Dixie Union steals the Haskell Invitational Handicap for three-year-olds

Richard Mandella did not mince words about his feelings on Diamond A Racing Corp. and Herman Sarkowsky's Dixie Union's two-year-old season.

Haskell Invitational H. (G1)
Monmouth Park, August 6, $1,000,000, 11/8 miles, fast, 1:50
1-DIXIE UNION, c. 3, Dixieland Band-She's Tops, by Capote.
2-Captain Steve, c. 3, Fly So Free-Sparkling Delite, by Vice Regent.
3-Milwaukee Brew, c. 3, Wild Again-Ask Anita, by Wolf Power (SAf).

"I thought he was the best two-year-old last year," Mandella said. "He chipped his left knee (when finishing fifth) in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile (G1) and maybe that's a little fault to me for not raising an excuse a little louder. It didn't buy me much sympathy. We're just working our way back up now." The path back started in earnest on August 6 as Mandella and 41,630 Monmouth Park patrons watched Dixie Union overcome trouble on the backstretch and uncork a furious stretch drive to prevail by three-quarters of a length over Mike Pegram's Captain Steve in the $1-million Haskell Invitational Handicap (G1). By Dixieland Band out of She's Tops, by Capote, Dixie Union encountered trouble with Belmont Stakes (G1) victor Commendable while tracking the early fractions of :23.38 and :47.45 set by New Jersey-bred Thistyranthasclass, who had stumbled at the break.

"When we got to the six-furlong pole, Commendable and (rider) Pat (Day) just started coming out on us going for the same spot," jockey Alex Solis said. "His horse is just bigger than mine and pushed me out of the way. I tried to get him back on the bit, he grabbed it, and went on. He showed what he was capable of." Once Solis and Dixie Union recovered and found running room on the far turn, they made steady progress on 1.60-to-1 favorite Captain Steve and Thistyranthasclass, who were heads apart after a 1:36.74 mile.

"He was the one I feared in here the most," said Bob Baffert, Captain Steve's trainer.

"I wasn't concerned about this distance," Mandella said. "But I couldn't answer whether or not he'd go that far until he did it."

The question was answered with the final sixteenth-mile in just less than 13 seconds.

"I swung him out (five-wide) at the eighth pole, cracked him a couple times, and he exploded," Solis said of the charge to the wire. Dixie Union completed the 1 1/8 miles over a fast track in 1:50.

Frank Stronach's Milwaukee Brew finished third, a head behind Captain Steve and two lengths clear of fourth-placed More Than Ready. Richard Migliore, subbing for the injured John Velazquez, lodged an objection against Captain Steve for interference on the first turn, which was disallowed. Commendable finished eighth while Impeachment was a nonthreatening sixth.

Dixie Union, the fourth choice at 4.70-to-1, earned the $600,000 winner's share of the Haskell purse, increasing his earnings to $1,053,190 and his record to six wins and three seconds in ten starts.

Derby dreams dashed by injury

Mandella admitted he gave up in early February on making the Kentucky Derby (G1) and the Triple Crown trail, even though the surgery on the chip in Dixie Union's left knee, performed at Rood & Riddle Equine Hospital near Lexington, was successful.

"The surgery went so well, we thought we might make the Triple Crown," Mandella said. "But the weather at Santa Anita this winter was so bad that we missed some training with him, so we scrapped that plan and ended up here." Dixie Union was a $425,000 purchase at the Keeneland July selected yearling sale by Gerald A. Ford of Dallas, Texas, the chief executive officer of Golden State Bancorp. Ford began to buy horses at auction five years ago and currently owns about 60 Thoroughbreds. He recently purchased a large portion of the late Allen Paulson's Brookside Farm near Versailles, Kentucky.

"I bought the horse, and my friend Herman Sarkowsky (who bred Dixie Union) said if I liked something, that he'd take half," Ford said. Sarkowsky owns a real estate and principal investment firm in Seattle.

With the three-year-old picture still fluid, Mandella is hoping for a shot at the division leaders in the August 26 Travers Stakes (G1) at Saratoga Race Course.

"It depends," Mandella said. "We're looking at it. If this sets him back, we won't go, but if he's okay, we'd love to go."

Reciclada's Eatontown

Mandella and Solis started their Jersey Shore stakes double in the $100,000 Eatontown Stakes (G3) on August 6 when Reciclada (Chi), owned by Ford, led gate-to-wire to post a 2 1/4-length victory over Mumtaz (Fr) and 1.70-to-1 favorite Dominique's Joy. She completed the 1 1/16 miles on good turf in 1:44.34.

Eatontown S. (G3)
Monmouth Park, August 6, $100,000, 11/16 miles, turf, good, 1:44.34
1-RECICLADA (CHI), m. 5, Rictorious-=Exing (Chi), by Exceller.
2-Mumtaz (Fr), f. 4, =Kaldoun (Fr)-Boubskaia (GB), by Niniski.
3-Dominique's Joy, m. 5, Strawberry Road (Aus)-Madeleine's Joy, by Theatrical (Ire).

The Eatontown was not in the original plan, though.
"We got to Del Mar and I was going to run her on the turf on opening day," Mandella said. "The grass course was long and heavy, and I was suspect about how long she could go. Then, we get here and find out that there's been two weeks of rain. But she handled it fine."

Reciclada, at odds of 3.50-to-1, broke from the inside gate sharply, and made every post a winning one, cutting fractions of :24.98, :49.22, 1:13.16, and 1:37.79.

The victory for the five-year-old mare by Rictorious out of Exing, by Exceller, was her first of the year and seventh in 17 lifetime starts. The $60,000 winner's share boosted the mare's career earnings to $212,394.