Huffman defends weight assignment for Wise Dan

It isn't easy for a racing secretary to hang 128 pounds on a star horse in a

handicap race such as Saturday night's Grade 2, $150,000 Firecracker Handicap

(Grade II), but Churchill Downs' Director of Racing Ben Huffman relishes the

opportunity.

"I did 128 (pounds) here with Wise Dan and 128 on Curlin in the (2008)

Stephen Foster," Huffman said. "I've done several 125s, but for horses that have

actually shown up in the entries, 128 is the most."

Reigning Horse of the Year Wise Dan heads a field of eight entered for the

Firecracker, one of three stakes races to be run at Churchill Downs on Saturday

as part of the "Downs After Dark" nighttime racing program.

Wise Dan, who was made the 2-5 favorite by Churchill Downs' oddsmaker Mike

Battaglia, will give between 11-15 pounds to his six rivals. The next high

weights at 117 pounds are Grade 3 stakes winners Corporate Jungle and Lea.

A handicap is a race where the racing secretary assigns weights to all

nominated horses with the theoretical goal of creating a dead-heat at the

finish.

"It's a judgment call," Huffman said. "It's not an exact science. Some people

say a length is a pound and others say a length is three pounds. A lot of

components are involved in assigning the weights."

Wise Dan carries a six-race win streak into the Firecracker, including five

Grade 1 races. In his two races of 2013, he won the Maker's 46 Mile at Keeneland

and the Woodford Reserve Turf Classic at Churchill Downs on Kentucky Derby Day.

"You also look to see who horses have been running against and what they've

carried in the past," Huffman said. "Wise Dan is a multiple Grade 1 winner, he's

the Horse of the Year and he's the highest-rated horse in training in the world.

He's not running against horrible horses in here, but they are inferior when

compared to the best turf miler in the world. Not the best turf miler in the

United States...in the world."

Some are of the opinion that handicap races are a thing of the past and top

horses should not be forced to carry more weight in a race due to their previous

accomplishments. Huffman doesn't subscribe to that belief.

"I know handicaps are kind of going out of favor a little bit, but if you're

going to do them then I think you ought to do them right," Huffman said. "When

you have champions running here for equal weights, I personally don't think we

could fill the races. I like doing handicaps for route races and I think they

serve a purpose. We don't weight horses to get them beat. We weight horses to

give other horses a chance, especially against champions."

Champions like Wise Dan have been known to scare off other horses from

entering, but Huffman believes it is important to feature the best horses

possible at Churchill Downs.

"We are Churchill Downs and we are in a racing town with racing fans that

love and appreciate horse racing," Huffman said. "Sometimes these champions

cause us to have some short fields, but I know true racing fans appreciate

Horses of the Year and Eclipse champions racing in Louisville, Kentucky. Who

wouldn't want to come out and see the Horse of the Year Wise Dan and horses like

Curlin and Rachel Alexandra and Royal Delta and Fort Larned? I'll sacrifice a

couple of runners to get the best horses in the world here for our racing fans

in Louisville."

Wise Dan, who won the Firecracker in 2011 in his turf debut, will break from

post 2 under Hall of Fame jockey John Velazquez. A six-year-old gelded son of

Wiseman's Ferry, Wise Dan is looking to become the first two-time winner of the

Firecracker.

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