Review – Grade 1 Wooden Indian
By ITCH
A trip to the Bluegrass Derby?
That would be WAY TOO COOL.
Once again, Gowans has brought fame and distinction to the Blazing Saddles residency.
His 3yo colt Way Too Cool, a brown son of Tizway, romped again to make it five wins a row, but this time it was for high stakes.
Way Too Cool crushed the Grade 1 $750,000 Wooden Indian Derby Lock Prep on Saturday and earned a trip to Simulated Louisville on the first Saturday in May.
WAY TOO COOL: Broke alertly to establish an ever-growing lead that he never would relinquish, easily capturing the prestigious Wooden Indian in dominating, frontrunning style. An absolute monster of a race at just the right time. If, somehow, this horse had gotten beat, we might not have seen what might be the best 3yo of the bunch in the Derby. But, there was no chance of him getting beat in the Wooden Indian. He was in control the whole trip. Haack won two Derby locks last week, and now Gowans has won the Wooden Indian with the progeny of a mare he claimed off Haack. Makes for a good Derby story.
SWAGU: Way Too Cool was not the only colt who earned a trip to Simulated Louisville in the Wooden Indian. Reman12000, a single-stable outfit, will represent the GR Simsters in the 2013 Bluegrass Derby with this late-running brown son of Discreetly Mine. The 64 stakes points which Swagu earned with his second-place run have moved him up to No. 12 in the division. This horse ran a massive race in the Wooden Indian to get up for second. He was caught wide the entire trip and still had the energy to pass three horses in the stretch to get up and earn his trip to the Bluegrass Derby.
RAM N RAID: Houseriot already had a trip to Louisville secured with this chestnut son of Smart Strike, but the 32 points he earns with his third place run move him up slightly to No. 3. This talented colt has overcome tough trips before but could not make it happen in the Wooden Indian. His chances were compromised when Way Too Cool got away to an easy lead. That meant he could not catch the winner, and left him vulnerable to the late charge of Swagu, who was running his heart out to make it into the Bluegrass Derby. Like Swagu, Ram N Raid was caught wide around the first turn, and forced to move around horses again on the turn for home. He finished with good energy to split horses in the stretch and outfinished NO STAFF ON HAND for the third-place money. However, Swagu was on his hip the whole trip and outran him in the stretch. It was not the dominating performance which Houseriot may have been hoping for heading into the Bluegrass Derby.
That’s it for the horses who have qualified to run for the Simulated roses. The rest of these will be on the outside looking in on May 4.
NO STAFF ON HAND: Broke fairly quickly to be fifth going around the first turn, then advanced to third halfway down the backstretch while in the two path. Raced hard around the turn for home outside Twinge and outran that one. A clear second turning for home, saw his Derby dreams dashed when he could make no ground on the winner and got overtaken by Swagu and Ram N Raid. Better days ahead for Lender’s chestnut son of Symboli Kris S. He ran a competive, hard race in the Wooden Indian and did not get much to show for it. Even so, Lender will take consolation in a new career-best speed figure of 104 earned while stretching to nine furlongs in Grade 1. The horse ran very well when thrown into the deep end of making his graded debut in a big Grade 1 Derby lock. No Staff On Hand is still ranked only No. 122 in the division, but ain’t no way there are 121 colts better than him.
TWINGE: Away nicely down on the rail, saved ground around the first turn while third. No Staff On Hand came up alongside and had him boxed in in early backstretch, but made a nice move around a tiring pacesetter to improve position. Disappointing to race in contention the whole way and only get fifth. like with No Staff On Hand, Tartar’s roan son of Unbridled’s Song ran a strong race and got no reward for it. He also established a new career-high speed figure (103), and is a better horse for the race.
ADMIRAL NOK: Now, this may not rank up there with the time Ace took down a Grade 1 turf race with a Colorado-bred. But, a sixth-place finish in the Wooden Indian with a Kansas-Bred is a pretty fair trick. You might have gotten odds that this son of the Kansas-sire Admiral Indy would defeat eight horses in the Wooden Indian and earn a 101. I guess you can’t jump up and down stiff-legged about running sixth, but cool nonetheless.
STAND YOUR GROUND: Son of Unbridled’s Song away a step slow, able to save ground while ninth around the first turn. Stuck to the rail while catching no horses down the backstretch. Made his move in the turn for home to get by a few of them but had nothing left for the stretch.
BIG FAT DIRTY NARL: There were a number of runners in the Wooden Indian which took far back early and never made an impact in the race. BFDN was one of them. He was away slowly in 12th and made up four lengths from the second call home to be eighth, but never was a threat. This was a race controlled by the speed and there was no pace for the deep closers to run into. A lot of them just did not fire.
BRO: Count Frankster’s chestnut son of Drosselmeyer among that drop-back-and-fail-to-fire crowd. Broke slowly in 13th, advanced an equivalent amount of ground to BFDN and made no impact. Ran in completely opposite style of another one of Frankster’s runners. I guess this proud member of Empire State Racing will have to settle for another gigantic score from his reigning Queen of the Turf, the great MAGNIFORMA! What a remarkable run for the champ in the Grade 1 South Australian Cup on Saturday. Once again, this mare made the best male runners in the turf marathon division look like specks in the rear-view mirror. Her unreal marathon speed simply renders their closing kicks moot, and she’s home by a distance of ground yet again. This is an absolute freak of historic Sim importance and she’s well on her way to a Hall of Fame career. Congrats to Frankster and Queen Mags.
GOPHER HOLE: Away slowly, four wide while 10th around the first turn. Up to seventh down the backstretch, but then caught a nasty break while checking up behind Ram N Raid. Lost ground while turning for home. Could make up no ground in the stretch after that mishap of racing luck.
CAKE N’ STRIPPERS: Another clunker for this once-promising chestnut son of Tiznow throws him far off the Triple Crown trail. Away in sixth with the potential for a decent trip down in the No. 2 post, simply had no run and retreated throughout. Back to the drawing board with this colt, who has a classy back end and should be able to get his feet back under him, especially in the capable hands of trainer xpletives2.
PARTING SKIES: This may have been the most disappointing run in the Wooden Indian. Coming into the race, Pointblank had a possible Derby runner. Parting Skies had just run an impressive second in the Grade 1 Vermont Is 4 Lovers and would earn a trip to Simulated Louisville with the same finish in the Wooden Indian. It never came close to happening. Parting Skies took back to dead last out of the gate and never played a role in the race. Back to the drawing board for Parting Skies, who retains a respectable No. 31 ranking in the division.
WEST SIDE HIGHWAY: The Super gang tried to get this 3yo chestnut son of Bernardini patched back together in time after an injury as a 2yo but it was just not meant to be. After running an improved second in his first race as a 3yo, West Side Highway bounced like a tennis ball and faded almost to last. Luckily, the Supers still have shots to fire in next week’s derby locks.
TIZ ROCK HARD: Broke alertly but quickly realized he had met his match in the winner, Way Too Cool. Pressed the pace briefly before retreating through the field