January 2008 Archives
The star 3-year olds that thrilled us through out 2007 have been shuffled off to stud. Street Sense, Kentucky Derby and Travers Stakes winner; Hard Spun, the handsome and talented son of Danzig; and Any Given Saturday, winner of the Haskell Invitational. All have been bought and retired by a sheik who doesn’t need the money, and sent prematurely to the breeding shed. This denies the fans and the bettors a chance to continue seeing these talented equine athletes, and losing the opportunity to draw new people to the sport, and the sport needs all the help it can get right now. That help comes in the form of Horse of the Year Curlin, and his majority owner Jess Jackson.
Curlin burst on to the scene on February 3rd, where at Gulfstream Park, in a maiden special weight, he won by an impressive 12 ¾ lengths. Unraced at 2, in a matter of 10 months, Curlin compiled quite a resume. He scored victories in the Rebel Stakes and the Arkansas Derby at Oaklawn Park. Going into the Kentucky Derby 3-for-3, the lightly raced colt can a credible third to the Breeder’s Cup Juvenile winner, Street Sense. He came back in the Preakness Stakes, in a thrilling stretch dual with the Derby winner, prevailed by a head to foil Street Sense’s Triple Crown bid. Three weeks later at Belmont Park, he again was locked in a stretch dual with the eventual 3-year old filly champion, Rags to Riches, in an historic race that saw Rags to Riches prevail and become the first filly in 102 years to win the Belmont Stakes.
Curlin got a bit of a break before running in the Haskell Invitational, where he finished behind Any Given Saturday. Curlin finished the fall season in spectacular manner. He raced against older horses in the Jockey Club Gold Cup, giving yet another exciting stretch drive to beat champion older horse Lawyer Ron. His emphatic win in the mud of Monmouth in the Breeder’s Cup Classic, against the best in the country, and with having finished on the board in all nine of his starts, stamped him as this year’s logical Horse of the Year. Most industry people and racing fans assumed that Curlin would follow Street Sense and Hard Spun into the breeding shed.
But then a strange thing happened. Jess Jackson, owner of 80% of Curlin, announced at the Eclipse Awards, as he accepted the Horse of the Year award, that Curlin would indeed race as a four year old. This makes Curlin the first 3-year old Horse of the Year since Tiznow to race as a 4-year old. Jess Jackson decided to do the sporting thing instead of taking the easy money of the breeding shed. Mr. Jackson said “This is a sport that needs more and more heroes, and since we need them so badly we’ve decided to race Curlin again this year.”
Amen, Mr. Jackson. Amen.
New York Racing Association’s Triple Crown trail kicked off on January 5, 2008 with the 33rd running of the Count Fleet at Aqueduct. It was a step up to open class for the undefeated Giant Moon, a New York-bred son of Giant’s Causeway, facing some other hopefuls such as Roman Emperor, a son of Empire Maker, Darley Stable’s Barrier Reef, and Spanky Fischbein, the only other New York-bred in the race. 
New York’s Triple Crown trail continues with The Whirlaway on February 2nd, The Gotham on March 8th, and the Wood Memorial on April 5th. At least it will hopefully …
NYRA’s franchise extension ends on the January 23rd, and the politicians of New York have still not reached an agreement (SURPRISE! SURPRISE!). There seems to be a couple of sticking issues though. Seems Senate Leader Joe Bruno wants a new NYRA board, and slots in Belmont, as well as in already approved Aqueduct. Governor Spitzer likes this idea as well. Holding out is Assembly Leader Sheldon Silver, who is dead set against slots at Belmont - said they are already approved at Aqueduct, so apparently sees no need - at least until he gets some yet-to-be-named future political favor.
So yet again the inefficient politicians of New York are playing the game, at the expense of people and businesses that are sustained by racing in New York. But do these stooges really care? They care about their partisan politics, what political favors can be gained now or in the future, and basically how they can add to their already deep pockets. In other words, business as usual. 
It would really be a shame if New York doesn’t have a say in the race to the Kentucky Derby because of politics. There is too much history behind these races to see them fall by the side. And there are no winners in this scenario.
