War Pass Returns With Easy Win Over Weak Foes

A Detailed Examination of the Fountain of Youth Stakes

A Column by Steve Davidowitz
February 27, 2008

When War Pass manhandled a field of five overmatched allowance rivals at one mile in the Fountain of Youth under card on Sunday at Gulfstream Park, he took an important first step forward towards the Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs on Saturday, May 3rd.

The 2007 Juvenile Champion was in command every step of the way while racing in third gear except for short bursts on the backstretch and in the upper stretch. In fact, War Pass' quarter mile splits deserve a close look:
The internal splits: 23.94. . .46.72. . .1:11.90. . .and 1:36.78.
Each quarter mile: 23.94. . .22.76. . . .:25.18. . .and :24.88.

War Pass earned a respectable 97 Beyer Speed Figure for his 1:36.78 clocking and scored his fifth career win and third victory at one mile or longer. Most significantly, War Pass' subtle bursts of speed suggested that this very fast, undefeated son of 1994 Sprint Champion Cherokee Run still might be the one to beat when he faces much tougher going much longer than his breeding suggests.

Speaking of tougher going longer, a half hour before War Pass began his 2008 campaign, his trainer, Hall of Famer Nick Zito, saddled Cool Coal Man to victory in the $300,000 Fountain of Youth Stakes (G2) at nine furlongs over the same Gulfstream dirt track. Yet even before the field reached the backstretch, astute observers were wondering if something had gone wrong with the teletimer.

The first quarter mile split went up on the tote board as 25.78, which in horse racing terms would fit nicely for a mule race on the Northern California Fair circuit.

While saddled Cool Coal Man came off the rail on the final turn to rally past tiring Golden Spikes and the improving Elysium Fields entering the stretch, the son of 2003 Horse of the Year Mineshaft did struggle to hold his stride together through the final 1/16 miles and was almost caught by Elysium Fields' second rally. Meanwhile, highly regarded Court Vision never gained an inch on the top two while finishing third after one brief but eye-catching move on the final turn.

With all of that and the clocking issues to be spelled out below, this was not an easy race to dissect or evaluate. First, the top three finishers were the only horses in the field with a winning race at nine furlongs, so their prior experience gave them a significant advantage. Moreover, both Cool Coal Man and Elysium Fields were coming off victories at that distance over this track this year!

By comparison, Court Vision, winner of the nine-furlong Remsen Stakes at Aqueduct last fall, had only one very slow six-furlong training drill to go along with four other slow, short workouts since January 17th. With that, Hall of Fame trainer Billy Mott has every reason to proceed forward on the Triple Crown chase with this strongly built son of 1988 Sprint Champion Gulch, just as Zito will move on with War Pass and Cool Coal Man. Likewise, Barclay Tagg had to like what Elysium Fields did in his first start since winning a local maiden race on January 19th.

Otherwise:

• Todd Pletcher has to regroup with the promising Monba, who was bothered on the first turn and may have suffered an ill-timed injury while drifting back to the rear of the pack.
• Zito has to find answers for Anak Nakal, who never raised a gallop while finishing eighth.
• Mott has to give Z Humor some time to recover from two weak performances in one week.
• Dale Romans cannot be pleased with the lack of late punch from Halo Najib, who was a distant sixth.
• Michael Matz probably has to switch 10th place finisher Ready Set to the turf to see that colt's best.
• Kiaran McLaughlin probably needs to target Make the Point for shorter races after he set the pace and faded badly to 11th.

Now let's examine the mess that still exists pertaining to the Fountain of Youth clocking and what it may mean for horseplayers.

First, the Gulfstream teletimer recorded the following fractional splits:
:25.78 :49.27 1:13.19 1:38.31 1:51.85

After several different versions of this clocking were produced by Daily Racing Form and Equibase, among others, Gulfstream officials admitted the timing error. On Monday morning, Gulfstream's Racing Operations Manager Bernie Hettel cited an outrider tripping the first electronic beam 1.75 seconds before the first horse in the race reached the official start 20 yards in front of the gate itself.

After noting the discrepancy and its cause, Gulfstream compounded the original error by providing still another handheld stopwatch clocking against the video tape of the race for every fractional split thereafter.

In my judgment, to end the brewing controversy, the :01.75 difference obtained for the first quarter mile split should have been projected through the rest of the clockings for a consistent adjustment and an accurate clocking we all could live with and analyze.

The math would work out as follows:
Original tote board time: :25.78 :49.27 1:13.19 1:38.31 1:51.85
Acknowledged error: -:01.75 for the first quarter
Proper adjusted clocking: :24.03 :47.52 1:11.44 1:36.56 1:50.10
Proper internal splits: :24.03 :23.49 :23.92 :25.12 :13.54

Beyond the esoteric math, horseplayers please take note:
The Fountain of Youth received a 98 Beyer Speed Figure, based on still another clocking - 1:49.6 - as recorded off a video tape by Randy Moss, a Beyer teammate. As it turns out, Randy's clocking is the most accurate of all submitted, simply because Gulfstream's 1-1/8 mile track actually is about 17 yards longer than 1-1/8 miles! Thus, all timing of all races at that distance must begin 17 yards in front of the start/finish line. The discrepancy in distances was not known until this controversy erupted. Welcome to horse racing in the 21st Century.

Added notes: There were few stakes of national import last weekend, the best of which were two relatively long turf races at Gulfstream and Santa Anita Park, respectively.

* The $273,000 Gulfstream Turf Stakes (G1) at 1 3/8 miles

Einstein, now 6 years old, was a narrow winner over longshot Dancing Forever to reverse a poor performance in the Grade 1 Donn Handicap on the Gulfstream main track on February 2nd. Einstein earned a 102 Beyer for his effort on the glib Gulfstream turf course as did second-place finisher Dancing Forever.

* The $150,000 San Luis Obispo (G2) at 1 1/2 miles on Santa Anita's turf course

The improving Spring House comfortably defeated 20-1 Church Service despite slowing down noticeably in the final furlong. Spring House, the 17-10 betting favorite, earned a 103 Beyer on a moist course listed as firm. He is now bound for Dubai to run against Curlin in the World Cup on dirt or the $5 million Sheema Classic against world-class turf horses.

A very important week ahead:

* 2007 Horse of the Year Curlin will compete in a $175,000 race at 1 1/4 miles at Nad El Sheba Racetrack in Dubai on Thursday, February 27th in preparation for the $6 million Dubai World Cup on March 29th.

* The 71st running of the $1 million Santa Anita Handicap is scheduled for Saturday, March 1st along with the $200,000 Sham Stakes (G2) for promising Kentucky Derby prospects and the $300,000 Kilroe Mile (G1) on the turf.

* Fifteen horses are being pointed for 'The Big Cap' and one is sure to be excluded if all enter on Wednesday. Contenders in alphabetic order are: Air Commander, Awesome Gem, Big Booster, Celtic Dreamin, Champs Elysees, Go Between, Great Hunter, Heatseeker, Medici Code, Monterey Jazz, Monzante, Seminole Native, Student Council, Tiago and Zappa.

* Among the most prominent 3-year-olds pointing for the 1 1/8-mile Sham Stakes are: Colonel John, El Gato Malo, Reflect Times and Trevor's Clever.

* Artiste Royal, Ever a Friend, Mr. Napper Tandy, Out of Control, Storm Military and War Monger are the most accomplished horses pointing for the Kilroe.

Steve Davidowitz has written two highly acclaimed books on Thoroughbred racing---Betting Thoroughbreds and The Best and Worst of Thoroughbred Racing. He also is a regular contributor to Daily Racing Form's Simulcast Weekly and DRF Plus and his columns appear in the Bodog Racebook each week.