NEWS
Overdose reels off 11th straight win
Posted: Tuesday, November 18, 2008 9:36 AM
OVERDOSE
Racing Post photo
Unbeaten Overdose reeled off his 11th consecutive victory with a ten-length romp on Sunday in the $101,769 Premio CEF Aloisi (Ity-G3) in Rome.
He may be one of the top sprinters in the world, but the three-year-old Starborough colt probably will not get the credit he deserves until he defeats top competition in France, England, or Ireland. The connections of Overdose, however, certainly have not been ducking anyone.
A multiple group stakes winner in Germany, Overdose lined up to take on world-class sprinters on October 5 in the Qatar Prix de l’Abbaye (Fr-G1) at Longchamp on the undercard of the Qatar Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe (Fr-G1).
With the eyes of Europe focused on Overdose for the first time, the Prix de l’Abbaye developed into a disaster when the starter ordered a recall in the 1,000-meter (4.97-furlong) sprint after Fleeting Spirit was left in the gate.
Overdose’s jockey, Andreas Suborics, did not see the signal to pull up or the flashing lights and completed the course in near-record time with the field well strung out behind him in a state of mass confusion.
The starter called for the race to be re-run nearly five hours later, but Overdose’s trainer Sandor Ribarszki and owner Zoltan Mikoczy did not want the colt to come back and run a second race on the same day. Overdose, along with two other contenders, were scratched following the fiasco.
The connections of the Hungary-based colt look forward to testing their colt against European Group 1 sprinters during next year’s flat season, according to published reports.
Until then, the fleet sprinter probably will continue to be overlooked. But that is nothing new for Overdose, who was purchased by Mikoczy for a mere $3,979 at the 2006 Tattersalls Ltd. December yearling sale.
"I just put my hand up for fun, I like the excitement of horse auctions," Mikoczy told the International Herald-Tribune. "I thought no horse can go this cheap and surely somebody else would bid."
Nobody else wanted Overdose, who was unnamed at the time and so homely that Ribarszki advised Mikoczy against keeping him.
"He's short and I'd say kind of ugly, so of course nobody wanted him," Ribarszki told the Herald-Tribune. "I tried to talk Zoltan out of it, I mean he didn't even have a name. That shows nobody saw a lot in him."
Eleven victories later, Overdose may just be the best horse to come from Hungary since the great Kincsem in the 1870s and one Group 1 win away from becoming a household name.
