Given wins HOTY with DARIEL

By ITCH

Years ago, one of the Sim’s all-time best trainers noticed a flaw in his game.

The great Given, who leads the powerful GR Simsters along with the equally successful Lenny, did not feel he was winning enough in the longer turf races. He decided to do something about it, and the ultimate result is DARIEL, the 2017 Horse of the Year, and the Eclipse Award-winning champion of the 3yo male turf long division.

“The first five to eight years I played the Sim, the one category I seemed to have a lot of trouble finding the highest level of success was 12 furlongs turf and beyond,” Given said. “For that reason I have been using Dynaformer a lot recently. I think he and Sadler’s Wells are two of the best for long turf. I had a breakthrough in 2014 with SUPERDRAGON (Dynaformer X Sadler’s Wells) as he became my first elite-level 12-furlong turf horse. Northern Dancer is just an awesome DDS in general, so I threw him on the end of Dariel’s breeding, and that’s how it happened!”

“I feel that Redoute’s Choice is one of the most under-rated sires in the Sim, so I’ve been trying to use him a lot over the past few years.”

Dariel was good as a 2yo, winning three of six starts, but did not quite hint at his future stardom.

“It’s always a good sign when a horse with the debut, which is what Dariel did the April of his 2yo campaign,” Given said. “Since I like to breed routers, I was even more enthused when he had a huge jump in his first turf route in October of the same year. I tried a stake at 8.5 furlongs at the end of his juvy season but he fizzled out, so I sent him to the farm with the plan to keep stretching out when he returned. He blew the doors off a nine-furlong allowance in February as a 3yo, then ran a great second in a stake at 9.5 furlongs, and then easily won a stake at 10 furlongs.

“At that point, in late April, looking forward, the race that made the most sense was the Japanese Grade 1 at 12 furlongs. Especially since he had kept gettin better going longer. And he certainly loved that further stretch, blasting the Japanese race and then the Irish Derby a month later.”

After consecutive Grade 1 victories, Given chose to send Dariel to the shelf.

“There really weren’t many 12-furlong options for Dariel after the Irish Derby, at least not until the late summer/fall. So with the goal of running the biggest money races to try to capture my first Horse of the Year, I targeted the Arc (which I had never won) and the BB Turf as Dariel’s next major targets.”

It was then that the 2016 Horse of the Year hit a speed bump. In the midst of an Eclipse-winning run of magnificent form that saw him win four of five, Dariel disappointed in his first race against older horses. Beaten double digits in the Grade 1 G.P. Von Baden, the eventual horse of the year was dismissed as a 20-1 longshot in the Grade 1 Ark De ComicDog.

“When he came back and laid the stinker off the long break in Germany, I’m not gonna lie, the thought went through my head that he was done,” Given said. “I was ambivalent about his chances in the Ark, but I still entered him, and he ran arguably the best race that any of my horses has ever run. Certainly outside of the BB and Equinics.”

Given’s best race ever? That’s saying something. Now comes the challenge of building upon a HOTY campaign.

“He’s on the farm until early February and then I’ll see what options there are,” Given said. “Even if he never wins another race, I’ll be over the moon with his career. But yeah, I wouldn’t mind if he has a few bullets left.”

While Dariel’s 2016 season may be the best single season for any of Given’s horses, the great trainer is not yet ready to name him the best horse he’s ever trained. After all, he’s got six horses in the Sim Hall of Fame.

“TATSU won seven Grade 1 races including the Dubai Turf Sprint twice and the Equinics. CASTERLY ROCK won two BB Dirt Sprints. RHAEGAR’S FURY won the Travers and the Whitney in successive years. NEO FORTY won the English Oaks and four other Grade 1s to get into the HOF. I’d probably say that those four plus Dariel are my five best horses ever.”

None of Given’s Hall of Famers ever brought the hardware that Dariel did in 2016.

“This is my first Horse of the Year!” Given said. “If you cannot tell, I am very excited about it! My first stakes win in the game came on Feb. 21, 2004 with a claimer named Danarazi, and it’s been a great ride. Prior to Dariel, I had won eight Eclipse Awards, so this should take it to 10, I believe. This will be first first Eclipse since 2013, though. I also have six horses in the HOF, three of whom based on broodmare prowess. Maybe Dariel can be the seventh.”

The race that put Dariel over the top was his triumph at 20-1 in the Ark De ComicDog. That race is one of seven Grade 1 races which carry the Sim’s highest purse of $6 million. As explained in a message board post at the end of 2014, Mike decided at that point that the $6 million races would carry the greatest weight in determining yearly honors.

“Grade 1 races will have one of four different purse values: $6 million, $3 million, $1.5 million and $750,000. These purse values may or may not relate directly to their real world purse value,” Mike said on Dec. 8, 2014. “I am making this change for several reasons.

“Most importantly, it easily flags races for players to aim for. The races in the Sim with the highest purses will become our ‘flagship races.’ Players who want to be considered for the EOY awards should target these races above all others, as they will weigh much heavier in EOY calculations (the EOY awards will be restructured early next year to accommodate these changes.) Currently, players have their own opinions on which races they should consider the most important. This will allow everyone to pick from the same playbook.”

The $6 million playbook is as follows: Three of the big races go 10 furlongs on the main track. These are the Bluegrass Derby, Sand Castle Classic and Breeders’ Bowl Classic Three more go 12 furlongs on the turf. These are the Japan Cup, Ark de Comic Dog and Derby de English. Finally, there is the Millwood Cup, which goes two miles on the turf.

To win Horse of the Year, a horse is going to have to win a $6 million race. Any horse that wins two of them is a lock. In a year like 2016, in which no horse won two, the HOTY will be the one which adds the most Grade 1 success to a victory in a $6 million race.

And now, with the story of Dariel told, this writer can finally say he’s paid off a longstanding debt to Given, having been accrued several years ago when the Pittsburgh Pirates failed to win the Central Division.

But wait, there’s more.

Special congratulations come from Given’s mate Cadet, who also won an Eclipse with a 3yo on the turf. His champion is ORPHEUS CADET, in the route division.

“This year was a total surprise because of how dominant Dariel was for 3yo turf, but since he was a marathon horse, I guess I got lucky,” Robby said. “I just want to say CONGRATS! to Given. He has worked hard, spent a lot of resources on this game, and has always wanted an elite 12-furlong turf horse. So happy he got it, and got his HOY!”

Along those lines, Given also is feeling appreciative after Dariel’s championship season.

“The reason that I’ve played this game for so long, 13 years, is that there are always new accomplishments to target,” he said. “I’ve had a lot of success, but it took 13 years to get a Horse of the Year, and I’ve still not even gotten close to winning the Bluegrass Derby or Bluegrass Oaks. Mike has really created the perfect game, and it’s given me a lot of enjoyment over the years and introduced me to some great people.”