Is it just me or is this year flying right by? Though Maggie and Grace could not join me, I rounded out April with a quick trip home, grabbing a couple of days to attend my god daughter Matilda Walker’s christening. Her father, Ed, has been one of my dearest friends for all of my life; he trains horses in Lambourn at Bjorn Nielsen’s yard. It was my absolute pleasure to be present for such a special moment; the church service was grand and the lunch that followed was delightful. It was also very nice to get to see my mum and dad and spend a day at home before heading to London for some meetings and then flying back to the U.S. This month, Maggie, Grace and I will be traveling to London for an enormous Morley family reunion, which will serve as our mid-summer break away from everything.
Both divisions of horses have been running extremely well. It was very gratifying to see Carrick break his maiden first time out at Belmont for longtime supporters Donegal Racing. It’s always great when you’re sent a backwards three-year-old and put under no pressure to get the horse to the races until he’s ready. Carrick has done nothing but physically improve and mature since he came in. He is stronger behind and his slightly slack ankle and pasterns have really developed over the last couple of months. Javier Castellano gave him a super ground saving ride going a mile and a sixteenth first time out on turf to win by 4 ½ lengths. It’s lovely to see a horse develop so well physically but also improve in their work from week to week. He’s a colt that we haven’t really tightened the screws on yet, so for him to win and win so impressively was very encouraging. He will now target a Starter Allowance at Belmont.
On May 16, Elegant Gem won her maiden by 7 ½ lengths in the slop at Belmont for owners Grand Crue Farm, LLC. and the following day, Shoot the Gap got our Maryland division going with a win at historic Pimlico Race Course. Twelve days of live racing at Old Hill Top Farm took us from Laurel Park to Pimlico on Preakness week where Shoot the Gap won a claiming race by six-lengths in the mud and Colonel Andy just missed under a beautiful ride by Fergal Lynch. Sadly the two got nailed right at the wire in a race that came off of the turf due to rain. Both horse and jockey showed a lot of guts and tried to make up ground, but the conditions simply were not in their favor. Nonetheless, I was extremely proud of their efforts. Just this last Sunday, Shoot the Gap made it to the winner’s circle once again after going 5 ½ furlongs on the dirt at Laurel. He won by a nose.
I was interested to hear Tim Ritvo’s press conference that the Stronach Group will be targeting to move the Preakness to Laurel Park if the state of Maryland and the City of Baltimore do not move to renovate Pimlico. There were 136,000 people at the Preakness this year, which was a record crowd, and it told on the old facility. As wonderful as the hospitality at the Maryland Jockey Club is, I am inclined to agree with the head of the Stronach Group that Pimlico is no longer a showcase arena for a jewel of the American Triple Crown. Many areas in the grandstand are leaking and are in serious need of renovation. In order to bring the sport of horse racing to more social crowds, Pimlico either needs a major renovation or the Preakness Stakes needs to be moved to Laurel where the Stronach Group has done a fantastic job of building and developing a first class facility. I know that a lot of traditionalists will say that the Preakness should always be run at Pimlico; but times change, and it’s time that the Maryland Jockey Club take their jewel of the Triple Crown the way the other two jewels have gone. As sad as I would be to see Pimlico go, it currently is allotted twelve days of live racing in the entire calendar year, and that, to me, doesn’t warrant keeping a falling down race course open at vast expense.
Onto the Triple Crown itself, I could not be more impressed by Justify in the Kentucky Derby. But I have to say that I was every bit as impressed with him in the Preakness. This is a very, very immature, big horse who is quite frankly going to develop into an enormously superior animal if he’s allowed to race on at four. To see what he did in the Kentucky Derby, in only his fourth start, and then back it up with a head-to-head duel with Good Magic two weeks later under horrific conditions in the Preakness and have the ability to put Good Magic away and win in the manner that he did was extremely gratifying to watch. It will be very interesting to see how he takes to Belmont’s track leading up to the race.
I’m still very much on the fence regarding whether or not Justify is ready to take on the grueling mile-and-a-half test that is the Belmont Stakes. He will face horses that have had five weeks or more between races and have home-track advantage. It’s going to be a colossal ask of the horse, but that’s why they call it the Triple Crown. They don’t give them away on Monday afternoon. It takes an absolute monster of a horse to win one. Does Justify have the ability? Yes. Will conditions possibly play against him? Sure. All we can do for now is hope that he is ready.
