Sunday, June 30, 2013

Greatness Finds A Way


                                                                          Greatness Finds A Way 
                                         Wise Dan, Reigning Horse of the Year, Prevails in G2 Firecracker  

 The word is abused, overused, and misunderstood but when you see it, when you are in its presence and witness its defining moment, an instance so stirring as to make your heart race, your breath stop and your skin tingle, it all becomes so very clear.  Greatness.   So difficult to define but, when experienced, so clearly understood, so appreciated.
Some few  years back I clearly understood Rachel Alexandra was a filly of immense ability, her Kentucky Oaks victory a virtual “tour de force,” her dominance over her distaff competitors without question…but I understood her greatness, her true wonder, at Saratoga Racecourse in the Woodward Stakes where, competing against the top older colts in our land, she withstood onslaught after onslaught, throwing challenger after challenger aside,  absolutely refusing to be defeated,  her exhaustion from that heroic effort forever to impact her, indeed, forever to impact me.

Forego, four decades ago, time after time answered the call, conceding ridiculous weight advantages to his opponents yet somehow almost always finding a way capture the glory.  So many incredible races and yet one such effort, in my mind, defines his absolute magnificence.  In the era prior to the Breeder’s Cup, the G1 Marlboro Cup run at 1 ¼ miles was considered to be one of the most defining championship events on the racing calendar.   In October of 1976, the marvelous gelding Forego was asked to concede 18 pounds, 137 to 119, to the outstanding 3 year old colt Honest Pleasure, he the previous year’s Champion 2 year old, and winner already in 1976 of 4 Grade 1 races, including the Flamingo, Florida Derby, Bluegrass, and Travers Stakes.  Furthermore the track this day was a sea of slop, a surface that the huge and terribly arthritic Forego found very difficult to manage.  Hopelessly behind and floundering in the mud with ¼ mile to run, this grand old warrior was moved to the middle of the track as they entered the stretch and, somehow reaching within to grasp that special something that defines the truly great, suddenly exploded down the stretch, his huge strides creating waves of slop behind him, his rider Bill Shoemaker moving with him as one, his giant nostrils thrust to the fore one jump before the wire, victory his in the outstanding time of 2 minutes flat…under 137 pounds!  Every reason for defeat, no stature to be lost in defeat, but he would have none of it!
Seattle Slew is most certainly best remembered for his Triple Crown exploits, being the only undefeated winner of this elusive crown.  As great as his Triple Crown effort was, however,  his greatest and most defining moment  may well have come in the Jockey Gold Cup run at 1 ½ miles on October 14, 1978.  As was his forte he jumped quickly to the lead but was immediately and unexpectedly joined by the most recent of our Triple Crown winners, Affirmed.  The latter, it was subsequently revealed, was running essentially out of control, the victim of his saddle slipping.  Seattle Slew too paid the price for Affirmed’s misfortune, as the two set blistering, near impossible, fractions for this arduous test of stamina, with the quarter and half mile splits even quicker than Secretariat’s Belmont Stakes some 5 years earlier.  The older Seattle Slew finally disposed of his courageous younger Crown bearer, but the exhausting pace had taken a great toll on “Slew.”  Moving from well off the tiring speed duel up front, the outstanding European import, Exceller, closed resolutely to catch the tiring Seattle Slew, and by mid-stretch had opened a clear advantage.  Again however, reaching deep within, Slew found that hidden reserve bequeathed to only the special ones and, as the wire approached, suddenly Exceller’s  ½ length lead was now a neck, then a head ,then a nose, then…then the wire, an instant too soon for the storybook ending.  Defeated by a nose, yes.  Glorious in defeat, most definitely, with absolute greatness proven beyond any doubt this day.

And so to Churchill Downs this past Saturday, June 29, 2013.  Our reigning Horse of the Year, Wise Dan, was to run in the G2 Firecracker Handicap against a fine field of turf specialists, a notch below the best to be sure, but nonetheless including emerging potential stars and cagey old class horses.  Included within the former grouping was the Claiborne color-bearer Lea, he the winner of 4 of 6 starts and considered by all as a major up and coming turf star, while the latter included the veteran Seruni and multiple graded stakes winner Daddy Nose Best.  Wise Dan, by virtue of his stellar resume, was asked to carry 128 pounds while conceding 11 to 15 pounds to his opponents.  Hesitant to participate given the weight spread and concern for subsequent weight assignments for the more critical races further along in the year, the decision was made by Wise Dan’s connections to reluctantly accept the challenge.  As misfortune would have it, several hours before the turf race the skies ominously blackened and soon The Downs was engulfed in a tremendous downpour, the deluge followed quickly by thunder and lightning displays that went on for seemingly an hour.   The turf, firm at the beginning of the race card, quickly became very wet and slippery, the footing questionable, the wisdom of running coming much into consideration.  Several scratched from the race and certainly most expected to see Wise Dan included in this group but, in the spirit of the sport, the major participants including Wise Dan and Lea entered the gate for the 1 mile turf test.  Breaking from the inside post, Wise Dan was quickly trapped along the rail, the veteran Seruni leading the pack while slowing the pace as much as feasible, with Dan directly behind and Lea lapped immediately to his outside.  With nowhere to go, jockey John Velazquez had his hands very full restraining Dan from running up on the heels of the dawdling Seruni immediately in front of him.  Approaching the ½ mile marker, it was clear that the strategy of all was to keep Wise Dan boxed in and out of the running for as long as possible then, when the restraints were released in the stretch, attempt to hold off his anticipated late charge with the hope being that the 128 pound burden would thwart his usual electrifying move.  Turning into the stretch the strategy was proving effective and  the situation looked dismal for the champion, for with 3/16th mile remaining  he was still trapped behind horses, nowhere to run, and seeming destined to be defeated not by weight nor by superior horses but by circumstance and strategy.  Foolish us, for we speak here of Wise Dan and, for those of his ilk, defeat is not readily accepted.   Straightening off the turn into the stretch, a tiny gap, no more than a seam,  opened between the leading Seruni and the inside hedge and this was all that Dan needed.  With a lightning move that belied his weight burden Dan quickly struck the opening and forced his sleek chestnut body through the minimal gap.  So tight was the opening that Dan and Seruni collided, the effect throwing Dan into the hedge.  Likely enough to dissuade a mere mortal, for Wise Dan it served only as a catalyst, as he intensely continued his battle for racing room.  Now through, he quickly accelerated past his rivals and into the clear, within strides a narrow head becoming a one, then two length lead and, just that quickly, it was over.  With no stick necessary, jockey Velazquez kept looking over his shoulder for challengers but none could match his explosive turn of foot, his margin at the wire a measured 2 lengths while being eased.  Returning to the winner’s enclosure the laughing demeanor of jockey John Velazquez seemed in stark contrast to the anxiety written on the faces of trainer Charlie Lopresti and wife Amy.  “Surely, Charlie,” he seemed to be saying, “you never doubted the outcome? Never underestimate the wonder of greatness, my man.  And yours is a very great horse!”
The really special ones, the truly great horses, have a way of overcoming adversity and getting the job done.  Not as brilliant to be sure as his breath-taking Breeder’s Cup victory last year at Santa Anita, nor with the widening margins seen in so many of his Grade 1 wins, Wise Dan, with his show of pure guts and courage,  proved on this day that he is so much more than speed and brilliance and power.  What looked by mid-afternoon to likely become a rather dismal and forgettable day at the Downs proved, by virtue of his exceptional show of courage and strength, a most special day indeed.  Wise Dan delivered on this day a performance that I will never forget, an effort that exemplified all that is meant when one speaks of true greatness.   We are so fortunate to have him in our midst this day.

Murray D. West
Paris, Ky.

6-30-2013

 
                               Some shots from Keeneland breeze, Saturday, 6-15-2013, Damion up
 
 
 

               G2 Firecracker...the walk over...remember, night racing so the photos are compromised...give a fellow a little slack here!
                  A pensive look at the camera...maybe he's just used to seeing me in the mornings!
                                                                   To the paddock
                                                 Post parade...or, out for a swim!

                                                                                  The eye...

                       Past the stands the first time...and this is exactly where they kept him...
                                  until he found a seam along the hedge in upper stretch                                 
                                  Now asserting himself...note Johnny V's stick...not even cocked
                                                                         Quickly widens...
                                                                                    Alone...
                         The precise moment of greatness revealed...if there ever were any doubters!
                                                                               Returning...

                                                       The reigning Horse of the Year

                                            Johnny is all smiles...he never had a doubt.  We all did!
                                               Into the winner's enclosure...
                                                        And leaving...profile of greatness
                                               Amy and Charlie Lopresti still not ready to smile.
                    Charlie begins to relax and allow himself a little smile...Johnny V gives Amy a reassuring hug that the situation was always under control...yah, uhh, right Johnny!

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