Take The Assembled's connection to Step Dancer, owned by a friend of a member Bobby G. Richie has been in the game for decades and qualifies as someone who would understand you if you said a grumpy someone is from the "Harry M. Stevens Charm School." (More on that later.)
One of my favorite responses of all time was when I asked Bobby G. why didn't he own horses with Richie? They've been friends for decades, and their natural interest in racing would make them likely partners, Bobby G., a retired surgeon who can see things through the eyes of a medical man, replied, "It's bad enough one of us has the disease." Fair enough.
Step Dancer is a good horse, and represents a vast step up for Richie who has spent time in purgatory getting New York bred maidens to win, and then to possibly win their next race before showing inclinations of seeking farm life over starting gate life.
Richie has bred his own horses, as well as taken part in some private purchases, which is how he's partners in Step Dancer's career.
With the decades of being in the game, Richie has passed through a succession of trainers, some of whom have retired. His current trainer, Barclay Tagg, at 80+ could retire, but has shown no inclination to do so. Barclay has been on the NYRA circuit for decades as well, and is a very good, under-the-radar trainer who enjoys enough success to keep eating.
He's trained Funny Cide, a Derby and Preakness winner, and Tiz the Law, a Belmont winner (2020 Covid year; mile and a eighth.) I've always paid special attention to Barclay's horses since the '80s. I think when Julie Krone rode five winners in a day at Saratoga (I was there) two of the horses were Barclay's. I had a good day that day as well.
Richie is pretty much a one-horse stable. It's easy to follow his horse du jour, which is what guys do who boast they know the owner of so-and-so. The longest prices I've ever hit have been Richie's horses. So now that he has a somewhat "good" horse the odds aren't so good. At least not after Step Dancer's box car first-time-out win of $50.50.
Step Dancer competes in ungraded stake races, New York Bred and otherwise, and is competitive. But he's only won twice in six starts. He's had various good jockeys on his back, but basically can't get out of the gate until the rest of the field has left the gate. He's not an early riser.
If you've watched enough races, you will notice that there are those that go from that standing start to their near 40 miles an hour in a split second as soon as the gates open. And there are those in the field that seem to fall out of the gate, or are just bad at keeping up. They are pretty much doomed from the start. When you can't get on the highway like a Ferrari, you're going to sit in traffic. They are the equivalent of those who fall out of bed vs. those who hit he ground running. And when you're a race horse, running is what you have to do.
Consider Step Dancer two races back, a $85,000 Optional Allowance Claiming for New York Breds, NW two other than. There are 8 horse in the field and Step Dancer broke...eighth, and remained eighth until the half-mile mark of the mile and a sixteenth turf race. By the three-quarter mark Step Dancer has managed to pass one horse. Easy to spot a horse like that when you know the colors. They're back, back, back, there.
Step Dancer's finish was encouraging however, threading his way through traffic under Javier Castellano and finishing third in a blanket four-horse finish, a neck and a nose behind the winner. Oh, and they were favored.
With that performance, there then was no surprise that Step Dancer was favored in yesterday's New York Stallion Stakes race with a $150,000 purse. Eleven horses were set to go 7F on the Widener Turf course and Step Dancer drew the extreme outside, post position 11. The start? Last.
Progress through the field was a little better, since after a quarter mile he was 9th, then 6th, by the time they hit the stretch. Watching the race at that point was disappointing, since how was this horse then going to get in gear?
Well, he did, but then seemed to bobble a bit, weave his way through the field like a broken field runner, and mange to finish 2nd, one length back of the winner, Ocala Dream, the second choice. Step Dances was favored. Burning money at this point.
The chart of the race again describes a bit of trouble at the start:
STEP DANCER broke in and bumped with a foe, settled on the far outside, tucked into the three path on the turn, raced off heels behind a steadying foe nearing the quarter pole [a quarter of a mile to go], was put to a drive in the upper stretch. moved out under the crop outside the furlong marker and finished with good energy to garner the place.
Yeah, thanks. Translation is the horse had a lousy start (again), worked their way through traffic, was stuck a bit behind a slow moving horse, then saw the daylight and got into it, finishing second. a half length ahead of a 52-1 shot that Jonathon Kichen, a TV handicapper, predicted would run better than their odds. Missing is that Step Dancer never threatened the winner and was favored. More money reduced to ash.
Again there was a different jockey on Step Dancer's back this time, the capable Dylan Davis, who has been riding well lately, especially on the turf, and who has ridden Step Dancer three times before, and for two of his victories. The time of the turf race was swift, as turf races generally are: 1:21.20.
Step Dancer is a good horse who can't seem to get out of bed. The good news is that he's a 3-year-old, is sound, and there's half a year left of racing, with Saratoga and its many turf races starting in mid-July. There will be other races, and the vicarious owners will be there. But the odds are going to be short.
Bobby G., Johnny M. and Johnny D. and Richie are old enough to understand what being from the Harry M. Stevens charm school means. Bob remembers Jamaica Race track in Queens, now a housing project. Richie might as well.
The WSJ at the end of May in their weekend edition reviewed a book that is a collection of Damon Runyon columns on racing. Runyon was of course a famous sportswriter from the '20s, '30s and '40s whose style was his own. No one has ever come close to writing like he did.
The Broadway musical 'Guys and Dolls' is the product of some of this short stories. He was the Jimmy Breslin of his era. Breslin wrote a biography of Runyon, "Damon Runyon, A Life"
Anyone who has ever had a beer or a frank at a New York sports concession in decades past knows the cups say Harry M. Stevens on them.
I didn't know how far back Harry M. went, but apparently he had a hammer lock on sport concessions far longer than I ever realized. He was British, born 1856 and is credited with inventing the hot dog as something to eat at a sporting event as far back as a New York Giants baseball opening day in 1901.
Harry M's is not the ubiquitous presence anymore, since it was sold to Aramark in 1995. Along the way they lost their rights to sell in Madison Square Garden, but at one point they were a limited partner in the ownership of the Boston Red Sox. They were everywhere.
The charm school reputation came from the surliness of their staff behind the counter. They moved at the speed of pregnant snails, and expected a tip. When a tip was handed over they plopped the change in a cup and announced to their co-workers, "subway," meaning someone gave them the equivalent of the fare at the time.
At least that was my experience, and others, with them at the race tracks. I started going in1968 and still have the distinct memory of the concessionaire somewhat holding my change in the air expecting me to tell him to keep it. Since I didn't like the guy at the start, and I was only about 19 at the time, I answered his "You want your change?" with a "Yeah, I got a piggy bank." No "subway" there. He was pissed.
Runyon's story of Harry M. Steven reveals that the founder apparently got a hefty financial start when he invested around $25,000 of his money with someone who had been the Secretary of the Navy under President Grover Cleveland, William C. Whitney, a financier, founder of the famous Whitney stable, and who was a descendent of John Whitney, an Englishman who settled in Massachusetts in 1635. This is as Patrician as you can get.
Apparently, Runyon's story tells us the $25,000 was turned into $215,000. And all before income tax. I suppose the beer and hot dogs came from that.
The headline for the WSJ book review on Runyon reads: Breaking Away From the Pack.
If only Barclay can get Step Dancer to do the same and get out of bed.
http://www.onofframp.blogspot.com
Very nice once again John.
ReplyDeleteHe's got to win eventually. Belmont is back to pure $5 walkup admission starting this week. There is a God.
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