Salute the Sarge

Salute the Sarge, undefeated in his first three starts including wins in the Best Pal Stakes (G2) and Hollywood Juvenile Championship Stakes (G3), suffered his first loss when he finished second in the September 5 Del Mar Futurity (G1), a half-length back of Georgie Boy.

"Oh, he gave me a brace run," jockey Kent Desormeaux said after the Del Mar Futurity. "But I had to thread the needle with him in the stretch and I think that might have cost him the race. He wasn't able to progress the way I'd hoped. They turned it into a turf sprint the last part and he just didn't have the right spot to take advantage of it. He may not be the fastest one out there, but he's the most courageous. When they go long, he'll go better."

Salute the Sarge did go longer in the 1 1/16-mile Norfolk Stakes (G1) and handled the distance nicely but when the wire came up he was again second, this time to Dixie Chatter.

"He took the lead at the sixteenth pole and hung a little bit," trainer Eric Guillot said. "No excuses today other than we chased the speed all the way around and we were the only one that finished. It kind of set up a little bit better for Dixie Chatter, but that's horse racing."

Salute the Sarge was picked out of the Barretts sale by trainer Eric Guillot, part-owner of Southern Equine, and named in honor of his good friend, trainer Nick Hines.

Hines, who is nicknamed 'Sarge,' is a passionate patriot whose colors are red, white, and blue and who salutes the flag after a victory.

"Eric had been at rock bottom at one point, and I've worked from the ground floor up, and we've ascended together," Hines said in explaining the closeness of their friendship.

"He's been my confidante, like a brother. Three days after the sale he said, 'Nick, I'm going to name a horse after you.' He put in for Sarge and The Sarge, but they were taken, so he came up with Salute the Sarge."

It has been an exciting time for both Guillot and Hines.

"Quite honestly," Hines reflects, "if you can't get excited in this game, you should think of a different occupstion."

Salute the Sarge has so far raced exclusively on the synthetic surfaces of Southern California tracks, but switching to a conventional dirt surface for the Breeders' Cup Juvenile (G1) doesn't worry Guillot.

"We'd be stupid not to go try it on a dirt track," Guillot said. "He's bred for a dirt track and he's a big, heavy horse and everybody says big, heavy horses don't like synthetic tracks. He might be hating the track all along and be that good."

October 21 - Five furlongs handily in 1:02.20 at Hollywood Park, all-weather track fast. 34th best of 52 workouts at the distance.

October 14 - Five furlongs handily in 1:00.60 at Hollywood Park, all-weather track fast. 17th best of 66 workouts at the distance.

Trainer Eric Guillot, on naming Salute the Sarge, a $300,000 purchase, in honor of friend Nick Hines:

"How could we get any entertainment value out of Nick if I had named some cheap claimer after him?"