A Great Win Looks Even Greater

by Pat Cummings

It’s one thing to put a horse’s performance in perspective immediately following a race, but like much in life, time has a way of revealing the true impact. 

On a gorgeous afternoon last December, Lord Kanaloa earned his second straight win in the G1 Longines Hong Kong Sprint, and I had chills following his utter demolition. At the time, I thought it was one of the greatest race performances I had ever witnessed. Horses simply don’t win Group 1 turf sprints like that, I said to my flummoxed self. 

Then, 2014 happened. The initial feeling only got better as the year went on. 

Eddie Lynam was in Hong Kong for the second time in the last three years, saddling both Sole Power and Slade Power in the Sprint. “Sole” was returning to HK after running ninth in the 2011 edition of the race. “Slade” was making his first voyage outside of the UK or Ireland. On a bus returning to the Wanchai district after one morning’s trackwork, we conversed about the race, his chances, and the one overarching question that Lynam could not shake. 

“How is that horse,” referring to Lord Kanaloa, “rated only 120?” 

The number was inconsequential at that point. It was going to take a herculean effort to get close to the son of King Kamehameha. Up to that point in his career, Lord Kanaloa was beaten five times in his career, never by more than a length, and was never out of the top three. He had 12 wins to his credit before this career finale in HK. 

The Wednesday prior to the race, standing trackside at Sha Tin, Lord Kanaloa got in a final piece of speed work and glided over the grass. The Hong Kong Jockey Club reported his final 400 meters were timed in :21.50 seconds. 

Just a few days before the race, that might seem a liberal piece of work, but after one crack of the whip, his exercise rider was motionless, and the defending champion seemed poised for an easy title defense. 

In the elaborate barrier draw held in the imposing Sha Tin parade ring, a gasp went up when the hot pot favorite drew out wide in gate 12. It was no trouble for jockey Yasunari Iwata, however. A leading Japanese rider who won the 2006 Melbourne Cup on Delta Blues, Iwata settled wide around the lone turn and allowed Lord Kanaloa to progress to the lead with ease at the 300-meter marker and powerhoused away from the classy field, winning by a massive five lengths. 

Now, Lord Kanaloa won the 2012 Hong Kong Sprint by 2 1/2 lengths. Sure, that was good. But it really does not hold a candle to his repeat performance in 2013. 

The quality of the competition in this field, and what they would go on to do, was mindblowing. 

Second home Sole Power, a G1 Coolmore Nunthorpe S. winner as a juvenile in 2010 and the 2013 G1 King’s Stand S. victor would follow his Hong Kong Sprint placing with repeat successes in both races in 2014. He is due to lineup for a third crack at the race this Sunday. 

Sterling City was fifth and would go on to win the G1 Dubai Golden Shaheen in March. Rich Tapestry won the G3 Mahab Al Shimaal S. at Meydan’s Super Saturday meeting and later won the GI Santa Anita Sprint Championship on dirt in October. 

Seventh-placed Lucky Nine won his second consecutive G1 KrisFlyer International Sprint at the Singapore International Racing Festival in May. 

Slade Power was only 10th behind Lord Kanaloa, but came back in 2014 with three group-level wins, including the G1 Diamond Jubilee S. at Royal Ascot, then the G1 Darley July Cup three weeks later at Newmarket. 

Eleventh-placed Charles the Great came back in April to win the Sprint Cup at Sha Tin, besting eventual KrisFlyer winner Lucky Nine. 

Only twice in stakes company did the great Black Caviar record a victory as wide as Lord Kanaloa’s. Take a sampling of the best turf sprints in the world and it is near impossible to find a margin as wide as the one earned at Sha Tin last December. Comb through the history of every turf race in the current Global Sprint Challenge Series (which includes the King’s Stand, Diamond Jubilee S., Takamatsunomiya Kinen, Sprinters’ S., Black Caviar Lightning S., Darley Classic, Darley July Cup, KrisFlyer International Sprint), plus a few other major Group 1 sprints including the Prix de l’Abbaye. 

In the last 20 years, just one horse out of nearly 200 races that fit this profile matched Lord Kanaloa’s five-length tour de force (Mayson, 2012 Darley July Cup, on heavy ground). The vast majority did not come close. Said again, horses simply don’t run away from Group 1 company in turf sprints and win by five widening lengths. Lord Kanaloa did…easily. 

It is understandable why the international panel of handicappers rates performances on their individual merits at the time of the race. The process is consistent and unemotional. But when the final 2013 Longines World’s Best Racehorse Rankings (WBRR) were released, Lord Kanaloa’s 128 was, somewhat surprisingly, only tied for fifth. 

One spot ahead at 129 was Wise Dan, given that mark for his three-length GI Woodbine Mile win in September 2013. He defeated Za Approval, who came back to run second, again, behind Wise Dan in the Breeders’ Cup Mile, and was just a two-time Grade III winner. This year, he has a lone overnight stakes win to his credit. 

Third in the Woodbine Mile, Trade Storm–scheduled to run in Sunday’s G1 Longines Hong Kong Mile–came back to win the 2014 Woodbine Mile and was third in the GI Breeders’ Cup Mile, but was rated at least below 120 as of the WBRR’s last publishing. Fourth home, Riding the River, was winless in four starts following the 2013 Woodbine Mile. Dimension, fifth in the race, won a listed stakes at Kentucky Downs in six starts since Wise Dan’s win. The last home, Excaper, won an allowance race along with the GII Connaught Cup S. in seven starts since. 

Yet, on “in-the-moment” ratings, Wise Dan’s performance warranted a higher rating than Lord Kanaloa’s near historic win. 

In the aftermath of Lord Kanaloa’s win, a marching band played the thought-provoking, poetic, and brief, Japanese national anthem, Kimigayo. 

“May your reign continue for a thousand, no, eight thousand generations, until the pebbles grow into boulders lush with moss.” 

None of us will be around for more than a few generations, but in our collective time, Lord Kanaloa’s win in the 2013 Hong Kong Sprint was definitely one of the best individual races we have ever seen. Time can make the great look even greater.