Animal Kingdom punches his ticket to Dubai

Animal Kingdom easily won his comeback race at Gulfstream
Photo:  Adam Coglianese, Gulfstream

In an effort that left both his connections and his legions of fans sighing with relief and admiration, Animal Kingdom impressively won his four-year-old debut over the Gulfstream turf today, easily defeating seasoned allowance rivals in his comeback effort after an eight-month layoff. 

The reigning Derby winner and Three-Year-Old Champion son of Leroidesanimaux rallied with the greatest of ease in the stretch of the mile-and-a-sixteenth contest, and once jockey Johnny Valasquez said, “go,” he was never seriously threatened, besting second-place finisher Monument Hill by two lengths and stopping the timer in 1:41.72.  Animal Kingdom has now or placed in seven of his eight lifetime starts, and has banked earnings of $1,967,500.

Responding to a chorus of congratulations after the race, trainer Graham Motion tweeted, “Thanks everyone, humbled by an awesome animal.  Exhale.” 

Indeed, Motion had been holding his breath since last June.  After his brilliant victory in the Derby, and courageous runner-up effort in the Preakness, Animal Kingdom’s three-year-old season was abruptly curtailed when he was bumped and knocked off stride soon after the start of the Belmont, finishing a disappointing sixth to Ruler On Ice. 

The strapping chestnut was subsequently found to have sustained a potentially career-ending slab fracture of his left hock, probably caused by that incident.  Barbaro’s celebrated vet, Dr. Dean Richardson, performed remedial surgery at the New Bolton Center in early July, and when that procedure was deemed successful, Motion mapped out a plan to get the Team Valor colorbearer to Barry Irwin’s ultimate goal:  a berth in the starting gate of the $10 million Dubai World Cup at the end of March.  Irwin believes his colt is among the best in the world, and wants a chance to prove it.

Today, Animal Kingdom punched his ticket to that elite international test, and while the competition he trounced at Gulfstream pales in comparison to what he’ll face in Dubai, he showed that he’s made a full recovery and still has the stuff of which great horses are made.  

According to Trakus, Animal Kingdom covered a distance of 5690 feet in his comeback effort, which was 28 feet (and 3.2 lengths) more than his closest rival.  He motored at an average cruising speed of 38.2 miles per hour, suggesting that wherever Animal Kingdom goes, the others will have to catch him. 

Big Drama is back

Big Drama sets NTR in the Mr. Prospector at Gulfstream
Photo:  Coglianese Photos

Likely Sprint Champion Big Drama signaled that he's back in a big way yesterday, when he set a new track record for six furlongs in capturing the Grade III Mr. Prospector at Gulfstream.

The five-year-old dark bay horse was extremely impressive at every call, over an oval he clearly loves, and he pulled away from five rivals in the stretch to win wire-to-wire by four widening lengths, stopping the timer in 1:08.12, almost two-fifths of a second better than the mark set by Tiger in 2006.

Big Drama's sparkling performance in the Mr. Prospector proved that his breakout victory in last year's Breeders' Cup Sprint was no fluke, and that he is a deserving front runner for Eclipse Award honors in the Sprint category.  He was strong and fit and powerful, and it was great to see him come back to the races on such a triumphant note.

With yesterday's victory, Big Drama has now won 10 of his 17 lifetime starts and amassed earnings of $2,699,560 in the colors of his breeder, Harold Queen.  While his trainer, David Fawkes, has not announced the venue for Big Drama's next start, it's clear that he'll be mapping out a route to get Big Drama back to the Breeders' Cup winners' circle at Churchill Downs next November.

Big Drama is by far the classiest runner from Buckaroo's sprint specialist son, Montbrook, but he's not the only one who was produced from a Notebook mare.  The nick is also responsible for Super Derby-G1 winner, Outofthebox, and for Stopspendingmaria, who placed in last year's Schuylerville-G3 at Saratoga.   All are inbred to Horse of the Year and Intermediate/Classic Chef-de-Race Tom Fool, who is the great grandsire of Montbrook, and the sire of Notebook's second dam, the illustrious broodmare, Cap and Bells.

The plot thickens in the case of Big Drama, though, because his dam, the unraced Riveting Drama, brings another cross of Tom Fool into the mix.   But perhaps even more importantly, Riveting Drama is inbred to Ghazni, dam of the full siblings, Dunce (sire of her third dam, Betoken) and Cap and Bells (who also produced Irish 1000 Guineas-G1 winner, Lady Capulet, dam of top sire El Prado).

Though unraced, Riveting Drama has done nothing but good in the breeding shed.  In addition to Big Drama, she's produced six other winners, including Maltese Massive (by Yes It's True), a stakes winner of $560,883 in Japan; Little Drama (by Burning Roma), who broke his maiden in last year's Frank Gomez Memorial Stakes at Calder; Drama's Way (by Farma Way), a restricted stakes winner at Beulah Park; and Coffee Can (by Kissin Kris), a stakes-placed winner of $114,059.

Seventeen-year-old Riveting Drama is not currently in foal, according to an article in The Cleveland Plain Dealer published after Big Drama's victory in the Breeders' Cup Sprint.  Harold Queen said at the time that, "Riveting Drama has foaled seven horses that made it to the races, and all seven were winners.  Even if she never has another foal, she has a home right here for as long as I'm alive."

But we can't help but hope that Riveting Drama produces more offspring, and wonder whether Mr. Queen will send his prized mare back to Montbrook to produce a full sibling to Big Drama, or whether he might explore other intriguing possibilities, including sons of El Prado, to recreate the inbreeding to Cap and Bells.