Watching late-running horses make big moves from far behind
can be exciting for fans, but excruciating for trainers and horseplayers. Such
horses depend on having a lively pace to run at, as well as finding a way to
avoid the traffic in front of them.
Caroline Thomas, a four-year-old daughter of Giant’s Causeway and one of the top
contenders in Saturday’s Grade 3, $150,000 Suwannee River at Gulfstream Park, is a
closer making her seasonal debut in the nine-furlong turf affair. She is trained
by Barclay Tagg for owner-breeder Joyce Young.
Winner by disqualification of the Lake Placid at
Saratoga last summer, Caroline Thomas got stuck behind some slow
fractions and wound up seventh, beaten four lengths, in the Garden City before rallying to finish third by less than a length in the Queen Elizabeth II
Challenge Cup in October to close her three-year-old season.
“It’s always a concern for her. I don’t know whether she
falls asleep back there or the jockeys do, but a couple of times it’s been
deadly,” Tagg said of her running style. “I think if she stays within some kind
of fair striking distance, she can be pretty formidable.”
Tagg picked up his first victory of Gulfstream’s Champions meet on
Thursday with speedy Munnings Sister, who went gate-to-wire to win the Awesome Feather in 1:03 for 5
1/2 furlongs.
“If you’re one-dimensional and you go to the front, you’ve
got horse after horse taking shots at you sometimes, and that’ll wear you out,” Tagg
explained. “And if you’re coming from behind, you’ve got to work your way
through or around the whole field.
“Neither one of them are ideal ways to race as
far as I’m concerned, but that’s what she likes to do and we just want to fine
tune it a little bit.”
Luis Saez will ride Caroline Thomas in the Suwannee River.
He has never won aboard the chestnut filly but has finished a close third in a
pair of stakes, including the Sweetest Chant last January at Gulfstream.
“He has ridden her before and done well,” Tagg stated. “I like Luis, I
think he’s a very good rider, really. I think it would work out good.”
Making her 12th lifetime start, Caroline Thomas is
competing in her ninth straight stakes and will continue to keep similar company
for the foreseeable future. Her dam, Bit of Whimsy, was a Grade 1 winner for
Tagg and Young.
“As long as she can do it and is willing to do it, and she
runs well in them, we’ll keep her at the top level if we can,” Tagg declared. “She
comes from a very good family and she deserves to be in those races.
“You can’t
do anything about it if you get beat heads and noses in top quality races. You’d
like to win some of them but I think she’s right there and if anybody makes a
mistake, she’s going to be able to pounce and do it. If she shows us she can’t
then we’ll find easier races for her, but so far I think we’ll keep her at the
top level.”
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