Barbaro Updates: 285
updates are now here.
Update 1922: From the Preakness, trainer and jockey quotes:
Carl Nafzger (trainer, 2nd-place finisher Street Sense) - "Heartbreaking, that's what it was. We only needed a nose. Curlin ran a hell of a race, but we had Curlin. We should have never let him come back and get us. There's nothing you can do about it until he decide he wants to go on. Or wait a little longer to squeeze the trigger; that's all. "I really thought when Hard Spun made his move he might not be catchable. We caught him and we got to the lead. We were two and a half (lengths) in front and we let the horse win. A good horse kept running and nobody else came running. He beat us at the wire, and that's where they take the picture. I told (owner) Jim (Tafel) we're home free. Then I saw Curlin and I said, wait a minute. I saw Curlin was really moving. When I saw it I thought we just got nailed. I'd have taken a dead heat. "I think Robbie rode Curlin great and I think Steve Asmussen did a hell of a job on him. We don't know how good this horse is. We have two good horses here; we might have an Alydar-Affirmed thing. Hard Spun, we can't get rid of him either. We keep trying."
(On Belmont Stakes) "I'll talk to Mr. Tafel, but if I was a betting man I'd take some bets against it. Winning isn't everything in this game. I don't have any animosity against Curlin beating me. I want to beat him the next time I run against him, but this horse beat us and he beat us fair and square."
"I just think he's (Street Sense) as good a horse as he ever was. We've gotta see what happens. I don't want to make any excuses why I got beat. I think my horse got to the lead and thought 'I won.' He's that kind of a horse. Curlin is a racehorse. If he wasn't a racehorse, he wouldn't have overcome the lead that we had on him. He proved he's good. How good is
he? Hell, that's why we run them."
Calvin Borel (jockey, 2nd-place finisher Street Sense) -- "I thought it was all over when I got by Hard spun turning for home. I thought he was just going to gallop. But things happen. He just got to gawking 40 yards from home and he just got outrun. I went up on the inside of him, and (Robby Albarado) was riding already and I was sitting, so I thought he was finished. I kept hearing him, and I looked under my arm and saw him. I thought I rode a perfect race, and Carl did too. It's far from over. If he comes back good, we'll be alright.
"I'm glad (Albarado) beat me, if anybody had to beat me. We're like family. This is how we came up. I told him, "Congratulations," pulling up. I'm sure he feels a little bad for me, but this is what we do."
Larry Jones (trainer, 3rd'place finisher Hard Spun) -- "(C P West's Jockey Edgar) Prado was coming up on the outside and we pretty well had to go. He wasn't going to let us set there and go. That probably hurt us as bad as anything. We'd have loved to put that move off for another eighth of a mile, but he did well. I’m pleased. We'd love to win it, especially being here at
(jockey Mario Pino's) track, but good horses ran. The top three finishers in the Derby were 1-2-3 here.
"The next time, let's see, third went to first. Yeah, it's my turn the next time.
"We'd have loved to finish up with them, but it was a great horse race. This is what makes horse racing. The top three in the Derby are the top three in the Preakness.
"I don't know (about the Belmont). We’ll discuss it. His mother was a stakes winner at a mile and a half. There is no reason to think he can't do it because he sure won't have to run this fast early next time. We'll discuss it. As we said when we started, we had plans of running three races, all three of them. We'll see. This race sure doesn't make me think that we can't do it. We'll see in the next day or so and we'll make our plans.
"After the first quarter of a mile, I felt very good that they were running easy and then when I saw the second quarter run as quick as it did and we were still off of them, I thought we were well within ourself, and we were. I started getting a little more concerned when I saw the :09
and four (1:09 4/5) after three quarters and I knew that would be tough.
"Speed has been holding here. It's the spot to be. If Nick's horse hadn't come to us so early, I would have loved for both of them to set a little longer, because they both finished well. It's not like either jock really moved so prematurely that they ran themselves out of horse. They just got
beat by two horses that could really finish up well."
"We felt good, but I knew the cavalry was coming. It was just depended on how long we could keep outrunning them. It was a good horse race. Curlin was top-notch and was the favorite in the early Derby going and then it was Street Sense. And all three of them keep showing up to compete and go at each other. We're good. Hopefully, next time we'll get our turn."
Nick Zito (trainer, 4th-place finisher C P West) -- "He didn't have enough bottom, but he ran his (behind) off. The beauty part about this race is that the three top horses were right there. This makes me feel absolutely great.
"What we need to do is just wait for the summer and see how good he can be, give him a chance to develop."
"You salute the winners and you keep trying to beat them all the time."
"He tried his (behind) off and you can't ask for anything more. The thing I'm happy about is that it was a legitimate race. Those three top horses finished right there, 1-2-3. That's what it's about.
"A lot of my friends hit the superfecta, so I'm happy for them."
"Boy, they really went fast. I didn't think they would go that fast, but they did. I actually was a little surprised. But we had a shot to win. We took that wild shot. That was beautiful. We all got excited. That's what it's about. These people put up money in the sales and that's what they
want to do, so you give them a little thrill.
"(Curlin)'s a good horse. No question. I feel sorry for Street Sense. It was a tough thing. It would have been great to see him win, but that's why they play the game."
Mario Pino (jockey, 3rd-place finisher Hard Spun) -- "When I made my move, I didn't want to wait and let them get on top of me. It could have really worked out for us right there. They were really coming hard, and there was nothing I could have done about it. I thought Street Sense was going to win when he went by me. I really had the support of everyone around here. They
were the three best and they ran 1-2-3."
Edgar Prado (jockey, 4th-place finisher C P West) -- "My horse broke beautifully. It was fast up front and I tried to stay right behind them. I didn't want to let them get too far ahead of me, but my horse finished up fine."
Todd Pletcher (trainer, 5th-place finisher Circular Quay) -- "I haven't seen the replay yet, so I'm sorry I can't give you more information. Circular Quay was back early. He put in a middle move, kind of kept trying. I haven't talked to John yet.
John Velazquez (jockey, 5th-place finisher Circular Quay) -- "No Excuses. The race set up the way it should have on paper. He didn't fire, that's all I can say."
Todd Pletcher (trainer, 6th-place finisher King of the Roxy) -- "Garrett told me he took the dirt well going into the first turn, which we were sort of concerned about. Garrett said he's a nice horse, but he probably needed a little more experience. I thought he stayed on pretty well. Down the road, maybe he will handle this type of distance against this type of horses."
Garret Gomez (jockey, 6th-place finisher King of the Roxy) -- "We broke sharp and I was very happy with him. We were in good shape from the start. I found a good spot. I was a little worried because this horse mostly runs on the outside. But he was fine today when the dirt came back in his face. We were running pretty good, until the three-eighths pole when Curlin went by him. This was a step up in competition for him, and he had to go a little farther than he liked."
Robbie Bailes (trainer, 7th-place finisher Mint Slewlep) -- "This sport is about taking on challenges, big challenges. Today demonstrated that."
Alan Garcia (jockey, 7th-place finisher Mint Slewlep) -- "We broke slow and we got squeezed back at the three-eighths pole. From there we kept a steady pace but couldn't pick them up."
Mark Shuman (trainer, 8th-place finisher Xchanger) -- "I guess we should have gone three-quarters (of a mile). No, really, He was just high strung today. Cutting out those kinds of fractions realistically you can't go a mile and three-sixteenths. You just can't. We'll fight another day.
"I just told (jockey) Ramon Dominguez to use your head. See where you think he should be and he put him there. We'll go back and regroup. We'll see what our next spot is. The only horse we beat was one horse, the one that tried to go with us (Flying First Class). The same thing happened when he tried to run with us at Oaklawn (they finished seventh and eighth respectively in the Grade 3 Rebel on March 17)."
Ramon Dominguez (jockey, 8th-place finisher Xchanger) -- "He broke inward and when I corrected him, he took off with me. He was going a little quicker than we wanted and I tried my best to squeeze him. But at the three-eighths pole he was pretty much empty."
D. Wayne Lukas (trainer, 9th-place finisher Flying First Class) -- "Our horse ran a pretty fair race, nothing to complain about. You just never know how a race will be run or how it will be won. That's why we continue to play and enjoy this game. This was an exciting race to watch. While I could have enjoyed it more, congrats to the winner."
Mark Guidry (jockey, 9th-place finisher Flying First Class) -- "The pace went a little quicker than I wanted. We were going OK, until the '2' came inside of us, and when he hooked us, that was pretty much it."
Update 1921: Leaving Pimlico after a roller coaster day at the races. Having a press pass (thanks Pimlico) enabled me to linger as I pleased throughout the day where ever I wanted to be. I managed to catch up with a lot of media I had met through the Barbaro experience which was fun and an opportunity to talk about the positive legacy of Barbaro that persists. Clearly the highlight of the day was Chelokee's easy win of the Barbaro Stakes. It was fun after the race standing around among all the connections and listening to the interviews regarding the poignant nature of the moment. It was, however, a terrible blow to follow the Barbaro Stakes with the tragic loss of Mending Fences.
Subsequent to the Barbaro Stakes I did a radio interview reviewing the Barbaro Stakes and previewing the Preakness. I told them that Street Sense and Hard Spun were a lock in the exacta and to throw out Curlin (my Derby pick). He had a hard race in the Derby and didn't have the seasoning for it. I then headed over to the stakes barn and hung out to wait for the horses to come over for the Preakness. Following the horses over to the paddock the atmosphere started to build and the rain started to fall. Hard Spun was as alert and fired up as Street Sense was relaxed and sleepy. I can't remember how Curlin felt. Anyway, the rest is pretty well documented. Xchanger led them in a pretty fast early pace. Hard Spun made an early move which then drew Street Sense into battle and Curlin got up by a nose. Clearly the Curlin camp are ecstatic and probably feel vindicated by his win. Street Sense loses nothing in defeat. If the wire were two foot sooner he would have won and Hard Spun may have moved too soon. All in all the top three Derby horses are the top three Preakness horses and now let's see if they throw Chelokee into the Belmont mix.
Update 1920: Another lovely morning at Fair Hill, while there is rain predicted you would not think it looking around. I had four to ride. The first and last were breezers for Linda. Pistol (the first) breezed 3/8ths, Tim was with us on Farouche. They went nicely together, I was on the outside. Graham Motion observed the breeze and noted that "I still had it!". Second up was Mediman. She jogged two miles, and seemed in good spirits. Third was Quick Quest. I took him to the gate to stand. He stood very nicely and relaxed. He then galloped a mile. Last was Precious Partner (Linda's) and she breezed a half mile. She also breezed well (both breezes were on the Tapeta track.) I saw Michael this morning and wished him luck. The same with Steve Klesaris' crew. It will be an emotional day for sure, and Fair Hill is well represented throughout the afternoon in many of the big races (Chelokee, Aunt Henny, Grigorieva, Diabolical, and Xchanger).
Update 1919: Preakness day.
The top three from the Derby all have a legitimate shot of winning the Preakness, which is a sixteenth of a mile shorter than the Derby. Keys to the race include how well each horse came out of their Derby effort (reports are all positive at this stage) and how they adapt to a race that will be run slightly differently. The Preakness will likely have more speed up front (will Hard Spun be fine slightly off that lead?) and the slightly shorter distance may favor those closer to the pace. Many predict this will be the harder of the three races for Derby champion Street Sense, if he wins this the Belmont should be a breeze (some say). Curlin had a tough trip in the Derby, if he had a trip like Street Sense he would have been much closer, but did that trip take too much out of him ? Does he have the most opportunity for improvement (this is only his fifth start) or will his lack or race experience and tough Derby race come back and haunt him in the Preakness (lack of foundation to handle the rigors of the triple crown races)? All in all the top three are legitimate for sure and make this a very interesting race. Joining them are six others, here are the post positions and the original morning line:
1. Mint Slewlep 30/1
2. Xchanger 15/1 (Fair Hill)
3. Circular Quay 8/1
4. Curlin 7/2
5. King of the Roxy 12/1
6. Flying First Class 20/1
7. Hard Spun 5/2
8. Street Sense 7/5
9. CP West 20/1
My pick: Street Sense, 'cause I know he had a good nap yesterday afternoon!
Daily Racing Form: Round 2 has same top three.
Bloodhorse: Steve Haskin's Preakness Report: Looking For a Hot Toddy
Thoroughbred Times: Preakness videos!
The Washington Post wrote this story (thanks Steve Hendrix): Out of Preakness Tragedy, a Legacy
Barbaro Is Gone, but Good Is Being Done in His Name, short excerpt:
"In the spirit of Barbaro, I recently bought a neglected 3-year-old who the owners were going to send to a low-end auction," reads a letter to Brown from a California participant. "Barbaro's spirit lives on in horses such as this. Without him, they would be either dead or living a terrible life."
Sad day today, but remembering Barbaro with loving thoughts.
Posted by: barbara at May 19, 2007 10:56 AM