HRN: Fiftyshadesofgold Carries the Hopes of Texas to Kentucky

Each time I post a new article on my Horse Racing Nation blog, I post a notice on this blog. These notices include an excerpt from the beginning of that article and a link to the piece. My latest Horse Racing Nation article is. . .

Fiftyshadesofgold Carries the Hopes of Texas to Kentucky

"Anyone living in the Lone Star State is familiar with the phrase “Everything is bigger in Texas.” Head down to the United States’ second largest state and you will realize that this statement is quite true. Time spent in Texas is exposure to big trucks, big ranches, and big temperatures. But the Texas horse racing industry does not quite fall into this category. Texas boasts the largest horse population of any state in the nation and the northern part of the state, particularly Denton County, is home to hundreds of the country’s top horse ranches, many of which are home to world champion horses in various disciplines. However, the Thoroughbred racing industry in Texas pales in comparison to states like California, Florida, Kentucky, and New York. Texas-breds receive little respect when they compete in such states and oftentimes, this lack of respect is unfortunately justified by poor performances by said Texas-breds. However, on one of racing’s biggest stages, the undercard of the Kentucky Oaks (gr. I) at Churchill Downs this Friday, Fiftyshadesofgold looks to make the Texas racing industry proud. . ."

Click here to read the rest of my newest Horse Racing Nation article.

Oaks Contender: Summer Applause

Bret Calhoun has emerged from solely being a successful trainer in the South and has formed a presence on the national scene. For instance, in 2010, he saddled two Breeders’ Cup winners: Chamberlain Bridge and Dubai Majesty. Now, in 2012, he has a chance to saddle the victor of the renowned Kentucky Oaks (GI) thanks to a talented filly named Summer Applause.

The bay filly debuted in Canada as a juvenile, finishing a flat sixth in a five and one-half-furlong maiden special weight over Woodbine’s all-weather track. She redeemed herself next out, however, stretching out to seven furlongs. After settling off the leaders, Summer Applause struck to the lead in the stretch prior to drawing clear to win by 2 ¼ lengths.

Her final start as a two-year-old came at Fair Grounds Race Course in New Orleans, Louisiana, in which she contested in a mile and seventy yards allowance optional claiming over the track’s dirt surface. She showed a new dimension, setting the lead from start to finish as she effortlessly triumphed by 7 lengths.

Summer Applause’s stakes debut came in the Silverbulletday Stakes, in which the Calhoun trainee pressed the pace set by Believe You Can before the aforementioned filly went on to defeat her by 2 ½ lengths. Summer Applause clearly learned much from the race, however, as next out in the Rachel Alexandra Stakes (GIII), she continued her blossoming rivalry with Believe You Can. Returning to her style of rating off the pace, Summer Applause made a late move to take the mile and one-sixteenth race by a length, leaving Believe You Can in fourth.

The rivalry was revived yet again in the Fair Grounds Oaks (GII), in which Summer Applause rated off the pace before making an outside move on the far turn. It appeared as if Believe You Can was drawing away from the field, leaving Summer Applause behind, but the Calhoun trainee dug in under Robby Albarado. As she reached the sixteenth pole, she suddenly hit another gear and accelerated to close in on Believe You Can, only to miss by a head. The blaze-faced bay galloped out ahead of the victor.

Calhoun, who typically keeps a stable at Churchill Downs during the Louisville track’s meet, already has Summer Applause stabled beneath the Twin Spires, giving her plenty of time to get adapted to the track. She will get more training over the track compared to several other Kentucky Oaks hopefuls, which will certainly be to her benefit.

Summer Applause’s bloodlines are full of the names of elite horses, giving implications that Summer Applause has only just begun her journey to success. Her sire is Harlan’s Holiday, who has quickly become one of the most productive sires in the industry. A multiple grade one-winning grandson of Storm Cat, Harlan’s Holiday has produced the grade one-winning horses Into Mischief and Majesticperfection, the multiple group stakes-winning horses Mendip and Willcox Inn, and the grade three-winning runners Dynamic Holiday, Riley Tucker, Saratoga Sinner, Silver Reunion, and Tasha’s Miracle.

The dam of Summer Applause is Summer Exhibition, a result of the mating between the champion Royal Academy and the stakes-winning dam of the multiple graded stakes-winning Recoup the Cash. In addition to producing Summer Applause, Summer Exhibition is the dam of the multiple stakes-placed runner Big Easy.

Summer Applause features two crosses of the Reine De Course mare Crimson Saint, who was a graded stakes winner who produced the grade one-winning champion and sire Royal Academy, the grade one-winning and track record-equaling Pancho Villa, the multiple graded stakes-winning dam of Storm Cat in Terlingua, the stakes-winning Alydariel, and the stakes-placed horses Border Run and Encino (the latter of which is graded stakes-placed). 

She is also inbred 5 X 4 to Northern Dancer, who has appeared in both the bloodlines of the sire and dam in the pedigrees of such Kentucky Oaks winners as Rachel Alexandra and Keeper Hill, as well as recent Derby victors Mine That Bird and Big Brown.

Summer Applause descends from a line of royally-bred mares from E.P. Taylor’s powerhouse breeding program. Her fifth dam, the Reine De Course mare Victoriana, who herself is a daughter of a Reine De Course mare in Iribelle, is the dam of the 1952 Canadian Horse of the Year Canadiana. Victoriana was an even more successful broodmare than her dam, producing the champions Northern Queen (Summer Applause’s fourth dam) and Victoria Park, the multiple stakes-winning Bull Vic, and the dam of a champion. Other direct descendants of Victoriana include the Canadian Hall of Famer Vice Regent, the Canadian champion Northern Blossom, and the multiple group stakes-winning High Accolade. This productive dam line hails from female family ten, which has yielded the champions Beldame, Deputy Minister, and La Roche, as well as the 2005 Kentucky Oaks victor Summerly.

Summer Applause poses one of the biggest threats in the Kentucky Oaks as a result of her clear racing talent and determination, in addition to her royal pedigree. Though she has finished behind Believe You Can more than she has defeated her, I believe she is the better filly, especially the longer the distance. Summer Applause is absolutely one of the leading contenders for this year’s edition of the Run for the Lilies.


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Euroears Says Goodbye to the Track

On April 24, 2010, I stood along the rail at Lone Star Park as the field for the Texas Mile Stakes (GIII) made their way to the saddling paddock. I was familiar with several horses in the field and had seen many of them race before. I’d seen the eventual winner – Mythical Power – win the Lone Star Derby (GIII) the year before. I’d also watched Jonesboro – one of my personal favorites – race several times before, including his win in the 2009 Texas Mile. Also in the field was another personal favorite of mine, King Dan, who was trained by Dallas Keen, who I knew through the rescue he runs with his wife, Donna: Remember Me Rescue.

Euroears
Photo: Terri Cage

Little did I know, walking towards me along the rail was a horse that would capture my heart forever.  When I set sight on the stocky chestnut, my eyes widened as I realized how beautiful the horse was. The features of his face were very refined, including a bright eye. The white stripe on his face was made unique by two tiny brown spots in the middle of it. He carried himself with extreme class and as he moved past me, I was able to realize how well-built he was. He was a very well-balanced individual, possessing a long, sloping shoulder that allowed him to be evenly divided into thirds and have a shorter topline in relation to a longer underline. He was very muscular, having bulging forearms and gaskins and was wide through the chest and from stifle to stifle. With all of those characteristics plus being structurally correct, the Bret Calhoun trainee was an impeccable individual. I declared Euroears the most beautiful horse I’d ever seen.

Euroears ended up finishing second, crossing the wire just a neck behind the Bob Baffert-trained Mythical Power. With his dazzling beauty and gutsy performance, Euroears had captured my heart.

I saw him about a month later when he finished third in the mile and one-sixteenth Lone Star Park Handicap (GIII). I relished seeing him again, as I knew it was very likely the last time I would see him.

Flash back to three years earlier. Following a nine and one-half length victory in his debut at Lone Star, Euroears wheeled off five more consecutive victories, including wins in the F. W. Gaudin Memorial Stakes, Colonel Power Stakes, and Duncan F. Kenner Stakes at the Fair Grounds. Between those wins and his graded stakes efforts at Lone Star Park in 2010, Euroears won the Thanksgiving Handicap at Fair Grounds. All these races came for trainer Bret Calhoun. His last start for Calhoun came in a disappointing effort in the Firecracker Handicap (GII) on the turf at Churchill Downs.

Euroears
Photo: Terri Cage

Euroears did not return to the races until January of 2011. He was now in the hands of Bob Baffert in Southern California, where he had fired six bullets in the morning. He made his seven-year-old debut in the Palos Verdes Stakes (GII) at Santa Anita, drawing off to defeat five other talented horses, including the multiple grade one-winning Smiling Tiger, by two and one-quarter lengths. The final time for six furlongs was a dazzling 1:07.23.

His victory was enough to garner him a position in the starting gate in Dubai, where he took on some of the world’s best sprinters in the Dubai Golden Shaheen (GI) in his next start. After setting the pace at Meydan, the chestnut fought valiantly to finish second to the multiple grade one-winning Singapore-based Rocket Man.

Euroears returned to the United States, but did not start again until the end of July, when he made a start in the Bing Crosby Stakes (GI). As usual, the strapping chestnut took the lead immediately and posted blazing fractions. He never looked back as he flew across the synthetic surface, his impressive muscles carrying him with tremendous speed along the track. He earned his first grade one victory by a length and one-quarter, leaving behind him the multiple grade one-winning Smiling Tiger, the eventual 2011 Champion Sprinter Amazombie, and the 2010 Dubai Golden Shaheen winner, Kinsale King. Not only had he impressively defeated several talented sprinters, he had broken the Del Mar track record for six furlongs.

Euroears’ last four starts weren’t exactly up to par. He finished eighth in the Vosburgh Invitational Stakes (GI), in which he was impeded after the start. His effort in the Breeders’ Cup Sprint (GI) was very disappointing, as he was never really himself and faded to finish last. He rebounded slightly in the Vernon O. Underwood Stakes (GIII) at Hollywood Park after Thanksgiving, finishing fourth. In his final start, which came today in the Palos Verdes at Santa Anita, he broke poorly and didn't show his usual spark yet again, finishing fourth.

Euroears
Photo: Terri Cage

Though Euroears’ start in the Breeders’ Cup Sprint was disappointing, I was able to catch my final glimpses of him on the track while he was under the Twin Spires for the championship races. A couple days before the Breeders’ Cup races began, as I was standing along the rail of the clubhouse turn at Churchill Downs, I saw a stocky chestnut jogging towards me. I scrutinized the horse and once I noticed the distinguishable face marking, I screeched Euroears’ name with excitement. The chestnut pricked his ears as he neared me and his exercise rider smiled at me as the pair jogged by. I kept my eyes glued to “my boy” as he jogged down the track. It was a relief to see him again.

Joyfully, I watched other Breeders’ Cup horses jog by, but I was on edge, waiting for Euroears to gallop by. Before long, I caught sight of the copper-colored horse galloping around the clubhouse turn. I fixed my camera on him, my eyes lighting up as he galloped in front of me. A couple days later, I would admire him along the rail one final time as he headed to post in the Sprint.

Euroears has taken me on a journey I never would have imagined a horse would take me on. It’s not often that a horse that dominantly breaks its maiden at my home track – Lone Star – goes on to win a grade one in track record-breaking fashion, let alone race in Dubai or at the Breeders’ Cup. I am very grateful to have seen Euroears in person several times.

He will now stand stud at JEH Stallion Station in Oklahoma and will breed to both Quarter Horse and Thoroughbred mares. Euroears will now live out his days at JEH, which is where he belongs. Jim and Marilyn Helzer – who have owned Euroears since the beginning of his career – founded JEH in 1994. If there is anywhere Euroears should stay for the rest of his life, it’s with the Helzers.

About 150 miles south of the Oklahoma division of JEH Stallion Station is the track that started it all for Euroears: Lone Star Park. Someday, I hope to see sons and daughters there and at other tracks across the world, displaying the same scintillating speed as their sire.

Thanks for the memories, Euroears!

Photo: Terri Cage

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King of Speed: A Champion in the Eyes of Many

It’s not often that you come across a horse that ran 111 times, earning $590,948 over a career that spanned from age two to age eleven. Yet, if you were to meet King of Speed, you would come across a horse that did just that.

King of Speed winning at Lone Star Park in 2010
Photo: Terri Cage

The chestnut son of the multiple graded stakes-winning Senor Speedy ran at ten different tracks in six different states. He went through three different trainers, winning twenty-seven races and placing in three black-type races, earning over $100,000 in three of his ten racing seasons.

King of Speed ran for William Bradley – his owner, breeder, and trainer – for the majority of his career, but was claimed by Bret Calhoun in October of his eight-year-old year and raced for that trainer in 34 of his last 35 starts.

His last race came on December 8, 2010 at Remington Park, in which he finished last in a field of eight. His owner, Carl Moore, then turned the gelding out at his farm. After about a year of being turned out at Moore’s farm, King came to Remember Me Rescue, a non-profit foundation founded by Dallas and Donna Keen that retrains and rehomes racehorses.

Lilly Armstrong – the farm manager at Remember Me – used to work for Bret Calhoun and was around King of Speed while the gelding was in that barn.

“This horse was the barn pet at Calhoun’s,” Lilly said. “Every time he won a race, the jockey agents would buy doughnuts for the barn and King probably ate most of them. He was always in the stall closest to the office. Everybody loved him. He was almost like a pony horse. He was so easy to handle and always laid-back, but when you took him to the paddock, he was all business.”

Lilly and King
Photo: Terri Cage

When it was decided that King would come to Remember Me, Lilly contacted me, telling me how excited she was to see him again. The horse had always been a champion in her eyes and to be reunited with him left her absolutely elated.

“He retired sound with absolutely no soundness issues,” Lilly said. “He is a warrior. He has charisma; you are drawn to him.”

I saw King of Speed race at Lone Star Park in 2010. Last night, when I looked in the program from Lone Star’s race card on April 10, 2010, I found King’s name in the program. When I looked at the bottom of the page, I saw where I had written down my picks for the race. Listed were a few numbers, but my top pick, which was circled, was number 9. Number 9 was King of Speed. The chestnut gelding won the race.

Just days before Christmas, I visited Remember Me Rescue with my mother. I met King of Speed and fed the cute chestnut several carrots while Lilly groomed him. King, who has a build similar to that of a Quarter Horse, was practically sticking his nose in the bag in order to obtain the carrots.

Donna Keen soon arrived and pulled the gelding out of the barn. It was time to desensitize King to odd objects. We began with the stairs outside of the round pen. Tentatively, the chestnut followed Donna up the steps. Though cautious, he was willing to do what Donna asked.

King doesn't care about the tarp draped over his neck.
Photo: Terri Cage

We then moved on to a tarp. Donna gradually introduced King to the object and instead of being spooked by the strange item, the gelding seemed bored. Eventually, we had him walking under and over the tarp as if it wasn’t even there. After playing around with pool noodles, cavaletti, a lariat, and a feed bag on a stick, we realized King didn’t mind whatever we introduced to him.

“He’s bombproof,” Donna said. “He’s just so smart. I think he’s bored with us.”

And so King was saddled. Donna rode the gelding around in the round pen and after warming up, she began swinging a lariat over his head, then a pool noodle attached to the rope, and finally, a tarp. Yet again, King didn’t care.

Then came my turn to ride King. Since he had had a long afternoon, I just walked the gelding, though even that included obstacles. I rode him over the objects he had been desensitized to: pool noodles, a lariat, and the tarp. He walked right over them like it was no big deal.

Though it was just a short, easygoing ride, riding King was incredible. If you had told me last April 10^th at Lone Star Park that I would ride the horse that won the eighth race, I wouldn’t have believed you. Knowing I had ridden a horse that I had admired on the track was out of this world.

Since adopting my first Thoroughbred in February and spending much time at Remember Me, I have come to realize that Thoroughbreds are incredibly smart. They absolutely blow my mind with their intelligence. King of Speed is the perfect example of a Thoroughbred’s impressive intellect.

And knowing that King has received the retirement he deserves is an incredible thing. His connections cared about him enough to find him a great retirement and Remember Me Rescue gave the gelding the opportunity to do so. Not enough racehorses get this opportunity, but those that go through Remember Me do.

King, being the special horse he is, has plenty of options. Unlike most horses that go through Remember Me, the gelding will get extra retraining time. Perhaps he will become a mounted police horse, a professional trail riding horse, or maybe he will forever stay at Remember Me with Donna and Lilly. The possibilities are endless.

“The horse is smart, loves attention, loves to work, and will make a great performance horse, no matter what the discipline,” Lilly said. “There are some things that just put you in awe and for me, this horse does that. I don’t know if it’s because he is just a reminder of that part of my life or if it’s just him. To me, he is a hero and what every horse should be like.”


*Update 2/19/2012: King has been adopted by his breeder, Buff Bradley, and will head home to Kentucky!


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