Disappointing day at Aqueduct yesterday. Awakened jumped inconsistently, never traveled, fell out the back of the race, passed a few tired horses to be a disappointing fifth. Gordon’s Jet failed to settle and showed yet again that he’s not a racetrack horse. Bad management on my part. We’ll regroup. There is no other choice.
All being well, Awakened will try again at Saratoga and Gordon’s Jet will return in the fall. All being well is the key.
I did appreciate winning trainer Arch Kingsley’s quote about watching the race.
“I only grew more confident as the race was unfolding. When you watch a jump race – which takes so painfully long and there’s so much that can go wrong – it gets exponentially to one degree or the other: if it goes badly, it feels worse very quickly. And if it’s going well, you just think this is all falling into place. I had that good feeling as the race was unfolding that I couldn’t have pictured it any better. With a turn to go, I said to myself, ‘we’re going to win it.’ He was going after those two that had shaken loose, and he was going to take his time to get there and keep an eye on them, but it all unfolded perfectly.”
Name of the Day
Nativity. Claiborne nailed this one. The 3-year-old filly is by Catholic Boy out of Fashion Week.
Quote of the Day
“I’d say it is millions to one. It was really impossible to come back from what he came back from. At one stage we weren’t sure he would live. This horse has got back to the very top level, which is just incredible. He got an infection in his joint, and it got into the joint capsule. Usually what happens is that they lose the movement in the joint – and for a while he did, but it came back. It’s incredible.”
Trainer Aidan O’Brien after Kyprios won the Group 1 Gold Cup at Royal Ascot Thursday
