Every once in a while at the track, you see a performance that takes your breath away and leaves you shaking your head saying to yourself "how did he do that?" Saturday at Aqueduct, I saw one of those incredible feats in horse racing.
I Want Revenge, the big favorite in the Wood Memorial, gave the field a nice head start as the race began but overcame the adversity at the starting gate (on the far right) and through a rough stretch run to win the $750,000 Kentucky Derby prep race in New York.
Most times when a horse is "left at the gate", the horse gets discouraged and doesn't run or the horse make his or her run and then tires. I Want Revenge's trainer, Jeff Mullins, summed it up perfectly.
"When he missed the break, I was already heading back to the barn at that point....I thought we were done. I didn't know we had a chance."
When you see the final margin of victory of 1 1/2 lengths and the final time of 1:49.49, it doesn't seem very impressive. But, much like a box score of a basketball game when a player doesn't score a lot of points but did all the intangibles to help the team win, jockey Joe Talamo and I Want Revenge did what they had to do to win and then some.
After falling behind at the start, Talamo guided I Want To Revenge along the inside and started to make up ground slowly and steadily. Then, as the field began its turn for home, I Want Revenge made his way to fifth and then had to wait for the wall of horses in front of him to clear. Once the hole opened, Talamo bulled his way through and took the lead just before the finish line.
An impressive win to be sure.
"He had every trouble you could have in a race and still overcome it," Mullins said. "It tells me he's a pretty nice horse. That's as good as it gets right there. We've got one more show to go and if he can win that one, he's a pretty special animal."
Also smiling after the race were owners David Lanzman and IEAH Stables. IEAH just purchased 50% of the horse earlier in the week and must have had a little "deja vu." IEAH was one of the owners of 2008 Kentucky Derby winner Big Brown when the colt overcame starting in the 20th position in the gate to post one of the most impressive wins in the Derby.
Oh by the way, in case you care, the complete order of finish for the Wood was: I Want Revenge, West Side Bernie, Just a Conicidence, Atomic Rain, Imperial Council, Cellar Dweller, Lord Justice and Lime Rickey.
The biggest disappointment of the day was Imperial Council's fifth place finish. Although the horse flipped over in the paddock before the race, trainer Shug McGaughey made no excuses and said "There's no chance he's going to the Kentucky Derby."
Looking at the overall Kentucky Derby picture, the list of legitimate contenders is shrinking rapidly. Pioneerof the Nile won the Santa Anita Derby but was not impressive. Musket Man captured the Illinois Derby but beat a very, very weak field.
This day belonged to I Want Revenge and he will be your Kentucky Derby favorite and my choice for the "Run for the Roses."
(photo courtesy of Eclipse Sportswire)
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