NEWS
Their time to shine
Posted: Saturday, November 11, 2000
Riding a gutsy gelding, Alex Solis gets first Breeders' Cup victory in 32nd try
For Kona Gold, the third time was the charm. For his jockey, Alex Solis, the 32nd time was. And for trainer Bobby Frankel, well ... he is 0-for-36 and still counting.
Frankel's Honest Lady lost the $1-million Breeders' Cup Sprint (G1) to record-breaking Kona Gold by a diminishing half-length.
Kona Gold was third to Reraise in the 1998 Breeders' Cup Sprint at Churchill Downs and second by a half-length to Artax in last year's Sprint at Gulfstream Park. This year, the six-year-old gelding probably clinched the sprint championship with his fourth straight victory and fifth in six starts, obliterating Big Pistol's 1986 Churchill Downs track record (1:08.60) and Artax's Breeders' Cup Sprint record (1:07.89) by getting six furlongs in 1:07.77.
In doing so, Kona Gold validated a flawless 2000 campaign orchestrated by his trainer, exercise rider, and co-owner Bruce Headley, and rid Solis of his Breeders' Cup demons on his 32nd Breeders' Cup mount.
"Thank God, I got the monkey off my back, finally," Solis said before laughing loudly. Kona Gold was Solis's only mount on the entire ten-race card.
Solis's pleasure was Frankel's pain. Honest Lady finished boldly, rallying from sixth in the final furlong under Kent Desormeaux, but narrowly missed.
"I just feel bad for Bobby because I think he had the best horse in the race," Desormeaux said. "Turning for home, I had to go around a pair instead of splitting them, and I think that was the difference between winning and finishing second."
Neither Desormeaux nor Frankel had an afternoon to celebrate. Desormeaux capped a 0-for-6 day by finishing sixth on favored Fusaichi Pegasus in the Breeders' Cup Classic (G1), while Frankel's lone other starter, Spanish Fern, was injured in the Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Turf (G1) and died later in the day.
Also, Frankel scratched Euchre, his Breeders' Cup Classic horse, because of a cough.
Bet On Sunshine finished third, only a length behind Kona Gold and two lengths in front of Caller One, who gamely held on for fourth after posting suicidal fractions.
More Than Ready was fifth, followed by Dream Supreme, Successful Appeal, Agnes World, Trippi, Delaware Township, Elaborate, Valiant Halory, Shadow Caster, and Five Star Day.
Kona Gold's victory was well earned through three years of limited racing.
The son of Java Gold out of Double Surprise, by Slew o' Gold, has managed nine wins, six seconds, and one third in just 17 career starts.
Game plan
Co-owner Irwin Molasky credited partner Headley. "He had a game plan for this horse all year long, and he stuck to it with very few races," said Molasky, 73, who shares ownership with his son, Andrew, Michael Singh's High Tech Stable, and Headley.
After hearing Molasky's praise, Headley deferred credit: "Thank you very much," Headley said. "But I think Kona Gold had the most to do with it. Mr. Molasky and I, we made a plan and we stuck to it."
The plan went into effect on January 29 when Kona Gold won his 2000 debut, taking the Palos Verdes Handicap (G2) by two lengths under Solis. Solis has ridden Kona Gold in every start except his first, when he was second by seven lengths under Chris McCarron in the first race on May 31, 1998, at Hollywood Park. A chipped bone in his knee in 1997 delayed Kona Gold's debut until he was four.
After the Palos Verdes, Kona Gold was nosed by stablemate Son of a Pistol in the seven-furlong Santa Carlos Handicap (G2) on March 4, Kona Gold's lone start in a race longer than 6 1/2 furlongs.
Cutting back in distance, Kona Gold atoned with three straight Grade 2 stakes victories-the Potrero Grande Breeders' Cup Handicap, the Bing Crosby Breeders' Cup Handicap, and, in his final race before the Breeders' Cup Sprint, an authoritative three-length romp in the Ancient Title Breeders' Cup Handicap. In that race at Santa Anita, he won as a 0.30-to-1 favorite in 1:08.11 for six furlongs.
That gave Kona Gold five wins and five seconds in his previous ten starts.
Though Kona Gold has enough early speed to race on the lead, evidenced by his :21.42 first quarter in the 1999 Palos Verdes Handicap, he prefers to lay just off the pace and deliver a lethal final quarter. In his five six-furlong races before the 2000 Breeders' Cup, he posted final quarters in :23.80, :23.40, :23.80, :23.50, and :23.60, exceptional finishing fractions. "He's just such an honest horse," Headley said. "He always gives you his best effort."
Deserving favorite
About the only knock on Kona Gold was his 0-for-2 record outside California, but on November 4 he was made a deserving favorite at 1.70-to-1 in a deeply competitive field of 14.
Speedy three-year-old Caller One, also seeking his fourth consecutive victory, was the 4-to-1 second choice under Corey Nakatani. More Than Ready went off at 5-to-1; his uncoupled stablemate Trippi 8.90-to-1, and all the others at double-digit odds.
Caller One figured to duel with Five Star Day from the break, but neither broke alertly, Caller One stumbling slightly and Five Star Day ducking out, as 50.90-to-1 longshot Shadow Caster was quickest from the gate. Five Star Day never recovered from his poor start, rushing up to fourth but fading to next to last under Garrett Gomez.
Caller One was on the lead in a heartbeat. "He broke so hard that he missed a step," Nakatani said. "Then he just picked himself right up and set those fractions effortlessly, just galloping."
The fractions he set were incredible: a quarter in :20.82 and a half in :43.56. Trippi was closest to the pace before being checked slightly at the half and falling back as Kona Gold moved up quickly three wide from fifth, a perfect stalking position Solis had assumed after breaking from the ten post.
By racing the fastest half-mile in the history of the Breeders' Cup-Smile and Thirty Slews went :43.60 on the way to winning the 1986 and '92 Sprints in 1:08.40 and 1:08.20, respectively-Caller One had built a two-length lead.
"I said to myself 'Either we're going to win by ten or this track is just that fast,' " Nakatani said.
Nakatani discovered the answer when Caller One zipped a fifth furlong in :11.83-reaching five-eighths in :55.39-and Kona Gold continued to determinedly cut into Caller One's lead.
Kona Gold collared Caller One at the sixteenth pole and appeared home free, but Honest Lady was unleashing a furious rally after racing ten-wide on the turn. "She was absolutely making two strides to the winner's one," Desormeaux said.
That wasn't enough. "At the sixteenth pole, I thought we were winners," Frankel said. "It's too bad she lost, but it took a record to beat her. She ran fabulous."
Bet On Sunshine ran pretty well himself. Seeking to become the oldest winner of a Breeders' Cup race, the eight-year-old gelding was making his second Breeders' Cup start three years after the 1997 Sprint, in which he finished third by three-quarters of a length behind Elmhurst and Hesabull.
Calvin Borel was aboard this time, becoming Bet On Sunshine's tenth different jockey in his 37th career start. Sent off at 20.20-to-1, Bet On Sunshine was bumped hard at the start, angled inside to save ground, then angled out in the stretch to earn third.
"He ran a sensational race," Borel said. "He had a good trip; I can't complain. I called on him at the quarter pole and he came running. We just ran out of ground."
Nakatani was proud of Caller One, as well. "No disgrace," he said. "The horse who beat us is a champion."
Debate over
Kona Gold will almost surely be the champion sprinter, his Breeders' Cup record-breaking victory likely ending all debate.
Nobody was happier than Solis and Headley, who had not only endured Kona Gold's two near-Breeders' Cup misses, but who also had been second with Bertrando in the 1991 Juvenile and '93 Classic.
Headley, 66, followed his uncle Tommy Douglas, a trainer, into racing, first as an exercise rider before becoming a trainer, too. Headley hooked up with Irwin Molasky and his family five years ago.
Molasky has been a Thoroughbred owner intermittently over a 30-year span. He and his family operate The Molasky Companies, a major developer in Las Vegas that has built shopping centers, golf courses, houses, and apartment buildings. Molasky was also a founding partner in Lorimar Productions, a movie and television company.
But even Molasky had not been able to write a happy Breeders' Cup ending for the 36-year-old Solis, annually one of the nation's top jockeys. He had ridden in 31 Breeders' Cup races without winning, a record of futility washed away by Kona Gold's victory.
"This has to be one of the special races in my life for the simple reason that, for many years, you work so hard to accomplish these things," Solis said. "And it goes one, two, and three years and you're second and third, and it's kind of aggravating. But at the same time, I have a family. I tell my kids never to quit, just to keep trying until you make it happen. Thank God it happened today."
Bill Heller is a New York correspondent to Thoroughbred Times.
