A Look At Past Runs For Sand Castle Glory
Part I: (Today) History Of Sand Castle Classic Winners. Part II: (To come) The 2012 Sand Castle Classic Field. The desert in Saudi Arabia can be cruel or kind. It does not differentiate, nor does it discriminate. The big race in the desert will reward you, or it will break your heart. And it will rarely let your horse win it twice. It is one of a handful of big ten-furlong dirt races in the game, a race that traces back to the year 2000. It’s also one of the richest races in the world, turf or dirt, with a purse of $6,000,000 on the line. It is a race that has been won by a veritable Who’s Who of dirt monsters in Derbyfever. The race is the 1 1/4 mile $6,000,000 Sand Castle Classic, for four year olds and up, on the dirt, in the desert, in Dubai. The best dirt classic distance runners in the spring are drawn like moths to the flame by the mystique and the riches the Dubai desert holds for them, because they all know one thing. It is THE springboard for late-blooming three year olds who have just turned four and for the best older dirt horses in the game, horses who have tasted, or want to go on to, glory in the Breeders’ Bowl races. The horses, and their owners, are drawn to the desert, because they all know it is the stage-setter for the chase for that year’s Breeders’ Bowl Classic in America. For some of the past winners, it has been a stage-setter for horses to run in not only the Classic but also other Breeders’ Bowl races. But, be careful when you speak of the big race in the desert. To imply this race is any less important–or any less meaningful–than the Breeders’ Bowl Classic is foolish, at best. Typically, three-year-old Triple Crown race winners or near winners have not done well in this race in Dubai. One of the few constants of this race is that there have been very few exceptions to this rule. Another near constant in this race is that it is rarely won by post-time betting favorites. It is a race that refuses to be dominated by any one single sire in the game. Only one sire has fathered two winners of this race, and that sire, Distorted Humor, only did so because he sired the only two-time winner of this race, Distorted Storm, in 2010 and 2011. Let’s take a look past winners of the Sand Castle Classic, and the stories behind the stories of their Sand Castle Classic wins. ——————————————————- The year 2000. Colonel Prospector, sired by Mr. Prospector. He failed to win any of his three Triple Crown races in 1999, but he went on to become the first winner of the big race in the desert. Colonel Prospector would go on to win a number of listed stakes in his career following his win in Dubai. But, interestingly enough, his Sand Castle Classic win would be the last graded stakes race that Colonel Prospector would ever win. See how cruel the desert can be. Time: 2:01 3/5 Odds: 14.3 / 1 —————————————— The year 2001. Stormy Prospector, sired by Storm Bird. Stormy Prospector won the Breeders’ Bowl Classic in 2000, yet strangely enough he wasn’t given much of a chance to win the Sand Castle Classic in the spring of 2001, being sent off at odds of 11.3/1. He won anyway. See how kind the desert can be. Unlike Colonel Prospector, Stormy Prospector never raced in any of the Triple Crown races as a three year old. Stormy Prospector would finish second in the Breeders’ Bowl Classic in the very same year he won this race in Dubai. He would also try to win the Sand Castle Classic twice more, finishing ninth and seventh in his two follow-up attempts here in Dubai. With $11 million-plus in earnings, he wasn’t even close to being the richest horse to ever win this race. Time: 2:00 1/5 Odds: 11.3 / 1 ——————————————– The year 2002. Pleasant Nijinsky, sired by Pleasant Colony. He won this Sand Castle Classic, yet he never competed in any of the Triple Crown races, and. like the first two winners of this race, Pleasant Nijinsky would never win another graded stakes on the dirt again. In fact, he would go on to win only one race in his career after his signature win in Dubai, and that was an allowance race in 2003. The cruel desert strikes again. Time: 2:01 1/5 Odds: 12.7 / 1 ——————————————– The year 2003. Teddy’s Slew, sired by Seattle Slew. The first winner of this race to ever record a sub-2:00 time while winning the Sand Castle Classic, Teddy’s Slew never raced in a graded race until he was five years old. In fact, he ran in 28 races before he even saw any type of stakes company, listed or graded. But once he hit the stakes trail, he was a beast, including his huge win here in Dubai. He was the first winner of this race to win a graded race, after his win here in Dubai. He broke the trend of desert cruelty. Time: 1:59 4/5 Odds: 6.8 / 1 ———————————————- The year 2004. Pondal, sired by Machiavellian. Pondal was the second winner of this race to win a graded stakes after he won the Sand Castle Derby. This was also the year that Pondal beat a monster of a horse, one by the name of I Seek U, the only Triple Crown winner in the history of Derbyfever. I Seek You won the Triple Crown the year before this race, yet he would finish a well-beaten ninth in this race, far behind Pondal. Pondal recorded the slowest time of any of the winners of the Sand Castle Classic. Time: 2:02 Odds: 6.3 / 1 ———————————————— The year 2005. Call Of The Wild II, sired by War Chant. Call Of The Wild II never raced in any of the Triple Crown races. But he won this race when he was four years old. With earnings of $9 million, he also wasn’t even close to being the richest winner of this race. But, with only 36 career races, he was the most lightly raced horse to win this race. Call Of The Wild II did have one distinguishing feature. He was the first horse to win this race and the Breeders’ Bowl Classic in the same year. He also finished third in this race the following year, one of the few to hit the board twice in this history of the Dubai classic. Time 2:01 Odds: 7.3 / 1 ————————————————- The year 2006. Solar Song, sired by Deputy Minister. Solar Song was, by far, the richest of horses to ever win this race, finishing his career with over $16 million in earnings. He became the second horse to win this race and the Breeders’ Bowl Classic in the same year. He would also win the Breeders’ Bowl Classic in 2007. Some contend Solar Song is the greatest horse in the history of Derbyfever. Solar Song would go on to run in this race twice more after his 2006 win, finishing seventh in this race the year following his win in Dubai and second in this race two years later. Time 2:00 1/5 Odds: 7.2 / 1 ————————————————– The year 2007. Ermington Pegusus, sired by Sky Mesa. Ermington Pegusus would do something in 2007 that no other horse has ever done in the history of this race. He would win as the post-time betting favorite at odds of 3.9/1. The son of Sky Mesa was one of the few winners of this race who would do well in the Triple Crown races (finishing second and third in the Bluegrass Derby and the Middle Jewel Stakes, respectively). Ermington Pegusus also finished second in the Breeders’ Bowl Classic as a three year old, behind the 2006 winner of the Sand Castle Classic, Solar Song. Ermington Pegasus would finish fifth in this race in Dubai in 2008. And two years later, in 2009, in his second attempt to become the first horse to win this race twice, he would fall short again, finishing ninth. Time: 2:00 4/5 Odds: 3.9 / 1 ————————————————— The year 2008. Awesome Force, sired by Awesome Again. He is the first of the list of winners of the Sand Castle Classic who is still actively racing, at eight years old. Awesome Force was also very special in a number of ways. He was the first horse to win two legs of the Triple Crown (the Middle Jewel Stakes and the New Yorker) and then go on to win this race in Dubai the following spring. Awesome Force would run in four different Breeders’ Bowl races during his amazing career: the Juvenile, the Classic, the Dirt Mile, and the Turf, none of which he would win. Awesome Force was one of the few who would do well in the Triple Crown and then go on to win this race. He was also the second winner in the history of this race to break the 2:00 mark while winning it. Time: 1:59 4/5 Odds: 12.5 / 1 ————————————————— The year 2009. Rock Hard Korn, sired by Rock Hard Ten. Rock Hard Korn won this race in 2009, before he finished third in the Breeders’ Bowl Classic the same year. Rock Hard Korn would compete in only one leg of the Triple Crown, finishing fifth in the New Yorker, the longest of the three Triple Crown legs. Rock Hard Korn would finish eleventh in this race in 2010, when he was attempting to become the first two-time winner of this race. He is still actively racing at seven years old. Time: 2:00 Odds: 14.7 / 1 —————————————————- The years 2010 and 2011. Distorted Storm, sired by Distorted Humor. The only horse to EVER win this race twice, Distorted Storm is an absolute beast. In both 2010 and 2011, he would record TWO sub-2:00 times in his breath-taking Sand Castle Classic wins. He would also be one of the few who did well in the Triple Crown races, finishing third in both the Bluegrass Derby and the New Yorker, and go on to win this race. Distorted Storm would also win the Breeders’ Bowl Classic in 2010. Distorted Storm set the stakes record for this race in 2010, with a time of 1:59 3/5. Distorted Storm very nearly equaled his 2010 stakes record in his 2011 win, winning last year’s big race in the desert in a time of 1:59 4/5. 2010 Time: 1:59 3/5 (Stakes Record) Odds: 13.8 /1 2011 Time: 1:59 4/5 Odds: 9.1 / 1 ***********************************************************