After finishing an uninspiring second in a recent start
against a soft field at the Meadowlands, the world champion pacing mare Shebestingin
was retired. Typically an announcement like this is accompanied by an addendum
about the injuries the daughter of Bettor’s Delight would have needed to
overcome in order to regain her form, but trainer Joe Holloway simply said, “She
isn’t firing.” Certainly not like she did when she won the Glen Garnsey in an eye
popping 1:47 at The Red Mile. They’ve sold a piece of ‘Stingin to Brittany Farms
and they’re going to breed her to their stallion, Captaintreacherous.
The mercurial five-year-old only started 36 times; she drew lots
of attention with the bursts of speed she evidenced in the Simpson, Reynolds
and Geers at two, but the precocious filly scratched out of the Sweetheart at
the beginning of August and didn’t reappear until nine months later in the
Weiss at Pocono. In addition to the world record ‘Stingin set in Lexington, she
also set one at Tioga when she won the EBC final in 1:49. Still, while Shebestingin
did win the Nadia and the Matron and earn almost three-quarters of a million
dollars, the mare’s earnings and significant win tally have never lived up to
her speed. She’s Drop The Ball’s soul sister in that regard.
Last year Holloway’s dynamic duo, Shebestingin and
Somwherovrarainbow were expected to take over for long-serving veterans
Anndrovette and Rocklamation in that division, but it didn’t happen, as the old
ladies finished in a dead heat for the Dan Patch. On the other hand, Rainbow made
do with a Matchmaker win, while ‘Stingin didn’t have any noteworthy triumphs.
Over the last several years we’ve repeatedly seen mares that
lit up the night during their freshman campaigns fail to matriculate on into
the aged ranks, while others that started off at a more measured pace have gone
on to flourish in the open class.
Rocklamation and Anndrovette, who together have banked more
than $5 million, each won just once as two-year-olds. The former made 12
starts, and did win the Countess Adios, but her earnings for the year were a
relatively modest $86,000. Anndrovette earned less than $10,000 at two. Each of
them went on to win the Lady Maud the following year, but it was in their
respective sire stakes programs that they filled their pockets.
Dreamfair Eternal, who earned almost $2.5 million, was
winless at two and earned only $24,000 on four wins at three. Monkey On My
Wheel won the Breeders Crown at three, but that was her only open stakes win as
a filly. Yagonnakissmeornot and Royal Cee kept relatively low profiles in the junior
ranks. Charisma Hanover won the Lady Maud and the American National, but most
of her success came in the PASS program.
Shelliscape has earned more than a million dollars, but most of it came in the
aged ranks. All of these mares have held up through successful aged campaigns.
The headline makers from the filly ranks, on the other hand,
have had problems going on and maintaining their success. Put On A Show set a
world earnings record when she won 19 races and banked more than $1.9 million
at two and three, but the winner of the She’s A Great Lady, Nadia and Breeders
Crown, missed her entire four-year-old season due to injury. She did return and
win half of her 25 starts at five, including a world record 1:47.3 performance
at the Meadowlands, before being retired.
See You At Peelers won all 13 starts at two and nine of 12
at three. She won her division twice and was on the way to Horse of the Year
honors when a virus that resulted in heart and lung issues ruined her season. She
came back for the Matchmaker in the spring of 2012, but was retired before that
series ended.
American Jewel followed Peelers. The American Ideal filly
won 8 of 9 at two, including the Countess Adios, She’s A Great Lady and Eternal
Camnation. But she was diagnosed with a broken sesamoid bone after losing to
Big McDeal in a world record 1:50.2 at The Red Mile, and subsequently missed
the Breeders Crown. She rebounded the following year, winning 9 of 16 starts
and earning more than $1.1 million. The winner of the Breeders Crown, Fan
Hanover and American National won her division. She was retired in November and
bred to SBSW.
Jewel’s early exit at two cost her the division title, as
Economy Terror won the Breeders Crown. That one also won the Three Diamonds in
a world record 1:50.3 at Chester. But as has been the case with so many
freshman hotshots, the Western Terror filly only won once outside the PASS at
three and has struggled in the aged ranks.
American Jewel’s stablemate Romantic Moment also earned a
million dollars, most of it at two and three, when she took the Eternal
Camnation, Valley Forge and Garnsey, in addition to a successful run in the
NYSS. The American Ideal filly, who won in 1:50.1 at three, came back at four
but managed only four wins for $68,000. Like so many other mares who nailed it
at two and three, she couldn’t convert that success into a rewarding career as
an open mare pacer.
The following year, 2012, Somwherovrarainbow, the SBSW filly
out of Rainbow Blue, and the Rocknroll Hanover filly, I Luv The Nitelife,
ruled. A win in the Breeders Crown got Rainbow a Dan Patch, while Nitelife, who
won the Eternal Camnation, She’s A Great Lady and Fan Hanover in Canada, took
the O’Brien. Rainbow regressed at three, becoming a big fish in a small pond,
as she was a dominant player in the PASS but a no show on the GC. Nitelife, on
the other hand, gobbled up every open dollar in sight; she took home $1.2
million at three, earning more at two and three than any pacing filly ever. And
she set a 1:48.4 world record for a sophomore filly on a 5/8 track.
Nitelife got hurt in her final start of the 2013
campaign—the American National—and was retired after a brief two-race attempt
at a comeback last year. She was sold to Diamond Creek Farm.
Rainbow did race, but she didn’t pose any sort of challenge
to Anndrovette or Rocklamation. She earned $440,000, but more than half of it
came from the Matchmaker Series, the final of which was her only significant
win. If she does ratchet up her game and win a Dan Patch this year, she would
join Eternal Camnation as the only pacing mares to win the division at age two
and age five.
The Art Major filly, Precocious Beauty, was the 2013
division winner and the top three-year-old filly pacer coming into last year,
but she had lost her mojo in the fall and didn’t regain it at three as she only
captured one open stakes race—the American National. Uffizi Hanover, who won
the Breeders Crown, also fell off, despite a win in the Fan Hanover.
And now it’s up to JK She’salady to break the chain and go
on to an aged career as Shady Daisy. The Gural rule is supposed to ensure that
four-year-old attractions keep racing. JK She’s, if she continues on her
current course, would prove a much more compelling attraction than any of the
boys in the aged ranks, but, of course, the rule doesn’t cover mares. Let’s see
if all those very fast early miles take the same toll on her they have on most
of these other twenty-first century fillies.
Joe FitzGerald
No comments:
Post a Comment