WILLING TO REST ON HIS DECISION.Byline: KEVIN MODESTI Horse Racing ARCADIA - When old-timers at the local racetracks talk about feats of horsemanship horsemanship: see equestrianism. horsemanship Art of training, riding, and handling horses. Good horsemanship requires that a rider control the animal's direction, gait, and speed with maximum effectiveness and minimum effort. , they often begin with Charlie Whittingham's unorthodox preparation of Cougar cougar: see puma. cougar or puma or mountain lion or panther Species (Puma concolor) of large, graceful cat that lives in a wide variety of habitats in the Americas, from southern Alaska to Patagonia. for the 1973 Santa Anita Handicap The Santa Anita Handicap is an American Thoroughbred horse race held annually in the late winter at Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, California. It is a Grade I race for horses three years old and up, and is considered the most important race for older horses in North America during . Cougar, a two-time Big 'Cap runner-up, had not competed since winning the Oak Tree Invitational four months earlier. Whittingham, the John Wooden of California thoroughbred trainers, got the 7-year-old in shape for the major race of the winter with nothing but carefully calibrated workouts. It worked. Cougar, with Laffit Pincay aboard, caught Kennedy Road and Don Pierce in the middle of the Santa Anita homestretch home·stretch n. 1. The portion of a racetrack from the last turn to the finish line. 2. Informal The final stages of an undertaking. Noun 1. and won the Big 'Cap by a head in front of 59,000 fans. Let's put one issue to rest right now, more than a week before the Oct. 30 Breeders' Cup races at Lone Star Park Lone Star Park is a horse racing track located in Grand Prairie, Texas. History Lone Star Park opened in 1997. The track offers separate meets for Thoroughbred racing and Quarter Horse racing. In October of 2002, Magna Entertainment Corp. in Grand Prairie, Texas This article is about the city in Texas. For the city in Alberta, Canada, see Grande Prairie, Alberta. Grand Prairie is a city in Dallas County (USA), with a significant overlap into Tarrant County, and a minor overlap into Ellis County. : Richard Mandella is not thumbing his nose at the racing gods by sending Pleasantly Perfect into the $4 million Breeders' Cup Classic The Breeders' Cup Classic is a Grade 1 Weight for Age thoroughbred horse race for 3 years old and older run at a distance of 1¼ miles (2012 m) on dirt. It is held annually at a different racetrack in the United States or Canada as part of the Breeders' Cup. without a start in the 69 days since the horse's Pacific Classic victory at Del Mar. Mandella is attempting a training feat that's modest by Whittingham's standard and far from unprecedented in Breeders' Cup history. If Pleasantly Perfect doesn't repeat his 2003 victory in the nation's richest horse race, it won't be because his trainer pampered him. ``Last year, he didn't run all season, so we needed a prep race,'' Mandella said, referring to the Oct. 4, 2003 Goodwood Handicap victory that propelled Pleasantly Perfect to his win in the Oct. 25 Breeders' Cup Classic. ``This year, I went to the Dubai World Cup The Dubai World Cup is a Thoroughbred horse race held annually since 1996 at the Nad Al Sheba Racecourse in the city of Dubai, United Arab Emirates. The race is operated through the Emirates Horse Racing Authority (EHRA) whose Chairman is Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, (March) and the Pacific Classic (August). I wanted to give him enough rest to (let him) do his best in the Breeders' Cup and then go on to the Japan Cup (in November).'' It's a sound plan, especially in the hands of Mandella, a Hall of Fame trainer whose own instantly legendary feats are topped by his four Breeders' Cup victories a year ago at Santa Anita. Pleasantly Perfect, among 13 horses ``pre-entered'' this week for the Classic, is favored to win the 1 1/2-mile race. His challenge will be to overcome Belmont Stakes winner Birdstone, streaking Roses in May, resurgent Funny Cide and consistent Perfect Drift - but not his own inactivity. How have horses done in the Breeders' Cup races the past 20 years after layoffs of two months or more? Pretty well. In the Classic, no such two-month layoff horse has won. The best showing in 13 tries has been Medaglia d'Oro's second-place finishes in 2002 (after 63 days off) and 2003 (62). However ... In all eight Breeders' Cup races combined, 81 two-month layoff horses have started, and they have produced 11 wins, five seconds and three thirds. The win percentage (13.6) means those well-rested horses took home more than their share of the trophies. Because the winners include long shots Last Tycoon ($73.80, 1986 Mile), Very Subtle ($34.80, 1987 Sprint) and Desert Stormer Stormer may refer to:
If you think Pleasantly Perfect is still the nation's best older horse, don't be bothered by the layoff. --Outside, looking in: Culture Clash was the only Californian affected when ``pre-entries'' for the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies The Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies is a 1 1/16-mile thoroughbred horse race on dirt (although the distance has varied, depending on the configuration of the host track) for two-year-old fillies run annually since 1984 at a different racetrack in the United States or Canada as part , Mile and Sprint exceeded the 14-starters limits, forcing some horses to be put on waiting lists, hoping for withdrawals before the fields are set Wednesday. Assuming she scratches into the race, Marcelo Polanco-trained Culture Clash would have to improve on her troubled fourth in the Oak Leaf Stakes The Oak Leaf Stakes is a race for thoroughbred horses restricted to two-year-old fillies and thus is a major prep race for the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies. The Grade I race is held at a distance of one and one-sixteenth miles on the dirt track at Santa Anita Park's Oak Tree to be competitive in the Juvenile Fillies. Sweet Catomine, the Oak Leaf winner from Julio Canani's barn, is the Juvenile Fillies' early favorite in the Daily Racing Form The Daily Racing Form, LLC (DRF) is a broadsheet newspaper founded in 1894 in Chicago, Illinois by Frank Brunell. The paper publishes the past performances of race horses as a statistical service for bettors on horse racing in the United States. odds. --Local angles: Other California horses favored by the Racing Form are Mandella's Pleasantly Perfect in the Classic and Bob Baffert's Roman Ruler in the Juvenile. D. Wayne Lukas' Azeri is favored in the Distaff - although she instead might run against males in the Classic - and Bobby Frankel's Nothing to Lose is favored in the Mile. But those horses with locally-based trainers have been racing in the East in 2004. --The missing: The best candidate for Breeders' Cup glory who didn't turn up among the early entries announced this week was Pico Central, winner of Santa Anita's San Carlos Handicap The San Carlos Handicap is a Grade II stakes race for Thoroughbred horses run at California's Santa Anita Park each year. The race is open to horses, aged four and up, willing to race seven furlongs on the dirt and offers a purse of $150,000. and three other big sprints and miles before his defeat in Del Mar's Pat O'Brien. Pico Central could have run in the Sprint if owner Gary Tanaka put up a $200,000 supplemental nominating fee. Tanaka and trainer Paulo Lobo decided to pass up the $1.5 million Breeders' Cup race and point for the $350,000 Cigar Mile at Aqueduct on Nov. 27. CAPTION(S): box Box: OUT OF THE GATE |
|
||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion