Autism Awareness: Nice colt, irresistible story
El Camino Real Derby winner helps owner focus on developmental disorder
If you haven’t heard yet, the colt with the consciousness-raising name won the $150,000 El Camino Real Derby (Gr. 3) on Saturday at odds of 62-to-1, vaulting into the Kentucky Derby picture as suddenly as a streaker at a graduation ceremony. (Editor's note: Autism Awareness suffered an injured left foreleg and will be sidelined, bloodhorse.com reported).
The longest shot on the board, Autism Awareness returned a stakes record $126 for every $2 bet. But the biggest long shot didn’t come in until after the race, when the story of an owner on a mission began making the rounds at Bay Meadows.
Johnny Taboada, the horse's owner, purchased the colt for a paltry $1,000 at the 2006 CTBA Northern California yearling sale in Pleasanton, Calif., and he and his wife, Hedieh, named him to raise awareness about the developmental disorder afflicting their 8-year-old son, Renzo.
After Autism Awareness lost his first dozen races, his best chance of doing that appeared to be by challenging Zippy Chippy, who compiled an 0-for-100 record before being retired in 2004.
But in his previous start before the El Camino, on Jan. 21 at Golden Gate Fields, Autism Awareness seemed to discover what racing was all about and won for the first time.
Genaro Vallejo, his trainer, said he knew the El Camino Real was an ambitious spot, but his horse really woke up after the win.
‘We knew he could do better’
“The way he looks and the way he was training, we knew he could do better than he was showing,” he said.
The bettors had little clue, though, until the camera flashed as Autism Awareness and jockey Luis Contreras flashed past the finish line 1 ½ lengths ahead of Nikki’sgoldensteed to win the El Camino.
Although Autism Awareness earned $90,000 for his El Camino victory, improving his lifetime bankroll to $151,967, Taboada was wrestling with some difficult economics after the race.
The Taboadas are not wealthy industrialists or sheiks, so the $6,000 needed to nominate the son of Tannersmyman to the Triple Crown and the roughly $50,000 needed to ship the colt to Kentucky for the Derby amount to far more than chicken feed.
But Johhny Taboada soon learned that he and his horse had touched a lot of people Saturday.
By Sunday, he was hearing from supporters wanting to ensure that he gets the chance to run Autism Awareness in the Derby.
One of them, a poster who signed her name only as Collette, posted on Alex Brown’s racing site that she had called Taboada and “explained … that as a mom of an autistic child, I am positive that we could raise the money needed to get Autism Awareness to his earned place in the Kentucky Derby. What a fantastic day that would be to make the masses aware of what autism is and how many children it affects."
Now she and other fans are working to get a special account set up to help pay the expenses for Autism Awareness.
Pyrotechnics at the Fair Grounds
What can I say about Pyro that hasn’t already been said? Probably nothing, so I’ll confine myself to sharing what I saw in his victory in Saturday’s $600,000 Louisiana Derby (Gr. 2).
Patience and versatility are important attributes if you’re going to try to win the Kentucky Derby, and the son of Pulpit showed he has both in spades.
While he’ll probably never be out winging on the front end with War Pass, the colt showed much more speed out of the gate than he did in the Risen Star, when he was last early. This time he showed good zip early under Shaun Bridgmohan to secure a good spot behind the leading pair, then let them open up four or five lengths on the backstretch before beginning his move around the turn.
When he caught the leaders, he showed the patience of an older horse as he waited and waited for a hole to open. And Bridgmohan, to his credit, didn’t lose his nerve and try to find a way out where none existed.
Once he saw daylight, Pyro showed the same acceleration he exhibited in the Risen Star and quickly vaulted to the front, winning by 3 lengths over surprising long shot My Pal Charlie.
The big disappointments of the Louisiana Derby were Majestic Warrior and Tale of Ekati.
The former made a nice move rounding the turn to reach contention, but then faded badly to finish seventh, eight lengths behind the winner. That was Majestic Warrior’s first start of the year, so maybe he’ll move forward off that effort, but that’s not the kind of race you want to see with only one prep remaining before the Derby.
The same could be said of Tale of Ekati, but I thought he ran a sneaky good race after being pinched back between horses at the break and finding himself in the unfamiliar position of caboose in the early stages. He moved up in traffic to get close turning from home, but appeared to be going nowhere behind a wall of horses until Edgar Prado saw daylight on the rail and guided his mount inward. Once he got clear sailing, Tale of Ekati finished well. I think the Barclay Tagg-trained colt will move forward off that race and could be a threat with a clean trip in his next start.
No problems switching surfaces
One other interesting note: For the second time in the last month, a California shipper who had run only on the artificial surfaces out West appeared to have no difficulty handling the switch to dirt. Yankee Bravo, who finished third in the Louisiana Derby had to alter course in the stretch and still was only beaten by 3 ½ lengths under jockey Alex Solis.
Last month, Northern California shipper Sierra Sunset finished a good second to Denis or Cork in the Southwest Stakes at Oaklawn Park. The Jeff Bonde-trained colt is expected to be among those trying to hand Denis of Cork his first defeat in Saturday’s $300,000 Rebel Stakes (Gr. 2) at Oaklawn.
Those performances suggest to me that switching from the artificial racing surfaces to dirt may not be as big a handicap as some had theorized. That’s very much a hypothesis in progress, however, and one that bears close watching.
As for Visionaire’s victory in the Gotham Stakes on Saturday, I’ve watched the replay four or five times now and I still haven’t seen the race.
I’m hardly alone. Apart from Jose Lezcano, who was perched on Visionaire’s back, no one knows exactly how the son of Grand Slam made it from last to first to nip Texas Wildcatter at the wire in a race that was obscured during long stretches by fog that would make pea soup look transparent.
Based on what I could discern from the stretch run, the Michael Matz-trained colt turned in a very strong closing move. And that race flatters Pyro, as Visionaire ran third to the big horse in the Risen Star before venturing north.
Texas Wildcatter isn’t the most accomplished 3-year-old around, though, and the other well-supported Gotham horses – Saratoga Russell and Giant Moon – finished next to last and last and may not have fired their best shots on the sloppy Aquduct racetrack. So I’m going to wait before adding Visionaire to my short list of Derby contenders. But man, that last furlong sure looked good!
East vs. West? Readers weigh in
Finally, I asked readers last week to weigh in on how they think the West Coast 3-year-old stack up against those tuning up in the East and South. Here are a few of the best responses I received:
“Horses running on either the old paved surfaces out west or the new synthetic surface of Santa Anita, will continue to be at a disadvantage when they come east and dirt (literally) gets kicked in their face,” wrote Steve Alper. “The sandy loam of East Coast tracks like Aqueduct and Gulfstream or the Mississippi mud of Oaklawn and the Fair Grounds will nine times out of 10 better prepare a 3-year-old for the pay dirt of Churchill Downs. Always has, always will. Unless, of course, Yum Brands convinces the Twin Spires to conduct the races on crushed taco shells or such.”
That’s a frightening thought, Steve.
But Larry Simon of Scottsdale, Ariz., who obviously follows the Southern California racing scene closely, says the jury is out on the West Coast runner, as well as Santa Anita’s synthetic track:
"No one really will have an idea how the California 3 year olds stack up against the East's best until they meet on dirt. Santa Anita may reinstall their dirt track after this meet ends. They can't afford a fiasco if it rains in November for Breeder's Cup, even though it rarely rains that time of year and is usually very warm."
For next week’s column, I’d like your thoughts on a question that can mean a big difference to a bankroll in the coming weeks: How willing are you to forgive a bad performance by a quality 3-year-old in the spring prep races? For example, will you consider betting Majestic Warrior or Tale of Ekati in their next starts?
Click here to e-mail me your thoughts, and I’ll pick out a few of the best responses to run in next week’s column.
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