The 3-year-old colts of 2017 have been more fun than a box full of kittens.
For eight hurly-burly months, they’ve rolled around in a fluffy ball, nibbling on each other’s tails, mewling for attention. Sometimes, one of them will claw his way up the side of the box, blink his big kitten eyes, and make a bunch of cat-crazy humans go “oooh” and “awww.” Then he’ll be dragged back into the pile.
West Coast’s victory in Saturday’s Travers Stakes at Saratoga was as thorough as you can ask for in a big race. West Coast made the early pace from 11 opponents, he turned back stretch challenges from Irap and Gunnevera, and strongly drew away in the late stages to win by an official margin of 3 1/4 lengths that fails to do justice to how isolated it felt like he was at the finish.
Graham Motion does not consider himself a hero or a martyr. He is not taking a victory lap. Neither is he confident that the whole thing might not happen again, with another legal medication in another jurisdiction where hypersensitive testing and the absolute-insurer rule of Thoroughbred racing reign, and law-abiding trainers are caught up in the same flawed net intended to catch those who choose to cheat their way to success.
In an alternate universe, an even-handed report on the Pacific Classic at Del Mar would go something like this:
“The swift chestnut Collected ran his 2017 record to a perfect 4 and 0 on Saturday with a half-length victory over his heavily favored stablemate Arrogate to stamp himself as a contender for the Breeders’ Cup Classic over the identical ground and distance later this year.
Perhaps I wasn’t being open-minded enough, but I thought there were only two possible outcomes to Saturday’s Pacific Classic at Del Mar.
The first had Arrogate putting his mysterious non-effort in last month’s San Diego behind him and running his race. And since Arrogate’s real race is better than anything seen in years from an American race horse, he would crush the Pacific Classic field.
The other potential outcome was Arrogate running like he did in the San Diego, which really means not running at all, and getting soundly beaten again.
“Human sacrifice, dogs and cats living together, mass hysteria!”
--Dr. Peter Venkman
Okay, so it won’t be quite that crazy. Bill Murray’s droll parapsychologist from “Ghostbusters” was warning New York officials of what might follow in the wake of a supernatural invasion. He wasn’t far wrong, but it was a movie.
Still, the prospect of Monday’s total solar eclipse that will span the continental United States already has triggered wholesale migrations, and the darkening skies that afternoon could stimulate strange behaviors in both man and beast.
“Just don’t go on about me never winning the big one,” said John Sadler, adding a grin that told you he was in on the plot.
And I won’t. There is no good reason to point out that Sadler is to racing what Sergio Garcia was to golf, at least until the talented Spaniard won the 2017 Masters after 18 years as a professional, most of them under the cloud of being the best of his generation to never win a major.
Nick Luck, a man with a name Damon Runyon would love, is barnstorming America on NBC’s nickel this month, spreading his very British charm and horse racing insights across the continent in a three-cornered shot that should be the envy of anyone who loves high-stakes Thoroughbred competition.
They’re running the Pete Pedersen Stakes at Emerald Downs on Sunday, as part of the Longacres Mile undercard, and wouldn’t Pete have a laugh about that.
Once, when confronted with a request to present the trophy for the Hollywood Gold Cup, upon the announcement of his retirement, California’s senior and most respected steward cracked, “I told them they were really taking a chance. If I were shot, there would be many suspects.”
