American Pharoah Triumphant

I'll write about the other fantastic races of the Breeders Cup later today, or tomorrow, but today I'm going to sing the praises of American Pharoah.  The three-year-old bay colt is moving from the racing barn at Keeneland Racecourse in Lexington today to Coolmore's Ashford Stud in Versailles, Kentucky.  He will no longer be a race horse; he will be a sire.  He'll be galloped and exercised, but not honed to perfection for specific race dates.  Hopefully, he will prove as successful at stud as he was on the race course.
   American Pharoah was born on 2 February 2012.  Ahmed Zayat owned and raced both of his parents - Pioneer of the Nile, a dark bay stallion, born in 2006, and Littleprincessemma, a chestnut mare also born in 2006.  He is a bay horse with a very faint, tiny star on his forehead whorl - and that star might just be my imagination from his close-up photos; it just might be the skin visible through his whorl.   Otherwise, the colt is without any markings - except, of course, his racing tattoo.
  Bob Baffert asked to be his trainer, and was given into his care. American Pharoah was named through an on-line contest.  Justin Zayat loved the name, and sent it in to the Jockey Club.  It was accepted, but Justin was not aware that the word Pharoah was misspelled - which causes my spell-check program a lot of grief.  The colt's debut race was not something to be remembered - he was wearing blinkers, he acted up, and he finished fifth.  But Bob Baffert saw something in the way he ran.
   His next race entry was a Grade 1; his blinkers were off, and the tale of success began.  He was the early favorite to win the Breeders Cup Juvenile in 2014, but a bruised foot kept him out of training and he missed the race.  He was still named Two Year Old Colt of the year.
  He was undefeated as a three-year-old heading into the Kentucky Derby, where he was the betting favorite.  He won the Derby; he won the Preakness; and then he won the Belmont Stakes, too.  America had the first Triple Crown winner in 37 years.  I remember seeing Secretariat, Seattle Slew, and Affirmed win the Triple Crown, but I don't think I was as excited with any of their wins as I was with American Pharoah's.   Maybe it was because there was such a long drought between Triple Crown Champions; maybe it was because there had been discussion of changing the Triple Crown races and racing dates; maybe it was because Mom had brought me up on tales of Man o'War, and visiting him in Berlin, Maryland; maybe because it was a family-owned and celebrated horse - I don't know.  All I know was I felt excited and electrified when the plain bay colt won the Triple Crown.
   It was announced that he would be retired at the end of his three-year-old racing season to stand at stud.  That was quite acceptable in my eyes.  And I was delighted to hear that Ahmed Zayat and his family had decided to race American Pharoah a few more times for the American (and horse racing) public.  I was ecstatic when the Pharoah won the Haskell Invitational.  I was devastated when he finished second in the Travers Stakes, having been worn down by Frosted in a speed duel, and then bested by Keen Ice.  There are all kinds of excuses for that race - the colt was tired from the Triple Crown campaign; he'd galloped much faster than planned the day before the race in front of a racing crowd in the afternoon; the speed duel with Frosted....  It just wasn't a day that American Pharoah would win.  It was horse racing.
   Then there was all the hyperbole of the press for the Breeders Cup Classic race.  Could the colt do it?  Could he win the Triple Crown and the Breeders Cup Classic?  Did he have the guts - after all, he'd lost the last time out?  Could he beat Beholder, even though he had a one pound allowance?  Could he beat Honor Code?  Since Frosted and Keen Ice were also entered, would they try to tag-team him, as they did in the Travers?  And what about Gleneagles? He was shipping in from Ireland, a Classic-winner against older horses in Europe.  Then there were the hard-pounding Tonalist, Hard Aces and Effinex also in the mix.
   Bob Battaglia made American Pharoah the odds-on betting choice for the race.  He stayed the betting favorite until the betting windows closed.  American Pharoah led the race from the first jump out of the starting gate until the finish line, one and one-quarter miles later.  The plain bay colt went out a winner, and in grand style.  He raced eleven times, won nine of his starts, finished second once, and was fifth in his first race ever.  It doesn't quite equal Man o'War's 20 starts with 19 wins and 1 second, but in this day and age, it's one heck of a record.
   I salute you, American Pharoah!  And now we have to wait three years to see what your two-year-old sons and daughters will do on the track....

Cold, Snow, a Young Hawk, and the Classic

The past week, I have watched the snow levels creep down the mountain tops in the Indian Peaks Wilderness area.  This morning, fog and clouds are obliterating the scene, so that even the Flatirons are invisible from my building.  The temperature is also falling - about 1 degree Fahrenheit per hour.  I awoke to such heavy rain that I thought it was hailing this morning - I put on my glasses, and looked out the window, and saw that it was just large drops of rain; but it sounded like they were absolutely pelting the ground.  Just as I pulled my covers back up, there was a huge clap of thunder, and Nedi dived under the bed, while Lovey climbed under the covers with me.  The news said there was thunder snow up in Genessee, and I believe it.  We had lightning and thunder for about an hour, and then it calmed down again.  Right now, we're having periods of drizzle, while the forecast calls for a rain/snow mix most of the afternoon and evening.
  Yesterday morning, a juvenile red tail hawk came arrowing down into the back yard and missed one of the squirrels by inches.  The squirrel ran up a tree, and the bird seemed stunned. It sat in the grass for a few minutes, then flew up to the fence and sat for about 30 minutes.  One of our male squirrels ran up the fence and sat within 6 inches of the hawk, and the hawk just looked at him.  I had to laugh out loud - the squirrel looked belligerent and the hawk looked abashed.
   I made a nice sum betting on the Breeders Cup races, but the taxes in two states and the IRS ate more than half of my winnings.  People are still talking, declaiming, discoursing, and arguing over the race inquiry in the Breeders Cup Classic.  Bob Baffert, who trained the winner, and finally won the BC Classic, is upset because of the furor.  He feels it diminishes the fact that his colt, Bayern, actually won the race - even though Bayern did not break straight from the gate, and was the cause of the stewards' and jockeys' inquiry.  Bayern broke to the left, and didn't straighten out until he was 3 or 4 strides from the gate; in doing so, he brushed up against the horse on his left, causing a domino effect almost to the rail.  But, the California rules of racing allow for horses that don't break straight from the gate - if they straighten up within 4 to 5 strides of leaving the gate, the horse is normally viewed not to have interfered with the other runners.  Bayern did straighten up; Moreno had rotten racing luck through the whole race; Shared Belief's jockey, Mike Smith, believed he could have won the race, if Bayern hadn't run into his right shoulder, shoving him left.   The Track Stewards followed the written California Rules of Racing, and declared no interference.  -  But people will talk about this Classic for a long time.  For Bob Baffert, Martin Garcia, and the owners, I wish that Bayern had jumped straight out of the gate - but he didn't, and that's that.

Gentildonna and Sunday Silence

There are beautiful blue skies outside with a light breeze stirring the wind chimes on my patio.  It's 50 degrees outside, I have the patio door open, and am sitting at the desk wearing jeans and a T-shirt.  Lovey is perched on the top of the cat tree, and Nedi is waving his plume between the monitor and my face - with his feet between my arms as I type.  Bob is outside, talking to my kits, while his Mom calls him from two doors down.  I just had lunch with Nancy, Bob's Mom, so I can smile at him easily when he comes in for a mouthful of "stolen" food ...
   I thoroughly enjoyed reading about Gentildonna and her racing exploits last year, and this year.  I think she brings me as much pleasure as I received watching her grandsire, Sunday Silence, defeat Easy Goer in the Breeders Cup Classic at Gulfstream Park.  I always preferred Sunday Silence to Easy Goer, and was disappointed when the bright chestnut colt beat the black one in the Belmont Stakes.  Easy Goer never lost on a race track in New York, but Sunday Silence bested him at Churchill Downs, Pimlico, and Gulfstream Park.  When Sunday Silence was retired from racing, and was purchased by a Japanese syndicate and moved to the Far East for his stud career, I was devastated.  No more.
  Gentildonna, and other grandsons and granddaughters, are making things much brighter. This past weekend, Gentildonna won the Grade I Japan Cup, becoming the first horse in history to do so.  Last year, as a three-year-old, Gentildonna won Japan's Triple Crown for fillies, and followed up with last year's Japan Cup.  The Japan Cup is raced over turf, at 2400 meters (or just about 1.5 miles), and the weight the horse carries in the race is based on the horse's age.  This year, Deep Impact, a son of Sunday Silence was the sire of both Gentildonna, the winner, and of Denim and Ruby, the filly who finished second.  The Japan Cup was worth $5.7 million in prize money, and was open to males and females.  .....   Yeah!!!  Way to go, Sunday Silence!  Way to go, Gentildonna!  ....   Thank you for making dreams come true.