Looking Back On the Horse Racing Season's First Half
by Steve Davidowitz | Jun 24 2011
Let's cut to the chase and take a closer look at the first half of the horse racing season…
The stress fracture suffered by Kentucky Derby winner ANIMAL KINGDOM was discovered two full days after he finished sixth in the Belmont Stakes. The injury is not career threatening, but it probably will keep him on the sidelines during the summer.
Moreover, vets believe that the injury probably was caused by the bumping Animal Kingdom endured two strides out of the starting gate. Beyond that, jockey Rajiv Maragh was given a seven day suspension by the New York stewards as a just negative reward for the way he half steered the impossible longshot ISN'T HE PERFECT into MUCH MACHO MAN, who in turn eliminated Animal Kingdom before the race was three seconds old.
Seven days was given because the stewards could only prove that Maragh did not do enough to prevent the incident. Had they determined that it was a willful act to get even with the owners of Mucho Macho Man for replacing him with Ramon Dominguez, Maragh could have been set down for a year or more.
Did you know that 2010 Horse of the Year Zenyatta needed two trips to the high class colt BERNARDINI to get her into foal? That's more times than she lost in 20 career races.
The once and former Super Horse UNCLE MO is making progress with the infection that kept him out of the Triple Crown. A few days ago, he returned to the track for his first jogs and gallops since he was sent to Win Star Farm for special care and treatment.
If this horse returns to full health and actually regains the promising form he displayed as 2 year old champion in 2010, there is no 3 year old in training who will handle him. But that is a BIG IF! Few horses come back to top form after a prolonged illness that has been treated with heavy duty meds. Among the few was one of the great horses of modern times—1977 Triple Crown winner SEATTLE
SLEW—who almost died between his 3 year old season and when he returned as a top notch, extremely difficult horse to beat at the age of 4.
In an era when 99 percent of all stakes winning horses seem to leave the scene after a six or eight races the 8 year old gelding AWESOME GEM will be making his 49th career start when he goes for his 12th career win in the $300,000 Prairie Meadows' Cornhusker Handicap on Saturday night.
Of equal import, I think, is that Awesome Gem has earned $2.5 million and has finished in the money or won a Graded stakes in seven straight seasons! Included among those performances was a third place finish in the 2007 Breeders' Cup Classic among five appearances in BC races and a win in the Grade-1 Hollywood Gold Cup last year.
It says here that Preakness winner SHACKLEFORD will win the Haskell Stakes at Monmouth Park on July 31. From what I saw in the Triple Crown and that includes all of the prep races leading up to the Kentucky Derby, no 3-year-old in America can handle this horse at nine furlongs.
Do not think for one minute that RULER ON ICE, the longshot winner of the Belmont Stakes is a one-time fluke.
I saw him in person at Sunland Park when he was a very good third while stuck inside through much of the race and he galloped out strongly as if he was going to win that race at 10 furlongs.
I also believe that there were several horses I saw during the Triple Crown season who will beat older horses later this year or in the winter and spring of 2012.
These include all three horses who won Triple Crown races; plus second place Belmont finisher STAY THIRSTY; Belmont third, BRILLIANT SPEED, who is my long range upset pick to win the Travers at Saratoga, Aug. 28; J.P.'S GUSTO, a strong performer in one turn races; ASTROLOGY, third in the Preakness in his third start of the year; the sprinter JUSTIN PHILLIP; the 3 year old filly IT'S TRICKY, winner of the Acorn Mile on Belmont Day and TURBULENT DESCENT who needs to go back to California to show her best.
There's more to talk about of course as we move into the second half of 2011. For instance, we have an action packed Fourth of July weekend filled with major stakes just around the corner and I will preview many of those next week.
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