Flanders winning the Frizette (Jason Moran)

1994 was not wanting for talented 2 year olds or competitive fields, that’s for sure.

Before we get started there are a few small caveats to keep in mind that apply to the entire series. In fact, I will probably mention them in every post just make sure you’re paying attention!

I’ve tried to display race replays and compile the list of races in chronological order starting with the beginning of the year. I was rarely able to find an actual date as opposed to a “usually run in the late fall” or “run in the beginning of march”. My goal was try to lay out the racing year as it unfolded. Please leave a comment or contact me if you can help put these races in the right order! Distance and race grade reflect the race in 1994 and again, if you can help correct any errors, let me know.

This is clearly and by no means a complete record, it’s what I could put together over the weekend. If there’s a race you’d like to see listed, let me know and I’ll see what I can track down. I’d love for it to be as complete as possible.

Let’s start off with the Colts. On the east coast you had Montreal Red. By the time racing was nearing an end at Saratoga he was undefeated in 3 races and poised to make history if he could win the Hopeful by becoming one of the few horses to sweep the 2yo series at Saratoga. He had won the Sanford and the Saratoga Special but the Hopeful was not to be for Montreal Red as he placed to Wild Escapade (wish I could find that replay!). He did go on to win the Futurity at Belmont.

On the west coast there was Timber Country, the first horse to win the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile and then go on to win a Triple Crown race (the Preakness). In the fall he was sent east to compete a rousing rendition of the Champagne, check out that field size!

Not only did you have Montreal Red, the east coast buzz horse that had only been defeated once coming off a win in the Futurity, but there was the undefeated west coaster On Target in the mix as well as Hopeful winner Wild Escapade and Mr. Greeley (who really didn’t do much at 2). Timber Country had to fight for it but he secured his spot as the favorite going into the Breeders’ Cup.

The 1995 Derby winner, Thunder Gulch, improved as the year went on winning the Remsen in the late fall. West Coaster Afternoon Deelites also made the end of the year interesting capturing both the Hollywood Prevue and the Hollywood Futurity. He still holds the record for the Futurity at 1:40:74.

Futurity:

Champagne:

Remsen:

Hollywood Futurity:

As for the Fillies, I have one word. Flanders. She’s one of the best kept secrets of 1994 and if I had to pick the most impressive horse of 94, it would be her. She had both speed and guts, digging down to repel bids and win stretch battles like an old war horse.

Going into the Spinaway, her firsts stakes race, Stormy Blues was the big buzz horse from the same barn as Montreal Red. Flanders broke quickly and was able to get the lead. Favorite Stormy Blues and Adirondack winner Seeking Regina sat off of her grueling pace but were “never gonna catch her today” as Durkin put it. She still holds the record at 1:23.

In the Matron, Flanders makes the lead early but sets a more moderate pace. Stormy Blues and Phone Caller both move on her at the top of the stretch and for a moment it looks like Flanders isn’t going to be able to hold on. She digs down and not only repels the bid of Stormy Blues, but finds enough to pull away and win by 2 or 3. Impressive.

Not too many takers in the Frizette, and Flanders easily crushes the 4 horse field by almost 20. On the west coast the impressive Serena’s Song was revving up by winning the Landaluce and Oak Leaf to make sure Flanders had some competition by the time the Breeders’ Cup rolled around.

Serena’s Song and Flanders shared two things beyond their talent, they both had similar running styles and they were both trained by D. Wayne Lukas. Flanders never ran again after the Breeders’ Cup. Given what Serena’s Song went on to do, one can only wonder what Flanders might have been able accomplish given the chance.

Serena’s Song winds up the year with a win in the Hollywood Starlet. Stay tuned to see how how our Juveniles fared in the Breeders’ Cup (the last post in the series). The next post will be 3yos.

Adirondack:

Spinaway:

Matron:

Frizette:

Oak Leaf:

Demoiselle:

Hollywood Starlet:

GbG pal and frequent commenter Jason has some excellent photos from 1994, and all of the 90s for that matter. I’ll be featuring them on my posts but you can see them all here.

Were you there? Was 1994 as fantastic as it looks? Let us know, we’d love to hear from you… share some of your racing history, won’t you?

Posted by dana on Dec 22 2008    
Filed Under: Impressive, Remsen, Jason Moran, 90s, 1994, Demoiselle, Champagne Stakes, Race Replay, Tom Durkin, 2yo, YouTube, Racing

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Nobiz Like Shobiz and his entourage after winning the 2007 Wood at Aqueduct (Sarah K. Andrew)

Nobiz Like Shobiz is inextricably tied to my intro to horse racing. The 2006 Champagne was being run at Belmont on my second trip to the track. Besides being a fan of champagne in general, I quickly became a fan of Nobiz, although at the time Swifty and I couldn’t tell a claiming race from a Derby Prep. No Biz, along with Hard Spun were my very first Derby horses.

You may remember that No Biz was a bit of a Derby hype horse. The Times had a great feature on him and his team prior to the Derby that not only included the picture used in this post (possibly one of my all time fav pics), a quote from his exercise rider, Derrick Sturniolo, that Swifty and I still use to this date:

He’s all business on the racetrack. But he’s a big old love bug in the barn.

but a pre-First Saturday in May video that gives the casual fan a look at how horses get to the Derby entitled The Education of a Race Horse.

What I loved about Elizabeth Valando as an owner is that she would run Nobiz as long as he was sound. I had high hopes for a long(ish) career for him, particularly since he so brilliantly lived up to his potential on the turf.

Fellow TBA-er Michael recently shared a conversation Rick Porter about his deal with Hard Spun where Porter had admitted regrets about rushing into the deal and would liked to have campaigned him as a 4yo. It’s unclear to me from Porter’s quote if he meant that Darley wanted to campaign Hard Spun as a 4yo and Porter wouldn’t agree to it or if Darley wanted to start running Hard Spun in their colors immediately (hopefully Michael can clear up my confusion).

I feel like I grew up quick, fast and in a hurry this year as horseplayer… I’m no longer shocked by the “bred to be a stallion” culture, but No Biz was one of those rare horses that we could have counted on seeing mature into an elder statesman, if you will. Which makes his injury all the more sad. I really didn’t want to see him in the BC last year as it wasn’t really his distance, although he ran a really game race. Who’s to say the injury wouldn’t have emerged eventually (what I don’t know about horses physically is a LOT).

And one more thing, I STILL didn’t see anything about his retirement at DRF! Was it buried in another article? That’s a bit ridiculous.

Alright, Queue Ethel Merman and dim the house lights while we take a look at the big old love bug’s notable moments:

Holy Bull:

Wood:

Tagg after the Wood:
View at NTRA

Hall of Fame:
View at NTRA

Kent Stakes:
View at NTRA

Jamaica Handicap:
View at NTRA

BC work:

BC Turf Mile:

A few odds and ends:

Elizabeth Valando talks about Nobiz

NTRA video archive

Flickr photos tagged with Nobiz Like Shobiz

Sarah K. Andrew’s Nobiz photos.

Thanks to Nobiz, Barclay Tagg and team and Elizabeth Valando for the fond memories… I can’t wait to visit Nobiz, wherever he ends up!

Posted by dana on May 24 2008    
Filed Under: Jamaica Handicap, Champagne Stakes, Sarah K. Andrew, Get Well Soon, Farewell, 4yo, 2008, TBA, YouTube, Turf, Hard Spun, Belmont, Retirement, Nobiz Like Shobiz, Race Replay, :(, Injury, Barclay Tagg, Racing

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Pegasus Wind breaks his maiden at Saratoga with Rafael Bejarano’s urging. (Sarah K. Andrew)

The weekend of the Champagne Stakes I was waxing nostalgic for my even more green days and thinking about last year’s Champagne.

Pegasus Wind showed in the Champagne and I wondered what happened had to him. Here’s what I found out.

Google uncovered that he prepping for the Southwest Stakes but sustained an ankle injury in his allowance prep race.

I also asked the question at Dan Illman’s Form Blog (he’ll answer all reasonable questions, fyi… a great and very generous resource). He had a post about the current disabled list, discussing horses that have been out awhile and the speculation if we’d see them again. He confirmed that there was no real news other than what I had found.

Here’s the conversation:

Me:
Speaking of sidelined, the Champagne got me thinking about last year’s Champagne.

Any word on Pegasus Wind, who showed last year? I found an item about an ankle injury keeping him from the Southwest Derby but that was it. Thx!
dana

Dan Illman:
Haven’t heard a thing. He was beaten 20 lengths in his lone start this year at Oaklawn on January 27, then worked on February 2 before injuring his ankle. He hasn’t worked since. I’ll put him on the disabled list, but I’m not convinced that he’ll come back.

So there you have it… only time will tell.

Posted by dana on Oct 11 2007    
Filed Under: Champagne Stakes, Pegasus Wind, Where Are They Now?, Sarah K. Andrew, 3yo, Saratoga, Rafael Bejarano, 2007, Racing

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Annoyingly I started to come down with a nasty head cold yesterday, sitting at work sniffling and sneezing, I knew it meant I was gonna be scratched from any action this weekend. Normally Friday night is handicapping night at GbG manor, but not last night. I’ve been passed out in front of the idiot box all day today, occasionally waking up to catch a race at Belmont.

As luck would have it, I woke up just in time to catch the Champagne Stakes… War Pass ($11.20) took the field wire to wire winning by about a length and half over a closing Pyro ($19.60) while 35-1 long shot Z Humor ($10.80) held on well for show after stalking War Pass the whole way! As Tom Durkin put it “Majestic Warrior and Ready’s Image nowhere today”. Actually, the replay is on now, Pyro came from last to place… nice! Good for Nick Zito… and those payouts were reminiscent of Saratoga!

The Champagne is somewhat sentimental for me, last year the second time I went to the track ever was it was the running of the Champagne. Back then Swifty & I couldn’t tell a prep race from a claiming race. Later on during the Derby Trail whenever the Champagne was mentioned we would laugh knowing that A) we were there and B) we had no idea what we were witnessing. Our trouble line would have been, Stumbled, greenly.

No Biz and Scat Daddy were the two favs, both at very low prices. I liked No Biz but went with a longer shot Pegasus Wind across the board. Pegasus Wind did show, I wonder what happened to him, I’ll have to do a little research. But No Biz has remained one of my favs, “a big old love bug in the barn” as quoted by one of Barclay Tagg’s team in a New York Times article prior the derby.

He’s running in the Jamaica today going for his third win on turf, and I will be rooting for him. I haven’t looked at the past performances, but he’s definitely got some competition in Shamdinan and Red Giant… and possibly others. Go No Biz!

Posted by dana on Oct 06 2007    
Filed Under: Jamaica Handicap, Champagne Stakes, War Pass, Pyro, Shamdinan, Pegasus Wind, Majestic Warrior, Nick Zito, Barclay Tagg, Nobiz Like Shobiz, 2007, Tom Durkin, 3yo, 2yo, Belmont

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