NEWS
Whitney winner Blame to target Jockey Club Gold Cup
Posted: Sunday, August 08, 2010 4:09 PM
by Phil Janack
Blame, a dramatic head winner over Quality Road in the Whitney Handicap (G1) on Saturday at Saratoga Race Course (video), will return to New York for his next start.
Trainer Al Stall Jr. said Sunday morning that the four-year-old Arch colt will come back in the $750,000 Jockey Club Gold Cup Stakes (G1) at Belmont Park on October 2.
The Jockey Club Gold Cup is run at 1 ¼ miles, the same distance as the Breeders’ Cup Classic (G1) on November 6 at Churchill Downs, where Blame has won three of four starts, including stakes wins in the Stephen Foster (G1) and Clark (G2) Handicaps.
“We wanted to go ten furlongs, and basically that’s it,” Stall said. “Obviously, it’s a Grade 1, it’s a famous race; it was fairly simple.”
Stall, who trains Blame for owners-breeders Claiborne Farm and Adele Dilschneider, also liked the spacing for the Breeders’ Cup of the Jockey Club Gold Cup compared with the $750,000 Woodward Stakes (G1) at Saratoga on September 4, which is run at 1 1/8 miles. The $500,000 Hawthorne Gold Cup (G2) on October 2 at the Classic distance also was a consideration.
“We’ve got a blueprint to get him from one race to another in four or five weeks,” Stall said. “We’ve done that quite often. If we can get him to the Jockey Club in good shape and get him out of it in good shape, getting to the Breeders’ Cup could be something that would be fairly routine.”
Blame has won five consecutive races and seven of his last eight, including the William Donald Schaefer Handicap (G3) and Fayette Stakes (G2), with his only defeat in that stretch a runner-up finish in the 2009 Super Derby (G2).
“I just think we’re so lucky,” Stall said. “This is horse racing. Nothing ever goes right. I can talk to you for five years about that. We mapped out a program and he’s hit every little point, almost to the workout. To think you can do something like that around Thanksgiving time and here we are in mid-August and everything’s gone well; it’s a rare bird. We’re just thrilled to death it’s gone that way.”
Blame will return to Stall’s barn at Keeneland Race Course later this month to train for his next start. In the Whitney, he was able to overcome a slow pace set by Quality Road and still reel in the horse many considered to be the best older male in training.
“I thought things kind of went his way, really,” Stall said of Quality Road. “We kind of beat him on the square and, actually, might have taken the worst of it.
“If he runs the table, so to speak, that’s all we can do,” Stall said of Blame. “When you’re undefeated at this point in time with only two races left, you’d think you’ve got a chance for something.
“We have so much confidence in the horse; he makes life easy. He’s easy to deal with—he’s sound. It’s kind of a dream, really. The whole thing doesn’t sink in. We trust him so much. It’s not like we’re getting used to it by any stretch, but we’re very comfortable.”
Meanwhile, trainer Todd Pletcher has not lost any confidence in Quality Road, who was unbeaten in three starts this year entering the Whitney, including dominant wins in the Donn Handicap (G1) and Metropolitan Handicap (G1).
Quality Road coasted through fractions of :24.41 and :48.06. He opened up a 1 ½-length lead in early stretch before being reeled in by Blame at the finish line.
“To me, he ran well,” Pletcher said. “He didn’t run as well as he did in the Donn, and maybe not quite as well as he did in the Met [Mile]. It was a very good race; it wasn’t him at his absolute best. It was more the way the race unfolded and being on the lead and kind of waiting on horses a little bit. Coming into the race, the way he had trained, I thought we might have seen one of his best performances, and perhaps under a different setting we might have.
“It was still a very good effort. He got beat a nose by spotting an extremely good horse five pounds, and I don’t think the race set up ideally the way we wanted it to. Not taking anything away from Blame, but we look forward to trying him again at equal weights.”
Next on the agenda for Quality Road is the Woodward, which will be his only start before the Classic.
“We’ve had a plan in place all year and, so far, we’ve come up half a head short of being perfect,” Pletcher said. “I don’t see any reason to alter that. We’d like to go to the Classic with a little bit of rest. If everything goes well and he trains accordingly, we’ll go to the Woodward.
“I think about the losses more than the wins. It’s definitely a what-have-you-done-for-me-lately business, but if he rebounds and wins the Woodward and Breeders’ Cup Classic, I think he’s still right in the mix for every award.”
Musket Man, trained by Derek Ryan for owners Eric Fein and Vic Carlson, was a game third in the Whitney, despite racing close to the pace under jockey Rajiv Maragh. Ryan is considering both the Woodward and the Hawthorne Gold Cup for the Yonaguska colt as a prep the Breeders’ Cup.
“We’ll probably keep him going long now the rest of the year,” Ryan said. “He ran his race. One of these days, he’s going to get a legitimate pace and the race will set up for him. He was closer than he ever has been in any of his races. It wasn’t by design, but it wasn’t his fault. At least [Maragh] had the initiative and the brains to go on with it.”
Surprised that front-runner Haynesfield opted to lay back rather than challenge Quality Road, Ryan felt the 1-to-2 favorite showed a chink in his armor.
“If we didn’t press him, the other horse wouldn’t have won either,” Ryan said. “Look at it on paper. Quality Road’s on the inside, he’s going to go. The other horse has got to go. They should be up there. If they were going :22 and :45, I’d understand him taking back. But they’re letting them crawl.
“It just goes to show you if you press him a little bit, he’s not as good as they say he is. Just look him in the eye, and he’s counterfeit. Even with those fractions, he’s supposed to win that race yesterday. I’ll buy me a rabbit for the next time.”
Phil Janack is a Saratoga-based Thoroughbred Times correspondent
READER COMMENTS
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Posted by: Leonard, Lawndale, CA on August 15, 2010 at 12:40 PM
Who was rachael beating up on last year, a bunch of inferior 3yr olds in the female and male division and when she stepped up to meet older males in the Woodward who did she beat? a bunch of older males that did-not belong in a graded race much less an alw. race, and lets not forget she barely won that race. This year she is being exposed as she did not deserve to be Horse of The Year, quit making excuses about the weather and her grueling schuele she had last year, true CHAMPIONS over come adversity. Masuda and Marshall you two should make sure to watch the PERSONAL ENSIGN and watch rachael get beat again and then what will be the next excuse? LIFE AT TEN will win the Personal Ensign. KNOWING WHAT HE'S TALKING ABOUT IN LAWNDALE,CA......
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Posted by: Marshall, Miami Beach, FL on August 14, 2010 at 03:11 PM
Thanks Masuda. I just don't understand how people can be so dismissive of what Rachel Alexandra accomplished last year and the tremendous talent she clearly still has. So many people want to focus on those two close losses to start the year while totally disregarding the grueling campaign she was on last year and how much her training was affected earlier this year by horrible weather at the Fairgrounds. Fact is, her last two races were just as impressive as any effort Zenyatta has put forth this year.
And Leonard in Lawndale it's easy to see why your so blind, considering you live right there next to Zenyatta's home track.
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Posted by: Masuda, Gatlinburg, TN on August 13, 2010 at 09:43 PM
Marshall
The people talking about Rrachel being a terrible reprensentative of a 09 horse of the year is crazy, this is 2010 people. She won it for 09 not 2010, she absolutely out worked Zenyatta for that award. I guess in some peoples eyes the horse of the year rides solely on the breeders cup, in what? 4 years of racing and Zenyatta was never thrown to the wolves like Rachel was last year and at age 3 by the way. How many times has Zenyatta won by 20 lengths in a grade 1 race and then come back 15 days later to run in a race the caliber of the preakness? Oh wait, shes never won by that much and has never ran 15 days apart. Enough said grow up leonard and try looking at 09 with total and complete racing fan eyes and then you should see things a little clearer. But hey, you are from california, Don't have anything bad to say bout cali. Hell I love it there but that state is not the most impartial place on earth when it comes to racing now is it.
Hang in the Marshall, I totally agree with you.
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Posted by: Leonard , Lawndale`, CA on August 13, 2010 at 07:33 PM
It's apparent that Marshall in Miami has been getting too much sun, he has no idea what he is talking about. When rachael loses in the Personal Ensign to LIFE AT TEN then hopefully he can see that rachael is a VERY VERY SAD REPRESENTATIVE for America's Horse of the Year, the real Horse of the Year is ZENYATTA (perhaps you've heard of her) 18-0 and still undefeated, when ZENYATTA goes to rachael's back yard let's hope CHICKEN jess jackson doesn't find another excuse to get WHIPPED BY ZENYATTA. ZENYATTA IS THE TRUE HORSE OF THE YEAR and she will prove it again in the Breeders Cup Classic just like she did last year. It's wake up time marshall in miami. GO ZENYATTA !!!!
s
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Posted by: Marshall, Miami Beach, FL on August 13, 2010 at 03:40 PM
You people who act like Rachel is no longer anything special are out of your ghourds (and no, AAF, as a matter of fact I live full time in Miami Beach, thanks). So she finished second in herfirst two races of the year... big deal? She has steadily improved and those actually IN THE KNOW will tell you she has essentially regained last years form at this point.
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