When it comes to names that become self-fulfilling prophecies, few can top this one of a 3-year-old Deputy Minister colt that 20 years ago burst from anonymity into Canadian racing immortality in a way that was, indeed, awe inspiring.
A little more than a month before Awesome Again was feted in the Woodbine winner’s circle by Queen Elizabeth II in June of 1997, he was little more than an unraced, unnamed sophomore product of Frank Stronach’s racing empire making strides in California under the tutelage of David Hofmans after initial lessons in Ontario under Danny Vella. That promise began to turn to potential when Awesome Again, the ink still wet on his registered name, finished third in his career debut in a Maiden Special Weight on May 25, 1997 at Hollywood Park. Eleven days later, in the same class at the same California track, Awesome Again broke his maiden with a six-length victory with Chris McCarron in the irons.
Afterward, he was promptly dispatched back to his native Ontario, with a little more than $25,000 in his pocket, to be a part of a three-horse Stronach entry in the 138th running of the Queen’s Plate held June 29 in Toronto, some 40 minutes from where Awesome Again was foaled in Aurora.
“He was a total newbie at the time,” said Dermot Carty, who oversees Stronach’s Adena Springs North and has worked for Stronach for some 30 years. “He didn’t have a name and then all of a sudden there was a panic to put a name on him.”
Despite there never being a horse that won the Queen’s Plate in just his third career start, Awesome Again didn’t buckle under the weight of tradition or his ambitious moniker. Rather, he romped onto the Canadian scene — albeit, with the greenness one should expect — on the way to becoming the richest Canadian bred of all time.
Jockey Mike Smith, who was flown in from New York to ride the colt, was fittingly wonderstruck riding the colt for the first time.
Starting from post three in the 14-horse field that also included Stronach’s Cowboy Cop and C C On Ice, Awesome Again got away in the middle of the tightly-bunched field behind early pace setter Sloane Ranger.
Smith made his move heading for the one-mile marker. At the top of the stretch the jockey steered Awesome Again around Air Cool, who had taken the lead from the fast-fading Sloane Ranger.
As Awesome Again started pulling away to the roar of a Woodbine crowd exceeding 20,000, the green colt began looking around, forcing Smith to go to work.
“About every 10 times he hit the ground I had to remind him to stay back on the bridle because he was kind of watching everything. I was kinda all tuckered out. But he wasn’t,” Smith told The Toronto Star’s Rick Matsumoto.
Awesome Again hit the wire 3 ½ lengths ahead of the favourite, Cryptocloser, with longshot Sovereign Storm just a head back.
Afterward, Smith, then 31, was rendered mute while meeting royalty for the first time.
“(The Queen) was just so kind,” he told Matsumoto. “I was speechless. I couldn’t have said much even if she had said something to me. “I was just in awe. I just kept shaking my head.’’
Despite Awesome Again’s dominant triumph, it would take nearly two months to officially declare the colt the winner.
Though stewards threw out claims of foul against Awesome Again’s entrymate Cowboy Cop for allegedly forcing Cryptocloser to check sharply in the stretch, Cryptocloser’s part-owner Bill Sorokolit, Jr. appealed the decision saying because Cowboy Cop had “bumped” Cryptocloser that the entire Stronach entry should be taken down. An Ontario Racing Commission tribunal did not agree and ruled there was nothing to suggest collusion between the entry’s riders.
The victory, once official, was the second Queen’s Plate win for Stronach, who won three years earlier with Basqueian campaigned by Vella.
Awesome Again’s victory marked an incredible month for Stronach. Just 22 days earlier, his $375,000 purchase Touch Gold, another 3-year-old son of Deputy Minister, won the June 7 Belmont Stakes.
Despite reports that Awesome Again wasn’t dad’s favorite, especially when compared with Touch Gold, Andy Stronach told Toronto Star columnist Jim Proudfoot on Plate Day that Awesome Again, “was my own favorite all along. And to win this distance race in the third start of his life, well, that’s exceptional. We had to rush him but I’ve always maintained a really good horse will overcome such things.”
Stronach Senior gave credit to his son, Andy, who purchased Awesome Again’s dam, Primal Force, for $95,000 at the Keeneland January Sale in 1992.
“Bill Mott, who’d trained her, told me she was the fastest filly he’d ever handled,’’ Andy told The Toronto Star after Awesome Again won the Plate. “Buying her was kind of a no-brainer, really — a Blushing Groom mare by Mr. Prospector. This colt’s stud potential is tremendous.’’
Twenty years on, Carty confirmed Andy — who was married the day before Awesome Again’s Plate triumph — was “the inspiration to buy (Primal Force) because she was an impressive race filly… Andy was mad to get his hands on her. I remember talking to Andy about it. It was (Primal Force’s sire) Blushing Groom that we were all talking about at that point in time and how great a sire he was going to be and Andy was the one that picked out this one,” Carty said. “Physically, she wasn’t the best specimen. She was a bit upright and she was a bit slight to be out of the Blushing Groom line. But, at the end of the day, she went on. She was bred with a no guarantee season to Deputy Minister that they bought. That’s what they used to get Awesome Again.”
Despite winning the Plate in his third career start, Awesome Again proved he was no fluke, despite the fact Frank immediately dashed hopes for a Canadian Triple Crown run by saying on Plate day the horse deserved a break after three races in five weeks and a trip from California to Ontario.
Instead, Awesome Again followed up the Plate with a win on Aug. 3 at Saratoga in the Grade 2 $250,000 Jim Dandy Stakes, a third in the $750,000 Travers (Grade 1) on Aug. 23 and a fifth in the $500,000 Super Derby (Grade 1) on Sept. 28 at Louisiana Downs to end the season with a record of 3-0-2 in six starts and earnings of $528,600.
As a 4-year-old, Awesome Again was campaigned by Patrick Byrne, who admitted at the time that he thought Touch Gold was the better horse. Yet, Awesome Again was undefeated in 1998 and ended the year, and his racing career, with one of the greatest triumphs by a Canadian-bred in the history of the sport. On Nov. 7, 1998 at Churchill Downs, Awesome Again upset possibly the greatest field in Breeders’ Cup history, defeating a 10-horse field that included eight millionaires in the $5.12 million Breeders’ Cup Classic.
Pat Day sent shockwaves through the industry when he blasted Awesome Again through a hole that opened in the stretch to defeat Kentucky Derby champ Silver Charm by three-quarters of a length, with European champion Swain a close third, Belmont winner Victory Gallop fourth, Horse of the Year and defending Breeders’ Cup Classic winner Skip Away finishing sixth and Touch Gold eighth.
Not only did Awesome Again retire with earnings of $4,374,590 to make him the richest Canadian-bred of all time — a title he still holds 19 years later — he carried that greatness into the breeding shed at Adena Springs’ farm in Kentucky.
“He’s gone on to be a great sire. He helped establish Adena Springs as a major force in Kentucky,” Carty said. “There’s no ifs, ands or buts about it. Ironically, (Touch Gold) won the Belmont, but Awesome Again ended up being the great sire. Touch Gold came off a few Grade 1 winners, but he actually faded into obscurity as time went by.”
Awesome Again initially stood for $50,000, but his fee soared to $125,000 by 2005 after becoming the first Breeders’ Cup winner to sire a Breeders’ Cup winner (Ghostzapper) and also becoming the first stallion to sire multiple Breeders’ Cup winners on the same day (Ghostzapper and Wilko in 2004).
Awesome Again has also proven to be part of one of the great Canadian bloodlines.
“Deputy Minister produced Awesome Again, Awesome Again produced Ghostzapper, Ghostzapper now has gone on and produced Shaman Ghost and other horses, as well… It is truly a Canadian bloodline when you think back to Deputy Minister, Canada’s Champion 2-Year-Old,” Carty said.
It all began when Awesome Again cast off anonymity to fully embrace his name in the 1997 Queen’s Plate. Twenty years on, it is still one of the proudest moments in Stronach family lore.
“We still have a great picture up in the office of Frank and the Queen and Andy standing there,” Carty said, proudly
“About every 10 times he hit the ground I had to remind him to stay back on the bridle because he was kind of watching everything. I was kinda all tuckered out. But he wasn’t.”
