A
funny thing happened on Golden Frontier’s way to the winner’s circle in the
Kelly’s Landing Stakes at Churchill Downs.
Namely, he didn’t win and there was no return trip to the winner’s
circle. He did not even hit the board
despite going off as the 1:1 favorite.
His last race at Churchill at six and a half furlongs resulted in a 107
Beyer speed figure, so everyone was confident that he would win in the seven
furlong Kelly’s Landing if he could run back to 90% of that performance. A win or solid effort in this race, and Golden was likely headed to Saratoga. In the paddock everything was looking great
except for drawing the rail position.
As
you can see from the chart, Golden
had the lead after a 45.42 half mile.
Compared to his previous race, this pace was fine. Then at the top of the lane, he pricked his
ears, floated off the rail, but did not kick away from the field. Noble’s Promise rolled through the gap along
the rail while other horses swallowed him up on the outside. We all waited for Golden to respond, but he
never kicked into that extra gear. After
some equine rollerderby down the stretch, Golden crossed the line in fifth
beaten by about five lengths. The second
guessing began almost immediately – did the prior week’s speedy workout (58.3)
soften him up[1], was it
too hot, was it too far, or did breaking from the rail distract him into a bad
race? The conventional wisdom would say
that he just “bounced” off his previous race and was just dull, but the speedy
workout and his build contradicted that conclusion.
After
the card finished I made my way back to the barn and watched Golden sling his
head side to side in his stall – still wound up from the race and unable to
settle down. The trainer said he did not
see anything wrong with him following the race, and as I stood there, I
realized that we were confronting the second great question in racing. While Golden already answered the first great
question by proving that he was a legitimate race horse despite a modest purchase
price and pedigree, we now had to figure out what he needed to perform at a
high level every time he raced. In other
words, what made Golden tick as a race horse?
I
stood against the wall and tried to get inside that head that kept shaking side
to side – was he getting sick, was something physically bothering him that had
not flared up yet, as a big horse did he need more time to recover between
races? We had all the questions and
Golden had all the answers. Before I got
into my car, I took this photo of Churchill from the barn. There were no answers there either.
Postscript:
Golden seemed to come out of the race ok and went back to his
owner’s farm for some R & R. While
at the farm, a vet came to check him out and found a slight injury. Because it had already started to heal on its
own, the vet estimated that he probably raced with it and still managed to finish
5th on natural ability and will.
He did not bounce – if anything he proved his toughness. Sixty days of rest and he should be ready to
go back into training. So no Saratoga this year, but
it has been an amazing couple of months and a very special feeling to be
associated with a horse of such talent and ability.
[1] The
horse was not supposed to work that fast, but he is such a large horse that covers
so much ground that riders misjudge how fast they are really
going.
