by Mike Rogers
A few hours later, I stood in the paddock for the Suburban. Harry was leading the tacked up Gambit around the paddock to be admired. His bright chestnut coat glistened in the afternoon sun. after winning the Santa Anita Handicap, Gambit was named the well-deserved favorite. I turned to Lucero's assistant trainer for instructions.
"This time I want you to sit off the pace where he is more comfortable. He was trained so he wouldn't have so much early speed. Just ride him the way you know how." Boosting me up , she smiled.
Warming up, Gambit felt great. The only thing I was worried about was the outside post. It was a large field of eleven horses. Even though he was a strong runner, I wasn't sure how much a wide trip would take out of him.
Loading in the gate, Gambit was giving me all the right signals. Before I had time to process anything else, the gates slammed open. Sadly, my ride began and ended at the gate. Longshot broke in stride, but the horse beside me did not. The horse slammed into us so hard that Gambit jerked to the right stumbling sideways. Then, I felt him start to tilt sideways.
I was pitched off as he fell on his side. I just managed to keep hold of the reins so Gambit wouldn't run away, but I don't know quite how I did it! Staggering to his feet, he took a couple of steps, but realized he wasn't going anywhere.
Slowly, I rose to my feet rubbing my aching back. 'How could this happen?' I knew that Gambit would have won if given the chance. Wincing, I bent down and examined his legs. There was no heat or swelling, only a few cuts. Walking over to the side, I unhooked the girth and slid the saddle off, putting it on the outer fence.
As I was doing this, I saw first aid and the vet approaching from a distance. Getting tired of waiting, I started to lead Gambit toward them. It was Harry who reached us first. Grabbing Gambit's reins, he gave the stallion a once over.
"That was a pretty nasty fall," he murmured as he started to slowly lead the horse to the barn.
"Huh," I snorted, "You don't have to tell me."
Later that day I was on the phone talking to Lucero. He asked, "Will you be ok riding Cage Fighter in the Ellis Park Futurity?"
"Don't worry. I'll just be a little stiff."
"That's not a good thing you know. Cage Fighter will know your stiff and take full advantage of the opportunity…I can get Arthur Baca to ride him if I need to…"
Glaring at the phone, I snapped, "Don't worry about me!" Hanging up the phone I stalked out of the barn office.
As I came out of the building, a reporter briskly approached me. "May I have a work?" he questioned.
Having nothing else to do, I shrugged, "Sure, why not."
"I'm from the Bloodhorse and I want to ask you about the Suburban…What happened?"
"Very simple…Gambit broke great. The other horse slammed into me, causing my horse to stumble. Gambit couldn't recover so we fell."
"So…what do you think Gambit's next race will be?"
"Well," I murmured, "It all depends how he recovers from his scrapes and bruises."
Nodding, the reporter said his goodbyes and walked away. I, on the other hand, was not done for the day. I needed to consult Lucero on the yearling sale this week. Entering the shed row I went into the office and called Lucero.
"So…what's up?" I asked.
I must have sounded too chipper because he said suspiciously, "What are you so happy about?"
"Oh," I said offhandedly, "Just wondering what my instructions are for the yearling sale. I'm looking forward to an easy week."
"I'm sure you are after that fall." We laughed before Lucero continued. "First, lets discuss the race tomorrow…I need to know by early tomorrow morning if you're unfit to ride…I'm really excited about this colt. He'll run all day! Just try to keep his mind on business. I don't want to put blinkers on yet. Just a good race, got it?"
"Yeah," I said with confidence. "No problem…Now can we get on with the sale."
"Sure, did my assistant give you a catalog? Here's the numbers I want you to look at." Reaching for the catalog that the assistant trainer had given me, I jotted down Lucero's numbers. Continuing, "they want yearlings between the $250,000 – 750,000 range. But…I suggest you look for some bargains, too."
That was pretty much the end of our conversation. While on the plane, I looked over Lucero's choices. As expected, all of them were in the price range prescribed for me. Though, in my opinion, some would cost up into the missions. I decided to scout out my own possibilities. Here are my top three choices…
Hip # 300 B. c. Monarchos x Serena's Darling
This was a colt out of a Kentucky Derby stallion whose foals matured at about four or five. The mare was a stakes-winning daughter of Serena's Song by A.P. Indy. I knew for a fact that the colt wouldn't sell for more than a million because he would most likely be a late-developer. Outstanding two-year-olds that couldn't last through their three-year-old year were the in-thing. But then, it could all backfire on me because his pedigree was so outstanding.
Hip #723 Gray or Roan f. Atticus x Daddyslittlegirl.
She had a solid but not outstanding pedigree. I felt that if she had good clean x-rays and a nice look, she would make a solid allowance horse. At most, she would sell for $200,000. if nothing else, she'd be an eventual broodmare prospect. Atticus was becoming quite a broodmare sire.
Hip #1050 Ch. c. Tinner's Way x Society Selection
The only reason he was on my list was because he was a full brother to Longshot. He was so low on the hip count because the order was determined before Longshot's recent triumphs. I had him on the list because he had one major flaw to his credit. The x-rays showed that the colt had bone chips in each knee. Most of the big time trainers avoided these horses as much as possible. From what I knew, he would definitely need surgery, which would push back his two-year-old debut to October or November. I was pretty sure I could acquire the colt at a good price.
When I arrived at Keen land, I had an appointment at the Rogers. Grabbing a taxi, a half hour later I was shown into the Rogers's sitting room in their hotel suite, or maybe was it their mansion? For the next hour, the Rogers, basically Mr. Rogers and I, discussed the choices and decided to go for my three. He was really excited about Longshot's full brother. Rogers already knew the name, Longbow. Spending was to be kept to a minimum until "Longbow" came up for sale.
At about eleven, I informed Mr. Rogers that I needed my rest and proceeded to my own hotel room. Flopping down on the bed, I sighed and closed my eyes. It was going to be a long week.
Waking up bright and early at six o'clock, I took a quick shower before heading out to the barns. I always enjoyed watching horses eat. I felt it showed the horse's true personality. First, I decided to wonder over to Longshot's bro. Walking down the aisle, I found Hip#1050.
Glancing in, I found a dark red chestnut coat and a colt that was enthusiastically but carefully eating. Was this a dream, or was this colt turning out to be a perfect dream? For the next half-hour, I wandered around searching for my other top choices. Both of them did not look half bad.
Then, I headed over to the track kitchen. Gorging myself on bacon and eggs, I planned my method of attack. Once I was done eating, I was going to walk around all the barns to see which yearlings caught my eye. For two hours, I walked around barns writing down note about any of the horses I felt were interesting.
At around noon. I decided to make a phone call to Lucero's cell. "Hey! How's Longshot doing?" I hadn't even had to say my name. He already knew who it was.
"Geez, Sarah! I may have to send him down there because he's kicking his stall door down looking for you!"
"Well…he's going to have to get used to it because he can't go with me to Europe. Give him a couple days. He'll be fine." Sighing, I continued, explaining to him the horses on my list. Of course he grumbled that I didn't have enough to his picks, but accepted what I told him.
Right as I was going to say goodbye, he said, "Oh, by the way, don't believe everything you hear." Before I could respond, he hung up.
"What was that all about?" I said aloud. He has been saying some weird things lately. It almost sounds like he's guilty about something. I also realized that nobody ever talked about anything to do with the time period around the time when I lost my rides. Something was going on and I didn't know what it was.
Sighing, I decided not to worry for the next week. There were more important things to think about. The rest of the day was my own until it was time for the auction to start.
Keen land had just begun a new method of running their auctions. They decided to run the first day's horses in the evening after they had treated to buyers to a nice meal. Many felt it was a nice touch. At around four, I met the Rogers at their table.
"Why didn't you join us?" Mrs. Rogers asked.
Smiling, I said, "I really don't feel like gaining twenty pounds this week. I do need to stay in shape."
Then, there was silence for the next ten minutes. We just didn't have anything to say to each other. Finally, it was announced that the pavilion was open and that we could proceed to out seats. I carefully chose out seats. They were about halfway back, in perfect sight of a bid spotter. I did not want to be overlooked at a critical moment. Getting comfortable, I observed the other people entering and finding their seats.
I spotted Bob Baffert and D. Wayne Lukas themselves. They took what I assumed to be their regular seats. The room was filling up rather quickly, but that was expected since there was only fifteen minutes to go.
Six o'clock on the button brought the auctioneer to the podium, welcoming
everyone to that year's sale. Then, he went through the list of hip numbers that were out. After that, he glanced back to see if the first horse was ready to enter. Seeing that everything was set, he began his spiel.
That day, hips 1-500 were going though the ring. Only one of my picks was going through that day. At about eight-thirty, the Monarchos cold was coming in. Glancing around, I saw Lukas and Baffert consulting with their advisors. This colt had excellent breeding, plus was a big, well-built colt with a nice look through the head. Just by glancing around the room, I could tell the colt was go above two million dollars.
Leaning over, I asked Mr. Rogers if he still wanted to go through bedding on the colt. He told me that we'd see how the bidding goes. Ten minutes later, Mr. Rogers leaned over, whispering to me to forget this yearling.
"Ok," I murmured. Quickly, I explained some of Lucero's choices. We decided to go after Hip #450 next. The yearling was a dark by colt by Medalgia D'Oro out of a Dynaformer mare. He was bred to run all day, but Medalgia's sons had difficulty getting their feet under them. His most recent first-time stakes winner was six-years-old.
What attracted me to him was his gorgeous build. In my opinion, there was nothing wrong with him conformation wise. Two hours later, he was led out. Immediately, he threw a fit. Screaming and rearing and kicking, he protested being sold in such an impersonal way. Glancing around, I noticed his antics did not impress the majority of the bidders. It excited me though.
The bidding began. It proceeded rather slowly. Fifteen minutes later, he hit his reserve bid of $250,000. The bidding only went up by one thousand dollar increments. Mr. Rogers put in a bid of $255,000. When there wasn't an immediate response, I held my breath. Would we get this colt? Thirty seconds later, I had my answer. Yes!
Knowing that we wouldn't be targeting any more yearlings that day, I stood up and walked out to take a look at the new purchase. I spotted him immediately. He was the one rearing straight up in the air every two seconds.
As I walked toward the colt, I made soothing noises in hopes to calm him a bit. Interested by the weird sounds, he stopped his fit and looked at me intriguingly. Continuing to be as unobtrusive as possible, I slowly approached him. Taking a sugar cube out of my pocket I held out my hand to him. Elegantly stretching his nose forward, he lipped up the treat.
Smiling, I reached forward, taking the lead rope from the stunned groom. Turning, I nonchalantly walked the colt back to his stall, giving him another sugar cube for his good behavior.
Chapter Ten
At the same time the next morning, I went to the same seat to wait for the Rogers. Hips 501 to 1000 would be going through that day. Mr. Rogers and I would be focused on the Atticus x Daddyslittlegirl filly. I had checked on her that morning. She looked spunky and in good weight.
But something bothered me when I took that second look. She cocked her head so that she was looking at me only with her right eye. Turning myself so that I could see her left eye, I saw a faint cloudiness. It appeared that she had some sort of infection or cataract that hinder her eyesight.
Going back to the Rogers, I reported what I found. It was decided that we would skip over her. He took this all in good stride because he was so excited about Longshot's little bro. He would be going through the next day.
Smiling at me, he said, "Why don't you go hop on some horses today. I'm not planning to buy anything." I was off immediately to the barns.
The first place I went was to an old friend of mine. Her name was Noelle Gardner. When I was in my slump, she was my main trainer.
I had just walked into the barn when she gasped and ran up, "Would you do me a huge favor today? My regular jockey took a spill and can't ride today…I was going to scratch my horses, but…could you ride them for me?"
Beaming, I asked, "Sure, what horses are they?"
"Well, one's a new two-year-old who just broke her maiden. Then, there's Mulch
Gulch, the horse you rode last December…What do you say?"
Without thought, "I'd love to!" Noelle jumped up and down and hugged me.
Around two o'clock, I went to the jockeys' room to get ready. The two-year-old was racing in the third race. She was a beautiful specimen, but was fine-boned. I was surprised the owner bothered to race her at all. Walking up to her, I patted her gently on the nose before being boosted up.
Noelle told me to use my best judgment and bring her back in one piece. Taking her to the track, I warmed her up. Surprisingly, her strides were extremely smooth and efficient. I had been skeptical of her because I no longer knew the quality of horses in Noelle's barn. At the starting gate, the assistant grabbed her bridle and led her in. Noelle always had her horses well trained for the starting gate even if they couldn't run.
The bell tolled and the filly broke sharply out of the gate. One stride out, the horse to the outside angled in giving us a sharp bump. Instead of shrinking away and cowering, she pinned her ears back, in essence gritting her teeth, and held her position. Smiling, I started to fell more confident about this race.
The filly's speed cruised us up into fourth place on the outside nearing the far turn of the six furlong race. Keeping her to the outside, I analyzed the leaders. The pace was fairly strong and I could see the duel taking its toll on the front-runners. Glancing back, I spotted a couple of horses starting to close. Giving the filly some rein, I let her pick up the pace a bit.
With a quarter of a mile to go, I tapped her with the crop. Accelerating, she powered up even with the leaders at the top of the stretch. Looking back again, the only horse that was closing was running green and erratically.
At the top of the stretch, I tapped the filly with the crop again. Her reaction was instantaneous. Leveling out, she powered by the other fillies. Glancing back, I saw no one that was going to be a major threat.
Urging her on with my body, we cruised to an easy victory of two lengths. Another filly had been closing, but could not make up the ground quickly enough.
The filly pranced into the winner's circle in high spirits. Noelle came running up screaming and yelling like she had just won a Grade One stakes race. When I got off, I was smothered in a hug.
"Ok! Ok!" I said gently pushing her away, and then adding, "She's quite a filly, Noelle." Just then, the owner came so I had to be boosted back up. After the picture, I weighed in and headed for the jockey's room to change for Mulch Gulch's race.
Today, he was running for a claimin
g tag of $20,000. His last couple of races had been dismal, to say the least. Morning line odds gave him a 60/1 chance. Looking at them as I entered the paddock, the odds read 5/1. It's amazing what a currently successful jockey can do.
Walking up to Noelle, I asked for instructions. They were simple. I was to take him back to midpack and make one run at the end. Still smiling from ear to ear, she boosted me up in the saddle.
On the track, Mulch Gulch warmed up just like he used to. His old knee injury made him a bit stiff, but after that he was as smooth as can be. The starter walked him into the gate. The odds had again lowered to make him second choice. Looking straight ahead, I waited for the break.
The gates slammed open and Mulch broke well. Angling him in, I settled him in midpack. Leaning back, I settled down to wait. He seemed to remember me and patiently waited for me to let him go, tugging at the bit. Down the backstretch, I peered around for any clues that would indicate a hole opening up.