WASH

 

 

 

 

 

 

HE WAS THE BEST HORSE IN THE PREAKNESS, and that’s not stretching the truth!

 

Exaggerator turned the tables on previously undefeated Nyquist Saturday at Pimlico, providing a thrilling homecoming for brothers Kent and Keith Desormeaux with a commanding 3 ½-length triumph in Saturday’s 141st Preakness Stakes (G1) at Pimlico Race Course.

The Keith Desormeaux-trained 3-year-old, who finished second behind Nyquist in the Kentucky Derby (G1) two weeks ago at Churchill Downs, was the recipient of a ground-saving ride from jockey Kent Desormeaux to prevail over 10 rivals in the $1.5 million Middle Jewel of the Triple Crown.

After losing to Nyquist in their previous four meetings, the 5-2 second betting choice broke through with a dominating performance at the racetrack where his jockey launched his Hall of Fame career nearly 30 years ago and his trainer apprenticed under the late prominent trainer Charles Hadry.
Click here for video link to Keith Desormeaux

Nyquist, the 7-10 favorite who had won his previous eight starts including a 1 ¼-length score over a closing Exaggerator, set a pressured pace in the 1 3/16-mile classic before fading to third, a nose behind a late-charging runner-up Cherry Wine.

Exaggerator’s upset victory capped a record-breaking day at Pimlico, where a record crowd of 135,256 attended the 14-race program. The previous record was set in 2015, when 131,680 watched American Pharoah win the Preakness on his way to a Triple Crown sweep. Saturday’s handle of $94,127,434 eclipsed the 2005 handle record of $91,028,704.

Exaggerator settled well off the swift pace contested by Uncle Lino and Nyquist along the front stretch and around the first turn. Nyquist maintained a narrow advantage along the backstretch and into the far turn, while Exaggerator advanced quickly along the rail to loom as a threat. Nyquist shook free to lead the field into the homestretch after setting fast fractions over a sloppy track, but Exaggerator was in full stride in the middle of the track after being angled to the outside by Desormeaux and motored on by the favorite with fresh legs.

Exaggerator ran 1 3/16 miles in 1:58.31 to earn his fifth victory in 11 starts and the $900,000 winner’s share of the $1.5 million purse. Cherry Wine, a 17-1 long shot who closed from 10th, rallied along the rail to just nip Nyquist at the finish line.

Preakness Stakes Trainer Quotes

Winning Trainer Keith Desormeaux (Exaggerator): “I’m just glad I get to walk across this track and take a picture on that side. When you get to take your picture taken on the turf
course, you know you’ve done well.

“It’s kind of like the Santa Anita Derby, to know that you have the race won pretty much at the eighth pole, you’ve got to enjoy it.”

(NBC Telecast) “I hope it’s not only because of the muddy track. The horse has been training phenomenally. I think there was a conscious decision on the training approach between the Derby and here. My philosophy was to take it as easy as possible because you’re not going to gain any fitness in those two weeks. I did what I could to get him happy and fresh and strong and I’ve always said he’s always had a great ability to recover and he showed it today. [The Belmont] is three weeks from today, so I’ll be there with bells on.”

Dale Romans (Cherry Wine, 2nd): ““I’m proud of my horse, proud of the jockey. Exaggerator looked great all week and Keith did a good job with him. It’s a special thing, two brothers in a classic like this. It was like the O’Briens (father-son) winning the Breeders’ Cup. That’s the special thing about the sport, it proves it’s a family affair.
(Romans said Cherry Wine will go to the Belmont Stakes along with Brody’s Cause)

“The way the race set up and the track being muddy and we were in the one hole. He knew what I was talking about, he’s a big Calvin Borel (rider of 50-1 Derby winner Mine That Bird in 2009) fan. I told him to ‘give him the Mine That Bird trip, sit way back, past the mile make sure you catch the last one.’ That’s the only part of the instructions he didn’t
listen to.”

Doug O’Neill (Nyquist, 3rd): (Did slop affect your horse?) “I don’t know. Hats off to Exaggerator and Team Desormeaux. What a great run. I didn’t think we could get beat, to be honest with you. Nyquist is such an amazing horse and he still ran a great race. We’ll kind of figure this all out, watch some replays. I didn’t get a chance to talk with Mario (Gutierrez). Nyquist still ran a huge race.

“It’s a bummer, of course. Our horse, God, he’s such an amazing horse. I can’t wait to see him in a little bit, give him a big kiss and a pat on the head because he’s still a winner in our book. They’re not machines. Being 8-for-8, we kept thinking that this horse is never going to lose, but they all lose any one time or another. We’ll be OK.

“They went pretty good early on. I just really wanted to see a good, clean trip and trouble free. I think Mario did a wonderful job with that. He didn’t bring it today and more than anything Exaggerator just ran a monstrous race. Hats off to them.

“When he swung out, I thought he might come back, Exaggerator had that momentum and Nyquist had done so much early in the race and just couldn’t keep pace. He still gutted it out and almost held on for second. I’m very proud of him.

(On weather) “It’s Mother Nature. What are you going to do. Pimlico did a great job of it with it raining all day long.

“I thought we were good all the way around. I didn’t have the greatest angle but there was some point there where it just seemed like they were going to get into a head to head battle and all of a sudden I could see Mario going around him. Oh my God, I didn’t know Exaggerator was that far ahead of him. I’m just so proud of him and I still feel like a winner.

“We just wanted a clean trip. We thought we had the best horse and wanted to ride him like the best horse and not try to get too cute and get perfect positioning. Him going fast early was really my idea, thinking ‘he’s the best horse, take it to them.’

“If we’re going to get beat, let’s get beat being aggressive and not trying to get cute and get in trouble.”

Todd Pletcher (Stradivari, 4th): “I thought he ran well. He had to move around a bit a couple of times. He had to make a couple of different moves, but I though all in all for his fourth start of his career, it was a big effort. I think he handled the footing fine, but it made for a tricky race, the way it unfolded.”

Gary Sherlock (Uncle Lino, 7th): Gary Sherlock said an attending veterinarian determined that Uncle Lino sustained a minor tendon injury.

“He was bleeding from one leg and may have gotten stepped on. That makes more sense than where he finished. He was running awfully good for a long way.”

Dr. Keith Latson, AAEP On-call veterinarian – Said the injury was in the left front leg. The colt was taken off the track on an ambulance. He was back in his stall shortly after the race.

“He was reported to have some inflammation between the top and the middle third of the superficial digital tendon, which is one of the major long flexor tendons that run behind the cannon bone, which is the long bone between the knee and the ankle.

“The horse was walking around comfortably on the track and because of the muddy track and the deep track conditions, they decided to take him back on the ambulance. They report that it looks to be a minor injury of the superficial digital flexor tendon.

 

SOL KUMIN, one of Exaggerator’s owners

When he put in 100-hour workweeks on Wall Street, Sol Kumin always made time to unwind, to balance the daytime grind of asset management with the nighttime fun of a few hours with friends and drinks.

On Saturday at Pimlico Race Course, before the start of a party that would stretch long into the Baltimore night, there was no work to do — unless you count the nervous watching and full-throated shouting and persistent jumping and smiling as Exaggerator covered the Preakness’ 1 3/16 miles in 1 minute, 58.31 seconds, ahead of 10 thoroughbreds who couldn’t catch up in the Triple Crown’s second leg.

If the former Johns Hopkins men’s lacrosse attackman and co-owner of the Keith Desourmeaux-trained, Kent Desormeaux-manned colt didn’t have more fun than all of the announced 135,256 in attendance, he did his dardnest to stay close.

“It is sweet coming back here,” he said. “I love this city. I spent a lot of time back here at Hopkins. I give back to the school in lots of different ways. I had a great experience, learned a lot here, grew a lot here. So to be here and win it is awesome.” He started to chuckle. “And then tonight, I’ll be able to show these guys around some of the old stomping grounds.”
http://www.baltimoresun.com/sports/horse-racing/preakness/bs-sp-preakness-sidebar-kumin-20160521-story.html
MATT BRYAN AND ORTOWSKI FAMILIES OF TEXAS, also co-owners

http://www.bloodhorse.com/horse-racing/articles/211350/owner-bryan-shares-credit-for-exaggerator

 

 

CONQUEST ENFORCER CRUSHES 3 RIVALS IN QUEENSTON
101 Beyer Figure for colt, could Queen’s Plate be back on table?

 

TOP 3-YEAR-OLD BEYER FIGURES IN NORTH AMERICA

Exaggerator SA 09 Apr 1 1/8M   103
Lightstream (f) GP 06 Mar 7F    103
Nyquist CD 07 May 1 1/4M         103
Unified AQU 09 Apr 7F               102

Conquest Enforcer (A) WO 21 May 7F                          101
Exaggerator CD 07 May 1 1/4M   and Preakness        101
Nyquist SA 15 Feb 7F                                                         101
Danzing Candy SA 12 Mar 1 1/16M                                 100
Destin TAM 12 Mar 1 1/16M                                             100
Stradivari KEE 17 Apr 1 1/8M                                           100
with files from Woodbine

Conquest Enforcer, racing off a seven-month layoff, boosted his Queen’s Plate credentials with a strong score in Saturday’s $150,000 Queenston Stakes over three rivals at Woodbine.

Trained by Mark Casse for owner Conquest Stables, the Into Mischief bay was last seen on October 11 winning the grassy Cup and Saucer Stakes by 6 ¾-lengths over Butterfly Dance and Queen’s Plate Winterbook favourite Shakhimat. Conquest Enforcer arrived at the Queenston, a seven furlong Tapeta sprint for Canadian-foaled sophomores, with a series of sharp works and the confidence of regular pilot Patrick Husbands.

Sent to post as the 1-5 mutuel favourite, Husbands sent Conquest Enforcer to the lead in the compact field of four and never looked back through splits of :24.08 and :47.69 en route to a facile 7 ¾-length score. Songs and Laughter, prominent throughout, won a place battle by 1 ½-lengths over Ultraflame. Conquest Enforcer covered seven furlongs in 1:23.73.

The Beyer of 101 was one of the highest for any 3-year-old
Husbands was full of praise for Conquest Enforcer following the impressive score.

“With him, it’s all about talent. You can’t take anything away from a good horse,” said Husbands. “Only six weeks ago he worked his first three-eighths. He came into this race on pure talent.”

The victory marked the first stakes win of the meet for the veteran rider, a win he felt confident of securing.

“I’ve always had confidence in this horse. I’ve been breezing him since day one and I knew coming into this race it was going to take a good horse to beat him,” said Husbands.

The main question for Conquest Enforcer now is whether or not he can make the $1-million Queen’s Plate, the 1 ¼-mile Canadian classic, slated for July 3.

“There’s about five weeks left and we’ll see how he comes out of the race. We just have to keep our fingers crossed and go from there,” said Husbands.

Conquest Enforcer, bred in Ontario by Ivan Dalos’ Tall Oaks Farm, banked $94,500 in victory while improving his record to two wins from three starts.
Ivan Dalos has his own Plate contenders in Ami’s Gizmo and Gamble’s Ghost.

More Saturday

Proving that his 90 Beyer Figure maiden debut score was not a fluke, AARONIC BLESSING romped in race 1, an allowance for Ontario-sired 3-year-olds. The grey gelded son of Victor’s Cry, owned and bred by Suzanne and Tim Drake, led all the way to win by more than 4 lengths in 58.02, an 86 Beyer Figure. Alan Garcia rode the Ontario-bred who ran in 56 4/5 in his opener.

Thoroughblog will have the rest of the weekend’s races Monday morning.

 

MORE ON EXAGGERATOR..

 

EXAGGERATOR is a neat story from a Canadian breeding perspective since he brings bloodlines right from Ontario through the mare BON DEBBARAS. Going even further back,, the colt’s 7TH DAM is the E.P. Taylor bred Orchestra (Menetrier) who was a daughter of a Taylor-imported mare.

Orchestra produced a Nearctic filly, Orchestrina, for Taylor and Orchestrina was super – she produced Prince of Wales winner NEW PRO ESCAR among others. Her daughterCHOU FLEUR, by Victoria Park, produced just 2 foals, the lovely winner Le Point de Mire and Pierre Levesque’s Bon Debarras.

BON DEBARRAS, a Ruritania foal born in 1975, never raced but she was a star in the breeding shed.  Her 1978 foal, a filly by Northern Answer named ETERNAL SEARCH, was bought at auction by Mel Lawson and his Jim Dandy Stable and went on to win 15 stakes races, $640,000 and 3 Sovereign Awards. Eternal Search went to to become a wonderful mare for the Lawson family in her retirement too as she produced Broodmare of the Year in Canada, Destroy.

Bon Debarras is also the dam of the Nureyev filly SAVETHELASTDANCE, the dam of none other than Queen’s Plate winner NIIGON.

Bon Debarras had a filly by The Minstrel in 1984, Vevila (GB), as you can see, in Great Britain as she left Canada.

Vevila found her way back to Ontario, however, with owner/breeder William DeBurgh, who had the mare produce foals in Canada. Two foals were by BOLD RUCKUS, the great Canadian stallion: INtercool, a fleet stakes winner at 2, and EMBUR SUNSHINE, a very fast filly. Both were purchased at auction by Ted Burnett’s Joshman Farms.

Embur Sunshine went to the breeding shed for Burnett, living at Yvonne Schwabe’s PERSLEY DEN FARMS.

“She was a wonderful mare,” said Schwabe. “She was really fast, stakes placed three times, one race at Monmouth she just got caught on the wire.”

Embur Sunshine produced champion Embur’s Song, who was American owned and a litany of other good runners. Burnett still has a daughter, Embur’s Melody, at Persley Den and she has an Uncle Mo foal, a Scat Daddy yearling and is in foal to Hard Spun.

Exaggerator’s dam, DAWN RAID, was bred by Burnett and is a daughter of Vindication. She was purchased as a yearling by Bill Farish and was trained by Mark Casse. Dawn Raid was a debut winner and a useful runner. She set a track record for 5 1/2 furlongs at Woodbine in 2007 of 1:03.37.

“She was a very pretty filly but she a bit of a clubby foot,’ said Schwabe. Dawn Raid was then sold for $50,000 as a broodmare prospect to Stoneleigh Farm. She had 2 winners form her first 2 foals and then produced Exaggerator. She was offered at auction carrying Exaggerator but was bought back for $625,000.

Josham Farms has long been a leading breeder of top canadian-bred horses and for the farm and Scwabe, seeing its breeding come to life on Derby day is a special feeling.

“It is really nice when you produce a mother of a top horse and still have a sister,” said Schwabe. “It is more exciting to go through the process of picking out bloodlines, creating the horse yourself and seeing what comes out of your decisions.”

A lot of decisions from the best Canadian owners and breeders went into the creation ofEXAGGERATOR – already a Grade 1 winner. From E.P. Taylor, through the Levesque family, Mel Lawson and Ted Burnett this is one derby colt who has a lot of red and white in his blood.