-Cape Blanco took a highly accomplished, group one field on a stroll of the Leopardstown layout Saturday to win the Irish Champions Stakes in Ireland. Sent off as the third choice in a field of six, jockey Seamus Heffernan had little to worry about from the time the barriers opened as he negotiated the ten furlong event with an impressive four to five length margin throughout. Left in his wake were odds on, three time group one winner Rip Van Winkle, and highly regarded Twice over. Finishing second and third respectively.
Adding to the ever plenteous options of the brilliant Coolmore clan, Cape Blanco can justifiably sit alongside stablemates Fame And Glory, and Rip Van Winkle as top contenders for France's Arc De Triomphe, or any of the marquee Breeders' Cup events this fall. Although Fame and Glory has been given favoritism in Europe's early wagering pools for the Breeders' Cup Turf, my sources have indicated to me that Ballydoyle mastermind O'Brien is leaning towards the Breeders' Cup Classic for his talented four year old. If things stay in place, the end of the year championship is setting up to be a true classic with the likes of Zenyatta, Quality Road, Blame, etc. Here's hoping!
-Speaking of the Classic, Quality Road made another start this weekend in one of the premiere summer stake races for older horses, the Woodward Stakes at Saratoga. Won last year by "Horse Of The Year" Rachel Alexandra, this year's running lacked a little in quality, but the workman like win of Quality Road, reiterated the belief that he will be a major contender come November in the B.C. Classic.
-This year's rendition of the Del Mar Derby brought more scrutiny to the already questionable judging abilities of the Southern California stewards. Heavily favored Twirling Candy proved he was much the best against the obviously over matched field. Winning by a convincing three and three quarter lengths.
His performance left me in awe and amazement for two opposing reasons. The first being the ease in which he was able to re-gather himself, and dispose of the group of three year olds after making a move that can only be described as goofy when negotiating the transition from the club house turn to the backside. The second being how he was allowed to keep his athletic victory under questionable circumstances.
The incident in question occurred near the five eights pole as the field entered the back stretch. For reasons known only to Twirling Candy himself, he decided to make a right turn at the five eighths pole and ducked out very sharply into lapped on Summer Movie. After a Stewards' inquiry into the incident, they allowed the result to stand. Denying Summer Movie, his connections, and backers a fair shake. Justifiably so, Trainer Art Sherman was livid with the decision.
Spokesman for the three steward board, Scott Chaney, had three points in defending the ruling. The first being, "it happened five-eighths of a mile from the wire, which makes a disqualification less likely." I agree that most races aren't won or lost that far out from the finish, and if every incident was scrutinized, no result would stand, but at what part of a race is it ok to interfere with a horse to that extent and get away with it. I've seen plenty of disqualifications occur because of a less offensive incident at the start. Sometimes a foul is so egregious it warrants a D.Q. regardless.
Point two: "In our opinion it would have been an unjust result to disqualify a horse that was much the best in order to help a horse that finished out of any monetary placing." This one kind of goes back to what I mentioned earlier. At what point does a foul become a foul. There's no way any horse, with the best of trips could have beaten him this day, but sometimes it's about the integrity and fairness of the sport. When someone gets interfered with that severely, consequences need to be dealt with. This sport is not always fair, but the one thing it should strive for is even handedness across the board.
Point three: "Summer Movie was beaten 6 3/4 lengths for fifth, so it would be very speculative to say that he lost the 6 3/4 lengths for fifth ... on the backside." This is probably the most disturbing of the three. Of course it would be "speculating" to assume where Summer Movie would have finished. It's also "speculative" the incident DIDN'T cause S.M. to "grab" himself, or pull something causing his dismal finish. Taking into consideration S.M. was the third betting choice, and was traveling well enough at the time of the incident, to me it seems to be more of a stretch or "speculation" to believe that he would stagger home last so far from the pack without the incident occurring? Anyone with elementary knowledge of racing should recognize how much it DOES take out of a horse to lose that much position, then have to rush back into contention. Quite often resulting in a very tiring, and deceptive placing. Since when is it not ok for the stewards to "speculate" on a decision anyway? Ninety percent of the time when they rule to keep a number up, they "speculate" that "the interference did not alter the original order of finish." Haven't most of us have been on both sides of that phrase at one time or another? Their whole decision making process is based on "speculation"!
My "speculation" is we need to hold our stewards to a greater accountability, and uniformity in their judgments. Judging by the raucous reaction of the Del Mar crowd, as well as the horsemen to this decision, perhaps we can hold out hope for this to be a catalyst to some sort of steward referendum. Hopefully doubtful.............
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