UNION RAGS SQUEEZES HOME FOR BELMONT STAKES VICTORY

Click above to watch Union Rags winning the Belmont Stakes (G1)…
(Image : Washington Post - Footage : CNBC)

BELMONT STAKES (Grade 1)
Belmont Park, Dirt, 2400m
9 June 2012

It’s been something of a tumultuous sophomore season thus far for Chadds Ford Stable’s Union Rags (USA) (Dixie Union (USA) - Tempo (USA)), but nothing about 150 seconds couldn’t undo. Given a perfect ground-saving ride by John Velazquez, the handsome bay colt needed every inch of the stretch, but fought through an opening inside pacesetting Paynter (Awesome Again) for a neck victory in yesterday’s GI Belmont Stakes.

Fourteen months after their Big Brown (Boundary) was eased in the Belmont Stakes, IEAH Stables signed the ticket on the Dixie Union (Dixieland Band) colt out of Tempo (Gone West) for $145,000 at Fasig-Tipton’s Saratoga Selected Yearling Sale in the summer of 2010. They offered the bay at the same auction house’s Florida Sale of 2-Year-Olds in Training Sale, and he attracted the eye of many a horse identifier, including his breeder, who either had seller’s remorse or just wanted a Classic-looking racehorse. Phyllis Wyeth purchased the horse who would become Union Rags on a bid of $390,000 and soon turned him over to Michael Matz, who conditioned Barbaro (Dynaformer) to a dominating victory in the 2006 GI Kentucky Derby. And her re-acquisition did little to disappoint early on.

Union Rags rallied from seventh of nine to take his five-furlong debut over the Delaware main track July 12 before decimating the field by 7 1/4 lengths in a sloppy renewal of the GII Saratoga Special Stakes at Saratoga August 15. He skipped the GI Three Chimneys Hopeful Stakes in September in favor of the GI Champagne Stakes the following month. Sent off the 6-5 chalk that afternoon, Union Rags was patiently ridden and was snookered at a crucial stage for about a quarter of a mile, but streaked away when the daylight came to hand Alpha (Bernardini) a 5 1/4-length defeat. Favored to complete an undefeated campaign in the GI Breeders’ Cup Juvenile, he sat a disastrous four-wide trip as Hansen (Tapit) set the pace inside. He couldn’t quite get to the pacesetter and settled for second, his Eclipse dreams dashed. He began 2012 with obviously high expectations and suggested he’d be the divisional heavy with an effortless four-length score in the GII Fasig-Tipton Fountain of Youth Stakes February 26. A somewhat disappointing third following a questionable ride in the GI Florida Derby March 31, Union Rags was bounced around at the start of the May 5 GI Kentucky Derby, was taken up nearing the half-mile pole and did exceeding well to finish seventh, 7 1/2 lengths behind I’ll Have Another (Flower Alley). Would there be a ‘Rags-to-Riches’ story in the Belmont?

In an effort to change their luck, connections made a switch from Julien Leparoux to John Velazquez, who won his first Belmont astride the filly Rags to Riches (A.P. Indy) in 2007. Unmolested at the break this time around, Union Rags drifted back to about midfield as upstart and third wagering choice Paynter (Awesome Again) was ridden for speed by Mike Smith, already second aboard Bodemeister (Empire Maker) in the Derby and GI Preakness Stakes. Following an opening quarter mile in a fairly quick :23.72, Paynter was then allowed to cover an internal half-mile in :51 as positions remained largely unchanged with another six furlongs still ahead of them. Velazquez took a look behind him shortly thereafter and asked Union Rags to get just a touch closer to Paynter, who picked up the tempo a bit and covered the mile in 1:38.85. Atigun and Leparoux moved in unison with Union Rags, though forced overland, but loomed a serious threat four wide at the quarter pole. Paynter, looking to give Ahmed Zayat his first Classic victory after several agonizing defeats, hit the eighth pole still going well, but Smith had vacated the fence and left an inviting opening for Union Rags and Velazquez to go through, if good enough. And that Union Rags proved, as he dug in tenaciously and grabbed the long-time leader in the final 40 yards for a hard-earned success.

“We always thought this horse had Triple Crown potential,” a clearly relieved Michael Matz commented. “When we trained him, we gave him four races as a 2-year-old and gave him a rest and had a good plan. He never missed a beat. His first race couldn’t have been any easier. He had trouble in his second race and his third race. I do really think that this horse, when he has a clean trip and can show himself, is one of the best 3-year-olds in this crop. Whether he could have done something against I’ll Have Another, I don’t know, but it sure would have been fun to see.”

Extract from Thoroughbred Daily News

I'LL HAVE ANOTHER SCRATCHED FROM BELMONT STAKES

Click above to watch an SB Nation insert on
I’ll Have Another’s scratching from the 2012 Belmont Stakes
(Image : Bettor - Footage : SB Nation)

BELMONT STAKES (Grade 1)
Belmont Park, Dirt, 2400m
9 June 2012

Word began to circulate just after 11 at Belmont Park on Friday morning. It almost seemed unbelievable. But it was true.

I’ll Have Another, 30 hours from walking into the starting gate for the Belmont Stakes, was going to be scratched. He would not get the chance to join the 11 other 3-year-old colts who had achieved the elusive Triple Crown.

One track worker called home: “Did you hear that? They scratched the horse!” A horseplayer threw his programme and shouted, “Unbelievable.”

Jimmy Crennan of Williston Park, Long Island, who has been to every Belmont since 1980, was set up in the backyard area. “Shock and disappointment,” he said. “It’s like the air comes out of the balloon. I got here today, and I was in such good spirits. I’m sure there will be 30,000 less people here tomorrow now.”

The scratch was extraordinary. Only two previous horses who won the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness Stakes did not contest the Belmont, and those, Burgoo King in 1932 and Bold Venture in 1936, were well before the Triple Crown matured into mainstream prominence.

I’ll Have Another will not race again, according to his owner, J. Paul Reddam, and his trainer, Doug O’Neill.

The Triple Crown is a demanding series. More than nearly any other trainer, D. Wayne Lukas can speak to that. He has won the Belmont Stakes four times and in 1999 his colt Charismatic broke down and finished third in his effort to capture the Triple Crown. Lukas, 76, will saddle the long shot Optimizer in the Belmont on Saturday.

Standing in the paddock soon after hearing the news, Lukas said: “It’s a part of the game the general public doesn’t realize. For Doug to get this horse this far, he had to basically live with him.” Lukas shook his head. “Boy, it knocks you right to your knees,” he said. “This game is humbling.”

Lukas himself was not in great shape. He had a gash on his left temple, and underneath his sunglasses a vicious shiner surrounded his left eye. On Tuesday, one of his horses kicked his head, sending him to the hospital with a concussion and a pint less blood.

Like O’Neill, Lukas has been in this position. The day before the 1995 Belmont Stakes, he scratched the heavily favored Timber Country because of a fever. The Kentucky Derby favorites A.P. Indy, in 1992, and I Want Revenge, in 2009, were scratched before the race. I’ll Have Another’s scratch also called to mind Majestic Prince, who in 1969 entered the Belmont Stakes undefeated but with a known tendon injury. His trainer Johnny Longden was pressured into running him, and he finished second but never raced again.

O’Neill called I’ll Have Another’s injury a “freakish thing,” but Lukas said the rigors of the Triple Crown had escalated over the years. The fields are larger in Triple Crown races now, and the graded-stakes earnings required to get into the Derby require aggressive campaigning early in a horse’s career.

“The Triple Crown does take more out of horses now,” Lukas said. “It’s much more demanding. Much more.”

Behind Lukas, on benches circling the paddock, early arrivals were turning over the news. Besides disbelief, there was, as befits racetrack habitués, cynicism.

“I think he would have got beat anyway,” said John Rosiak, a Queens resident who said he had been coming to Belmont for 50 years. “He would have come in third or fourth.”

Rosiak said he had 20 bets for the Belmont he had to place for his friends and relatives. But he said none of them had to be changed. I’ll Have Another was nowhere on those tickets.

“They all seem to like Optimizer,” he said.

Hours earlier, there were no outward signs portending the unfortunate turn for I’ll Have Another. A few people milled about at O’Neill’s barn at 9:30 am, and they were in good spirits.

By 12:45, dozens of reporters had formed a bottleneck outside the detention barn where I’ll Have Another and his 11 expected rivals have resided since Wednesday.

Nearby, two security guards stood on the path that leads from the barns to the racetrack. Five precocious 2-year-old colts and one 2-year-old filly bounced on their toes on their way over for the second race. It was a well-bred bunch, and the thought occurred, as it does when races for 2-year-olds are run this time of year, that a classics winner might be among them.

The security guards stoically acknowledged that they had heard the news of I’ll Have Another. One of them said to the other, “At least it will be quieter tomorrow.”

Racetrack life ticked on under a warm sun. But another chance had passed, and the crowning of a 12th Triple Crown champion again looked far away.

Extract from The New York Times

WHY 2012 WON'T BE TWENTY-TWELVE

I’ll Have Another
(Photo : Time)

BELMONT STAKES (Grade 1)
Belmont Park, Dirt, 2400m
9 June 2012

Mick Goss
Summerhill Stud CEOI have always said I am the luckiest man on earth, not only because I wake up next to one of the loveliest ladies in Mooi River, not only because I work with some of the world’s most talented horsemen and I get to work with the noblest creature the good Lord ever created, but because the glass doors of my bedroom afford me a view of Giant’s Castle and the World Heritage Drakensberg Mountains. If you believe Nostradamus, or if you have any faith in the Mayan calendar, 21^st December 2012 is supposed to be the day of the Apocalypse. It’s comforting then, for those of us who live in the vicinity, that the narrative to the movie “2012” suggests there is salvation in the Drakensberg Mountains, for those of us who live nearby. I guess if there’s any spin-off, Hartford House will be doing a roaring trade come December!

In racing terms, it was perhaps prophetic that the ex Summerhill filly Igugu, should have claimed South Africa’s first Triple Tiara for Sheikh Mohammed bin Khalifa Al Maktoum of the ruling family of Dubai, and for the former electrician, Andre Macdonald, in what was probably the finest statement on the democracy of the turf. Triple Crowns, and by that we mean any Triple Crown, are called by that name not only because they involve three events, but principally for the reverence they hold in the virtual impossibility of winning one. We use the word “impossible” advisedly though, knowing that in South Africa, there has been at least one Triple Crown winner in living memory, and even relatively recent generations can recall Horse Chestnut’s great feat in 1999. While it’s not a matter of distinction to mention it, it was a Summerhill colt, Dangerous Donald, that fell victim to his destructive talents in the final leg, the South African Derby, where he galloped away by an unstoppable 10 lengths.

Which brings us to the purpose of this piece. For the first time in many years, there is a real prospect that both Europe and America could celebrate a Triple Crown hero in 2012, and certainly before 21^st December, when all but a few of us are meant to perish. At least this will give us something to cheer about.

Yes, there have been several aspirants for the title in the United States since Affirmed last achieved the Triple Crown in 1978, but this year’s Kentucky Derby and Preakness ace, I’ll Have Another, looks the real deal, though he won’t have it all his own way, because there are several taking him on who purposely skipped the second leg, so that they could arrive at Belmont Park fresh and ready to fell the giant. The late Summerhill stallion, Coastal, earned his fame (or was it notoriety?) for doing just that to one of the greatest American horses of all time, Spectacular Bid, in the 1979 Belmont Stakes. That epic is renewed this Saturday at 6pm EDT (+- midnight in the old Republic), and I’m sure you will be able to pick it up in the sports news on CNN before you go on bended knee early Sunday. Perhaps we’ll all be celebrating the power of the Lord for delivering us a Triple Crown hero on the historic morning of 10^th June.

Back in the Old Country, Camelot told us in no uncertain terms on Saturday, that he has every chance of becoming Britain’s first Triple Crown victor since Nijinsky in 1970. But he’ll have to wait for September to claim that title, when he takes the trek to Doncaster for the St Leger at the marathon journey of fourteen and a half furlongs. The way he finished off the Investec Derby last Saturday, however, tells us the distance will not be an issue, Deo volente.

And finally, speaking of history, your correspondents this morning will be back from their ‘bosberaad’ by Sunday the 10^th to entertain the first delegation of Chinese racing officials to come to South Africa. Just a month ago, Irish Thoroughbred Marketing announced a €40billion thoroughbred breeding and racing initiative with the Chinese turf authorities, and it seems that as a fellow member of the BRICS countries, South Africa is the alternate destination of choice. If China goes racing, and they race like they mean it, thoroughbred breeding will once again be the only game in town. Mark these words!

I'LL HAVE ANOTHER WINS PREAKNESS THRILLER

Click above to watch I’ll Have Another winning the 137th Preakness Stakes…
(Image : Daily Mail - Footage : M Pearson)

PREAKNESS STAKES (Grade 1)
Pimlico, Dirt, 1900m
19 May 2012

Maybe it wasn’t Sunday Silence and Easy Goer coming down to settle the GI Preakness Stakes Saturday at Old Hilltop, but J. Paul Reddam’s I’ll Have Another (Flower Alley) and Bodemeister (Empire Maker) put on an outstanding show in their own right, duplicating their 1-2 finish from the GI Kentucky Derby two weeks ago and creating the first Triple Crown bid since Big Brown (Boundary) went for the sweep back in 2008.

Bodemeister, favored in the rematch at 17-10, won the break and made the lead passing the stands for the first time, while - somewhat surprisingly - Creative Cause emerged as the nearest pace presence. I’ll Have Another jumped fairly and was handy enough while racing in about the three path, but was nudged out a bit wider by Went The Day Well (Proud Citizen) approaching the clubhouse turn. The Team Valor runner backed off a bit, and that allowed Mario Gutierrez to tuck into a three-wide spot around the turn and into the backstretch. Back on the front end, Bodemeister and Mike Smith were coasting along through an opening half-mile in :47.68, not taxing on paper, but perhaps an above-par pace over a dull strip. Creative Cause was in good striking position from second, while I’ll Have Another was three wide, but covered up behind his grey fellow Californian.

Bodemeister was still going smartly on the engine at the three eighths marker, and Gutierrez seemed to have a few seconds of hesitation as he tried to decide whether to go inside or outside of Creative Cause. He remained off that one’s heels to the quarter pole, was switched out thereafter and was a bit clumsy in switching his leads. It looked for a few strides as if I’ll Have Another might have work to do to catch the free-wheeling Bodemeister, but he continued to plug away with dour determination, took aim on the Bob Baffert runner entering the final half-furlong and pegged him back in the final two strides. Creative Cause finished third, though nearly nine lengths off the top two. The winning rider admitted to expecting a dogfight in the waning stages. “I knew it was going to be a little bit of a tough race,” he said. “But I’ll Have Another had a tremendous kick in the end. So I could feel my horse racing ground and everything was definitely the way. So it’s a great feeling when you’re riding a horse that’s giving you a hundred percent. He’s an amazing horse.”

For every trainer who has not excelled under the Triple Crown spotlight, there is a Doug O’Neill. His leadup to Saturday’s Preakness included throwing out the first pitch prior to the Orioles-Yankees game at nearby Camden Yards and various public appearances. In fact, O’Neill took time out on national television in the winner’s enclosure, to call out the first names of at least a dozen people, most likely young people, whose acquaintance he had made during his time in the city.

Much maligned, O’Neill is clearly cut from a different mold and has flourished in the aftermath of the Kentucky Derby. He was very much at ease after finally making his way to the post-Preakness press gathering.

Q: Your wife is known for being allergic to horses. Is she allergic to I’ll Have Another?

A: It’s amazing. The large checks seem to keep her from itching and coughing.

Q: And what about the next three weeks?

A: Certainly the intensity and pressure will be on the rise.

Q: Are you looking forward to it?

A: I am. I’m excited. I’m surrounded by so many fun people. Just having fun with them. That is kind of doing our thing around the barn. We work hard and take good care of the horses. When injuries come up, we just regroup, take care of them, and we just have a really good atmosphere in the barn. That helps us have time to keep everything very loose for me and the horses and the staff.

So look out NYC. Team O’Neill is on their way.

Extract from Thorougbred Daily News

JOIN THE CLUB

Variety Club - KRA Guineas (Grade 2)
(Photo : Gold Circle)

“Imagine a day when
Variety Club and Camelot face off…”

The first of the Classics in the Northern Hemisphere’s most important racing countries, the United States and the United Kingdom, were staged on Saturday. The Derby (pronounced “dirby,” as in “birdy” in America) fell to I’ll Have Another, and while his form going into the race was solid, most fans would say they were surprised at the ease of his victory. Last year’s winners, Team Valor, can take solace in the fourth place of Went The Day Well, who put in a dead honest charge. Across the pond, there was any amount of hype around the performance in Newmarket’s 2000 Guineas, of the hitherto unbeaten Camelot, whose late surge for a neck victory suggested that while he’s a good colt at a mile, he could be an exceptional one come the mile and a half of the Investec Derby in June. The beginning of another legend?

But the horse that arguably put up the Classic performance of the weekend was South Africa’s Variety Club, who bolted clear under the Jooste silks, crushing a top class horse in Jackson in the closing furlongs of the KZN Guineas (Gr.2). While this was on the short side for Jackson, (and he’d not been seen since his facile Investec Derby (Gr.1) victory in January,) not even the benefit of a run was likely to have put him alongside Variety Club in this one. Jackson will have his day when they stretch out for the 2000m of the Daily News, but Variety Club looks ready to take on the world at a mile.

Whilst plans for the Guineas hero are obviously fluid, Joey Ramsden, who deserves credit for his handling of the horse, hinted in his victory speech that he was ripe for some globe-trotting, and somewhere in that conversation December’s Hong Kong Mile (Gr.1) crept in. The ludicrous impasse over South Africa’s export protocols at present, means that together with Igugu and Soft Falling Rain, he would have to exit via Mauritius (three months quarantine) before embarking for the UK, and then onto Hong Kong. Nonetheless, these are three horses that will stand their ground with the best anywhere, and if they can overcome the rigours of such an arduous travel schedule, they’ll make us proud down the track. Imagine a day when Variety Club and Camelot face off - all hell will let loose.