Irish 2000 Guineas Hopeful Linked to One of the Sims Strangest Races

Mariana’s More Than Hands is poised to contest his second 2000 Guineas in two weeks in Saturday’s $750,000 Irish 2000 Guineas (G1). In this story, we’ll look back at the root of his female family, who debuted in what is certainly one of the strangest races in the history of the Sim.

Race date, September 5, 1998. The first Saturday in September. Exactly 22 years before this year’s Kentucky Derby is supposed to run. On that day, More Than Hands’ grand dam, the he-mare His Seas, ran his career debut. He was entered in a race that would foreshadow his becoming a he-mare, as the 2-year-old colt was entered and competed in an eight furlong maiden race restricted to fillies and mares 4-years-old and up.

This can’t be good for our His Seas, one thinks, overmatched against mature fillies and mares. Bully, you say. Sent off as the third wagering choice at just under 6-1, His Seas led all the way against the nine older fillies and mares, winning by (blank).

Abbot and Costello Routine

So His Seas won, but who finished second? Or more properly written, His Seas won and who finished second, ?. According to the official race chart, ? ran second, with no information listed; age, running positions, etc. One must click on His Seas’ career past performances page to learn he won the race by 1 1/2 lengths. (Many of the Sims early race charts are littered with question mark horses. The saddle cloth color coding for which is a black square with a white ?.)

Not strange enough for you, it gets weirder still.

We’ve all probably experienced the thrill of a having a 2-year-old pop a big one upon debut — just like the next Secretariat, just like we planned. Well, this 2-year-old maiden, a son of Seattle Slew x Wild Again x Silent Screen, popped the biggest of all large debut pops, earning a, wait for it, 121 speed figure in his victory. The sky’s the limit for this horse, right? A litany of grade one wins, year-end honors — a spot in the Bluegrass Derby (G1) at the least — all must be in his future.

But sadly, that was the highest speed figure His Seas would earn in his 62-race career. No grade one wins, no year-end honors, no participation in the Bluegrass Derby. Still, though, he had a useful career, establishing separate 5- and 3-race winning streaks in stakes races in different points in his 3-year-old season. He won a pair of graded stakes. The first, in the Freddy Prinz (G3), kicked off the first of those streaks and the second came in the 12-furlong Slow Tree Special (G3).

His Seas’ relation, More Than Hands, closed from last to finish sixth in the 2000 Guineas at Newcastle on May 2 won by Flagstriker. The son of Exceed and Excel, out of a More Than Ready mare, earned a listed stakes win in his 3-year-old debut, earning a 101 speed figure in the Miswaki Approval Turf Mile. Should he pop a 121 speed figure on Saturday, he’ll most likely have earned a win in an Irish classic.

The race chart for His Seas debut race: http://derbyfever.com/onerace.asp?whicher=res&raceid=296