised that Lord Rosberg handled getting mud thrown in his face.

“We teach all of our babies to sit behind horses, so it wasn’t the first time he had been behind horses,” said Jarvis. “He just has so much speed that he found himself in front in his first three starts.”

She also praised the ride by Fuentes, who picked up the mount after Richard Hamel was injured in a spill two races earlier in the $75,000 Fantasy for 2-year-old fillies.

“He did absolutely the right thing,” she said. “If he doesn’t take a hold, he is going four wide the whole way around the turn while in an all-out drive.”

Fuentes said Lord Rosberg is a “nice horse.”

“I had worked him before, so it wasn’t the first time I had been on him,” he said. “He was a bit anxious early, but he settled in nicely after the first half-mile.”

Hamel will miss the final two weekends at Hastings with minor injuries sustained when he came off Splendid Scat in the Fantasy. Splendid Scat was making a strong move along the rail and was unable to avoid Seedle Surprise, who broke down and fell on the stretch turn.

“Nothing serious, but his knee is pretty sore,” said Hamel’s agent, Gord Rumble.

Despite losing Hamel for the remainder of the meet, it was a good week for Rumble, who won a 2013 fully loaded Audi SQ5 playing the slots at Hastings.

Remembertobreathe denied

Trainer Sylvea Gregory was disappointed with a decision by racing-office officials and the stewards at Hastings to not allow Remembertobreathe to run in the $32,000 Harbour View on Sunday. The race is restricted to horses who have not won $26,500 in 2014, and officials decided that the $40,000 that Remembertobreathe earned for finishing second in the Grade 3 Canadian Derby counted against him.

“I was surprised and disappointed,” said Gregory. “It seemed like a good opportunity for him to run after running in open stakes all year.”

It seems like an odd decision considering that the definition of “winnings” in the British Columbia Rules of Racing states: Monies earned by a horse for finishing first in a race unless specified contrary to the conditions of a horse race.”