Derby Trail Forums

Go Back   Derby Trail Forums > Main Forum > The Paddock
Register FAQ Members List Calendar Search Today's Posts Mark Forums Read

Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
  #1  
Old 10-17-2020, 09:03 PM
RolloTomasi's Avatar
RolloTomasi RolloTomasi is offline
Oriental Park
 
Join Date: Mar 2007
Posts: 3,607
Default Well, at least We Know the Spendthrift Behemoth is not an Elephant

Spendthrift Farm Acquires Breeding Rights To Grade 1 Winner Jackie’s Warrior

Quote:
B. Wayne Hughes' Spendthrift Farm has acquired the breeding rights to undefeated multiple Grade One-winning juvenile Jackie's Warrior, dominant winner of Saturday's Grade 1 Champagne Stakes at Belmont.
Well, that pretty much seals the deal that he will retire at the end of his 3yo campaign (at the latest)…

I suppose B. Wayne Hughes is getting on in years, probably doesn’t remember shelling out millions in 2003 to secure the rights to a similarly fast (and ill-bred for the classics) Asmussen prospect that was absolutely trounced in the BC Juvenile and did relatively little later on in both his racing and stud career.

Horse? Cuvee. Ironically upset in the BC Juvenile (and the Eclipse award) by a horse owned by B. Wayne Hughes:

The well-named Action This Day.

(…and this day only.)

Quote:
“Jackie's Warrior is proving to be one of the fastest 2-year-olds to come around in the last decade or more, and we are extremely excited to follow his racing career and witness the special things he can accomplish before he joins us at Spendthrift,” said Ned Toffey, Spendthrift general manager.
I’m extremely excited to follow his layup career and witness the quotidian things (grazing, running the fence line) he’ll accomplish before he makes a comeback in the Amsterdam or Sporting Page before tanking in the Cigar Mile and going right back to Spendthrift next year…

Quote:
“For such an imposing colt, Jackie's Warrior is extraordinarily athletic and light on his feet.
…except when he’s trying to negotiate the far turn…

Quote:
We could not be more impressed by the way he continues to run good fields off their feet and pour it on late when he lengthens that beautiful stride of his.
I could not be more impressed by the way he continues to look worse and worse around the turn with every start—this despite making his most recent start at Belmont Park.

Quote:
A month after lowering the 28-year-old stakes record in the Hopeful, he comes back and runs a mile in 1:35 in the Champagne and did not look the least bit tired at the wire.
I don’t think Cuvee looked very tired after winning the Futurity over the same course and distance years back, either.

However, I think the fact that he bore out and switched to the wrong lead around wide, sweeping Belmont turn belies his facile finish over a horse (runner-up Reinvestment Risk) that gave up the ghost a furlong earlier.

Quote:
Jackie's Warrior dominated Saturday's Champagne with a front-running 5 1/2-length score, hitting the wire geared down in 1:35.42 for the mile. He earned a 100 Beyer for the win, marking the fastest Champagne since Daredevil in 2014.
Daredevil? Hopefully that one’s subsequent racing career (dead last in BC Juvenile, only 2 starts at 3) and stallion management (sold to Turkey after 4 seasons) aren’t harbingers of things to come…

Quote:
Jackie's Warrior becomes the first horse to pull off the Hopeful–Champagne double since Practical Joke in 2016, and first to win the Saratoga Special, Hopeful, and Champagne in New York since 2-year-old champion Dehere in 1993.
More bad precedent. Practical Joke made no impact in the BC juvenile, only won one major race at 3 and retired at the end of the year. Dehere was humiliated in the BC Juvenile, was able to save face winning the Fountain of Youth but came out of the race injured and retired.

Quote:
“In this day and age, to win the Saratoga Special, Hopeful and Champagne in the fashion in which he did it is truly remarkable,” said Asmussen.
What “day and age” is that? The day and age of small, lop-sided fields and supertrainers in control of all the good stock, keeping their horses apart, worried about “numbers” and “sheets” and “blood counts” and securing a stud deal before the horse has even completed a championship campaign?

The only truly remarkable thing I see is that Asmussen ran him in 3 consecutive races. Normally he wouldn’t have started in both the Saratoga Special and Hopeful but I suppose the cancellation of the Sanford spaced the 2yo races at Saratoga out a little more to the liking of the numbers people calling the shots…

Quote:
The Champagne was a “Win And You're In” for next month's $2-million Breeders' Cup Juvenile at Keeneland, where Jackie's Warrior figures to be one of the favorites.
…”one of the favorites”? I figure there’s a good chance he’ll be odds-on and the most likely beaten favorite on the card...
Reply With Quote
  #2  
Old 10-18-2020, 06:40 AM
Dunbar's Avatar
Dunbar Dunbar is offline
The Curragh
 
Join Date: May 2006
Posts: 2,962
Default

"What “day and age” is that? The day and age of small, lop-sided fields and supertrainers in control of all the good stock, keeping their horses apart, worried about “numbers” and “sheets” and “blood counts” and securing a stud deal before the horse has even completed a championship campaign?"

__________________
Curlin and Hard Spun finish 1,2 in the 2007 BC Classic, demonstrating how competing in all three Triple Crown races ruins a horse for the rest of the year...see avatar
photo from REUTERS/Lucas Jackson
Reply With Quote
Reply


Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

vB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Forum Jump


All times are GMT -5. The time now is 03:29 AM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.6.8
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.