Masochistic returns with eye on new prize
ARCADIA, Calif. – The 2015 holiday season was still weeks away when Masochistic underwent a nuclear scan that lit up like a Christmas tree – a fractured right hind cannon bone, which explained his last-place finish in the Breeders’ Cup Sprint.
As for the blinking lights Friday, they will be on the tote board at Santa Anita, where Grade 1 winner Masochistic will be solidly favored to win the seventh race, his first start in eight months.
Masochistic is months away from Breeders’ Cup 2016, but trainer Ron Ellis has planned only three races leading to a new objective – the BC Dirt Mile. Each start is crucial, and Ellis expects Masochistic to run well Friday, even if the allowance sprint is merely a prep race.
“He’s not a very big horse, so he’s come back pretty quickly,” Ellis said. “He likes to run fresh; he’s pretty notorious for that. I don’t have him 100 percent cranked up, but he should be good enough.”
Masochistic also is notorious for a controversial start to his career for his former connections. Masochistic finished fifth under Omar Berrio in his first race and then won his second start by 14 lengths. The gelding’s former trainer, A.C. Avila, was suspended and fined for a medication violation from the gelding’s first start.
DRF FORMULATOR FACT: No. 5 Masochistic. Trainer Ron Ellis is 10-1-2-2 with a $0.52 ROI over the past five years in dirt sprints following a layoff of 90 days or more with horses bet to odds lower than 3-1. Click for more details. – Mike Hogan
:: Learn more about Formulator | Buy Formulator PPs
:: Follow the @DRFFormulator Twitter feed and get free Formulator facts
None of it was the fault of Masochistic. He was transferred to Ellis in the spring of 2015 and briefly emerged as the top sprinter in California by winning the Grade 2 Kona Gold and Grade 1 Triple Bend at Santa Anita. He was 6 for 8. Then came summer, and Masochistic went downhill. In hindsight, Ellis suspects something was bugging him.
“His form kind of tailed off,” Ellis said. “I’m not so sure that he didn’t have something kind of coming on for the last race or two.”
Masochistic finished second at odds-on in a Grade 1 at Del Mar and fourth at odds-on in a subsequent Grade 1 at Santa Anita. His final start was a last-place finish in the BC Sprint at Keeneland. Jockey Mike Smith told Ellis he felt something amiss early on.
“Mike said his hind end gave out from underneath him,” Ellis said. “He took some funny steps behind; he didn’t like the way he felt. He wasn’t lame after the Breeders’ Cup, but on the nuclear scan, his hind leg lit up pretty bright.”
Found to have a cannon-bone fracture, Masochistic did not need surgery. He did need three months off. He spent a month at Santa Anita, two months at a nearby layup facility, and returned to Ellis on Feb. 1.
Since he posted his first work back May 10, Masochistic has not missed a beat. His final drill was six furlongs from the gate July 1 under Smith. The 1:10.20 workout time was the fastest of the day. Ellis described it as “kind of crazy how easy he did it.”
Though Ellis doesn’t like to plan ahead too far, he makes an exception with Masochistic. Pending his effort Friday, the gelding is likely to run Aug. 27 at Del Mar in the Grade 2, seven-furlong Pat O’Brien, possibly followed by a one-mile race in New York in October.
The ultimate objective is the BC Dirt Mile the weekend of Nov. 4-5 at Santa Anita. “He’s probably better suited to a mile than he is the three-quarters,” Ellis said.
Smith rides Masochistic in the 6 1/2-furlong race Friday. His rivals are Mystery Train, Indexical, Cherubim, Heir of Storm, and Glacken Too.
DRF FORMULATOR FACT: No. 1 Mystery Train. Trainer Doug O’Neill is 23-7-3-4 with a $2.32 ROI over the past year in dirt sprints with Flavien Prat aboard. Click for more details. – Mike Hogan