Paddy o’Prado working at Churchill for the Derby (Jamie Newell)

Paddy o’Prado goes postward as the favorite in this weekend’s Virginia Derby, a race that would normally be the second leg of the Grand Slam of Grass. The what? (see here) In short, it’s a turf racing series comprised of the Colonial Turf Cup, Virginia Derby, Secretariat Stakes with a big fat bonus for anyone who can sweep the series and then win the Breeders’ Cup Turf.

As discussed at length before, even if a 3-year-old could sweep the series, winning the BC Turf might possibly be more challenging than sweeping the series. This year in particular could be additionally tough with the main track races on dirt, meaning all the talented euro-turfers would remain on turf. Two time winner Conduit has been retired but Starspangledbanner or Fame and Glory could show up. And let’s not forget Gio Ponti.

After Paddy o’Prado won the Colonial Turf Cup I headed over to the Colonial Downs site to check on the Grand Slam of Grass but could only find last year’s page. I emailed them and confirmed that there is no Grand Slam this year but they hope it will be back next year. Could this be the year with a viable contender and no series? Only time will tell. Whatever the outcome, I hope Paddy o’Prado crushes it and comes back next year. He’s been nothing but impressive so far.

Somewhat related, I happened upon an interesting blog yesterday. The Morning Line follows Marshall Blevins on her travails working at Colonial Downs for the summer. It’s mainly pictures (good ones!) but it’s an enjoyable glance into life on the backstretch.

And one of my favorite annual events is back, the Equispace Toga Contest! If you love Saratoga there’s no reason you shouldn’t be playing along.

Best of luck to Paddy o’Prado, and best of luck to you with any online horse betting you have planned for the weekend!

Posted by dana on Jul 16 2010    
Filed Under: 2010, Grand Slam of Grass, Breeders' Cup, Racing

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(Charles Pravata)

*Crickets*

Battle of Hastings, who has won the first two legs of the Grand Slam of Grass, is apparently not entered in the third leg that runs this weekend, the Secretariat. Not that you’d know about this by reading the coverage of the race as there is no mention of Battle of Hastings or why he’s not running.

As if it wasn’t already obvious enough that the relatively new Grand Slam of Grass was a bit under the radar, the connections of Battle of Hastings weren’t even there because of the series!

“To be honest, we didn’t know about the Grand Slam and all the bonuses until we got here” for the Turf Cup race, Ayers said. “We were just looking at the purse money. We figured we could race him at Hollywood for $100,000 or come to Virginia for $500,000. Like Mike said, it was pretty much a no-brainer.”

While it didn’t turn out so great for Colonial Downs this year, they already got what they needed from the series… decent races to anchor some marketing. Arlington doesn’t need the marketing juice with the Arlington Millions and Beverly D on the same card. So there you have it… perhaps we should start calling it the Half Slam of Grass?

Posted by dana on Aug 05 2009    
Filed Under: Colonial Downs, Arlington, Grand Slam of Grass, 2009, Charles Pravata, Marketing, Turf, 3yo, Racing

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What with all of Swifty’s talk of the multitude of variations that exist in tennis for the Grand Slam, I was surprised to notice that we have our own Grand Slam… the Grand Slam of Grass. And I thought the Triple Tiara was obscure!

The Grand Slam of Grass is relatively new, started in 2005 by Colonial Downs as a way to complete with neighboring Mid-Atlantic tracks with slots money. The series, open to 3 year olds, includes the Colonial Turf Cup, Virginia Derby, Secretariat Stakes (at Arlington) and the Breeders’ Cup Turf. Touted as the richest Grand Slam in sports, anyone sweeping the series would win over $5 million in purse and bonus money.

No one has swept the series yet but maybe Battle of Hastings will be the one to change that.

Grand Slam of Grass Series:

Yellow = repeat winners, Green = 3yo BC Turf winners

The first year of the series came the closest to having a sweep. English Channel, who just moved to Lane’s End (along with Candy Ride, who’s next?) kicked off the series with a bang taking the first two legs and placing in the third. He ran 5th in the Breeders’ Cup Turf, a race he dominated in 2007, and is one of only two horses who ran ITM to run in every leg of the series.

In 2006 Showing Up won the Colonial Turf Cup but skipped the Virginia Derby only to come back and win the Secretariat Stakes. He didn’t run in the BC Turf but Go Between, who won the Virginia Derby and ran 3rd in the Colonial Turf Cup, ran in every race in the series (6th in the Secretariat and 7th in the BC Turf).

Battle of Hastings is the first repeat winner since Showing Up and the first consecutive repeat winner since English Channel. His connections said they would make a decision about the Secretariat in a week or two.

Colonial Turf Cup:

(NTRA)

Virginia Derby:

(RedLemon)

Stretch run footage of the Virginia Derby and connection interview:

(James River News)

For the sake of argument let’s say that he does race AND win the Secretariat… the next step is the Breeders Cup Turf, a race that’s not restricted to 3yos. It’s not that it can’t be done, 7 of the 26 Breeders’ Cup Turf races have been won by 3yos. 27% is not fabulous, but it’s not hideous either. Of those 7 only 2 winners have been trained in the US. Battle of Hastings, while bred in Britain, is trained right here in the U.S of A… and the win percentage drops to 7.6% for U.S. trained 3yos in the BC Turf.

Before we get too down in the mouth about his chances let’s take a look at the 3yos that have won the Breeders Cup Turf.

2008: Conduit - Ireland

(BCWorldChampionships)

2006: Red Rocks - Ireland

(BCWorldChampionships)

2002: High Chaparral - Ireland

(BCWorldChampionships)

1994: Tikkanen - US (trained in France, on stud duties in Ireland)

(partymanners)

1989: Prized - US (born & trained by Neil Drysdale)

(BCWorldChampionships)

1986: Manila - US (born and trained by LeRoy Jolley)

(BCWorldChampionships)

1984: Lashkari - British

(cf1970)

Looking at the US trained 3yos, Florida bred Prized beat the previous year’s winner, Sunshine Forever (who finished 14th)… and it was his first time on turf! Manilla is ranked by Steve Davidowitz as the best long-distance turf horse in American racing history. Not a shabby group.

Can Battle of Hastings do it? Too soon to tell, but it doesn’t hurt that he’s got a fighting spirit to go along with his name… he’ll need it. Here’s hoping he’s the first to sweep the series!

Update: Check out Kennedy’s current top 10 for the BC Turf… and note there’s only one American, 6yo Presious Passion. Tough crowd for an American 3yo!

Posted by dana on Jul 20 2009    
Filed Under: 2009, Colonial Downs, Arlington, Grand Slam of Grass, Racing History, English Channel, Breeders' Cup, Turf, Steve Davidowitz, Racing

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