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Originally Posted by Smooth Operator
Funny, Frankel told Castellano that if anybody wanted the early lead....let them go ahead and do it.
Last time I checked, GZ did have some success from a stalking position.
59 flat and a 124 BSF....yeah, I'd say he "earned it".
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from bloodhorse, way back when:
But when Ghostzapper drew post one in the Classic, Frankel knew his strategy was limited. He would have to go to the lead, something the colt had never done before. That didn't worry Frankel, who felt Ghostzapper could walk on water if he had to. His only concern was Ramsey's Whitney Handicap (gr. I) and Kentucky Cup Classic (gr. II) winner Roses in May, a brilliantly fast horse who, like Ghostzapper, was unbeaten in 2004 and had never been the Classic's distance of 11/4 miles.
Frankel knew the two colts could not afford to get involved in a speed duel, with top-class closers like Pleasantly Perfect and Birdstone in the field of 13. Roses in May, whom Ramsey owns with his wife, Sarah, had the advantage of drawing post 6, with the great mare Azeri, whose best running has been on or near the lead, breaking from post 3.
"Drawing the rail doesn't matter, wire-to-wire," said Ghostzapper's exercise rider, Nuno Santos, who had been the regular exercise rider of Azeri and Fusaichi Pegasus, the winner of the 2000 Kentucky Derby (gr. I). "Believe me, no worries. This horse is unreal, a freak, and everyone is going to see it on Saturday. You're going to see a Secretariat type of race. I can feel him getting stronger every day, and I've never been as confident in a horse as I am with this guy, and that includes Azeri. It's another world. They're going to have to wait years and years to see another one like this."
With that kind of ammunition, Frankel, who would saddle Ramsey's Nothing to Lose in the NetJets Breeders' Cup Mile (gr. IT), attempted to plant the seeds of his strategy inside Ramsey's head.
"If we lay first and second and the jockeys keep them slow and don't kill each other trying for the lead, they'll finish one-two," Frankel assured Ramsey. "You know what I'm saying? If they're not stupid and they stay cool, we'll be one-two."
"You're boxing them (in the exactas), huh?" Ramsey said, breaking into his customary broad grin and booming laugh. "In other words, how fast we go on the backstretch will dictate what happens in the homestretch. What about Azeri?"
"I don't think Azeri is going to be there," Frankel said. "She can't run with these two. Both our horses will get the mile and a quarter and we got two smart jockeys (Javier Castellano aboard Ghostzapper and John Velazquez on Roses in May). If they sit, they finish one-two. I'm telling you, that's the race; it's that simple. Look, I gotta go (to the lead) from the one post. But if they let us get away with a half in :47, the race is over. It'll be you and me, and let the best horse win."
Frankel could see his words were registering, and that Ramsey was coming around to his way of thinking. "That's the best shot we got, and if I outrun you or you outrun me, we're still talking about $800,000 for second. That's nothing to sneeze at," Ramsey said.
But Frankel wasn't thinking about second. He knew there was no horse who could eyeball Ghostzapper and outrun him in the stretch, and if Ramsey and trainer Dale Romans let him slow the pace down on the lead, he'd have his first Classic victory and they would have their $800,000.