Big Brown racing for more than just history
Big Brown may bring big smiles to the family of a seriously injured cop.
The Triple Crown contender's owners announced Friday that they will donate a portion of Big Brown's Belmont Stakes earnings to the family of Kenneth Baribault, the Nassau police officer injured May 18 in a horrific accident on the Long Island Expressway.
Baribault is in critical but stable condition at Nassau University Medical Center in East Meadow. While sitting in his patrol car after pulling over a suspected drunken driver, he was struck from behind by another suspected drunken driver, police said.
"Upon learning of the events of the past week, we the family of Big Brown were deeply saddened, and our prayers obviously go out to the family of the Baribaults," said Big Brown co-owner Michael Iavarone of Holtsville.
"At times like this, it is imperative a community comes together," Iavarone said. "Amongst all the joy and happiness, there is a family in grief -- a family whose officer spends his life taking care of our security. It's imperative that people like us who are in the position we're in now stand up and make something good happen."
Baribault's sisters, Danielle Rella and Jennifer Baribault, his 6-year-old son, Christopher, and the boy's mother, Kendra Sauvola, attended the announcement at Belmont Park. Baribault's parents were with him at the hospital.
Iavarone declined to say how much would be donated to Baribault's family, saying that would be discussed with the family in private.
The Baribault family did not speak at the announcement, which also was attended by another Big Brown co-owner, Richard Schiavo, as well as Nassau County Executive Thomas Suozzi, Police Commissioner Lawrence Mulvey and Nassau police officers.
In addition to the donation, Big Brown's jockey, Kent Desormeaux, will wear a Nassau County Police Department patch on his uniform during the Belmont Stakes, said Kelly Wietsma, president of Equispons, which represents the jockey.
Copyright (c) 2008, Newsday Inc.
'Brown' colors the Triple Crown picture
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - The show will move to Maryland in two weeks and it will be different. No longer is there any uncertainty about who is the best 3-year-old horse.
No longer are there any questions about Big Brown's possible Triple Crown credentials. He took care of that Saturday with his 4 3/4-length victory in the Kentucky Derby. In a 20-horse field with a handful of contenders, Big Brown blew them all away.
"The winner is a monster," said David Carroll, who trains Denis of Cork, the 27-1 shot who finished third behind Big Brown and ill-fated Eight Belles, who ran the race of her life and then fractured two ankles and had to be euthanized.
Now the question is not whether Big Brown can win the Preakness May 17, since no other Derby horse is entered, but by how much? And a triumph in the Preakness will bring Big Brown to New York and the Belmont Stakes on the first Saturday in June and produce another question - can he win the Triple Crown, something that hasn't been done in 30 years?
Two years ago, it looked like Barbaro had the right stuff after roaring to a 6 1/2-length victory over Bluegrass Cat in the Derby and immediately was tagged with the "superstar" label.
The story took a cruel twist at the Preakness when he broke down with injuries so serious he had to be euthanized many months later.
Thoroughbred racing has had only 11 Triple Crown winners and none since Affirmed in 1978. The 30-year gap between winners is the longest in history.
The Derby win is in the books, but it takes more than that to win the Triple Crown - it takes a presence, an aura in which the legendary horses sense they are better than their peers.
Big Brown had shown some of that before the Derby. The Kentucky-bred son of Boundary out of Mien had won his three previous races by 29 lengths.
But those were his only races, and Derby winners are supposed to have more experience. Until Saturday, no Derby winner since 1915 had been so lightly raced. Add in the fact that the No. 20 outside post had produced only one Derby winner - in 1929 - and the skeptics dismissed Big Brown.
Big Brown's trainer Rick Dutrow had so much confidence in his horse that it bordered on cockiness during Derby Week.
"I've got the best horse," said Dutrow. "I haven't seen a horse that can beat him."
Saturday no one could. "I had a great trip, but I just wasn't fast enough" said Robby Albarado, who rode Z Fortune to 10th in the Derby. "Big Brown was just amazing. What more can I say?"
Yesterday, Dutrow said his plan was to spend this week in Kentucky and attempt to get Big Brown ready for the Preakness.
Big Brown will be the overwhelming favorite. And there is no question the horse is much the best. It is his to lose now.
Jockey Kent Desormeaux, who won his third Kentucky Derby Saturday, has called Big Brown the fastest horse he has ridden.
"He's got the talent, he's got the brain," said Desormeaux. "He's got the ability to have multiple gears. This is what [only] Derby winners can do. They can move into a position and then cruise and then take you to another position and then cruise again; that's what he does."
That's what Big Brown did Saturday, and as the countdown to the Preakness begins, Big Brown not only will be attempting to win a horse race, he'll be chasing history as well.
(c) Copyright 2008 Globe Newspaper Company
She'd be the belle of Derby
LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- The media circus that is so much a part of the Kentucky Derby, left the lady alone on a chilly Tuesday morning on the backstretch at Churchill Downs.
While the cameras and tape recorders and notebooks chronicled every breath taken by Derby favorite Big Brown at one end of the Churchill backstretch, the first lady of the 134th Derby went through her morning in virtual obscurity.
Her name is Eight Belles and, if her people have anything to say about it, she is going to crash the Derby party on Saturday and become just the fourth filly to win America's most famous horse race since 1875 and the first since Winning Colors in 1988.
"My wife, Cindy, has been singing to her, 'Anything colts can do, fillies can do better,' " trainer Larry Jones said Tuesday morning. "She is going to drum that into her head."
Of course, history is against Eight Belles. But history was against a gal named Rags to Riches in last year's Belmont Stakes. She became the first filly in 102 years to win the final leg of the Triple Crown.
You might remember Jones. He brought Hard Spun to the Derby last year and almost won, until Street Sense overpowered him in the historic Churchill stretch.
"I think she is going to be OK," Jones said as Eight Belles was being walked under his shedrow. "She has never raced against the boys but, knowing her, she is not going to be intimidated. You play by your heart. Maybe she doesn't belong, maybe we should be running against the girls. But she is really good right now."
Eight Belles has nine starts in her career and has won five times. Three of her wins have been by 10 or more lengths.
Eight Belles was also entered in Friday's Kentucky Oaks, for fillies. Jones will scratch Eight Belles from the Derby if she draws an outside post at today's draw, which will be televised by ESPN at 5 p.m.
Eight Belles would be the favorite in the Oaks; she won't be in the Derby. But she will be a sentimental favorite, especially for every female who walks through the Churchill Downs turnstiles with $2 in her hand to bet on her Saturday.
"Oh yeah," Jones said with a smile. "Whether they bet on someone else or not, if she is in front, they are going to cheer for her."
When Big Brown's trainer, Richard Dutrow Jr., was asked what he thought about the filly, he smiled. He might have licked his chops, too.
"I love it, are you kidding me?" he said. "I love her being in the race. I can't imagine there is a filly in the this world that can beat Big Brown."
Hall of Fame trainer Nick Zito will have Cool Coal Man and Anak Nakal in the Derby. He said he doesn't mind seeing a filly run but said he wouldn't do it.
"There will be 100,000 people here for the Oaks," Zito said. "Isn't that enough to cheer for her?"
The gray daughter of Unbridled's Song has won all four of her races this year, including a 13 /2 -length romp in the Martha Washington at Oaklawn Park, the biggest margin of victory in a stakes race in that track's history.
Jones and owner Rick Porter were in agreement that Eight Belles deserved a chance to run against the boys.
Running in a race this big does not come without risk, Jones knows that.
"A lot of them (fillies) that faced colts came back and never ran as well again," he said. "They have to run so hard that it can somehow compromise the remainder of their careers. I think this one will take care of herself. It's hard to say how much talent she does have, she doesn't know yet. She deserves the chance."
All Times Union materials copyright 1996-2008, Capital Newspapers Division of The Hearst Corporation, Albany, N.Y.
O'Neill hoping for good weekend
Doug O'Neill may fall short in his bid for a fourth consecutive Santa Anita training title, but he's not going down without a fight.
The 39-year-old O'Neill trails Mike Mitchell by three wins, 30-27, with three days to go in Santa Anita's 71st season. John Sadler, in search of his first Santa Anita title after winning the Hollywood Park autumn meet, is second with 28 victories.
All three trainers will be well-represented this weekend. Sadler will saddle 15 horses over the final three days, O'Neill will start nine and Mitchell will send out seven starters in an effort to hold off his pursuers.
"We're still plugging away," O'Neill said Thursday from his Hollywood Park headquarters before saddling Tap It Light to win the third race at Santa Anita.
"We're trying to win as many as we can. Mathematically, I think we're still there in the running. There's not a horse we lead over there that we're not convinced has a big chance to win so we'll keep fighting until the end and see what happens."
O'Neill, who won a single-meet record 56 races at Santa Anita a year ago to break the record of 54 he'd set only two years earlier, marvels at the record seven consecutive training titles Bob Baffert won at Santa Anita from 1997-2003.
Baffert has only nine wins from 75 starters this meet, both figures way down for the 55-year-old trainer who has won three Kentucky Derbies, four Preakness Stakes and one Belmont.
O'Neill said of Baffert's record streak. "I think just when you look at what Bob did in all his Triple Crown races, it's truly unbelievable. We'll hear from him in a bigger way as we move forward. I think he just went through a couple of clients that passed away, and they were huge clients for him. He's rebuilding, and it's a tough colony out here, that's for sure."
O'Neill, in addition to trying to pull out another Santa Anita training title, is busy supervising the anticipated comeback of Lava Man, scheduled to race for the first time since a sixth-place finish in last fall's Cal Cup Classic when he goes in the $150,000 Khaled Stakes during Gold Rush Day at Hollywood Park on April 27.
Lava Man, a 7-year-old gelded son of Soul City Slew, could attempt to win a record fourth consecutive Hollywood Gold Cup this summer if all goes according to plan. He's been reunited with his groom, Noe Garcia, who lost his left arm in an automobile accident near Del Mar last July.
"That's a beautiful thing to watch every morning," O'Neill said.
O'Neill didn't hesitate when .
"He sure seems like it," he said. "He's full of energy. I think his coat and weight look excellent. He sure seems like he's the same Lava Man that we've been around that won the three Gold Cups."
Lava Man was nominated to a pair of Gold Rush races - the Khaled Stakes at 1 1/8 miles on the turf and the $150,000 Tiznow Stakes at 7 1/2 furlongs over Hollywood Park's Cushion Track. But O'Neill said he'll go in the grass race he won two years ago.
"We want to bring him back in a spot where he doesn't have to go :22 flat and :45 flat," O'Neill said. "Those turf races tend to be a little more kind."
Whatever the race, O'Neill said it's good to have the star of his stable back in the barn.
"He's definitely our anchor, and when things aren't going great, it's nice to have an anchor like Lava Man to go back to and realize everything's just fine," O'Neill said. "He definitely brings a lot of peace and joy around our barn on a daily basis."
O'Neill hinted Lava Man doesn't need to win his comeback race to re-establish his dominance. Just a good, solid effort will do following three consecutive sixth-place finishes to end 2007.
"We'll be looking for a horse that's just fighting down the lane, that is still running his last quarter faster than his first and has the determination of wanting to be the best in the field that he's in," O'Neill said.
Jockey Corey Nakatani, whose name has become synonymous with the gelding that has won 17 of 43 races and banked more than $5.2 million lifetime, will be back aboard for the Khaled.
"Oh yeah, Corey's still the man," O'Neill said. "There's not a morning that he's in the barn area here at Hollywood that he doesn't stop by and ask about (Lava Man) and go and see him. He's very much a part of this horse's history and hopefully his future as well."
sbsun.com
Imagina becomes first female horse to win Carolina Cup
CAMDEN, S.C.: Imagina won the Carolina Cup Steeplechase on Saturday, becoming the first female horse to win in the 76-year history of the race.
The 6-year-old mare finished the 10-fence, 2 1-8-mile course in 4:06 to win the first leg of the National Steeplechase Association's Triple Crown Series for novice jumpers.
Red Letter Day finished in second, nine lengths back, while Swimming River came in third.
Imagina is trained by Sanna Hendriks, who in 1992 became the first female jockey to win the Colonial Cup feature in Camden.
Imagina took the lead around the ninth fence, surging past the rest of the field in a steady downpour.
Jockey Jody Petty praised Hendriks for keeping the horse so fit.
"She was ready, more than ready, today. She did that about as easily as I've ever won a race," Petty said.
Fourth-place finisher Dr. Bloomer led the field until the eighth fence, when Petty said Imagina let him know it was time to move to the front.
"I was never uncomfortable on her. She loves horses in front of her to run at," said Petty, who injured his collarbone a week earlier in a spill in the Aiken Steeplechase.
In other steeplechase races in Camden on Saturday, The Price of Love took the Camden Plate, a Sport of Kings Maiden Hurdle event; Monte Bianco won the C.P. and Edith Wills DuBose Cup; Sovereign Duty won the Woodward-Kirkover Sweepstakes; and Class Shadow won the Sport of Queens Filly and Mare Maiden Hurdle.
Class Bopper won the flat race.
Copyright (c) 2008 the International Herald Tribune All rights reserved
From Peruvian Obscurity to a Major Derby Prep
No one is quite sure what to make of Tomcito. He has done great things on the racetrack but has done them far from the limelight and against suspect competition. Is he for real, a legitimate Kentucky Derby contender, or is he a horse who will turn out to be outclassed when he faces the cream of the American 3-year-old crop?
The mystery should be solved Saturday, when the Kentucky-bred, Peruvian-raced Tomcito makes his North American debut in the Florida Derby at Gulfstream Park. A major Kentucky Derby prep that has attracted a number of top horses, it will provide the type of test that could move Tomcito a major step toward Churchill Downs.
"We'll have to see where his class belongs this Saturday," his trainer, Dante Zanelli Jr., said. "But he's an interesting horse. He definitely has the talent."
Normally, any horse coming out of Peru would not be taken seriously as a Kentucky Derby candidate. The purses are so small there that Tomcito, who won four races, earned only $54,139, and no horse has ever come out of Peru to win major stakes races in the United States. But Tomcito's accomplishments and his American breeding have raised the possibility that he could be far better than any other horse to come out of Peru.
He is by Street Cry, the sire who produced the 2007 Kentucky Derby winner, Street Sense. Despite the breeding, Zanelli, who came to the United States from Peru in 1989, bought the horse at a yearling sale in 2006 for $7,500. At the time, Street Sense had yet to win the Kentucky Derby, which helped elevate Street Cry into a top-tier stallion. And Tomcito was an awkward yearling with a wide chest and two front legs spread unusually far apart. That kept his price down.
Zanelli, 34, sent the colt to his uncle Juan Suarez, Peru's top trainer. Like many horses bred in the United States, Tomcito was ready to make his racing debut last summer as a 2-year-old, but there was a problem. Tomcito was born in February, several months before the normal foaling period in the Southern Hemisphere. Under Peruvian racing rules, that meant he could not race within his age group.
With no other choice, Suarez was forced to race him against 3-year-olds, horses that are normally bigger and stronger than 2-year-olds. But the older horses were no match for Tomcito. After suffering his lone defeat in his third career start, Tomcito won the final two legs of the Peruvian Triple Crown and dominated his rivals each time. In both races, he lagged far behind the leaders until the top of the stretch, then made an explosive move.
"I have seen Tomcito run in Peru and he is the likes I have not seen around South America," said Michael Burns, a journalist who covers South American racing for The Thoroughbred Times and Thoroughbred Daily News. "He may be the only 2-year-old on the globe to beat 3-year-olds at a mile-and-a-quarter in October. A 2-year-old that beats older horses at the Derby distance in October is a little out of the norm."
Realizing there were bigger challenges and more money to be made in the United States, Suarez decided to send Tomcito back to Zanelli, who spends the winter in Florida. Originally, Edgar Prado, perhaps the greatest jockey to come out of Peru, was scheduled to ride Tomcito, but he will be in Dubai on Saturday for the Dubai World Cup races. Jorge Chavez, another Peruvian-born jockey who has had success in the United States, now has the mount.
"I'm like everybody else, I'm just guessing," Chavez said. "I hope he does well. He was very good in Peru, a champion. But you never know about a horse until you ride him. I've just been on him in the mornings and that's a lot different. From that, he looks to me like he has a lot of quality."
Should Tomcito win the Kentucky Derby, he would not be the first to do so after emerging from the obscurity of South America. Canonero II was bred in Kentucky, was sold for $1,200 as a yearling and then was sent off to Venezuela. After winning seven races there, he was shipped to the United States and won the 1971 Kentucky Derby in what was considered one of the biggest upsets in that race's history. He also won the Preakness and finished fourth in the Belmont.
"Can you compare the two?" Zanelli said. "You can in the sense that they were inexpensive horses that went off to South America, won big races there and their owners decided to take a shot at the Kentucky Derby. But they're two different horses who raced during very different times."
But one thing has not changed. The Kentucky Derby is still the most coveted horse race in the world, and it takes an exceptional horse to win it. Could Tomcito be that type of horse? The answer is almost here.
Copyright 2008 The New York Times Company
Still 'The Kid' after 30 years
Tom Tharrington stood in line for about 30 minutes Monday at Turfway Park to get jockey Steve Cauthen to sign his racing program. The wait was worth every minute.
"I'm a race horse guy, and Steve Cauthen is the best ever," said Tharrington, who lives in Florence. "Not many jockeys won the Triple Crown."
Ten to be exact, with Cauthen being the most recent, riding Affirmed to victory 30 years ago in the Kentucky Derby, Preakness Stakes and Belmont Stakes.
Turfway used Monday to honor Cauthen, a Northern Kentucky native.
"It's great to have such a good response here in your home town," Cauthen said after a couple of hours of singing autographs, stopping to chat with nearly every one of his fans, friends and admirers.
"I tried to visit with every one of them," he said. "But it's not all about me. This is good for racing and I'm happy to be a part of anything that continues to inspire people to enjoy this game."
Turfway is normally dark on Mondays.
But with a day to make up due to an early weather cancellation and the Kentucky Derby prep race Lane's End Stakes coming up Saturday, track President and CEO Bob Elliston saw an opportunity to honor Cauthen and promote the Lane's End.
"It's Lane's End time, so a lot of attention is focused on Turfway," Elliston said. "And we also wanted to use this opportunity to celebrate a guy who means so much to horse and to Turfway."
Cauthen continues to make his home in Northern Kentucky, breeding and training thoroughbreds on a farm outside Verona in Boone County, where he lives with his wife and three daughters.
Northern Kentucky historian Jim Claypool is writing a book on Cauthen with author Ron Ellis.
Claypool places Cauthen on a list with jockey Eddie Arcaro (who won the Triple Crown twice) Major League Baseball pitcher Jim Bunning and pro basketball's Dave Cowens - all members of their respective Hall of Fames - as the greatest athletes in Northern Kentucky history.
"Steve is a true Kentucky gentleman and the greatest ambassador of the sport of racing living today," Claypool said.
Diane Smith of Florence and Mike Johnston of Crestview Hills were among those waiting in line for Cauthen's signature.
"He's the best rider I've ever seen," Johnston said.
"The Triple Crown is a big deal," Smith added. "I wanted to see the man who won it."
On the Turfway track Monday Korbyn Gold took over at the top of the turn to win the inaugural running of the $50,000 St. Patrick's Day Handicap in a near-track record time of 1:08.73. The record is 1:08.40.
Korbyn Gold went off at 4-to-one and paid $10.80, $6.40, and $4. The horse is owned by Scarlet Stable and trained by Mike Maker.
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