Stardom Bound: The Forgotten Superstar

jshandler — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 16:19:00 GMT

Question: At this time last year, if you had to name the one juvenile filly with the best chance of being a 3-year-old superstar, who would it be?

Chances are, most of you would have chosen champion 2-year-old filly Stardom Bound, not Rachel Alexandra. I know I would have. I was blown away by her spectacular late runs in both the Oak Leaf and Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies. In fact, of all the great BC race last year, her victory was my favorite. There is something a young horse who can give that kind of late kick.

Stardom Bound, who was sold after the Breeders' Cup and transferred to the barn of Bobby Frankel and then Rick Dutrow Jr., seemed poised for the huge 3-year-old season that most expected after wins in the Feb. 7 Las Virgenes and March 7 Santa Anita Oaks, giving her an incredible five grade I scores in a six-month period. But then she finished a disappointing third in the Ashland and seemed to disappear. With the emergence of Rachel right around that time, Stardom Bound became the forgotten superstar filly.

It might be time to start thinking about the daughter of Tapit once again.

When I talked to Dutrow on Friday, he said the goal is still to make the Nov. 6 Breeders' Cup Ladies Classic. And even though she will have been off for seven months, Dutrow has no problem training the filly right up to the race.

After the Ashland, Stardom Bound's ambitious campaign--in which she raced eight times in an eight and half month period--had finally caught up with her. Dutrow said she was dead tired and needed a lengthy rest. She was turned out for a couple months before returning to training in New York in July.

Dutrow had been very pleased with Stardom Bound's works up until the last few weeks. He said she had a "setback," earlier in the month which caused him to back off a bit. But on Sept. 23, Dutrow liked what he saw when she breezed for the first time in nearly three weeks, a three-furlong move at Aqueduct. He said the next month of works will determine whether or not they go to California.

Here is a little bit of what Dutrow had to say:

"She's doing good right now. She hadn't been clicking on all cylinders, but I really liked the way she moved (on Sept. 23).

"I would love for her to make the Breeders' Cup. Right now, I'm just not sure if she'll be fit enough by then. It's still up in the air. Two months ago, I would have been under the impression that she would be able to do it. I'm just not sure right now.

"It all depends on the next month and how she works. I would have no problem running the filly (off the layoff). If she is ready, I would expect her to run big. She only needs a couple of sharp works to be ready.

"(If we decide to go), I would want to keep her right where she is (at Aqueduct)."

That last comment was in reference to a question I posed about when they would ship her to Santa Anita. Dutrow said, if she goes, she would probably train up to the race at Aqueduct and won't ship to California until the week of the Breeders' Cup.

I hope Stardom Bound makes it. I still think Zenyatta will race in the Ladies Classic, not the Classic, and if other talented females like Music Note, Careless Jewel, Swift Temper, Seventh Street, Life is Sweet, and Icon Project are on board, the Ladies Classic will be quite a race. Stay tuned.

What Did We Learn From Big Brown's Haskell?

jshandler — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 11:35:00 GMT

It is not often that a horse wins a $1 million grade I race and people still walk away scratching their heads.

Was it a good performance or not?

It is a difficult question to answer. Then again, we should not have expected anything less. From the very start, everything about Big Brown seems to be complicated.

On Sunday at Monmouth Park, Big Brown won the Haskell Invitational, as he collared front-running Coal Play inside the sixteenth-pole to win by 1 3/4 lengths. In one respect, Big Brown did exactly what his connections wanted him to do - rebound from his disappointment in the Belmont Stakes and restore his reputation.

On the other hand, it was not the visually impressive performance that many expected - including trainer Rick Dutrow Jr. - and it was far from a resounding win. In fact, the horse he struggled to beat, Coal Play, had only maiden and allowance wins to show for his eight-start career.

So, what did we learn?

For one, the most important thing is that Big Brown did what he had to do to continue his racing career. Had he come up empty down the stretch, as it appeared for a short while that he was going to do, there is a decent possibility that we would have seen the last of the dual classic winner. After hearing Mike Iavarone afterward, it seems fairly certain that Big Brown will race at least twice more before his career ends. In that respect, it was an important win.

Also, after looking at the replays several times, I give Big Brown a little more credit than I did while watching the race live. One must take into consideration that he was entering off a nearly two-month layoff and won despite coming off a last place finish in his most recent race, something no horse had ever done in the Haskell.

More importantly, after seeing the fractions and final time, it must be pointed out that Coal Play ran a terrific race. As stated above, Coal Play had done nothing prior to this race for people to say he was anything but an average 3-year-old. But you can take nothing away from the fact that he ran a :23 opening quarter, :46 2/5 half-mile, 1:10 4/5 for six furlongs and 1:35 mile. They are very solid splits. Anyone, let alone Big Brown, would have a difficult time running down a horse who runs those numbers. And the final time of 1:48.31 was respectable.

And while it was obvious that Coal Play was leg weary in that final furlong, give Big Brown a lot of credit for having the grit to run by him when he was obviously not at his best.

On the flip side of this debate, anyone who watched the Haskell could see that Big Brown did not have the same explosiveness that he showed in every one of his other races (save the Belmont, of course). Kent Desormeaux certainly did not have a "freak" under him, as he has in the past. He had a very good race horse that used his talent and experience to get the job done. And as all of know by now, he got the job done against a very average field.

So what did Big Brown's Haskell win really tell us? Other than it appears he has regressed a bit from the first half of the year, not much. I am going to need to see him run these final two races before I make my final judgment on him. I will also need to see what Coal Play does the rest of the year to really see who Big Brown beat.

The early rumors are that Iavarone will send him to either the Massachusetts Handicap or the Pennsylvania Derby (Wow, imagine Big Brown coming to Philly Park). But this won't be decided for a week or more. In the meantime, let's do what we do best - analyze this performance until we're blue in the face.

Breeders Cup Chat : Rick Dutrow Jr.

Stardom Bound: The Forgotten Superstar

What Did We Learn From Big Brown's Haskell?