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HANDICAPPING INSIGHTS SEPTEMBER 21, 2007 by Dick Powell Discretion is the better part of valor. At least, it should be. Just ask Todd Pletcher. At Belmont Park last Saturday, DEVEREUX (Forestry) won the 2ND race, a juvenile maiden special weight going six furlongs on the main track, in 1:09.50. The 3RD race was an $75,000 optional claimer for non-winners of a race at the same distance and AMERICANUS (Yonaguska) won it in 1:09.58. The 4TH was a maiden special weight for three and up and ROI MAUDIT (Elusive Quality) won it in 1:09.10, with The Green Monkey (Forestry) a well-beaten third. Unless September 15, 2007 turns out to be an historical day when a bunch of future superstars all ran fast on the same day, I would have to guess that the main track was playing a bit fast. On Friday evening, I talked to someone in the Belmont press box who relayed a story to me that the track superintendent sealed the track after the races as if a giant hurricane was about to hit. The inside was scraped and then rolled repeatedly. End result was a very hard racetrack on Saturday. The 6TH race was the 101st running of the Matron S. (G2) for juvenile fillies going seven furlongs. This year's Matron drew a field of seven and was dominated by 17-10 favorite PROUD SPELL (Proud Citizen), who shipped up from Delaware Park off two straight wins to begin her career. Under regular rider Gabriel Saez, she stalked the early pace in fifth, swung out for clear sailing turning for home, and cruised to an easy 4 1/4-length win over Armonk (Mizzen Mast). Proud Spell covered the seven furlongs in 1:24.20 and considering how fast the earlier races were run, her performance, and those that finished behind her, does not look too strong. The 8TH race Saturday was the 118th running of the Futurity S. (G2) for juveniles going seven furlongs. The public made Kodiak Kowboy (Posse) the 4-5 favorite off four straight wins, including the Saratoga Special (G2) last out in very fast time. The field of six was unusual in that none of them was a confirmed "need to lead" type but all wanted to run up near the pace. Rafael Bejarano sent Mythical Pegasus (Fusaichi Pegasus) to the front from post 2 and set a modest, but contested, early pace. Down the backstretch, Mythical Pegasus covered the first quarter in :22.90 with The Leopard (Storm Cat) pressing on the outside and TALE OF EKATI (Tale of the Cat) behind them on the inside. Bejarano was able to maintain a slim lead through a half in a pokey :46.46, but the challengers were coming. Kodiak Kowboy applied more pressure on the outside nearing the top of the stretch, but Mythical Pegasus would not give up. With the slow pace, Eibar Coa found himself stuck behind horses aboard Tale of Ekati without a seem to run through so he veered back to the inside and found running room in the deep stretch. The Barclay Tagg trainee showed courage and maturity by passing horses on the inside and pulled away to a length-victory in 1:22.33. Despite being sired by a confirmed speedball, Tale of the Cat (Storm Cat), whose starters only have an average winning distance of 6.7 furlongs, Tale of Ekati is out of Silence Beauty (Jpn) (Sunday Silence), a daughter of Alabama S. (G1) winner Maplejinsky (Nijinsky II) and a half-sister to the great Sky Beauty (Blushing Groom [Fr]), who not only won the Alabama but the Triple Tiara as well. This is a great female family that in recent years has yielded distance stars like Pleasant Home (Seeking the Gold), a 9 1/4-length winner of the Breeders' Cup Distaff (G1), Pine Island (Arch), winner of the Alabama and the Gazelle (G1), and Boca Grande (A.P. Indy), winner of the nine-furlong Demoiselle S. (G2) at two. Tale of Ekati is the perfect combination of the precociousness and speed that his sire passes on with the stamina and maturity that comes from his female family. His broodmare sire, Sunday Silence, has a very high average winning distance of 8.7 furlongs for his winners, so the extra distance of Tale of Ekati's upcoming races should be no problem. The 112th running of the Gazelle had a weird karma going in. In 1988, the above-mentioned Maplejinsky came down from Saratoga off her win in the Alabama to run in the 1 1/8-mile event. Over a track that was deep and tiring, Maplejinsky bowed a tendon and never raced again. Classic Crown won that year's Gazelle in an excruciatingly-slow 1:49 4/5. Last Saturday's Gazelle was run on a track that was dangerously hard. Four sophomore fillies decided to take on Belmont S. (G1) heroine Rags to Riches (A.P. Indy) and none of them had any early speed. With the long run down the backstretch, Dorm Fever (Stormin Fever) went to the front when nobody else would and covered the first quarter in :24.07. The half quickened up some to :47.08, and Johnny Velazquez had Rags to Riches clear on the outside ready to pounce. Coa kept LEAR'S PRINCESS (Lear Fan) down on the inside and saved ground behind the early leaders for as long as he could. If this was going to be a turf-like, paceless race, Coa was going to keep his mount covered up. Around the far turn, Velazquez was committed to the outside but instead of doing what he did on Tale of Ekati, Coa suddenly took Lear's Princess to the far outside. We saw how tough Rags to Riches is to pass in the Belmont, but here came Lear's Princess ranging up on her outside, dueling with her past the eighth pole and surging to a half-length win over the 2-5 favorite. It was a well-deserved victory for Lear's Princess after just missing in this year's Alabama, and Kiaran McLaughlin looked like a genius by equipping her with blinkers for the first time. The day after the race, x-rays showed that Rags to Riches suffered a hairline fracture to her right, front pastern. "It appears as though she sustained the injury during the stretch run," Pletcher disclosed. "When she switched to the right lead, she came off the bridle and lugged in a bit. Though she cooled out fine following the race, she appeared to be slightly off this morning (Sunday). Subsequent X-rays discovered the hairline fracture." Rags to Riches' injury is one of numerous ones, some catastrophic, that have occurred since racing returned to Belmont. Despite what track superintendent John Passero says, the track is too hard from the constant sealing. I know that this time of year, it is hard to maintain Belmont since the angle of the sun becomes more severe and some spots dry out differently than others. But based on the running times of Saturday's early races and the account of how the track was groomed Friday after the last race, we lost a racing superstar to an injury that could have been avoided.
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