by Jeff Lowe

For trainer Carl Nafzger, slow and steady wins the race—or races, especially the big ones.

Street Sense followed that formula in the first four starts of his career, which included a second-place finish in his debut, a maiden victory, and third-place finishes in the Arlington-Washington Breeders’ Futurity (G3) and Lane’s End Breeders’ Futurity (G1).

The Street Cry (Ire) colt out of the Dixieland Band mare Bedazzle then took a significant step forward as he dominated the Bessemer Trust Breeders’ Cup Juvenile (G1), winning by ten lengths en route to the Eclipse Award as champion two-year-old male.

Street Sense provided a milestone victory in a long relationship between Nafzger and owner-breeder James Tafel. When Nafzger scaled back his training operation in January 2006, Tafel and another longtime owner, Bentley Smith, were the only clients he kept.

Nafzger compared his future hopes for Street Sense to the fulfilling victory he achieved with Unbridled in the 1990 Kentucky Derby (G1) for long-time owner Frances Genter.

“It’s like I said before the Derby with Unbridled, I said I wanted to win that one on account of Mrs. Genter,” Nafzger said. “That’s how I feel about this. This horse has done what he’s supposed to now. If we can go on and be the first one to win the Derby with a horse who won the Juvenile, that would really be a great achievement and something I would really enjoy doing with Jim Tafel.”

Jeff Lowe is a Thoroughbred Times staff writer