There could not possibly have been many three-race winning streaks in 2014 as enthralling as the one compiled by Artemis Agrotera during a two-month summer period.
Bred and owned by Chester and Mary Broman, Artemis Agrotera was spectacular during that span, which was followed by a disappointing, year-ending defeat in the Breeders’ Cup.
Condo Commando’s primary niche in racing history could have been based on being the answer to a trivia question: Who won the last race called by legendary New York Racing Association announcer Tom Durkin?
Why, it was Condo Commando, who was “splashtastic” in winning the sloppy-track Spinaway Stakes at Saratoga.
From Lexington to Baltimore, England to France, and finally Southern California, Hootenanny racked up more frequent-flier miles in 2014 than perhaps any horse based in North America.
All the shipping proved worthwhile, however, as Hootenanny ran huge in two of the most prestigious grass races in the world for juveniles, capped by a victory in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf, earning him a spot as a finalist for the Eclipse Award as North America’s top 2-year-old male.
Sometimes you look at a horse in competition and wonder: How much of this is pure instinct? Is this creature just running fast because its genes urge it onward?
And then you watch Wise Dan and think: Well, this guy, at least, really wants to do it. This horse wants the competition. This horse is not just running fast. This horse is racing.
Winchell Thoroughbreds purchased Tapit for $625,000 as a yearling and later retained an interest in the Grade 1 winner when he retired to stud at Gainesway Farm in Lexington, Ky. That investment has paid dividends, as Tapit became North America’s leading sire with a record-shattering 2014 season, fueled by several Winchell colorbearers.
John Velazquez is chasing after his third Eclipse Award as outstanding jockey after a 2014 season in which he led all riders in Grade 1 wins. He collected three in a row Oct. 4 at Keeneland as part of a five-win day marked by Wise Dan’s score in the Shadwell Turf Mile, Carpe Diem’s victory in the Breeders’ Futurity, and Dayatthespa’s score in the First Lady.
Drayden Van Dyke jumped right into a career in racing following his high school graduation, traveling to Southern California from his home in Arkansas to work for trainer Tom Proctor. His ambitious move has paid dividends, as Van Dyke, 20, is an Eclipse Award finalist for outstanding apprentice jockey of 2014.
“I didn’t want to waste time,” Van Dyke told Daily Racing Form of the move. “I wanted to get right in the game.”
Looking back with the benefit of 20/20 hindsight, 4-1 was quite possibly the overlay of the year when Eclipse Award finalist Untapable made her 3-year-old debut in the Rachel Alexandra Stakes.
The race was expected to be highly competitive, but in a portent of what was to come, Untapable was simply untouchable and won off as Rosie Napravnik pleased at better than 4-1, earning the first of her four triple-digit Beyer Speed Figures.
“We think she is better than she was last year,” trainer Steve Asmussen said in what was a finalist for understatement of the year.
Even 14 months after the fact, Keith Desormeaux still couldn’t believe he left the 2013 Keeneland September yearling auction with a son of Afleet Alex for whom he paid a paltry $17,000.
“I still don’t realize how we got him for such a price because he was a physical masterpiece even then,” Desormeaux said. “Very correct, very confident, very intelligent looking – all of the things that we look for as horsemen in trying to acquire a good animal. Maybe it’s because Afleet Alex was a little bit on the cold side. But it shouldn’t matter.”
She danced almost every dance at six different racetracks from coast to coast. She was very much the embodiment of the philosophy that trainer D. Wayne Lukas has demonstrated for four decades – that racehorses are meant to race. And the combination of her innate ability and Lukas’s faith in her enabled Take Charge Brandi to mount a late-season charge that made her the heavy favorite to win an Eclipse Award as champion 2-year-old filly.
