Hangin' With Haskin : daddy nose best

Haskin's Derby Trail: Thursday Potpourri

Blood-Horse Staff — Thu, 03 May 2012 23:04:00 GMT

The time is getting near. No not the Derby, trying to finally decipher this intricate and confusing puzzle. We’ve made a few more observations this morning that should help, as well as another trip to the paddock.

First, the quote of day goes to who else but Bob Baffert, who drew post 20 with Liaison and post 6 with Bodemeister. Baffert has gotten burned with post positions in the past few years, especially in the Derby with Lookin at Lucky, who had a disastrous trip from the rail.

Baffert, who is recovering from a heart attack, after which he had three stents inserted, said when Liaison drew post 20 he started having nightmares of “bookending” the draw with posts 1 and 20.

“If I had a choice of having three stents put in or drawing post 1 I’d choose the three stents,” Baffert said. “At least I’d have a shot.”

Statistic of the day: In Calvin Borel’s three Derby victories, he faced a total of 58 horses and had to go around a total of only four of them. Considering the different posts, the amount of horses each year, and the traffic jams that unfold, that’s pretty amazing. We’re not saying Borel owns the rail in the Derby and is at home there, but he’s all but taken out a mortgage on it.

Joel Einhorn, of Flushing, N.Y., who won a chance to place a $100,000 bet on one horse in the Kentucky Derby, visited with Dale Romans and posed for a photo with Romans and Dullahan outside the barn. Einhorn, who is playing it as cool as the proverbial cucumber, was on a scouting mission prior to his potential life-altering wager. Romans assured him he wouldn’t trade places with anyone.

When Hansen schooled in the paddock this afternoon, co-owner Dr. Kendall Hansen came in accompanied by a comely young lady holding a Hansen sign. Dr. Hansen then proceeded to toss Hansen dolls to the fans outside the paddock. And so it begins.

Hansen - Photo by Steve Haskin

Some of the horses who caught the eye this morning were Gemologist, a powerful-looking colt with a big stride, who made a striking appearance. Loved the way he came off the track at a full-clip, showing a lot of energy.

Gemologist - Photo by Steve Haskin

As strong as I’ll Have Another has been galloping, he was really motoring around there this morning, close to the rail, seemingly going at a two-minute lick. This colt has been full of energy since he arrived here.

Although he’s going to be a huge longshot and drew the outside post, Liaison keeps looking better every day and has really blossomed here. Loved his gallop this morning; very smooth and just aggressive enough.

Daddy Nose Best and Sabercat schooled in the paddock, and like everything else they do, they were absolutely perfect. Neither of these colts does anything wrong and are dream horses to train. They have super dispositions, look great physically, and we’d be surprised if one of them doesn’t pop off a big effort. Daddy Nose Best, who has had four works over the track, is long-bodied colt with a classic head and a magnificent eye, and we can watch him all day. He’s that kind of horse. Sabercat was ranked No. 5 in our first Derby Watch, so he’s been a colt we’ve been high on for a long time.

Sabercat schooling in the paddock- Photo by Steve Haskin

Daddy Nose Best - Photo by Steve Haskin

Daddy Nose Best - Photo by Steve Haskin

We’ll discuss them and other longshot possibilities and possible exotics in tomorrow’s selection column.

Two horses who got wet yesterday, Union Rags in his gallop and Rousing Sermon in his paddock schooling, both were much improved today.

Union Rags - Photo by Steve Haskin

Perhaps the most striking colt is El Padrino, a magnificent, powerfully made chestnut with a white face. He did get wet in his gallop and during schooling, but he is a Pulpit and it’s possible this is nothing out of the ordinary for him.

Others who schooled well today were Bodemeister and Dullahan. Creative Cause was listed to school before the fourth race, but was a no-show.

Finally, another colt who has been doing better here each day is Alpha, who seems to like this track. His first day here he was gawking at the crowd, but has settled in to a nice routine. And you can’t find any faults with Take Charge Indy, who glides along with his neck bowed, and Optimizer, who has impressed in his works and gallops and overall appearance, even though no one is really paying much attention to him. Nor are they paying much attention to Done Talking, who goes about his business every day in a professional manner.

D. Wayne Lukas escorts Optimizer - Photo by Steve Haskin

Just think, after tomorrow, you won’t have to hear how most of these horses are doing so well. No matter how well they’re doing, some 14 or 15 of them are going to have no impact on the race. And that is very hard to believe.

Haskin's Derby Trail: Remember Mark Valeski?

aspradling — Sun, 29 Apr 2012 21:55:00 GMT

The Kentucky Derby trail and short memories go hand in hand. Remember not too long ago when Mark Valeski was the next up-and-coming star, grabbing everyone’s attention with his gutsy nose defeat to El Padrino in the Risen Star Stakes (gr. II)?

Well, following one throw-out loss in the Louisiana Derby (gr. II), it’s now Mark who?

Even owner Brereton Jones is wondering if the Derby is the right spot for the son of Proud Citizen.

“I’m not 100 percent sure we’ll be in the Derby,” Jones said while waiting for his Kentucky Oaks filly Believe You Can to come out on the track for her work. “It all depends on how he works tomorrow. In all honesty, he might be better off in the Peter Pan. It’s a grade II and we haven’t won a graded stakes yet. And he won’t have to run against 19 other horses. But his (speed) numbers actually are not bad, and Larry (trainer Jones) thinks he really belongs. So in the final analysis, I’m going to leave it up to Larry. He’s a great horse trainer and a lot of owners make the mistake of telling their trainer what to do.”

A few minutes later, Mark Valeski came jogging up to the finish line with Jones aboard and stopped for a few seconds. The colt looked fantastic. He is extremely athletic looking with great muscle tone and definition. From a physical standpoint, he looked coiled and ready to unleash the real Mark Valeski.

With the 180-pound Jones in the saddle, he barreled around the racetrack at a strong clip and didn’t sound as if he were blowing at all.

“As of right this minute, I’m not saying that it’s 100% we’ll be in the Derby,” Jones said. That work tomorrow is gonna be important. He has to show me, ‘I’m better now than I’ve ever been.’ I just want to make sure he gets over this track really well.

“Brereton is trying to get cold feet. He just doesn’t want to do something that’s gonna look stupid and have everyone say he got Derby fever.”

The reason for all the uncertainty is Mark Valeski’s recent upset in the Louisiana Derby to the 109-1 shot Hero of Order.

“I beat Hero of Order the race before (the Black Gold) with Icon Ike and I can’t mention Icon Ike and Mark Valeski in the same sentence,” Jones said. “Ike is a good horse but he ain’t no Mark Valeski.”

Most people are aware that Mark Valeski threw a shoe before the Louisiana Derby, but not many realize that he got bumped at the start and stepped on, likely by his own stablemate Mr. Bowling, tearing off a chunk of his foot.

“My other horse apparently stepped on him,” Jones said. “He was the only horse who got close enough to him to do it. All I saw was that they bumped coming out of the gate. But he came back with the whole bulb ripped off of his foot. So he had to have gotten hit by a horse and Mr. Bowling is the only horse who got close enough to him. A 109-1 shot wins the race, I blow a shoe in the post parade, and get run over by my other horse. This is divine intervention. I had nothing to do with it. It came from above. I just wasn’t supposed to win that race.

“Everybody uses the turf to dirt angle for handicapping or synthetic to dirt. Well I’m gonna use the shoe off to shoe on angle. Every time I’ve lost a shoe and still run a good race I’ve never been beaten in the next race back. I’ve won every time. So that’s my angle.”

Jones also feels that, despite the recent defeat, Mark Valeski’s speed figures measure up well in this field.

“If you really look at this horse’s Ragozin numbers, he’s almost a mirror image of Hard Spun coming into the race,” he said. “If he throws in a Hard Spun kind of race we’ll be alright. He ran a “6 ½” in the sprint, and then came back and ran a “6” in the Risen Star in his first race going long. He came back and threw in a “5 ¼” with the shoe off and picking up six pounds. This horse has never taken a backward step. A lot of these have bounced after running a big number.”

As for Mark Valeski being a forgotten horse, Jones said, “That’s Good. I’m enjoying this part of it. I remember a horse called Giacomo. I was stabled next to that sonofagun and I didn’t know John Shirreffs, but we talked a lot and we got to know each other that week. I had to ask him what the name of his horse was. I had never hard of him. I didn’t remember it until after the race. He won, and like us, he didn’t win a prep that year.”

Jones never used to gallop Mark Valeski, but he got tired of his exercise riders taking the easy way out on the colt, so he began getting on him himself.

“I gallop him because he used to be lazy,” Jones said. “He didn’t want to gallop. He’d go out there and do as little as he could and just what you made him do and nothing more. The exercise boys loved him, because it made their work easy. I would tell them, “He’s not getting anything out of it; you’ve got to make him gallop. They’d say, ‘No that’s that way he wants to gallop.’ So, I’d tell them, ‘Well then you’re fired off of him. You can ride other horses and I’m gonna ride him. Y’all get mad because I start riding the good horses when were coming up on the big races. Well that’s because y’all want to do it your way’

“With all the speed in there he can be placed anywhere. He’ll sit wherever we put him, and Rosie (Napravnik) has such a knack of figuring out the pace real quick that she can put him in the spot he’s supposed to be in.

“I told Brereton, ‘When I go over, I’m not leading him over there and saying, ‘Man I hope I hit the board.’ When I leave this barn I’m thinking, ‘I’m gonna win this race.’”

Now all he has to do is work well tomorrow. If he does and runs in the Derby, you can have confidence knowing that Jones believes he can win it.

*Listen to more of Larry Jone's thoughts on Mark Valeski on Talkin' Horses with The Blood-Horse.