“Jeremy” Unlikely Segue to Oaks

She retired twenty-thousand and change short of making a million in a fifty-two race career. Jeremy’s Nijinsky has seen five foals race from as many birthed, four winners, three of which have been regular starters in the claiming ranks, two of those struggling at the bottom. The other is a promising three-year-old colt which has won just once, but it was a maiden breaking effort in a nine furlong stakes race against a small field. No Imperfection, the aforementioned three-year-old, is trying hard to remain an exception to a pattern that has seen the stellar race mare Jeremy’s Nijinsky prove to be a dud as a broodmare.

On the contrary, of the five starters in Saturday’s feature, four can bolster their individual cases for expected improvement on the merits of familial influence.

Erin Express, by Machiavellian, earned nearly $600,000 in a sixty-seven race career that produced ten wins, six in stakes races, as well as twenty-seven top three stakes placings overall. Her first foal, Just Another Bimbo, makes not only her route debut, but her stakes debut on Saturday.

A debut winner over a boggy grass course against a testing herd of three others, she vacated the turf course for her first effort against winners, contesting an open seven furlong allowance for three-year-old fillies. She performed very admirably, finishing second, prompting a rather easy win at six and a half furlongs the following month when spotted against a field of ‘non-winners other than’ allowance fillies. Four week later, she shortened again, this time to six furlongs, and again she won, taking an allowance for non-winners of four despite winning just two.

The similarities to her dam’s early career highlights is eerily apparent. Though she did lose her debut, she came from fourteenth, far back, to get beat less than a length, but when she moved to turf, she broke her maiden at six and a half furlongs. She then ran in a wide open allowance for fillies in her first test against winners, got beat, and then reeled off two in a row on the main track, shortening to six, then six and a half. The latter of the two wins was a stakes win in her first try at the level.

On the one hand, it is a positive omen that she conquered stakes foes the first time she tried them, on the other hand, this is also her daughter’s route debut. Erin Express followed her stakes debut victory with a trouncing in her next start, her route debut, but also a move back to the turf course. Another Bimbo is staying put on the main track.

Erin Express recovered from her route debut and as she transitioned to a three-year-old, she flourished into a formidable stakes regular, coinciding with a return to exclusively route races. In fact, she proved adept at marathon distances, winning stakes at a mile and a half and two miles, while placing in stakes at both distances and virtually every distance between. She routinely squared off against older fillies and mares, registering every good race on her sophomore resume while avoiding fields of strictly her own peers.

She remained as consistent a performer at the minor stakes level as there is over the next two years, routinely playing a prominent role in route and long route stakes races, primarily on turf, well into 2006. Her 2007 season, however, was confirmation that five straight years of excellent consistency and consistent excellencies had taken its toll and had finally run its course. Though never bestowed with overwhelming talent, Erin Express was a gem, almost an heirloom she lasted so long at the same tier of capability. It was at a moment at nearly this same time in her career that Another Bimbo’s mother turned a corner and found a home, one which defined a fine career.

Dave’s Delight was the antithesis of Erin Express during her career. The dam of Baschnagel, a son of Crafty Prospector, Dave’s Delight’s career was one accomplishment followed by an expectation that was met with disappointment. The Seattle Slew filly was overwrought with raw ability, but was such a mental twit that she never was able to transition her talent to results on the racetrack.

After toying with a field of maidens in her debut at GoofStream in Florida, Dave’s Delight retreated discouragingly at the sixteenth pole after contesting the pace in the Delaware 1082 Stakes, finishing a poor sixth. None the worse for wear physically, and after training well the following weeks after the Delaware debacle, trainer Kuhler Unner defied the result of the Delaware Stake and sent his filly to Utah for the Grade II Mountain West Festival. That plan was rather coldly received as she beat one of her thirteen rivals, annihilated in the process.

Dave’s Delight recovered from the two defeats to win an allowance race in her next start at a short price, but was subsequently again disappointing when fourth of just five in an easier allowance.

Still temperamental and plain difficult as a three-year-old, her campaign at least seemed on track as she ran a creditable if not impressive fourth in a conditioned allowance to begin her sophomore year. Two weeks later, she tried two-turns for the first time, facing a short field of three others in an open allowance at a flat mile at GoofStream. Despite the stigma of a four horse field, the race proved to be what at the time seemed like a crossroads in the lightly raced filly’s career, as she stalked the pace early and spurted away with each step inside the eighth pole.

Dave’s Delight took exactly the opposite route as her famous co-runner in Florida, following her allowance win over Stars of Libra with three horrendous performances. Her sophomore season was officially tanked as she regrouped to campaign at age four, hopefully maturing enough to develop into what she was capable of becoming.

Her four-year-old campaign was repeatedly postponed until eventually, she appeared in Montana, set to contest a seven furlong grass stakes against just three rivals. Looking for an easy race, she tied into a pair of monsters, running a distant last behind multiple stakes winning Peach Springs and Grade I winner and earner of over $1.2 million, Royal Runner. Ironically, Peach Springs was (and still is) owned by Coldwater farms, who send out Woomera to face Baschnagel on Saturday.

She again disappeared, returning as a five-year-old after being sold to Sir Epic Ack Freeky, an eccentric billionaire assembling a powerhouse breeding and racing empire. Sir Freeky ran her just once, a decent performance in an allowance, before breeding her to Seeking The Gold, producing Otto Delight. Otto Delight broke her maiden in her second start after debuting in a sprint, winning a nine furlong maiden allowance by open lengths over thirteen rivals in 1:49.2, worthy of a 102 rating. Just three and with only two starts, Otto Delight looked like a slam dunk, the runner that her mother was but with the brain she lacked. In an instant, she transformed, regressing to run two mediocre races and then subtly vanishing to the broodmare band.

Since Otto Delight, Dave’s Delight produced three starters prior to Baschnagel, all multiple winners, including stakes placed Otto Finale, earner of over $100,000 and Who Is Dave, a stakes winning earner of $138,000. Dave’s Delight’s foals have proven to be sturdy, physically and mentally, despite the Otto Delight scare. While the youngest members of her progeny roster seem to have vanquished the presence of their matriarch’s idiosyncratic on-track blunders from their respective repertoires, it seems most have also obliterated her raw talent. Not since Otto Delight has their been a prospective talent from the cranky mare like Bashnagel.

Not only has Bashnagel proven to be a reliable presence in terms of attendance, making regular appearances since her debut, she has been as consistent a young filly as could reasonably be expected. An eight race veteran, she has been campaigned carefully and competently in the formative stages, succeeding in sprints and improving in routes. She leads the field not only overall wins with four, but in route wins with three, and by default, her three stakes wins lead that category as the lone stakes winner in the group.

She has three second place finishes along with a third to join up with her four wins and make her a perfect eight for eight in the money with $127,980 bankrolled already. She’s good enough to win this race right now on the merits of her credentials without improving a bit. What makes her double tough is that if all of this babbling about matriarchal influence and family patterns is actually of any relevance, then Baschnagel has every right to keep getting better and if capable of blending the best of her family’s many attributes, remain a prominent competitor through her sophomore year and beyond.

On the contrary, Paul Peegipeegi is hoping that his Irrepressible G is unlike his mother, Julie G, and with any luck, a cut above his half-brothers and sisters. Julie G, like Dave’s Delight, was a talented filly. Unlike Dave’s Delight, Julie G did assemble an extended career and left a number of memorable performances behind her. Unfortunately, Julie G’s most memorable performances all seemed to occur within her first dozen or so races, spanning the end of her freshman year to the middle of her three-year-old season.

Julie G didn’t simply evaporate away after she ran for a year. She had a fairly long career and was banging out paychecks late in her six-year-old season and even the following year before retirement. But, she had descended into the worst caliber of the gimmicky allowance ranks and was erratic during her best days as an older mare. Clearly, she was a precocious filly, honest and strong enough to continue to perform at a low level beyond her peak days, but essentially cooked at age four.

Irrepressible G looks like she could be something pretty special and though she has already exhibited a tendency towards the unpredictable, has also demonstrated the professionalism to overcome such adversity.

She debuted with the deck stacked against her, facing colts in a non-winners of two allowance at a testing distance, seven and a half furlongs. Impressively, she ran a strong race, looming menacingly to mid-stretch before tiring late but clinging to third place. Unsurprisingly, she overpowered thirteen rivals when spotted against maiden fillies, winning the seven and a half furlong race by three and a half easy lengths.

The following month, three days before Christmas, she closed out her two-year-old season by facing winners in her route ‘debut’, making a nominal transition from seven and a half to eight furlongs. After tracking for five-eighths of a mile, Irrepressible G took command turning for home and opened up a big lead at the eighth pole, only to be collared 100 yards from the wire.

While Sisson’s Mark was off proving that her win over Irrepressible G was indeed flattery, the latter was getting a brief freshening in preparation for a sophomore campaign. Trainer Mae Ducia found a cozy return spot to incept Irrepressible G’s 2008 season. At a mile and an eighth, as the 3-2 heavy favorite in a field of seven under non-winners of two allowance conditions, Irrepressible G wasn’t facing Sisson’s Mark. Handicappers and fans, considering the merits of both fillies, expected the favorite to simply run off. Instead, the favorite was vanned off. That was shortly after the favorite’s rider jumped off.

In a peculiar moment that surprised all involved, Irrepressible G ran for an eighth of a mile and then began to buck. She bucked hard. Al Reed, who had ridden the filly previously in her last start at age two made a wild attempt at remaining in control of the situation. Though sitting essentially side-saddle from the seven-eighths pole to the half-mile pole, Reed was able to maintain some semblance of contact with the field while attempting to position himself in such a way that he could re-seat himself, grab the irons, and at least, get back to the room with everyone in one piece (or in as many pieces as ‘everyone’ represents numerically).

Unfortunately, she attempted to make the gap at the quarter-horse chute, ducking outside, rather than inside, prompting a kamikaze ejection by Reed. Irrepressible G probably didn’t need to be vanned off, but since the horse ambulance is parked at the quarter horse chute, she was afforded a ride back to the barn.

Irish eyes were smiling as Irish mouths were belching with a sudsy glee when just weeks later Irrepressible G returned in a similar allowance spot. Local gamblers, keen to the mishap that appeared in the form to be simply something of an ominously negative departure in form, planned a betting coup. The filly lived up to her end up the deal, refraining from bucking, but giving the heavy supporters a stern frightening. Close throughout, Irrepressible G powered to the lead inside the quarter pole and quickly towed Al Reed to a clear lead. In a scene and amidst a scenario scarily like the day she met Sisson’s Mark, a late threat rallied from far, far behind, posing the only threat to the legion of gamblers. Simply lacking for racetrack, Irrepressible G’s late closing foe was just a head short of busting the bettors.

Irrepressible G enters Saturday’s race in good form and by all accounts, poised to solidify her status in this division. Though perfectly capable of and eligible to win this race, she has a tough task before her. Aside from facing a fresh cast of daunting rivals, she has a recognizable face to contend with, one that drew even with her own face just past the wire in her last race. Selfish Cat’s face gave way to her shoulder, then ribs, then hips and eventually she afforded Irrepressible G with a clear perspective of her tail and if she noticed, slightly less stable left hock.

Selfish Cat is the only foal from an unraced Sea Salute mare and has a striking resemblance to the previously mentioned Sisson’s Mark. Making her first three starts, unsuccessfully, on the turf course, the daughter of Selkirk blossomed instantly when moved to the main track. A dominant winner at a flat mile over maidens in her dirt debut, she failed to back the maiden win up with a resounding win a la Sisson’s Mark over Irrepressible G when facing winners for the first time.

She did, however, run nearly as impressively to be second to Irrepressible G as Sisson’s Mark did while defeating the common rival. Selfish Cat even mimics the running style of the accomplished Sisson’s Mark, lagging far behind the leading tier and making a prolonged late attack at the remaining obstacles. She earned a speed rating of 99, as did Irrepressible G, a number that rates as the cumulative overall career best for the field of five.

Her background is limited; essentially her form is limited to one race against maidens and one against winners, her pedigree is far too vague to be of help. Yet, whether armed with twenty paragraphs of information varying widely in relevance or merely two paragraphs, the conclusion seems consistent: She has every right to win the race.

Nine race veteran Woomera can sprint, route, run on turf or dirt. She has made over $100,000 already in her career and nobody is cheering her on more than the author of this writing.

The subject of a civil proceeding which renders me cautious regarding discussions relating to her, Woomera is the second foal out of a mare named Deputy Shmurphy. A daughter of Crystal Shmurphy, Deputy Shmurphy was bred, trained, owned, and eventually retired by yours truly. Frankly, the daughter of Deputy Minister was a tiresome disappointment that had every opportunity to develop into a useful older filly and mare. Unfortunately, she could never progress beyond being an occasionally brilliant allowance horse.

She was bred as a five-year-old to Royal Academy, yielding Royal Shmurphy. I sent both mare and foal to Arizona to board at the highly regarded Coldwater Farm while I tended to the primary business of writing longwinded articles that nobody reads. Royal Shmurphy’s career was a little too much like her mother’s, revealing hints of potential but ultimately, limited by a sheer lack of talent. She was claimed during her three-year-old season, which compelled me to contact Coldwater Farm to check on Deputy Shmurphy and debate whether or not to breed her again. Perhaps I’d just haul her to the auction. Maybe I’ll breed her to College Graduate and call it Deputy Math. Wait, that’s her mother, Crystal Shmurphy, that I want to breed to College Graduate.

Well, imagine my shock while attempting to book a breeding to find that my beloved Deputy Shmurphy had been not only booked already, but had been bred to (of all the donks) Arazi. Not only that, but she had birthed the foal months ago and it had already ran a half-dozen times and made a bunch of money. Yeah, this is Woomera.

Okay so she doesn’t win very often. But she never runs a bad race either and I’ve seen the way they’ve been running her short one day, then long, oh maybe she’ll like turf this week, maybe dirt. This filly’s superior talent is a direct result of my hard work, ingenious training, secret mating patterns. My stake in the entire equation is that I get to write articles for hours on end praising her gloriousness while I had to suffer through watching Deputy Shmurphy, the product of a four billion dollar reproductive bonanza, run like a pony horse at Will Rogers Downs.