VARO’S GLADIATOR DAYS COME TO AN END

VARO’S GLADIATOR DAYS COME TO AN END

Named after Varro from the show Spartacus, this horse had very much the beginnings of his namesake. For anyone who’s ever watched the show, not many people expected Varro to be anywhere near as good as he was in the arena and just looking at VARO’S pedigree could easily lead one to believe he was destined for a life of running in claimers. I wish I can say that I did the breeding by design and knew that this combination of bloodlines (GIACOMO x GIANT’S CAUSEWAY x FORTY NINER) would lead to great success, but ultimately the concept behind this breeding was more a combination of my fascination with using open mares and throwing shit against a wall and hoping it sticks.  VARO was out of the stakes placed mare VALERIUS (sanchez) who to that point had gotten some pretty good sires but had only managed to produce a few stakes winners. Truth be told I was just hoping for something I could run in locals and claimers to potentially churn out some BPs. What I got however, would turn out to be my top earner to date.

EARLY CAREER

It wasn’t always rainbows and lollipops with this horse. As a matter of fact he was very frustrating to deal with early in his career. VARO had one start as a 2 year-old in December of 2019 where he ran an 82 speed fig for a close 2^nd place finish. After this start I remember thinking to myself, “Wow I wonder if I have something special here?” After a couple more starts of him showing flashes and then regression that sentiment of hope and excitement dissipated. His inconsistency as a 3-year-old was becoming maddening to me as he would show speed improvements but have worse finishes or show speed regression and have better finishes. I couldn’t quite figure him out. He would run a record of 8-2-3-2 through September of his three-year-old season. Most trainers would be delighted at having this kind of output from a horse sired by GIACOMO, but my super high expectations resulted in me giving him the old snip snip.

LIFE AFTER SNIP

The gelding move didn’t really pay off right away. Yes, VARO was putting up higher speed figs, but the results were still the same. I was expecting wins with every start out of him, and he just was not there yet. His 3^rd start after the snip he turned 4 years old and I decided to throw him against stakes runners. He ran a very slow and disappointing 4^th. The 99 speed fig he had coming out of this race almost made me drop him into claimers, but that little voice in the back of my head said don’t do it. Give him another shot at allowance and maybe he will some how become more consistent. Just like that VARO’s next two starts produced a 110 and 107 which rebuilt my confidence and convinced me to try him again at stakes. That next go at stakes was not great but it was not exactly bad either. He would finish 3^rd going 6.5 furlongs but, this time the speed fig didn’t dip the way it had previously. Alright, lets give old VARO another shot at glory. I would shorten him up to 6 furlongs at stakes and he’d go on to win easily by a length and a quarter earning a 108 figure.

NOW WE ROLLIN

His next start was an attempt in the G3 Middle of Nowhere Sprint and VARO was in tip top form. He would go on to get up late by a head over THE SEA BECKONS (beisbol) and earn the G3 badge. I’d certainly take the accolade and take pride in knowing I had just earned GIACOMO’s first sim graded winner.

Hope was at an all-time high with VARO now. Now we take a shot at the big boys in the G1 Old Name. Going into this race I can remember telling people in chat I was just happy I had something running. With his speed fig high being a 111, I didn’t expect VARO to get the job done. Especially considering we were going against the likes of CURLIN’S STORM CAT who had just won the G1 Binger Handicap and had run speed figs as high as 117. ONE FOOT OUT was another who already had high speed figs and a G1 victory to his name. FLORIDA AFFAIRS was a G1 winning Bluegrass Derby contender, and while he wasn’t running his best at the classic distances, he was still a talent to be reckoned with. FIRE AT MIDNIGHT rounded out the most talented of the group having already earned G1 honors taking down the Sandcastle Golden Sprint earlier that year.

VARO entered the gate that day at post position 5 and he immediately found his groove dropping back a little less than 4 lengths in 5^th, which was typical of his running style. He started to make his move at the halfway point and was passing the horses in front of him almost effortlessly. He’d take control at 3^rd call and start to pull away. Until I noticed a late charging CURLIN’S STORM CAT motoring home. “WHERE’S THE DAMN WIRE!?!?” I yelled at the computer screen. To this day I can remember the look of you better shut the hell up from my wife, as our than one year old son was taking a nap. I would go on to celebrate in silence as VARO would score the victory at 11-1 odds earning a 117 speed fig. That’s three in a row!

Up next, we’d give the G1 Breeders’ Bowl Sprint a go. I was pretty excited for this one as I thought I had a legit shot to win an actual Breeders’ Bowl race for the first time. No excuses for VARO in this one as he’d get the trip but we just weren’t the best that day. As a matter of fact we would go on to finish 4^th to Horse of the Year ANCIENT COMEDY, CUHLECAIN, & CURLIN’S STORM CAT.

After the Breeders’ Bowl Sprint I decided to give VARO a rest. He’d run 8 times in 2021 and I thought I would try to set him up for a great 5 year old campaign. We opened up with an easy win in the G2 Pablo Verces handicap earning a 114 speed fig and then would go on to finish in back to back 2nds in the G1 2022 Equinics & Bing Handicap. I also decided to do something a little out of VARO’s character this year and that was sending him 7F in the G1 Foregone. To this point VARO had never gone further then 6.5 furlongs mainly because I suspected he was a bit distance challenged. The Foregone was not exactly a disaster but we went backwards finishing 4^th with a 113 speed fig.

THE DOWNWARD SPIRAL

After the Foregone VARO just wasn’t the same. He’d have two more attempts at G1 competition in the Iceberg & Double F Memorial where he came out flat. Heading into the twilight of his career I decided once again to give him a rest until his six-year-old season. At this point I decided it was time to move him back down the class ladder to an allowance race. We opened January of 2023 with an NW3Y allowance race, and it was clear from the start that VARO’s little sim heart was not in it any longer finishing 7^th by 2. I knew this was the end for VARO but, I didn’t want to see him go out on a race like that. I decided it was safe to send him to a 150K claimer in a last-ditch effort to get him a victory and ride into the sunset. That move proved to be even worse as VARO decided to take a brisk jog around the track and finish 8^th. I contemplated momentarily sending him to auction or dropping him even lower into claimers but, ultimately, I decided that this piece of sim code meant too much to me and retired him to my own personal sim farm. The ride ended at a record of 26-8-6-4 and earnings of $1,578,786.