Handicapping Insights

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.