Steve Dennis is back with his regular update from upstate New York, where Bill Mott has been following a familiar script with a streaking winner
A man for the streak, that Bill Mott. Not that sort of streak, you understand. Don’t lower the tone. The sort that goes 11111111111.
Once upon a time Mott trained the incomparable, invincible, (almost) unbeatable Cigar, who won 16 in a row in an epochal career. Last year Olympiad went five-for-five, and Cody’s Wish is currently sitting on a six-timer that but for an interposing neck defeat at Tampa Bay Downs would be into double figures.
Then there’s reigning champion sprinter Elite Power, who dialled up a straight eight with a stand-up-and-shout victory in the G1 Alfred G. Vanderbilt on Saturday, in which he showed tremendous application from a position of likely defeat to run down the nuggety Gunite and win by a head, as verbally, vividly outlined below in ‘Quotes of the Week’.
“He’s a horse that just guns it down the stretch, he’s tough as nails,” said Garrett O’Rourke, general manager for owner Juddmonte Farms. “He’s a tough horse to handle, always has been since we bought him as a yearling. He came with that reputation, but he puts his toughness into that stretch run every time.”
Mott can handle him, though, has eased him flawlessly through the gears from his maiden win last June, through his allowances, into Graded company, before locating overdrive to land the Breeders’ Cup Sprint and an Eclipse Award.
Mott is the undisputed king of the slow burner, never asks for too much too soon, turns up the dial by patient degrees until the heat comes on full and stays on.
“Gunite opened up and it’s hard to catch a horse on this kind of [sloppy] track when they open up on you turning for home,” said Mott. “I think our horse deserves a lot of credit trying to make a big run off the pace on this kind of surface.”
Point taken. But the trainer deserves a lot of credit too, and also for maintaining one of the finest systems in the game, the ‘Mortal Lock Doctrine’ that says Mott, who celebrates his birthday during Saratoga, generally has a winner on the big day.
Saturday was Mott’s 70th, his three-score years and ten, and according to the bean-counters at NYRA he’s had a winner on 18 of those birthdays. Streak-esque, eh?
So look out for Elite Power as he bids to attain cloud nine in the G1 Forego [Aug 26], but your memory will have to work harder on the Mott front – his next two birthdays fall on a Monday and Tuesday. Dark days indeed for bettors.
Good karma: Mike Repole
It has been a lapidary sort of week for the prominent owner, whose blue-and-orange silks were carried to big-race glory by two fine champions – Nest in last Sunday’s G2 Shuvee and Forte in Saturday’s G2 Jim Dandy, both victories promising great things for the rest of the summer and the fall.
Forte’s last-gasp victory put him back on top of the three-year-old colt division and he’ll likely be favourite to confirm that position in the Travers [Aug 26]. Repole also owns rising lawn star Up To The Mark, so it was certainly a surprise to read in the Daily Racing Form that the mega-owner is planning to sell up and ship out in three years’ time.
“Those three horses are why I’m not leaving the game this year, and if it doesn’t change it’s three years,” he said, with that elephant-like ‘it’ referring to his beef with the New York Gaming Commission over a medication (meloxicam) positive for Forte after his victory in last year’s G1 Hopeful at the Spa, and the colt’s impending disqualification from same.
It’s a bad beat, sure, but that’s racing, a game of bad beats illuminated now and again by a stray ray of sunshine. Perhaps this seven-day burst of good karma might help Repole lighten up, and stick around.
Bad karma: Lazy Sunday afternoons
There’s nothing like a quiet, leisurely Sunday afternoon, and what happened at the Spa was nothing like a quiet, leisurely Sunday afternoon. The drama began in the morning, when the Equibase resource mistakenly listed second-choice Soldier Rising as a scratch. He wasn’t out for long before being reinstated, but the rules state that he could only run for purse money after that, no bets allowed.
This incredibly unsatisfactory arrangement led to British tourist Rebel’s Romance going off as 1-2 favourite, but further drama ensued when he clipped heels around the turn and dislodged jockey Richard Mullen. Rebel’s Romance was evidently fine; Mullen went to hospital.
Indeed, the only thing about it that resembled an archetypal Sunday was the drowsy pace set by Channel Maker, who lent an alternative dimension to the term ‘lone speed’ as he strolled around the track, going through a mile in a yawnsome 1m39s. As everyone dozed off behind the nine-year-old, he skipped clear to get the money at 15-1. This is the greybeard’s final campaign, as NYRA rules bar ten-year-olds from competing.
After all that excitement, we all needed a lie down. Thankfully Monday and Tuesday are dark; time to recover.
One to watch: Carl Spackler
Chad Brown will send three to the gate for Friday’s G2 National Museum of Racing Hall of Fame Stakes, with the eye drawn to one horse in particular. Sure, Carl Spackler is a talented colt who could fit in well at this level, but it’s his name that stands out.
Carl Spackler is the hapless character played by Bill Murray in the riotous 1980 film Caddyshack, not the type of film our resident Tinseltown correspondent Jay Hovdey might review, but nevertheless described by ESPN as “the funniest sports movie ever made”.
And every fan of the movie will appreciate that should Carl Spackler hit the wire ahead on Friday, it’ll be a real Cinderella story. Gopher it, Carl.
Quotes of the week
“That’s the fastest race I’ve ever seen. They went a half-mile in 43s. My horse is fast, but going 43s is a little quick.”
Martin Garcia, who rode Deer District to be runner-up in the G2 Amsterdam behind the blisteringly fast gate-to-wire winner New York Thunder. The unbeaten colt’s six-furlong split was 1m07.77s, inside the track record.
“This guy’s the claim of the century. He’s a dream come true. We have more fun with this horse than we ever dreamed of.”
Michael Foster, owner of $62,500 claim Next, who won the marathon Birdstone by 11¾ lengths.
“And it’s Gunite trying to fend off Elite Power who’s motoring like a big … chestnut … tank on the outside – and Elite Power got him right on the money; Gunite ran his eyeballs out.”
Frank Mirahmadi’s Alfred G. Vanderbilt call raised the hairs on the back of the neck just as efficiently as the thrilling finish.
Got your number
A treble on Wednesday’s card maintained the sparkling form of trainer Linda Rice, who leads the meet with 15 wins, a 31% strike-rate and more than a million dollars in the bank. Her nearest pursuer is reigning champ Chad Brown, who leads the money list and has 13 wins to his name.
In the saddle, it’s still all about Irad Ortiz, who continues to set fast fractions with 24 wins, including Saturday’s big-race double on Elite Power and Forte. Luis Saez remains a length or two off the pace with 17 wins, two ahead of Jose Ortiz.
Fame! They’re gonna live forever …
The 2023 inductees to the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame will be feted and celebrated on Friday, with three horses and five humans to be enshrined in racing’s pantheon of heroes.
The equine newcomers comprise the top two US money-earners in Arrogate (Breeders’ Cup Classic, Dubai World Cup, $17.4m) and California Chrome (Kentucky Derby, Dubai World Cup, $14.7m), along with dual champion filly Songbird, winner of nine G1s including the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies.
Two fine riders who ruled the roost in California get the call: Fernando Toro, winner of 3,555 races in a career that began in Chile and spanned five decades, and Corey Nakatani, whose 3,909 victories included ten at the Breeders’ Cup.
The class of '23' is completed by breeder and administrator John W. Hanes, racetrack magnate Leonard W. Jerome, and industry grandee and owner Stella F. Thayer.
Forthcoming attractions
A-list celebrities will drift alluringly in and out of the Spa this week – War Like Goddess heads for a three-peat in the G2 Glens Falls on Thursday, while Kentucky Oaks winner Pretty Mischievous eyes another G1 prize going up against the unbeaten Maple Leaf Mel in Saturday’s Test.
However, the cornerstone of the schedule is the Whitney, which features the return of the talismanic Cody’s Wish. The mighty five-year-old will stretch out to a mile-eighth as he bids for a fifth successive G1 win against possible adversaries Zandon and Charge It; all together now – this one’s for you, Cody!
• Visit the NYRA Saratoga website
Saratoga Stretch Week 2: Nest not for matching on belated seasonal debut
Saratoga Stretch Week 1: welcome back to Chad Brown’s town
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