(August 31, 2010) - Daily Racing Form's American Racing Manual is one of the most complete, informative publications on racing ever to grace the racing world. It has just about every piece of statistical information any horsemen or writer could hope to find.

    Near the front of the more-than-2,000-page manual is an alphabetical listing of DRF's "Greatest Horses of the 20th Century" with the past performances of 35 names spanning from Affirmed to Whirlaway and all the rest in between. And if there's one thing one can learn from a quick scan of the PPs, it's that the number of pure speed horses on the list is minimal. By a pure speed horse I mean one who literally went to the front just about every time he or she broke from the gate - like the immortal Dr. Fager. When his riders so decided, there wasn't a horse on earth who could take the lead from the Doctor. Affirmed was another who liked to do his running up front, but, surprisingly, a perusal of the colt's PPs shows the son of Exclusive Native has just 11 ones at the first quarter, and he stepped to the plate 29 times.

    The unbeaten Colin (15-for-15) also had a slew of ones in his PPs, but he was a pure sprinter at two and only raced three times at three. Gallant Fox liked to sit close to the pace, but he was by no means considered a front-runner. Holy Bull liked to be up front or close to it, as did Lady's Secret. Man o'War enjoyed it on the lead, but in most cases his foes were hopelessly overmatched. Ruffian was like a bullet coming out of the gate for Jacinto Vasquez, but she only had 10 real chances to prove her mettle. And, there were few who could stay with Seattle Slew early - or late.

    But the rest of the elite group was made up of runners who possessed tactical speed, their jockeys could place them almost anywhere, depending on what was happening up front. Or, they liked to sit well back in the pack and overhaul those who were still alive with mammoth stretch runs, like Forego and Kelso and several others. And, Zenyatta when she makes the list someday.  

    What's the point? If Rachel Alexandra is ever going to salvage her place among the greats of racing, trainer Steve Asmussen and jockey Calvin Borel are going to have to find a way to take her back because she has become highly beatable on the lead, or battling for it. Looking back on some of her efforts over the past two years, her 20 1/4-length victory in the Kentucky Oaks came after Borel tucked her in second early and didn't move too soon. Ditto for the Mother Goose, in which she sat third and didn't uncork her run until the turn. Even in the July 24 Lady's Secret, Borel had her take back to third at the quarter and moved her when it came time.

    But the three losses since March have all come when the daughter of Medaglia d'Oro was on the lead or sitting so close she might as well have been on it.     

    Last year at this time the debate began to rage - Rachel or Zenyatta - and never did abate when they never met on the track and Rachel was named Horse of the Year. The Zenyatta camp, and her faithful followers, were incensed, and the feeling has never gone away, especially now that Rachel has proven to be quite vulnerable. The feeling is that in a match race Zenyatta could run over her younger foe at any point from the top of the stretch to the wire.

    It's unthinkable that the two still haven't met, but the clamor for a head-to-head matchup has died down to a whisper based on Rachel's disappointing 2-for-5 season thus far.

    It's time for Asmussen to give Rachel a second chance at immortality, and the only way that's going to have any possibility of happening is if he gets Calvin to take her back early. I don't care if it's to last.

 

    (August 27, 2010) - For months, the members of the California Horse Racing Board tried to pry loose even one facet of Frank Stronach's new plan to reshape and revitalize racing on the west coast. They found it to be a worse experience than felt by those trying to pry loose Barack Obama's birth certificate.

    Today, Stronach and his Magna International cronies finally unveiled their plan to invigorate the sport. As Stronach said in a press release, "The purpose of this grand prize is to provide a spectacular event for the fans and to create a potential life changing experience for the stakeholders of the racing industry. These events represent the greatest hope for the renewal of the thoroughbred racing business in America. Our continued development of MID's recently acquired assets should translate into improved results across MID Racing Properties' asset base."

    So what is this fabulous proposal - called the Preakness 5.5 - that represents the greatest hope for the renewal of the thoroughbred racing business in America?    

    In simple terms, it awards a bonus of $5.5 million to the owner and trainer of the 2011 Preakness winner if their horse wins two previous Triple Crown preps at one of MID's winter properties, Santa Anita, Gulfstream Park and Golden Gate Fields. Well, hoop-de-do!

    Here's the lowdown. To qualify for the bonus ($5 million to the winning owner, $500,000 to the winning trainer) taking the Santa Anita route, a horse must win either the Gr. II Bob Lewis or the Gr. II San Felipe, then win the Gr. I Santa Anita Derby.

    To qualify at Gulfstream, it's a victory in the Gr. III Holy Bull or the Gr. II Fountain of Youth, followed by victory in the Gr. I Florida Derby, which, by the way, will have its $1 million purse reinstated for 2011.

    At Golden Gate, if the winner of the Gr. III El Camino Real comes back to win the Santa Anita Derby, he or she will get the chance for the bonus.

    "To add to the excitement of the Preakness," Magna goes on, "XpressBet will sponsor the XpressBet 5.5, a consolation prize of $550,000 to be awarded to the winner of the Preakness if that horse was not eligible for the Preakness 5.5 million bonus but was a runner in one of the initial qualifying races and finished first, second or third at the Santa Anita Derby or the Florida Derby." We'll need a CPA to figure out who's eligible for that one.

    I'm sure this announcement had owners and trainers of horses with $2,500 stud fee stallions jumping with excitement and breathless with anticipation. At a time when the sport is crying out for higher overnight purses for the middle-of-the-road types, Magna would like to reward, for the most part, the same owners and trainers who have held almost a stranglehold on the Triple Crown events for years. Guys like Bill Casner and Kenny Troutt, Mike Pegram, Jess Jackson, Jerry and Ann Moss, IEAH Stables, Paul Pompa Jr, Michael Iavarone, Robert LaPenta and trainers Bob Baffert, D. Wayne Lukas, Todd Pletcher Steve Asmussen, Rick Dutrow Jr., Nick Zito, and their ilk will reap the benefits of this bonus program, if they get lucky. That's not to say they aren't all deserving, but they aren't the people who need help these days.

    And a horse like Mine That Bird, who came up through the minors, wouldn't be eligible.

     The plan has so many holes it would take a week to discuss them. But among the most important is, what if the Florida Derby and Santa Anita Derby winners don't come from one of the five designated races at the three Magna tracks? The entire Preakness 5.5 concept goes down the tubes in a blaze of glory and the "spectacular event for the fans" turns into ashes. And "the greatest hope for the renewal of the thoroughbred racing business in America" falls flat on its face. Even if a horse survived the qualifiers and won the Preakness, the only way excitement would reach a fever pitch is if he had won the Kentucky Derby along the way. Magna honcho Dennis Mills said several weeks ago he wanted to make the Preakness a bigger event than the Derby. If this is the plan to accomplish that feat, Magna has bigger trouble than the bankruptcy.

    I wonder who came up with this plan? To tell the truth, in all modesty, my plan for a "get rich quick" race at every track, revealed here a couple of weeks ago, would dwarf the Preakness 5.5 if some state body has the intestinal fortitude to make it a reality, and soon.   

    Here's some more advice to the lovelorn. Take the 5.5 million and spread it around for overnight purses. Or pay off some of your creditors. Or help people who are being thrown out of their homes pay their mortgages. Or all of the above. It'll make you feel better.

    Or maybe not.

 

    But somebody old enough to have been there has to stand up for Kelso and Forego, because the list of those who watched their super-equine performances is dwindling each year - especially in the case of Kelso. That old guy will have to be me.

    Here's part of what Jon said about John. "John Henry had such star appeal that his appearance always meant a spike in attendance. His retirement was the lead story on the front page of USA Today. People magazine chose him one of the 25 most intriguing people of 1984, along with such other celebrities as Michael Jackson, Mary Lou Retton and Lee Iacocca.

"John Henry was voted Horse of the Year in 1981 and 1984. Remarkably, his second Horse of the Year Title came at age 9. He won 39 of 83 lifetime starts, with 30 of his victories coming in stakes races. His sustained excellence was such that he was a stakes winner every year from ages 2 through 9."

    All well and good. However, barely good enough for the show spot.

    Here are some better stats: Kelso compiled an eye-opening record of 39-12-2 in 63 starts; Forego went 34-9-7 in 57. John Henry was 39-15-9 in his 83 tries. Kelso's win percentage was 62, Forego's was 60, John Henry's was 47. Kelso won 10 Eclipse Awards, including five straight Horse of the Year titles from 1960-'64. Forego won eight Eclipse Awards, including Horse of the Year from 1974-'76. Even more telling - Kelso carried 130 pounds or more 24 times, all the way up to 136. Forego also carried 130 or more 24 times, and seven times he toted 136 or more, with 138 as his limit. John Henry carried 130 pounds three times and never any more.

    Kelso raced against and defeated the best horses in North America, all household names of that time, including Roman Brother, Gun Bow, Malicious, Quadrangle, Olden Times, Mongo, Sunrise Flight, Iron Peg, Cyrano, Admiral's Voyage, Beau Purple, Carry Back, Ridan, Jaipur, Never Bend, TV Lark, Bald Eagle, Crimson Satan, Guadalcanal, Garwol, Saidam, Sunrise County and Yorky. Sharp racing minds with a knowledge of the past will recognize many Eclipse Award winners in that group along with Triple Crown winners and contenders and a slew who went on to have successful careers at stud.

    Forego faced the same kind of top-notch competition, including Dr. Patches, Honest Pleasure, Foolish Pleasure, Master Derby, Wajima, Ancient Title, Stop the Music, Timeless Moment, Mr. Prospector, Prove Out, Key to the Kingdom,. Secretariat, Shecky Greene, Linda's Chief, Hatchet Man, Norcliffe, Arbee's Boy, True Knight, Proud and Bold and Cutlass. An awful lot of fame and later stallion power in that group. And, how many races were named after those two groups over the years?

    As for John Henry, he raced against Eclipse Award winners, too, most of them female, and they beat him. Remember the mares April Run and All Along, and the male Perrault? John Henry beat horses named Caterman, and Prince Florimund, and Gallant Vert, and Load the Cannons, and Galaxy Libra, and Silent Cal, and Told, and Peat Moss, and Passing Zone. They were all nice horses, but not even close to what Kelso and Forego faced.

    Back in the days when harness racing was still a fan favorite, the best trotters and pacers in the land competed in a division known as Free-for-All, which would equate with racing's Gr. I or even Gr. II races. The lower-tier talent competed in Junior Free-for-Alls, more like Gr. III's. The horses John Henry faced were Junior Free-for-Allers, despite what Jon White and the myriad of others who have deified the son of Ole Bob Bowers would like to believe.

    The truth of the matter is, if John Henry, Forego and Kelso raced against each other for all of JH's 83 starts, when it was over, poor John would still have been eligible for a maiden special.