Oct 022009
We all have those horses that stick out for some reason, capture our attention, and hold a place in our hearts. It’s not about what they paid or if they even win – there’s something about them that’s special, even if you’re the only one to see it.
My list includes horses I saw at the sales and followed to the track: including Legally Blanca (aka The Wishful Legacy filly from OBS March) who won a minor stake at Belmont a few Sundays back; Best Lass (aka Who Would Buy A PA-bred Werblin?) who captured the Prairie Meadows Oaks earlier this year; and less notably Carnival Ride, a good worker and hard-tryer from the Bob Holthus barn with maybe the longest tongue I’ve ever seen.
I don’t StableMail a lot of horses from the sales, but La Rocca was one – she was really beautiful and, with her catalog page and performance, was definitely the kind of horse buyers were there to get. It was no surprise when she wound up in Todd Pletcher’s barn and, though it took her 4 tries to break her maiden, showed a ton of promise. But her story takes an interesting turn – she was sold in late July to an owner in the Northwest and is undefeated since: now with 2 stakes wins to her name.
It’s interesting not because she was sold, but rather because a filly who faced the likes of now-G1 winner Funny Moon just six months ago is running at Hastings Park in British Columbia. Most people don’t even know that Hastings is still in business – it’s that small. But don’t forget: a win is a win. We’re all so used to Godolphin or Jess Jackson buying stakes horses to run in major races, but here’s a case where a man (Peter Redekop) saw a horse that could win the local stakes. And when you put a horse in the right spot, magic happens.
For all the talk about the Thoroughbred breed dying out because breeders have pushed for speed not stamina, it’s interesting that there’s a sudden influx of notable older horses – not even geldings. Einstein is a perfect example: at 7yo, he’ll run at any distance, at any track, and run his race every time; and he’ll stand as a stallion next year.
There’s a few of these older guard horses in the Hawthorne Gold Cup on Saturday, namely Jonesboro (7yo), Alcomo (6yo), and Going Ballistic (5yo). The latter is one of those horses I talked about above – he caught my eye way back in March of 2007, when he crossed the line fourth behind Curlin in the G3 Rebel at Oaklawn. He was just so gray and bouncy – he had that “specialness” that lodged him permanently in my heart.
Though he was off the Derby Trail shortly after – he wasn’t that good – I followed Going Ballistic’s career as he captured three stakes through the end of ’07. I lost all interest when his career stalled in 2008, but caught his name on a graphic earlier this year shortly before he was trounced by Prom Shoes in the Essex Handicap at Oaklawn. He may have lost, but I found him again.
It would be another 5 starts for him to get back into the winner’s circle and it took a trip to Remington Park in Oklahoma City to do so. Though not exactly known as a hub of horseracing activity, Remington played host to a $150k stake that drew many of these older guard horses who seem to meet each other in the starting gate time and time again. That day happened to be Going Ballistic’s turn to win (not to discount his 6-wide trip).
A trip to Hastings or Remington probably isn’t on most owner’s radars, but more should try it. The solution to some of racing’s biggest problems may not be bigger purses – the majority of horse owners don’t need the purse money (Godolphin has oil, Jess Jackson has wine, Jerry Moss has music) – why not make a concerted effort to run good horses at smaller tracks?
Who knows? Putting racing in the right spot could make magic happen.
