Racing World Celebrates Big Brown

And mourns Eight Belles

A Column by Steve Davidowitz
May 8, 2008

The thrill of an historic victory and the agony of a mortal defeat were on dramatic display in the 134th running of the Kentucky Derby on Saturday.

The time capsule we carry in our sometimes faulty memories will never forget the linked images of undefeated Big Brown turning in his superb, dominating performance and the filly Eight Belles lying on her side near the inside rail a quarter of a mile from the finish line moments after she finished a gallant second in the world's most famous race.

Winning trainer Rick Dutrow was caught on camera in euphoric celebration while totally unaware of the tragedy that was going on a quarter of a mile away. Churchill Downs officials certainly should have clued him in, but Dutrow had every right to celebrate a most remarkable Kentucky Derby triumph by his lightly raced, undefeated horse who was so expertly ridden by Kent Desormeaux en route a performance that was ever bit as good as Barbaro's superb Derby victory in 2006.

Leaving the Derby, almost everyone involved in the sport was bracing for the inevitable recriminations in the media and accusations of cruelty that were sure to come from the extreme animal rights group, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA).

Spokespersons for PETA wasted no time jumping on any angle that could get media exposure. Some of their accusations were so unfair and misinformed that I shall not waste any space repeating them or bothering to spell out refutations that sane people in and out of racing have already made in public forums.

What I will say is this: So long as racing officials continue to take their time eliminating race-day drugs from the sport, so long as officials continue the practice of squeezing all the water out of a rain-soaked track (compressing and rolling it so that the track cushion gets pressed down to a paper-thin layer), we will see a higher rate of breakdowns in our Thoroughbred population.

If you saw the deluge that fell on Churchill Downs Thursday night and Friday, a deluge that turned the racing strip into a sea of slop, you probably could not believe how dry and fast the Churchill Downs' racing strip was the next day, Derby Day.

Not too many years ago, tracks dried out naturally in degrees, going from "sloppy" to "muddy" to "good" to "fast" over one, two, or three days. While some horses probably did not like to run on those wet or drying out tracks, they were safer for all concerned. They were safer because the drying out process did not eliminate the three to four inches of topsoil that served as a shock-absorbing cushion.

In today's game, one of the principal reasons for the movement towards synthetic tracks is precisely because they are designed to retain their shock-absorbing capacity through tons of rainfall. At least that is the intention and that is the hope, but as we have seen to date, it is only true when a synthetic surface is properly installed and maintained.

While I'm not saying that the rock-hard Churchill Downs surface caused Eight Belles to go down, I am saying that the rock-hard track can't be eliminated as a possible contributing factor. Heavily sealed racing surfaces are accidents waiting to happen.

Here are my notes on various performances in the Kentucky Derby, the Kentucky Oaks and the supporting stakes on the Oaks Day card run under varying weather conditions. Because of the length of this material, I will reserve comments on the supporting stakes that were run on the Derby Day card for next week's column.

Churchill Downs

Saturday, May 3rd

Conditions: Sunny, cool and breezy. A dry, very fast track for all races on dirt.

* The $2 million Kentucky Derby (G1), 1 1/4 miles for 3-year-olds, male horses carry 126 pounds, females carry 121 pounds, 20 horses in the field.

Fractional Splits: 23.30. .47.04. .1:11.14. .1:36.56. .2:01.82
- A fast opening quarter and a slightly above par pace from there to the wire. Winning Beyer Speed Figure: 109
- Similar to Smarty Jones in 2005, Barbaro in 2006 and Street Sense in 2007. But this winner deserves extra credit for racing four and five wide on both turns.

Big Brown ran as if he were the only horse in the race. Desormeaux allowed the colt to break with the first flight, established a stalking position four wide going into the first turn, and kept him in the clear while remaining in the middle of the track before asking him to step up the pace just enough to collar the five horses in front of him with a strong sweeping move to the lead coming into the stretch.

Once he passed Recapturetheglory in the upper stretch, Desormeaux hit the colt several times to get an additional response and Big Brown extended his margin to 4 3/4 lengths at the wire, with long strides on the gallop out as if he could have gone back in the gate and done it again in the next 10 minutes.

While Big Brown will be 1-5 or thereabouts in the 1 3/16-mile Preakness at Pimlico on May 17th, he must continue to avoid a recurrence of his multiple hoof problems that delayed his career and interrupted it again during the winter. Otherwise, he could possibly be the first Triple Crown winner since Affirmed in 1978.

Eight Belles was steadied twice on the final turn and continued forward resolutely to convincingly take second as if she would be a potential upset threat in the Preakness. Her connections were heartbroken, especially jockey Gabriel Saez who was a most unfair victim of PETA's accusations that he "must have felt something going wrong" and "should be fined and suspended for his ride."

Pure garbage. PETA, an organization that probably does some good work in the interest of animal health, hurt their credibility with this groundless accusation and if they could be, they would deserve to be suspended from any public forum for such uncalled-for and supremely insensitive remarks.

Denis of Cork broke a tad slow but was immediately angled over to the rail by Calvin (Bo-Rail) Borel and rallied steadily from last place while still inside to finish an encouraging third. He's headed to the Belmont Stakes and may be fitter for that 1 1/2-mile race on June 7th now that he has gotten over the lack of racing he brought into the Kentucky Derby.

Tale of Ekati is also headed to the Belmont - his home track - after a respectable fourth-place finish from his difficult post (#2). He raced in spurts and was carried very wide on the final turn before continuing to race with some enthusiasm for his minor placing.

Recapturetheglory was with front running Bob Black Jack and Cowboy Cal through all of the early fractions and not only outlasted those two but made a good move to reach the lead approaching the top of the stretch. While he tried in vain to resist Big Brown's strong bid, he finally gave way in the final 100 yards and faded to fifth. This is a horse that will win Grade 1 stakes this year if he is not pushed too hard to run in the remaining two Triple Crown events.

While Colonel John had some traffic issues very early and did close some ground very late, he really had no excuse for his disappointing sixth-place finish. The same is true for the rest of the field.

Churchill Downs

Friday, May 2nd

Conditions: Changed during the day after heavy rains began to fall midway through the card. The Oaks was the tenth of eleven races and by this point the rains had turned the racing strip into a sea of slop.

* The $500,000 Kentucky Oaks (G1), 1 1/8 miles on a sloppy, sealed track, for 3-year-old fillies.

Fractional Splits: 23.73. .48.86. .1:12.95. .1:37.36. .1:50.01
- A par pace with par clockings for the G1 level for 3-year-old fillies all the way through.
Winning Beyer Speed Figure: 99

Trainer Larry Jones' other filly Proud Spell rallied strongly from a good stalking position to score by five widening lengths over Little Belle, who had recently defeated several in this field (including Proud Spell) in the Ashland (G1) on the Polytrack at Keeneland on April 5th.

Pure Clan, who was twice beaten by the ill-fated Eight Belles in stakes at Oaklawn this winter, rallied well but too late and was narrowly third over Golden Doc A. The latter endured a very tough trip and will deserve a closer look in a similar high-class field.

Even without Eight Belles, who will be missed, the 2007 crop of 3-year-old fillies is considerably deeper than this year's 3-year-old males.

As stated, the other races on the May 2nd 'Oaks' undercard were run in different conditions as the day progressed.

* The $100,000 Aegon Turf Sprint (G3), 5 furlongs on the wet but glib turf course, for 3-year-olds and up. Course Firm.

Fractional Splits: 22.63. .44.72. .56.18
- A very quick time.
Winning Beyer Speed Figure: 98

Mr. Nightlinger repeated his wire-to-wire score in the Grade 2 Shakertown at Keeneland on April 13th. Salute the Count, a consistent sort, was second most of the way losing by a length. Fourth-place finisher Indian Ashton had a horrible trip and can do better.

* The $300,000 Louisville Handicap (G2), 1 1/16 miles for fillies and mares 3 years old and up. Track Fast.

Fractional Splits: 25.25. .50.23. .1:14.06. .1:36.92. .1:43.08
- A very slow opening half-mile with above par clockings for the last few furlongs. Winning Beyer Speed Figure: 94

Eclipse Award winning older female Ginger Punch dominated the race, stalling longshot front-runner Unforgotten for three furlongs and taking complete control thereafter. Could have gone much faster. Grade 2 winner Leah's Secret ran reasonably well for second but was never a threat, while Lear's Princess, who beat Rags to Riches last fall in the Gazelle (G1) at Belmont Park, performed erratically as if something was amiss physically.

* The $150,000 Edgewood, 1 1/16 miles on wet grass, for 3-year-old fillies.

Conditions: Raining. Turf course was downgraded to 'Good.'

Fractional Splits: 24.57. .49.89. .1:14.59. .1:44.73
- A moderate pace on the deteriorating course, with a relatively slow finish.
Winning Beyer Speed Figure: 84

Zee Zee won this race wire-to-wire under a perfectly judged ride by Kent Desormeaux, who was tuning up for his Kentucky Derby triumph with a series of excellent rides at Churchill. Taking the lead on this turf course proved to be a winning formula more than once throughout Derby week.

* The $150,000 Alysheba Stakes (G3), 1 1/16 miles on a sloppy, sealed track, for 3-year-olds and up.

Fractional Splits: 23.56. .47.41. .1:11.97. .1:37.30. .1:43.96 Winning Beyer Speed Figure: 100

Hall of Fame trainer Bobby Frankel's Giant Gizmo won this race with a strong surge through the stretch while Chelokee looked as if he was going to be a tough customer if he could get clear running room. Unfortunately, however, Chelokee broke down. A graded stakes winner in 2007 trained by the man who developed Barbaro, Chelokee was given emergency treatment and a few days later was still listed as 50-50 to survive his injuries.

* The $150,000 American Turf (G3), 1 1/16 miles on the yielding, very wet turf course for 3-year-olds.

Fractional Splits: 24.64. .49.19. .1:13.96. .1:39.30. .1:46.14 Winning Beyer Speed Figure: 92

Lightly raced 21-1 shot Tizlejavu, a winner of only a maiden race with two placings in allowance company, all on Polytrack racing surfaces, made a winning grass debut by setting the pace under Garrett Gomez who was quite aware of the course's front running bias. The 5-2 favorite Sailor's Cap closed very well under Edgar Prado but just could not catch the winner under these course conditions.

Steve Davidowitz has published two highly acclaimed books on Thoroughbred racing and is a regular contributor to Daily Racing Form's Simulcast Weekly and DRF Plus. His columns appear in Bodog Racebook each week.