There was a lot of interesting racing over the long holiday weekend. Let’s talk about some of it in notes form:
Grade 2 Suburban Stakes: It’s hard to know whether to be excited about the breakthrough of Preservationist in Saturday’s Suburban at Belmont, or disappointed by the loss of Catholic Boy in that race. Perhaps the answer is both.
Advocates of due process and individual rights were heartened this week by statements from trainer organizations offering a carefully crafted protest over the banning of Jerry Hollendorfer from tracks owned by The Stronach Group.
The National Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association teamed with the Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Association to point out that, “Due process is a fundamental and accepted constitutional right in our country,” and that TSG’s action against Hollendorfer “has clearly sidestepped those rights and exemplifies our concerns.”
From the Department of Better Late Than Never, this Saturday Belmont Park will present the John A. Nerud Stakes as part of its blockbuster holiday weekend program.
Naming a significant race for the Hall of Fame trainer of Dr. Fager, Gallant Man, and Ta Wee should have been a no-brainer from way back. He certainly stuck around long enough in case such recognition came along.
In the end, the reaffirmation of Santa Anita as the site of this year’s Breeders’ Cup was a no-brainer. We all understand the potential risk of terrible consequences if, God forbid, a horse suffers a catastrophic injury in this Breeders’ Cup. But moving this Breeders’ Cup away from Santa Anita likely would have had profoundly negative consequences, too.
Blaine Wright’s 15 minutes of Triple Crown trail fame ended at about the eighth pole of the Preakness Stakes when Anothertwistafate, after a gallant try, raised the white flag and was throttled down by Jose Ortiz.
But it was fun while it lasted.
“He took me to some places I’ve never been and put me on a national stage, at least for a while,” Wright said from his Emerald Downs stable Friday morning. “At times the hype and the hoopla was a little overwhelming, but you hate to say no to anybody.”
Kim and Kevin Nish were down from Northern California last weekend to enjoy a family holiday around Sneaking Out’s appearance in Sunday’s $200,000 Melair Stakes at Santa Anita.
“We were at Disneyland on Saturday, sitting in New Orleans Square taking a lunch break, when Kim noticed something on Twitter or Facebook about all of Jerry’s horses being scratched over the weekend,” Kevin Nish said. “I said, ‘Nah, that can’t be.’ Turned out it was true. We were in the happiest place on Earth right up until it wasn’t.”
The history of Thoroughbred racing brims with admirable guys named John. Without John Morrissey, there would be no Saratoga, no Breeders’ Cup without John Gaines and John Nerud. John Galbreath, John Madden, and John Hay Whitney set the bar high among the sport’s most influential patrons, as did Johns Hettinger and Franks.
John Schapiro was to Laurel as John Mabee was to Del Mar. John Forsythe lent the game his movie-star charm. John Asher’s name is still synonymous with Churchill Downs. John Henry was a horse.
The category is admittedly narrow, and the numbers do not exactly overwhelm, but if anyone had to name the most widely known trainer with the highest win percentage entering the weekend, chances are they’d be stumped:
Michael Dickinson.
The same issues that trouble this year’s 3-year-old male division – the lack of a definitive divisional leader, even after the Triple Crown, and a disproportionate reliance on a handful of stakes in the second half of the season to sort things out – also affect this year’s older dirt male division.
In trying to fathom why Bricks and Mortar has become the finest grass horse in the United States – perhaps the finest racehorse, period – students of pedigree will turn immediately to his sire, Giant’s Causeway, who won five Group 1 races in England and Ireland in 2000 and came within Tiznow’s neck of winning the Breeders’ Cup Classic in Kentucky. The experts also like the fact that Bricks and Mortar is inbred at only the third remove to Storm Bird, a fabulous runner and exceptional stallion who imparted both stamina and speed.
