Turf Diary

TURF

DIARY

JUNE 13, 2006

by Kellie Reilly

Saturday's Manhattan H. (G1) on the Belmont S. (G1) undercard

featured a top-class field and promised to be an outstanding race. As a

spectacle, the 1 1/4-mile contest did not disappoint, with the first four

finishers separated by roughly a half-length or so after a thrilling stretch

drive, but as a form guide, it did not provide clear-cut answers. Full credit

goes to CACIQUE (Ire) (Danehill) and Edgar Prado for shrewdly adopting

different tactics, racing right up on the pace in a race devoid of early speed,

and the classy Juddmonte homebred took full advantage. Even after having the run

of the race, however, getting six furlongs in 1:16 3/5 and a mile in 1:40 2/5,

he was only just able to hold on by the slimmest of margins from the flying

RELAXED GESTURE (Ire) (Indian Ridge) and GREY SWALLOW (Ire) (Daylami

[Ire]), who had been cantering together at the tail of the field. They each

unleashed a ferocious sub-:23 final quarter to make up around four lengths, only

to fall agonizingly short at the wire, with Relaxed Gesture a neck in front of

Grey Swallow for second.

It was all the more heartbreaking for Relaxed Gesture, who had

just missed in last year's Manhattan and was entering this race after a

miserable effort in Dubai in March. His rider Kent Desormeaux dropped the whip

entering the final sixteenth, but the chestnut could hardly have finished any

faster in any event.

I was a bit surprised that Grey Swallow was that far behind in

the early going, considering that he stalked a slow pace successfully in the Jim

Murray Memorial H. (G2). Jockey Alex Solis said afterward that he was patient

with him because he broke a bit slowly. If he had enjoyed the same trip he'd had

at Hollywood, tracking much more closely, I think he would have outkicked

Cacique in the stretch.

ENGLISH CHANNEL (Smart Strike) had raced as a team with

Cacique through the first mile, but he was unable to keep up with the winner's

final quarter of :23 3/5 and wound up a close fourth. John Velazquez surmised

that he may not have loved the yielding course. He's run well on softish ground

in the past, though. What may have compounded things was his failure to relax

early. Unlike the settled Cacique, English Channel tossed his head a bit and

appeared rank briefly on the backstretch.

Hence my conclusion: Cacique deserves the palm for seizing the

initiative and coping best on the day, but Relaxed Gesture and Grey Swallow turned in

more impressive efforts in defeat.

On the same day, at the same distance, on the opposite coast,

the irrepressible LAVA MAN (Slew City Slew) scored his first Grade 1

victory on the turf in the Charles Whittingham Memorial H. (G1) to go along with

his main-track triumphs in the Santa Anita H. (G1) and last year's Hollywood

Gold Cup (G1). The Doug O'Neill charge had shown that he was able to transfer

his brilliance to the grass with his smashing performance in the Khaled S. in

his prior start, but this time he was facing Grade 1 winner KING'S DRAMA

(Ire) (King's Theatre [Ire]). Lava Man got away with an uncontested early lead

and made his rivals pay for it. When King's Drama challenged him on the far

turn, Lava Man spurted right away from him en route to a two-length triumph. Had

King's Drama been glued to Lava Man's flank early, pressing him, he might well

have made the margin closer, but the winner finished up in world-class fashion

in just a shade less than :23. Lava Man's ultimate targets still remain on the

dirt, so let's savor the rarity of a horse who is outstanding on both surfaces.

Finally, although the Shoemaker Breeders' Cup Mile S. (G1)

looked ultra-competitive on paper, ARAGORN (Ire) (Giant's Causeway)

turned in a tremendous performance to win by 1 3/4 lengths over the talented

pair of CHARMO (Fr) (Charnwood Forest [Ire]) and SILENT NAME (Jpn)

(Sunday Silence). Aragorn's final quarter was a dizzying :22 1/5, which

obviously marks him as an individual of the highest caliber. I had

underestimated him coming into the Shoemaker, despite his valiant runner-up

effort off a layoff  in the Frank E. Kilroe Mile H. (G1) two starts ago,

because Charmo had dusted him last time out at Golden Gate. Actually, Aragorn's

training had not gone according to schedule prior to that race, but he improved

for the Shoemaker, as trainer Neil Drysdale explained. If he can stay sound and

well, Aragorn looks every inch a major Breeders' Cup Mile (G1) contender.