Thankfully, there are those that pay attention who also write well about it. Turf writer would be the category. They're as rare as hen's teeth, as my mother-in-law would have said about not finding too many of anything.
Take Teresa Genaro, who freelances all over the place, and whose byline you might see in The New York Times, The Saratogian, The Guardian, and some other outlets, usually online ones. She knows of what she writes, perhaps because she comes from Saratoga Springs, home of Saratoga Race Track, and the site of the premier meet of the year, now 40 days of racing that starts in near-mid July and doesn't brings itself down to close until Labor Day. The Summer Place to Be.
I don't really know much about Ms. Genaro's background growing up, but its the rascal in me that likes to think she and perhaps other young members of her family or friends snuck into the races through a hole in the fence and watched workouts, scampered around in places they wasn't supposed to be, and just generally couldn't get enough of Saratoga growing up. I might even be right. I do know that I envy her because she can spend the entire meet at Saratoga and probably go home to sleep.
Nevertheless, in today's online issue of The Guardian, (a British publication), and perhaps the print version, Ms. Genaro writes of an event I suspect she may not have even been born yet to see, or was watching cartoons on Saturday mornings rather than poring over the Morning Telegraph like myself and the small circle of like-minded finish line denizens I hung out with.
The Whitney Handicap, as it now called and conditioned, (it used to be stakes race, which assigns weights differently) is a premier race for 3 year-old and up, and is generally run with a majority of older horses who are usually seen as having an advantage over the younger 3 year-olds. Generally, only male, or gelded horse are entered.
Ms. Genaro's writing about the Whitney, even though it is not run this year at Saratoga until August 8th, has relevance. In 1973 (when Ms. Genaro was definitely not poring over the Morning Telegraph) it was the first race Secretariat, the first Triple Crown winner in 25 years, was entered in against some pretty good older horses, one of whom was named Onion. Onion, not Dick Vitale's "Onions", just Onion.
Tomorrow at Monmouth Park, another venue of summer racing on New Jersey's shore in the town of Oceanport, American Pharoah, the misspelled name and the first winner of the Triple Crown in 37 years will run in his first race since taking the Belmont on June 6th.
This is significant. Sixty thousand are expected to descend on Monmouth tomorrow, and the place will never be the same again. Anyone who knows anything about Monmouth Park knows it's a nice place to be, but it is really what I'd call a boutique track.
It is a mile oval, which heavily favors front-running speed, and should fit Pharoah's forward running style perfectly. Add to that the trainer, Bob Baffert, who has won the Haskell with horses seven of the last eleven runnings, and you have what should be another coronation.
But they have to run the race, and Ms. Genaro's piece is basically about what can happen in horse racing to the expected favorite. They can lose.
Secretariat came to Saratoga in 1973 expecting to annihilate the older horses horses in the Whitney, then rest a bit and continue to annihilate the three year-olds in the Travers, the pre-eminent race at Saratoga, often called the Midsummer Derby. The Travers gets the most attention in a meet that still generates attention nearly daily.
Secretariat lost the Whitney, and lost the confidence of the owner and trainer, who subsequently didn't run the horse in the Travers. He finished second in the Whitney to the simply named Onion, at the near lowest odds you can go: 1-10, ten cents to the dollar.
Ms. Genaro's piece generates a ton of memories. There's always something which reminds me of something else.
I was at Aqueduct when Secretariat broke his maiden as a two year-old in his second race. The older fellow who was our mentor, Les--Les Barrett, otherwise known as Mr. Pace--put his binoculars down as Secretariat won by six and told us, "They're expecting big things from that horse." I remember looking back at my past performances and just shrugged.
Secretariat was ridden that day by Ben Feliciano, who rode him in his first race, 11 days before when he finished fourth. Feliciano was never put on the horse again, as Ron Turcottte became the regular rider.
He went on to win the Two Year Championship and was The Horse of the Year, a rare accolade for a two year-old to win. When he ran in the Wood Memorial, the only premier race run at Aqueduct these days, Secretariat was coming off two wins at the track, and was undefeated except for his first race. He was considered the mortal lock, and was expected to do well in the Kentucky Derby. There was a great deal of anticipation on him.
The Wood proved to be an Achilles heal, as Secretariat finished third, behind Sham, and Secretariat's stablemate Angle Light. The win bet was salvaged, since Angle Light won, and the 30 cents to the dollar odds were paid off on the entry. There had to be some people who showed up at Church on Sunday after that.
Ms. Genaro's thoughtful piece is as much about Secretariat as it is about the trainer who trained Onion, H. Allen Jerkens who just passed away this year at 85. Anyone who has been involved in racing at at any level knows about Allen Jerkens.
He was known as the Giant Killer, a moniker he truly didn't like but earned because he entered and won with horses that beat prohibitive favorites. The Giants. Notable amongst these prior to Secretariat was his defeat of Kelso with Beau Purple. Beating mighty Kelso with Beau Purple not once, but three times was one of his early giant toppling efforts.
Another nickname for Jerkens was the Chief, one he didn't mind. When NYRA unveiled its Walk of Fame inductees last year, Jerkens was one of the first ones in. I was at Saratoga last year when they had that ceremony and wasn't surprised to see that H. Allen wasn't there, but was represented by his equally successful training son Jimmy. Racing is very generational, with offspring continuing in racing traditions. Allen hadn't been doing well, and didn't make the trip from Florida for what would be his last season.
Ms. Genaro clangs another bell when she describes Secretariat's entry in the Woodward, a race at Belmont in late September for 3 year-olds and up. Thus, Secretariat was running against older horses once again. But after the Whitney failure, Marlboro sponsored a race that would stay on the circuit for several years, the Marlboro Cup, an Invitational. Older horses, and Secretariat won that, beating his 4 year-old stablemate Riva Ridge, a horse who in the prior year won the Kentucky Derby and the Belmont, but met a muddy track in the Preakness, finishing fourth to Bee Bee Bee, a runner with a great mud pedigree. Penny Tweedy, the owner of Meadow stable said after that race that she never wanted to see her two horses run like that against each other. Right now, that would be like the Klitschko brothers fighting for the heavyweight title with Mom at ringside.
I remember discussing the Woodward with the assembled crew and we all took note of Prove Out, a good horse, older than Secretariat, who was trained by H. Allen Jerkens. Again. Collectively, and out loud, we all asked ourselves "Is this going to happen again? He's going to lose to a Jerkens horse again?" Yes. And we lost too.
Great trainers attract patron owners. Often very rich patron owners. The Phipps family had Eddie Neloy. Paul Mellon had Eliot Burch. Hobeau Farm had Jack Dreyfus, owner of Beau Purple and Prove Out.
Jack Dreyfus was the Dreyfus behind the Dreyfus Fund, perhaps the first mutual find that was pitched to the small investor. They advertised heavily with a male lion walking through Wall Street, then taking his place on a pedestal. He didn't roar like the MGM lion, but I guess he was supposed to be a metaphor for King of the Jungle. King of Wall Street.
Jack Dreyfus was a trustee of NYRA and its chairman for many years. He was also not adverse to rubbing elbows with the somewhat washed, like ourselves. I never knew the origin of his stable's' name that sounded like Hobo. Maybe it an inside joke. I distinctly remember our mentor Les who came back to our seats and told us he was talking to Jack Dreyfus, who was standing in the aisle, like many in what was usually a packed house, watching the prior race. I wouldn't have known Jack Dreyfus from anyone else. He was never part of his iconic ads.
So Sunday, American Pharoah takes his well deserved popularity to Monmouth Park. He should win, and not just because H. Allen doesn't have a horse in the race, but because all signs point to it. Workouts are phenomenal, Baffert owns the race, and best of all, the competition is weak and only 3 year-olds
The 60,000 plus people who will pack Monmouth may see the latest Triple Crown winner add another victory. But they have to run the race, and things happen. Man of War's only lost was to a horse named Upset at Saratoga. Tomorrow, there is a horse ridden by a highly capable Jersey jockey Joe Bravo, named Upstart.
Anything can happen.
--------------------------------------------------
The photo used above for those who can't pick it out, appeared on the cover of ThoroFan's 2013 Saddle Cloth guide that was a freebie when you climbed up the then newly installed, recreated Whitney judges' stand at the Oklahoma training track. Without looking at the quite cryptic credit I immediately knew it was H. Allen Jerkens. The credit on the cover simply says: "Hall of Famer...AJ" (2008) R. C. "Bob" Ewell.
The photo, or watercolor is almost like the one of Babe Ruth taken from the rear when he retired as a Yankee and was being honored. But horse racing is a little different than baseball. You can get into the Hall of Fame even as you're still actively involved in racing, usually riding or training.
2008. An old H. Allen riding into the sunset? Not a chance. There were still plenty more races that were run that year and beyond, where he met the other connections in the winner's circle. And sometimes I had the winning ticket
http://www.onofframp.blogspot.com
No comments:
Post a Comment