Lawyer Ron working at Belmont (Sarah K. Andrew)

How odd that not one but two posts this week reminded me of Lawyer Ron. First was the sad and unexpected news of Papi Chullo’s death as Papi looked to be in great form going in to the 2007 Whitney. The second was that the Whitney will be a Breeders’ Cup W&YI race, in fact I almost used a photo of Lawyer Ron for that post.

I was lucky enough to be at the 2007 Whitney on my first trip to Saratoga when Lawyer Ron had his coming out party by way of romp and track record. Swifty, Joan and I were stunned by his performance, primarily because we all had completely dismissed him but also because his win was so emphatic.

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It’s amazing how many horses from the 2007 Whitney are no longer with us. First Wanderin’ Boy, next Papi Chullo and now Lawyer Ron…. it wasn’t THAT long ago. Let’s take a moment to be thankful for Dry Martini, shall we? Horses, like celebrities and sports figures, seem to be dying at a quicker than normal pace these days.

Lawyer Ron was no slouch as a 3yo winning the Risen Star, Rebel, Southwest and St. Louis Derby.

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But the switch to Pletcher seemed to help him bring it all together. Sure, he still had trouble settling down on occasion but he won the Whitney, Woodward and Oaklawn and ran a very game second to HOY Curlin in the Jockey Club Gold Cup.

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If you haven’t seen it already, The First Saturday in May featured Lawyer Ron and then trainer Bob Holthus on the Derby trail. Lawyer Ron’s groom Chuck Chambers was one of the more memorable characters in the film. It was clear how much he loved Lawyer Ron and I felt bad for him when Lawyer Ron got transferred to Pletcher.

Apparently the Champion Older Horse of 2007 was making quite an impression as stallion. Clark Shepherd, manager of Stonewall Farm Stallions noted.

His first foals are tremendous. When breeders call in to report their Lawyer Ron foals being born, they all have a story to tell.

Many people loved Lawyer Ron and you see plenty of great shots of him at flickr. Rest in Peace Lawyer Ron and condolences to Stonewall Farm and all of his previous connections.

Update: Steve Haskin’s tribute to Lawyer Ron is not to be missed.

Posted by dana on Jul 11 2009    
Filed Under: Farewell, Sarah K. Andrew, YouTube, Wanderin' Boy, Steve Haskin, 2009, Oaklawn, Papi Chullo, Todd Pletcher, Saratoga, Breeding, Belmont, Curlin, Race Replay, Lawyer Ron, Racing

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Papi Chullo and Eibar Coa winning the 2007 Birdstone on Belmont Stakes day (Sarah K. Andrew)

Randomly visiting the Mammee Ridge Farm site to see if there were any new photos of Papi Chullo I was stunned to find news of his death!

From Sunday May 10th:

It is with regret that we announce the death of Papi Chullo who died this morning. An necropsy performed by Dr. Clifford Bradford indicated that the young stallion suffered a heart attack.

Papi Chullo, a Graded Stakes winner of 7 races and US$390,062.00 endeared himself to racing fans throughout the United States. He arrived in Jamaica to stand at Mammee Ridge Farm, and became an immediate favourite of the staff and the local community alike.

Two mares have been confirmed to be in foal to the late Papi Chullo.

He will be missed.

Wow, I’m really sorry to find this out! I’ll definitely be getting in touch with the folks from Mammee Ridge Farms to send condolences and ask them to provide updates on Papi’s impending two foals when the time comes.

Some of you may remember that a group of Papi’s admirers at the TRNY Facebook Group mounted an unsuccessful bid to purchase him prior to his retirement.

It goes without saying that many people wanted to make sure the hard knocking, mismanaged horse had a safe landing. While we can’t say how it would have ended if we had been able to purchase him, let’s hope his time in Jamaica was enjoyable. It seems like he charmed the locals the way he charmed all of us.

RIP.

Posted by dana on Jul 08 2009    
Filed Under: Farewell, 2009, Sarah K. Andrew, :(, Papi Chullo, Breeding

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Papi Chullo in his return at the Big A in November (Ernie Munick)

Google has been indicating to me that people want to know what happened to GbG fav Papi Chullo. I even got an email from a concerned fan over the weekend wondering if I knew anything about what happened to him. Rest assured Papi fans, he seems to be doing well.

Some of you may remember that Papi Chullo made a return in the fall at the Big A in a starter handicap. It was all downhill from there from there as he ended up dropping through the claiming ranks ultimately to be sold to stud. Until now the details were a bit murky but as it turns out Papi landed in Jamaica in Mammee Ridge Farms.

Prior to his retirement there was a valiant effort at Ernie Munick’s Thoroughbred Racing in New York (TRNY) group at Facebook to raise the money to claim him. Ernie posted a shot of Papi and people started chiming in and spontaneously offering to kick in some money to claim him. We figured if every member was willing to donate $32 we could raise the money.

We were well on our way to having the funds raised and member Maggi Moss stepped up and offered to contact the current owner and try to buy him. She didn’t haven’t any luck with the owners but they did agree to sell him to stud, although it was never announced where. His profile on Pedigree Query was only recently updated with the farm location, so the mystery is now over!

As fellow Papi fan Jessica commented to me in an email:

Papi’s in Jamaica? What a life he’s had … Derby contender, claimer, Caribbean stud. Think they’re welcoming visitors?

If you’re planning a Jamaica trip any time in the near future you may want to contact to his new home to arrange for visit!

Here’s a shot of him chillaxin at his new job.

No doubt they’ll be little Papi’s running around here in a few years! Hopefully he’s doing well.

Posted by dana on Apr 19 2009    
Filed Under: Claimer, 2009, Internet, Papi Chullo, Retirement, Breeding

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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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47-1 Fresh Episode pulling an upset at Saratoga (Sarah K. Andrew).

When we first arrived in the hotel room I exclaimed “Ah, the handicapping palace!”. By the second day we were joking that it felt like cramming for exam week. On the third day we were calling it the handicapping torture chamber.

Neither of us had handicapped full cards more than one day in a row so we were a bit surprised by how draining it was. Surprised isn’t exactly right, we were so excited that we just didn’t factor it in. By Saturday night I couldn’t look at a menu and make a decision… I had been making decisions for 2 days straight, just put some food in front of me!

We quickly started to take a pass on some 20K claimers and a few allowance races… those 2 year old races were so much quicker to get through! “Races for horse at least 7 years old who haven’t won a race other than a maiden and run every other week” Swifty joked.

There were points when we got so over tired and giddy that Swifty asked, “when did we smoke a dube?”. Of particular interest was how the trouble lines, when read with the right inflection, could be narration for high school dates. Did I mention we’re in our (early) 40s?

Back to the races. We both really liked Sharp Susan in the Lake George. I had her boxed with Good Mood & Red Birkin in addition to Dashes & Dots & Miss Tizzynow across the board. I also liked Lady Attack (not to mention how much I like her name, insert giddy laughter) and Rutherienne. This is the second time I didn’t incorporate her only to have her run a really strong race. Perhaps next time.

At this point the Saturday Breeder’s Cup challenge races seem like a blur of races where I didn’t cash any tickets. As expected, I liked Papi Chullo in the Whitney. I’m still trying to figure out what happened. The track report of “Papi Chullo saved ground to no avail” seemed particularly spare to me, mind you I think those guys do a great job and I’m extremely grateful for their write-ups. I also had him tri boxed with Flashy Bull & Diamond Stripes in addition to having Wanderin’ Boy across the board (one of the precious few tickets I cashed). I’ve always liked Wanderin’ Boy and was glad to see him step up. Lawyer Ron really kicked it in the end and it was thrilling to see him (now offically) “DEE-MOLISH the track record” (a la Tom Durkin).

Joan made a great point about Lawyer Ron being yet another compelling argument for racing past 3 years old. Compare his 3 year old and 4 year old campaign. He’s maturing very nicely and it seems like the best might be yet to come. More than likely I’ll make an entire post about this but couldn’t wait to point it out.

Did I mention the huge payouts? They made playing trifectas hard to resist. As I mentioned before some folks behind us hit a $2000+ tri playing their hotel room number. I love to play exactas and occasionally play tris but I stepped it up with the tris. Every time I played a tri instead of boxing all of my picks some other horse got in the mix. Ah Saratoga… how you kicked my horses ass.

I also did a lot of WPS bets on long shots, however did not have the pictured long shot of Fresh Episode. I liked the other Freud offspring, Pressing Issue a little better and was gonna do a Freudian box with them because I loved their names, however Pressing Issue scratched. Another good name was Second Marriage by Not for Love out of Impulse Shopper… well done!

As for biases… stalkers crushed on Saturday winning 9 out of 11 races!! The combo of Clemente & Gomez won 2 on Friday, while Gomez had 4 wins total. Saturday saw 2 wins for the combo of Klesaris and Pino, while Mott had two wins as did both Cornelio & John Velasquez & Eddie Castro. Sunday was even for trainers and jocks but still favoring stalkers.

Regardless of our performance at windows (Swifty was doing well for a while, up a couple of hundred bucks), we both gave ourselves points for money management. Neither of us had to do the walk of shame to the ATM and we both literally spent our last buck on the Jim Dandy. In full disclosure I was fully prepared to go the ATM because I wanted to do a $20 exacta of Street Sense over Tiz Wonderful but only had $11. The fates were with me that the ATMs weren’t working (however that seemed a little… I don’t know, unprofessional?) so I did an $10 exacta and tipped the lady in the restroom my final dollar.

Thank you Saratoga, for a long fun weekend that kicked my ass… in a good way! I’ll be back.

Posted by dana on Jul 31 2007    
Filed Under: Exacta, Money Management, Papi Chullo, Bill Mott, Trifecta, Sarah K. Andrew, Wanderin' Boy, Rutherienne, Sharp Susan, Wrap Up, John Velazquez, Flashy Bull, Street Sense, Saratoga, Gambling, That's Why They Call it Gambling, Lawyer Ron, Mario Pino, Tom Durkin, 2007, Cornelio Velazquez, Garrett Gomez, Racing

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