After a disappointing year, 1998 champion wins Pan American Handicap

When everything goes right, Buck's Boy is just about unbeatable at 1 1/2 miles on the turf. In the $250,000 Pan American Handicap (G2) on March 4, everything went right.

Pan American H. (G2)
Gulfstream Park, March 4, $250,000, 11/2 miles, turf, firm, 2:24.80
1-BUCK'S BOY, g. 7, Bucksplasher-Molly's Colleen, by Verbatim.
2-Thesaurus, h. 6, With Approval-Written Word, by Vice Regent.
3-Epistolaire (Ire), h. 5, Alzao-=Epistolienne (Ire), by Law Society.

For the first time since his Eclipse Award-winning season of 1998, the seven-year-old gelding, owned by Quarter B. Farm, flashed his championship form at 12 furlongs, leading throughout the Pan American to score by a half-length over Thesaurus. The winning time, over a course left very firm by the absence of rain in South Florida for most of the winter, was 2:24.80, more than a second slower than the course record 2:23.40 he clocked in winning the 1998 edition of the race. But time did not really matter here. It was the style that counted.

For Buck's Boy and trainer P. Noel Hickey, the Pan American was a return to the good old days, when the Illinois-bred son of Bucksplasher out of Molly's Colleen, by Verbatim, was mostly unbeatable when left on the lead by himself. There was a great need for redemption, too, since Hickey had endured 1 1/2 years of hard times with the gelding.

After the smashing triumphs of 1998, capped by victory in the Breeders' Cup Turf (G1) at Churchill Downs, Buck's Boy went into decline last year. Assorted problems kept him sidelined until September, and his only victory came in an allowance race at Woodbine. In the Breeders' Cup Turf, run at Gulfstream last November 6, he proved no match for Daylami (Ire) and Royal Anthem.

His first start of the 2000 season was so bizarre that it left the horse depressed and left Hickey talking to himself. In Gulfstream's Mac Diarmida Handicap (G3) on January 9, Buck's Boy and Special Coach engaged in the kind of suicidal speed duel rarely seen in a 1 3/8-mile turf event. They clipped off a half in :45.87, six furlongs in 1:10.08, and a mile in 1:35.14. Then they both collapsed to finish as the two trailers in the field of eight.

"That was crazy," Hickey said. "The race depressed him. He was all right physically, but that race took a huge toll mentally. That's why I didn't run him in the Gulfstream Park Breeders' Cup Handicap ([G1] on February 12). It took him this long to get over it."

He got over it with great style. Given the firm course and sensible fractions, Buck's Boy just did the thing that comes naturally to him, sailing along in the free-running style that has brought him career earnings that now total $2,750,148.

With Edgar Prado aboard this time, replacing Garrett Gomez who was riding in California, Buck's Boy, toting high weight of 120 pounds, made the lead by himself and clipped off fractions that made sense to his rider, trainer, and those players who sent him off the 9-to-10 betting favorite.

"He made the lead easy, and then he relaxed for me," Prado said. "I knew he was relaxed because his ears were pricked, and every time something came close to us, he just opened up a length and a half. Near the end, I heard that other horse (Thesaurus) coming, so I tapped him a couple of times, just to get his attention. He responded and that was it."

Hickey, not an overly demonstrative man, was quietly thrilled with a victory so routine.

"He ran a sensible race today, a very good race," the trainer said. "He's a game little horse."

Thesaurus, carrying 113 pounds, gained a bit of ground late but never threatened the winner. Beautiful Dancer (Brz) took an inside route to grab third, but in the process he cut off Monkey Puzzle and was disqualified to sixth, moving Epistolaire (Ire) into the show spot.

Buck's Boy earned $150,000 for the victory, which was his tenth in 20 starts on grass. Overall, he has a record of 16-5-2 in 30 lifetime starts.

Lisieux Rose's Orchid

Lisieux Rose (Ire), a mare who can run all day, might have delayed her trip to the breeding shed when she galloped to victory in the $200,000 Orchid Handicap (G2) at 1 1/2 miles on turf on March 5.

Orchid H. (G2)
Gulfstream Park, March 5, $200,000, 11/2 miles, turf, firm, 2:25.64
1-LISIEUX ROSE (Ire), m. 5, =Generous (Ire)-Epicure's Garden, by Affirmed.
2-Champagne Royal, m. 6, Jeblar-Super Me, by Super Concorde.
3-Fly for Avie, m. 5, Lord Avie-Fly for Baby, by Arctic Tern.

The Moyglare Stud Farm homebred made such an impression in her United States debut that trainer Christophe Clement said he thought the victory might earn her a chance to go for bigger prizes.

"I know the Moyglare people want to breed her," Clement said, "but I think this race might be a good incentive to go on. A race like the San Juan Capistrano (Invitational Handicap [G1] on April 22 at Santa Anita Park) is not that far-fetched. It's the only race in the U.S. at a mile and three-quarters, and there is no doubt she will like the distance."

A chestnut daughter of Generous out of Epicure's Garden, by Affirmed, Lisieux Rose arrived in the U.S. last November, Clement said, but did not acclimate quickly.

Lisieux Rose left the gate in good order and sat just a head behind and outside of Stonerside Stable's Idle Rich, the 9-to-10 favorite and 117-pound highweight. The two fillies battled to the eighth pole, where Idle Rich retired (she finished seventh) and Champagne Royal took up the chase. Lisieux Rose, under 114 pounds, had enough left to stave off the late challenge and won by three-quarters of a length. She ran the 12 furlongs on firm turf in 2:25.64. Fly for Avie, also trained by Clement, rallied smartly to finish third.

"I did not think she would be battling Bill Mott's filly (Idle Rich) for the lead," Clement said. "But I told (jockey Jose) Santos to sit right off the pace, that he could not expect a great turn of foot in the stretch. She does not have a great turn of foot, but she'll stay two miles if you ask her."

Santos followed the instructions. "I asked my horse to run leaving the three-eighths pole and she responded and we overtook the favorite. My filly fought back when that other filly (Champagne Royal) loomed up on the outside and she outgamed that horse. It was a beautiful race by my filly," Santos said.

This was Lisieux Rose's fourth victory in ten career starts and the biggest payday ever for the five-year-old mare, who took down the winner's prize of $120,000 and pushed her career earnings to $206,267.

Gaviola radiant in Herecomesthebride

Along about the quarter pole on March 1, it was becoming very clear that Gaviola was going to give trainer Billy Turner Jr. a belated birthday present. The three-year-old daughter of Cozzene out of Forest Key, by Green Forest, had been left alone on the lead from the start of the $75,000 Herecomesthebride Stakes (G3), and front-runners on Gulfstream's drought-hardened turf course have been golden this winter-especially front-runners of quality.

It helped some that 3-to-2 favorite Solvig got into a traffic jam at the three-sixteenths pole, but that cost her only about a length, and it appeared that neither she nor any of the other six fillies in the race was going to catch Gaviola. Jockey Jerry Bailey guided Gaviola steadily through the stretch for a 2 1/4-length victory, stopping the timer in 1:47.28 for 1 1/8 miles on the firm course. It was the first career stakes score for Twilite Farms' Kentucky-bred, who improved her turf record to three wins and two seconds in five starts. Her worst showing was a fourth in an off-the-turf mile at Belmont when she made her career debut last September.

On January 17 at Gulfstream in her seasonal bow, Gaviola finished third in the Sweetest Chant Stakes (G3) after grabbing the lead in midstretch. She then won a February 10 allowance event by 5 1/4 lengths as the prelude to the Herecomesthebride.

"I really liked her race," Turner said of the Sweetest Chant, "but I might have been overly ambitious putting her in there for her first start of the year. But she ran well and then got better in her next start. And she's still getting better."

Turner, who celebrated his birthday on February 29 ("my 15th birthday," he said with a 60-year-old twinkle in his eye), explained that Gaviola's front-running style was not really a plan, it just worked out that way.

"She has a good turn of speed, but you can control it," he said, "and we have been teaching her to sit behind horses in her last couple of races. But I knew the two fillies to beat (Solvig and Capital Request) were closers, and I figured nobody would probably want the lead and we'd end up there. That's how it worked out."

Bailey, a master of the Gulfstream turf course, accepted the gift of an uncontested lead gladly.

"I kind of had the feeling we'd be on the lead," Bailey said. "I didn't particularly want it and I didn't particularly not want it, but she was out there. From that point on, I felt that if she was good enough to win, she would get the job done. She was and she did."

Solvig, who had a four-race winning streak on turf snapped in the Herecomethebride, put in her usual good effort for trainer Carl Nafzger. Just a tiny filly, Solvig again showed that most of her slight body is heart.

The two fillies could meet again on the grass at Keeneland next month, and they could develop an exciting rivalry.

NOTES-A field of eight looks set for the $750,000 Florida Derby (G1), centerpiece of Gulfstream Park's meeting on March 11. High Yield, winner of the Fountain of Youth Stakes (G1), and Hal's Hope, winner of the Holy Bull Stakes (G3) at this meeting, will top the field for the 1 1/8-mile event. Three horses-Unshaded, Hades, and Nurdlinger-were added to the eligible list when their connections paid the $3,000 late nomination fee. Of the three, most likely to go are Unshaded and Hades.

Unshaded, trained by Nafzger, ran himself into Florida Derby consideration here on February 26 when he rolled to a 4 1/2-length score in a 1 1/16-mile allowance race. The colt by Unbridled (winner of the 1990 Florida Derby and Kentucky Derby [G1]) won his maiden victory over the Gulfstream strip on January 29. Last year, Vicar gave Nafzger his second Florida Derby winner.

Hades, a Florida-bred who has been racing in New York for trainer Louis Albertrani, was being aimed for the Tampa Bay Derby but was sent to South Florida. This year, Hades ran second in both the Whirlaway Stakes at Aqueduct and the Herat Stakes at Laurel Park.

The three-year-olds considered definite for the Florida Derby, in addition to the D. Wayne Lukas-trained High Yield, Harold J. Rose's Hal's Hope, and the two late eligibles, are Tahkodha Hills, Elite Mercedes, Greenwood Lake, and Scottish Halo.