|
|
THOROUGHBRED BEAT JULY 31, 2008 by James Scully Brown -- Sunday's $1 million Haskell S. (G1) marks the return of BIG BROWN (Boundary). He'll be facing a short group of overmatched rivals at Monmouth Park, and we can count on Kent Desormeaux bringing a different mindset than he had on Belmont Day. He won't be strangling the colt during the early stages in order to force him to rate. Desormeaux figures to let the big horse run, and Big Brown will likely lead wire-to-wire. Zito -- Love him or hate him, Nick Zito is great for Thoroughbred racing. The Hall of Fame trainer wears his heart on his sleeve, and he couldn't have been any prouder of COMMENTATOR (Distorted Humor) following Saturday's Whitney H. (G1). A seven-year-old gelding, Commentator ran in the Breeders' Cup Sprint (G1) last October and was making his first start around two turns since winning the 2005 Whitney at Saratoga. And he crushed 'em with a spectacular performance on the front end, winning by 4 3/4 lengths while generating a 109 BRIS Speed rating. His final time (1:50 1/5) was more than three seconds faster than champion Ginger Punch's (Awesome Again) win the Go for Wand H. (G1) one race earlier. "This is one of the greatest feats of all time," an understated Zito said afterward. "I think the theme should be, 'If you get old, don't give up.'" Zito is one of the most entertaining personalities in the sport, and his profound love of Thoroughbreds always comes through. Dissent -- The Whitney was one of nearly 60 "Win and Your In" races for the Breeders' Cup this year and while one could go on and on about how meaningless the concept is, it isn't as bad as changing the name of the Distaff and moving it to the less-heralded Friday program. Commentator earned an automatic berth in the Breeders' Cup Classic (G1) with his Whitney victory, but there's no chance he'll run in the 1 1/4-mile race. Commentator is an old dirt horse who doesn't want any part of the 10-furlong Classic distance, and it will be interesting to see whether Zito ships any horses to run on the brand-new artificial surface at Santa Anita. He's certainly not a fan of the four different synthetics (Polytrack, Cushion Track, Tapeta and Pro Ride). "Form is completely different over the synthetic surface right now," Zito told Daily Racing Form. "And I wonder if we'll be really judging a true champion or not following the Breeders' Cup races this year." Hall of Famer Bobby Frankel is another skeptic. "Everybody's concerned about racing on the synthetic track at the Breeders' Cup, not only me," Frankel said. "It's just not going to be a true test." Despite a multitude of legitimate concerns, the Breeders' Cup went ahead and awarded the 2009 running to Santa Anita, appropriately doing so on a day earlier this year when Santa Anita canceled due to problems with its previous synthetic surface. Irrelevant -- One headline said "Street Boss in record time" as if it were relevant, and nearly every recap I read on Sunday's Bing Crosby H. (G1) made mention of it. STREET BOSS (Street Cry [Ire]) is the best sprinter on the West Coast, recording another superb win -- his fifth straight -- in the prestigious Bing Crosby, but reporting it as a "track record" is ridiculous. The first 69 years at Del Mar (1937-2006) are out the window -- those races don't count any more. Only Polytrack matters, and the surface played considerably slower in 2007 because they didn't water it in the afternoon. That changed this year, and the track is producing faster times. Street Boss broke "the mark" established by $32,000 claimer Chief Teddybear (Chief Seattle) a week earlier. I'm going out on a limb and predicting a record-setting performance in this year's Pacific Classic (G1). The winner will need to run 1 1/4 miles in less than 2:07 1/5 for "track record" headlines. Exciting -- Freshman sire Read the Footnotes, who stands in New York at Sequel Stallions, is responsible for an exciting maiden special weight winner in CRIBNOTE. After finishing a troubled fourth in his career bow at Belmont Park on July 3, the Richard Violette-trained colt made his second start against seven fellow New York-bred rivals at the Spa on Sunday. After rushing up into contention along the inside on the far turn, the chestnut colt eased back and altered course to the outside under Rajiv Maragh approaching the top of the stretch. Then the jet engines kicked in. Cribnote flew home in spectacular style, drawing clear to a 13 1/2-decision while stopping the teletimer in 1:03.32 for 5 1/2 furlongs. That's .19 seconds off the track record. I don't know what he faced, but Cribnote looked awesome doing it. Uncertainty -- The Man o' War S. (G1) was an oddly run race over firm ground at Belmont Park, and CURLIN (Smart Strike) finished a respectable second, two lengths back of 2006 Breeders' Cup Turf (G1) winner Red Rocks (Ire) (Galileo [Ire]), whose three best career performances have come in the United States with the addition of Lasix. Curlin's future is now up in the air. Options for the Horse of the Year include the Arlington Million (G1) on August 9, the August 16 Sword Dancer Invitational (G1), the August 24 Pacific Classic (G1) or the Woodward S. (G1) on August 30. The Million and Sword Dancer are on turf, and the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe (Fr-G1) remains an option if he lands in one of those spots. But that option seems remote due to the uncommitted nature of his connections presently. If he doesn't make it to France, the Breeders' Cup Classic suddenly becomes a very viable goal. But the Classic will be held on an synthetic surface, and trainer Steve Asmussen can't be too thrilled about that prospect. Similar to the Man o' War, Curlin might not have the same acceleration in his first start over the Pro-Ride.
 Send this article to a friend
|
|
