SCORCHING has come a long way to take his expected place in the King’s Plate starting gate at Woodbine on Saturday.
Frankly, it seems a miracle that he is not only in the 13-horse field for the $1 million Canadian classic, but that he is also a contender to win it.
The handsome Mo Town colt, owned by Americans Paul Braverman and Timothy Pinch and trained by longtime Woodbine horseman John Charalambous, was a finalist for Champion two-year-old colt honours in Canada for 2024. He won two stakes races (one through disqualification) and immediately looked like a King’s Plate hopeful for 2025.
In fact, Scorching showed so much talent that he was sent to Belmont Park in New York to prepare for the Gotham Stakes the following March to see where he fit in against American colts. The colt thrived and was training strongly for the race.
But the day before, when Charalambous went to check on the colt after feed time. he knew something was wrong. The colt was upset, and he had spiked a temperature. What followed were many weeks of not knowing if Scorching would ever be the same again.
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Scorching was born on March 3, 2022 at Dan Mooney’s Huntington Stud Farm in Nashville, ON. The seventh foal of stakes-placed Samsal, a Consolidator mare, Scorching was very popular at the 2023 CTHS Ontario yearling sale.
“I was looking at yearlings at another consignment and I saw this silhouette of a horse in the background,” said Hall of Fame trainer Reade Baker, who is racing manager and agent for Braverman and Pinch. “I asked someone who it was and they said it was the Mo Town of Dan Mooney’s and he had been out all day being shown to people.”
Baker had the colt vetted and “that was enough for me.” He bought the colt for $120,000, the second most expensive yearling at that year’s sale.
Baker, having retired from a very successful training career, recommended Charalambous to Braverman and Pinch and from the three starts the colt made as a juvenile, he earned over $210,000 (US). ‘Johnny C’ began his career in his 20s and was up to 500 victories, winning his first stakes race in 1988.
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“The last day he trained was February 28 of this year, the day before the Gotham,” said Charalambous. “The vets did a lot of tests on him at Belmont and they said he needed to get out of there.”
Scorching had a blood infection, a dangerous condition where bacteria or other pathogens circulate in the bloodstream, which causes a systemic inflammatory response and potentially leads to organ damage or failure. The colt was sent to a Maryland clinic where he was treated and essentially stallbound. After about seven weeks, the colt was sent to the Fair Hill Hyperbaric Therapy clinic in Maryland, founded by Bruce Jackson.
Hyperbaric therapy chambers pump 100% oxygen to a horse in a pressured compartment. Scorching was there for over a week before he was deemed ready to return to Woodbine.
“It was a full two months, April 28, before he had the tack on again.”
Charalambous admits that making the Plate was not on the table in his mind at that time. “I didn’t know if I would ever get him back to where he could compete. We just didn’t know. But everybody did their part. This was a whole team of veterinarians who looked after this horse.”
On May 17, Scorching had his first timed workout since February. The Plate was three months away. By the end of June, Charalambous looked for an allowance race for Scorching, but one never filled. The decision was made to run him in the Grade 3 Marine Stakes on June 28 at 1 1/16 miles.
“The Marine wasn’t the plan for his return, but it became the plan when there was no race. We were stuck running him two turns for the first time in his life.”
Scorching, with New York rider Dylan Davis on board, was slow from the gate, stalked the modest pace and then finished strongly to be second to Mansetti, trained by Kevin Attard. “I didn’t have him ready to go that distance, the horse simply overachieved.”
Now the Plate was back in the minds of Scorching’s team, but in order to get to the big dance, he had to come back in 22 days and run in the Plate Trial under 126 pounds at 1 1/8 miles.
John Velasquez, who was in town to ride in the Woodbine Oaks, a race he would win, rode Scorching to the lead in the Trial and the colt stayed on well to be third behind Sedbury’s Ghost and Notorious Gangster.
“I had him a shade sharp,” said Charalambous.
Scorching earned a career-best 81 Beyer Speed Figure from his Trial run. But now there was an issue with securing a jockey. Davis was committed to Saratoga on Plate day and Velasquez would be riding the filly No Time, the Oaks winner, for Mark Casse.
Charalambous secured Emma-Jayne Wilson, one of Canada’s all-time top riders, but she got hurt less than two weeks out from the Plate. Jose Lezcano, one of New York’s leading riders, will ride Scorching on Plate day. The colt drew post position four.
“This horse has defied everyone’s thoughts,” said Charalambous. “And he deserves to have a chance to run.”
While he admits that there has been an element of rushing to get Scorching to the Plate, Charalambous also knows that a Canadian-bred three-year-old only gets one chance to race for a million dollars.
“I’m nervous, the horse is not. People have no idea what this horse has gone through. No idea. I’m cheering for him and his owners and I am hopeful the horse has a good experience.”
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