Papi’s Back in Town
Papi Chullo being groomed prior to the 2007 Whitney (Banamine)
GbG sentimental fav Papi Chullo is back in New York and running in the first at Aqueduct tomorrow, a starter handicap at 1 1/8 on the dirt.
I first became of aware of Papi Chullo in his eye popping victory in the Birdstone on Belmont day last year where he dominated a classy field including Hesanoldsalt and AP Arrow. Apparently I’m not the only one who noticed him as IEAH bought in to him not too long after that.
After his emphatic win in the Birdstone, the next stop was the G1 Whitney. His new trainer, Gary Contessa, had just won the Belmont training title and it seemed that Papi Chullo had finally found the right fit with his new connections. Papi had definitely been around the block and back by the time he made his way to Contessa’s Winning Move Stables.
Papi Chullo, 5, came into Contessa’s barn in a unique way. Following a last-place finish in the Oaklawn Handicap, Papi Chullo was put up for sale in an auction-type format.
“A guy tells us whoever makes the best offer by Wednesday gets him, and he gave us a fax number where to send the offer,” said Contessa, whose owner Steve Sigler made the offer. “We made an offer and on a Wednesday we got a call that we got him.”
In mid-April, Papi Chullo vanned from Oaklawn Park to Contessa’s Aqueduct stable. Contessa found a third-level allowance on May 4 at Belmont Park and told Sigler that though the horse had trained well, “don’t be surprised if he’s second or third.”
The race scratched down to four horses and Papi Chullo rolled to a 7 1/4-length victory, running 1 1/16 miles in 1:39.89, just missing the track record of 1:39.51.
After the race, Contessa told Sigler, “We got us a racehorse here, boy.”
It was not to be in the Whitney as he finished 9 out of 11. His next out was the Iselin at Monmouth where he didn’t fare much better. Not too long after the Iselin he was taken out of training with an injury. While I remember it happening I can’t track down any details on it other than Dan Ilman’s excellent disabled list, which has it listed as “bleeding” on 10/02/2007.
On October 21st of this year, he made his return in $16k claimer at Delaware park and he was in for a tag. I cringed when I noticed and was hesitant to look at the results after the fact. I was relieved to find out that he won AND he wasn’t claimed. In my quest for info on Papi’s post-Iselin injury I did find this convo by Papi Chullo fans at Trackchampions.com. They’re weren’t as jazzed about his comeback win as I was.
Best of luck to Papi Chullo tomorrow, here’s hoping the 6yo horse still has some race some in him… Nostradana believes he does.
Update: Papi didn’t do so hot, saved ground nicely but couldn’t make a run of it. Fingers crossed that he’s not tossed back in for a tag.
Posted by dana on Nov 08 2008
Filed Under: Dan Ilman, 2008, Aqueduct, Injury, Papi Chullo, Racing
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Go, Papi! I hope he does well on Sunday and doesn’t appear in a claimer again any time soon.
This horse has got to be one of the most curiously spotted horses in recent times. I don’t have the lifetime PP’s, but if memory serves correct, he was continually spotted in graded events as a maiden and even when dropped into allowance races, he was still competing ABOVE his condition. Could be wrong, but I don’t think he’s a graded winner yet?
It’s was the equivalent of putting a pack-a-day smoker in the NY marathon.
Things certainly could have been different had this horse taken the more well tread path to higher competition.
Don’t know about pack-a-day smoker, more like a high school basketball star in the NBA. This was always a fascinating horse because you could always smell the vanity and ego of his owner (we’ll leave the name out) even through the simulcast screen every time he ran. And then Papi Chullo had a little breakthrough. Secret fans wondered if he was actually going to the top, but he was just never that good. Amazing to see him back. And speaking of back, Maryland’s ex-finest from last year, Bsharpsonata, shows up MTO in the $65,000 Fairy Garden on Wednesday at the Big A.
J - same
o_crunk - don’t have his lifetime pp but he hasn’t won a graded race in his last 12, altho he placed to Magna Graduate in the G3 Queens County Handicap in 2006.
I hope this time out if he does well they don’t rush him in over his head (again), although, at the time putting him in the Whitney from his romp in the Birdstone didn’t seem too outrageous.
John S. - count me as a secret fan + thanks for the head’s up re: Bsharpsonata. The first time I ever saw her name in print I went over it about 10 times trying to figure out how to pronounce it. I thought maybe it was an Indian name of some sort.
He did run in graded stakes as a maiden — Papi’s first owner had Kentucky Derby dreams and entered him in the 2005 Fountain of Youth and Florida Derby. After the triple crown season ended, Papi was entered in the Richards Stakes at Delaware as a maiden (although, I think he ended up scratching and running in a MSW at Belmont the same week). What was fun — but a little sad — about watching him then was that Papi Chullo was clearly a gutsy, talented little horse, but he just wasn’t fast enough or classy enough for the competition his connections kept throwing him up against. He tried, he had heart, but he wasn’t a Classic horse. I was much happier to see him in 2006, when he started appearing (and winning) in races much more his level.
Thanks for the back story! I’d love to see him stick around the NYRA circuit at an appropriate level.