It barely created a stir, but the news that broke last week that Pavel (Creative Cause) was bypassing Saturday's GI Santa H. to run in the G1 Dubai World Cup was in fact significant. The Big Cap, one of the great, traditional races in the sport, has been decimated by the Dubai World Cup and Santa Anita officials have no doubt grown used to losing the biggest of the big guns to the lure of Dubai's riches. But when you start losing horses like Pavel, it's time to panic.
His biggest career win came in the GIII Smarty Jones S. at Parx and he was fourth in his last two starts, the GI Malibu S. and the GII San Pasqual S. He's a nice enough horse, but he's not an elite horse. And the Big Cap couldn't get him, even though he may well have been the favorite in the race. A race, by the way, that has seen its purse slashed down from $1 million to $600,000.
So far as popularity and prestige go, races do in fact come and go. But this one is different. The Santa Anita Handicap is iconic and it's sad to see what has happened to it. This is a race that has been won by Seabiscuit, Round Table, Affirmed, Spectacular Bid, John Henry (twice), Alysheba, Tiznow. In its glory days, there was no bigger race in America. Now, it's starting to look like a race in seriously jeopardy of being downgraded to a Grade II. Santa Anita can't allow that to happen.
The biggest problem the race has is where it is scheduled. The Big Cap is stuck between the GI Pegasus World Cup and the Dubai World Cup. One race is worth $16 million and the other $10 million. It would be irrational to try to compete with either race from a purse standpoint, particularly when the Pegasus is run at Santa Anita's sister track, Gulfstream, and the Maktoum family has pockets deeper than the Grand Canyon.
Before Hollywood Park closed, Santa Anita had little choice but to run the Big Cap in or around March. But now that Hollywood Park is in the midst of being turned into a football stadium and Santa Anita's meet extends into late June, there's no reason why the Big Cap can't be moved on the calendar to a spot where it once again has a chance of attracting the sport's elite older horses.
The old Hollywood Gold Cup has been renamed the GI Gold Cup at Santa Anita and will be run this year on May 26 at, of course, Santa Anita. The purse is $500,000, peanuts by today's standards.
So here's how you fix this: Get rid of the Hollywood/Santa Anita Gold Cup. No one will miss it. Replace it on the schedule with the Big Cap, and run it in mid-June. That would put it in a perfect spot between the Dubai World Cup and the GI Pacific Classic.
You've saved $500,000 by axing the Gold Cup at Santa Anita. Add that to the $600,000 already earmarked for the Big Cap and then throw in an extra $900,000 to make it a $2 million race. If The Stronach Group was able to find $4 million extra sitting around to fatten the pot for the Pegasus World Cup, certainly it shouldn't have any problems coming up with a mere $900,000 to help restore the prestige of the Big Cap.
And don't stop there. Throw in a $1 million bonus for any horse that wins the new Big Cap and either the Dubai World Cup or the Pegasus. The stars will come back.
This is bold stuff and it involves spending a lot of money and erasing a Grade I race from your schedule. But the Stronach management team has proven to be the most daring, most innovative group in racing–by a mile. It shouldn't be afraid to mix things up. The alternative is that the Santa Anita H. is going to become a race that no longer matters.
Ramsey Got What He Wanted in Barbados
Owner Ken Ramsey told the TDN last week that he had no intention of coming home from Barbados this year empty handed after failing to win the Barbados Gold Cup in 2017 and 2016. He won the race the two prior years.
Ramsey is so driven to win the Barbados race, which is a huge event in the Carribean nation but carries a purse of just $107,000 (US), that he sent two horses that, by his own admission, should have been running in much richer races in the U.S.
As expected, Ramsey won his third Gold Cup as Sir Dudley Digges (Gio Ponti), the 2016 Queen's Plate winner, got the job done defeating stablemate Shining Copper (Aragorn {Ire}. It was a bit of a surprise that Sir Dudley Digges beat Shining Copper, as the latter was considered the better of the two as he was on a three-race winning streak, which included the GIII River City H. and the GII Fort Lauderdale S. Dorsett (Artie Schiller), the horse that had beaten the Ramsey stable in each of the prior two years, finished fourth.
Ramsey did not have a perfect day as his Kitten's Cat (Kitten's Joy) was second in the Sandy Lane Spa Sprint Stakes and Trophy.
It was a good Saturday afternoon for Queen's Plate winners as 2017 winner Holy Helena (Ghostzapper) won the GIII Very One S. at Gulfstream.
You Really Don't Have to Pay a Lot For a Good Horse
The GII Fountain of Youth S. was just another reminder that trying to figure out yearlings can just about drive you mad.
When Hip 921 entered the ring at the 2016 Keeneland September sale it's likely that most of the big money guys had already left town or took the opportunity to go have a drink or chat with a friend. To his credit, trainer Dale Romans was paying attention. He signed the $37,000 ticket on Promises Fulfilled (Shackleford), who is now owned by Robert J. Baron. It can't be a coincidence that Romans trained Shackleford, who has far exceeded expectations since he entered stud duty.
Romans surely knew he had a good horse when Promises Fulfilled finished third in the GII Kentucky Jockey Cub S. last fall. Now he's something better than even that–he's a serious contender for the GI Kentucky Derby. Promises Fulfilled crashed the party at 18-1 to win the Fountain of Youth by 2 1/4 lengths over Strike Power (Speightstown).
It's not just that Romans found a really good horse for $37,000, in the Fountain of Youth he beat two of the more expensive horses to come out of that same sale. Third-place finisher and 2-year-old champion Good Magic (Curlin) cost $1 million and fifth-place finisher Marconi (Tapit) cost $2 million. Both are good horses and may yet prove to surpass Promises Fulfilled on the racetrack, but when it comes to being a bargain, they can't top him.
Speaking of Bargains
What a day the sire Blame had Saturday. He had two winners, including one in a stakes race and had still another horse place in a stakes. His day started off with Demolition winning a $27,000 maiden special weight race at Tampa Bay Downs and only got better when Maraud won the GIII Palm Beach S. at Gulfstream. His son March also finished third in the GIII Canadian Turf S. Blame also had a graded stakes winner in February when Fault won the GII Buena Vista S. at Santa Anita.
He's a hot sire and his stud fee of $12,500 certainly seems to be quite the deal.
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