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HANDICAPPING INSIGHTS DECEMBER 23, 2011 by Dick Powell HANDSOME MIKE may have disappointed with his seventh-place finish in last Saturday's Grade 1 CashCall Futurity at Hollywood Park, but a closer look at the race shows he ran a lot better than it looked and the trip he had is something we see every day. To go over the particulars before the race, Handsome Mike broke his maiden two starts back going 6 1/2 furlongs on the downhill turf course at Santa Anita then showed high speed in the Grade 3 Generous Stakes on the turf at Hollywood Park when he was part of a very fast (+28, +22) pace and held for second. On Saturday, he drew the rail and had Corey Nakatani in the irons for the first time. When the gate opened, Nakatani had to hustle him into the first turn to maintain his inside position. Martin Garcia surprisingly sent Drill from the start as well and those two set the pace. Instead of slowing it down a bit when they straightened out on the backstretch, Majestic City applied pressure three wide and the first half-mile was run in a contentious :46.83. It's nice to be on the inside and saving ground but not so nice to have two contenders breathing down your neck. At no point in Saturday's race did it look like Handsome Mike had a breather so even though he never had a horse in his path for the entire trip, it was not an easy trip. Around the far turn, it looked like Handsome Mike was going to be passed, but Nakatani got into him and he spurted some to have a narrow lead with three-sixteenths of a mile to go. He battled on courageously to about the eighth-pole before coming up empty. The past performance line will show a seventh-place finish, but it was a much better effort than it looked. The question for Handsome Mike will be how will he do going two turns on the main track next time out? Many of the prep races for the Santa Anita Derby attract smallish fields so it's entirely possible that he could come back from a better post position, be the stalker instead of the stalkee and show a lot more late energy. Sitting in behind the three-horse pace duel was Rafael Bejarano, who was enjoying a perfect trip aboard LIAISON. Winner of the Real Quiet Stakes in his prior start, Liaison tipped off the rail at the top of the stretch, took the lead in the final furlong and held off the late surge of Rousing Sermon to win by a neck in 1:42.86 seconds for the 1 1/16-mile distance. His BRIS Speed rating was only 94 and he had a dream set-up, but any quality horse from the Bob Baffert stable will be worth watching next year. Liaison is by Indian Charlie, sire of Uncle Mo, but unlike the 2010 two-year-old champion, Liaison appears well-suited for longer distances. His dam is by Belmont Stakes winner Victory Gallop and his second dam is by Belmont Stakes winner A.P. Indy so there is plenty of stamina in the dam-side of his pedigree. Indian Charlie might not have been a sire of classic races, but he had a big impact on the breed before dying a week ago. What I liked about him was his ability to sire brilliant, middle-distance horses as that is what he was himself. When Indian Charlie won the Santa Anita Derby back in 1998, he looked like the second coming. He just cruised around Santa Anita to win easily and left Real Quiet in his wake. Undefeated in four starts, he went to Churchill Downs for the Derby and came up short when he ran third behind Real Quiet, who just missed winning the Triple Crown that year. Indian Charlie never raced again and the son of In Excess went to stud without a fashionable pedigree for the breeders to lust after. But, genetically, it was what he didn't have that made him attractive. He had no Mr. Prospector in his entire pedigree and Northern Dancer only showed up in his fourth generation so he wound up being a perfect outcross for the mares that he was bred to. Like many sires today, Indian Charlie produced horses that could handle up to nine furlongs. His only graded stakes winner that I could find that won at 10 furlongs was the champion Fleet Indian, who won the Delaware Handicap and the Personal Ensign. Most offspring raced on the main track, were fast, matured early and trained on at three. With his death at the early age of 16, we will have three full crops of two-year-olds racing. Next Monday will be the opening of Santa Anita and its signature opening day stakes race, the Grade 1 Malibu Stakes, is for three-year-olds going seven furlongs on the main track. Expected to be the favorite will be The Factor, who has a win at course and distance in the Grade 2 San Vicente Stakes (G2) last February. He obviously likes the track and his outside post will let Garcia relax him down the backstretch. One of the most exciting horses in racing in 2011, let's hope The Factor's back on his game this coming year.
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