NEWS
Bullsbay takes Whitney in an upset
Posted: Saturday, August 08, 2009 7:46 PM
BULLSBAY
Adam Coglianese/NYRA photo
To view the Whitney Handicap, click here.
by Mike Curry
All eyes were on front-running Commentator, seeking his third win in the Whitney Handicap (G1), on Saturday at Saratoga Race Course, but the focus quickly shifted to fast-closing foe Bullsbay approaching the stretch.
With a visually impressive bid on the far turn, the five-year-old Tiznow horse inhaled Tizway and multiple Grade 2 winner Smooth Air before locking in on Commentator. Jockey Jeremy Rose angled Bullsbay to the outside of Commentator and, after a brief battle, he shook free and powered to a 1 1/2-length score and his first Grade 1 win.
"I told the pony boy in the post parade, I'm the livest 16-to-1 shot I've been in a long time. And he was laughing,” Rose said. “I said, ‘Trust me, this horse has beat [one of the favorites] before; today's my horse's day, if he fires.’ And he fired.”
Trained by Graham Motion for owner Mitchell Ranch, Bullsbay completed 1 1/8 miles in 1:48.12 on a track rated as fast to win as the longest shot in the field at 18.80-to-1 odds. He improved to seven wins, five seconds, and one third in 18 career starts and more than doubled his bankroll to $810,943.
Bred in Kentucky by Brad Anderson, Bullsbay is one of three stakes winners produced by stakes-placed winner The Hess Express, by Lord Carson. With the Whitney win, he earned an automatic starting spot in the Breeders' Cup Classic (G1) via the Breeders' Cup Challenge "Win and You're In" series.
Bullsbay, winner of the Alysheba Stakes (G3) on May 1 at Churchill Downs, rebounded from a tenth-place finish in the TVG/Betfair Hollywood Gold Cup Handicap (G1) on July 11 at Hollywood Park. He is the sixth Grade 1 winner for 2000 Horse of the Year and Central Kentucky sire Tiznow, whose five crops of racing age include two champions.
Commentator won the Whitney in 2005 after a memorable battle with eventual Horse of the Year Saint Liam and surged to a dominant win last year to join Kelso and Discovery as the only horses to win multiple editions of the race. The eight-year-old Distorted Humor gelding was trying to equal Discovery (’34, ’35, ‘36) and Kelso (‘61, ‘63, ‘65) by winning the Whitney for a third time, but Bullsbay stole the show with a career-best performance.
"It's tough to beat a horse like Commentator,” Motion said. “This horse [Bullsbay] is underrated. Jeremy made the lead too early. He's that good. … It's such a thrill to win this race, especially for a turf trainer."
Commentator went right to the lead under regular rider Johnny Velazquez, but he was pressed through fractions of :23.49 and :46.38 through a half-mile by Tizway and Smooth Air. Commentator pulled away from both Tizway and Smooth Air early on the final turn, but he had little stamina in reserve when Bullsbay surged ahead to challenge.
“He fired on all cylinders. Graham had him ready and it was a perfect trip,” Rose said of Bullsbay. “I made the lead way too early, but I couldn't help it, he was just cutting through traffic way too easy. I didn't want to go that early, but I had to go with the horse."
Bullsbay opened a clear advantage in early stretch and comfortably held off a late rally from runner-up Macho Again, who was 1 1/2 lengths clear of Commentator.
"He gave it everything he had,” Racing Hall of Fame trainer Nick Zito said of Commentator. “We were playing catch up. He was coming off two months off after a New York-bred race. I'm proud of him. It was not bad, not bad at all. Father Time catches up to everyone. He tried, he gave it everything he had."
Zito said the Whitney might have been the final start for Commentator, who has won 14 of 24 starts and amassed $2,049,845 in career earnings.
“It's up to [owners] Mr. and Mrs. [Tracy] Farmer, but it is my wish to retire him,” Zito said. “I don't want him running in those New York-bred races. He's Commentator."
For an Equibase chart, click here.
Mike Curry is a Thoroughbred Times TODAY editor
