Guess Who’s Celebrating Their Anniversary!!!

This weekend, in New South Wales, a very special graded race is being sponsored.  Jdrhys and his wife Emmyrhys are new players to the game, starting this past April.  Although they are “newbies” they have experience playing other horse racing games and as Emmy would put it, “this one is by far the best ever” which I concur with.  Many readers of the BTB are familiar with Emmyrhys well written, in-depth and top-notch race reviews.  This special race is to commemorate the couple’s 9^th anniversary together.  Accordingly, this Grade I race has aptly been titled “The Rhys-Smith Anniversary Turf Classic”.

 

It is not uncommon in the real racing world to have such races sponsored.   I’ve actually done it at a local harness track for my parent’s 25^th anniversary and it is a great way to celebrate special occasions.  I have no way of vevifying it, but this could be the first time a race has been named for an anniversary within our game.    

 

Now I, being of curious nature, had to get some background information on our celebrated couple and what better way than to find out how fate brought this couple together.  I got feedback from both JD and Emmy and they tell quite the story which also has some personal controversy behind it.  It’s a story that movies are made from and “fate” played into more so that I had even imagined. 

 

The story begins in January 1999.  Emmy had lost her husband of 8-months in a boating incident when she was four months pregnant with her first child.  Rolling the clock forward to 2001, we find Emmy and her son living with her mother-in-law.  Emmy had rarely gone to social events and on the night before her birthday, agreed to go to a charity event with her mother-in-law.  JD, who is from Australia, happened to be in France at that time on a work related project.  As “fate” would have it, a local connection invited JD to attend the same charity event with him, which JD accepted.  During the occasion, he was introduced to the mother-in-law and Emmy, who he described as “stunning”.  [Ed. note: Emmy disagrees with that assessment, preferring the descriptor “interesting” instead].  Later in the evening, JD’s friend found him alone by the bar and asked where Emmy was.  JD, believed that she was married and was respectful enough not to interfere with an existing marriage.  That’s when he learned that she was widowed and immediately started to seek her out of the crowd.

 

JD would eventually spot Emmy, however, she was departing the event.  JD would make a “rapid departure” and found her heading into her car.  Not wanting to run after her, JD came up with a more creative way to get her attention.  He jumped into his rental car and accelerated to prevent Emmy’s exit.  According to Emmy, “this car came out of nowhere and hit our front bumper”. Now for the controversial part of the story…Emmy describes the incident as a “Crash” but JD differs in opinion on this as his description down plays it to “just a small hit”. 

 

JD, being the gentleman that he is, offered to pay for all repair damages and meet them for lunch the next day to settle.  However, JD was a stranger and Emmy would turn him down.  JD was not deterred and he continued calling for several days while sending flowers with poems to her.  He sent so many that he felt he had actually purchased a florist shop.  JD would eventually receive a phone call from his employer requesting his return to Australia.  The pressure was now on and the hours were ticking away on the clock.   

 

Over his final days in France, JD continued his efforts and they would finally payoff.  Emmy was overtaken by his persistence and agreed to meet him for lunch, where a magical spark was set off.  Within short time, JD returned to Australia and he kept in daily contact with Emmy.  Eventually he would invite her, along with her son, to travel to his homeland.  At the encouragement of her mother-in-law, Emmy agreed and received her first marriage proposal.  She turned JD down.  JD continued to persist and Emmy accepted the second proposal jokingly saying that the reason was because there was “..no place left in the house to put anymore flowers”.  They would precede to the altar, with Emmy’s mother, her mother-in-law from her first husband and her son all in attendance.  When the ceremony ended a new family began.  Emmy would leave the church with a hair full of rice, courtesy of her very young son.

 

On June 29^th, they will officially celebrate their ninth year of being happily married.  You can say that it was “Love at First Crash”, but JD may still argue it was a mere scratch.  We may never know if it was a bad crash or a mere bump, but we do know that we have a wonderful loving couple with an amazing story that are part of our on-line community.

 

So that’s the history that brings us to the first, of what could be many years of the running of The Rhys-Smith Anniversary Turf Classic.  Emmy and JD were married in Sydney and New South Wales was chosen for the race as a direct tie to their wedding location.  They are extremely fond of grass races, which is the surface chosen for our special race.  The race is open to horses age 4 and up and they will be going a challenging route of a mile and a half.  Now onto our competitors:

 

 

1.  El Skunkberto Slew   7-2

 

Interesting thing happened last night.  I’m sitting by my ‘puter working on this article and I get a phone call out of the blue from trainer Skunkbred3.  A little surprised I was as he’s usually at trackside watching his runners.  Found out he has another horse running in a graded event and opted to head out in that direction to watch that race.  The timing of his call couldn’t have been any better.

 

We had a frank discussion about El Skunkberto Slew, who’s been in the money 18 times in 22 starts.  “He’s winless in over a year but has run some nice races albeit inconsistently for the most part. This sort doesn’t seem to respond to conventional preparations which is why I’m rolling the dice with him in this shorter field.”  Dead on he is, looking at my race program, El Skunkberto Slew last won in the non-grade Sunnybank Memorial Challenge a year ago April.

 

“He’ll be doing his running from the back of the field and we’ll know at the half way point if he picks up the bit and puts his head down to make a run” the trainer added, “He’s got the talent but has yet to really put it all together at the graded level. We’re hoping this will be his week. He comes in fresh off 6 weeks rest and he looks to be fairly sharp given his morning gallops.”  It’s true, this guy has had mixed results and a few rough outings at the graded level, hitting the board four of eight times.  He does sport an average speed of 107 during his 2011 campaign, quite formidable.

 

So I pointed out the specialness of this race, which he was well aware of stating “Winning the inaugural Rhys-Smith Classic would be a distinct honor given the connections behind the race. They’ve done a lot in a short period of time in bringing this race to the masses and I expect it should grow in popularity in years to come as a stepping stone to the Arc in France and end of year classic. A win here would certainly boost any horse’s chances in those big races.”  This horse may actually get the honors in this race.

 

 

2.  Solar Panels   9-1

 

Solar Panels is the only progeny bred out of game-dam Solar Song, who won over $16 million in career earnings, 11 graded races (9 of them G1) and entered the sim-Hall of Fame with the 2009 class.

 

Solar Panels has yet to live up to the very tough standards established by his game-dam.  He had a streak of four wins on the turf running from April to July 2010 in allowance, owner bid races.  After picking up his last win, he moved into graded/non-graded stake racing and has been kept out of the winner’s circle since making this promotion.

 

Solar’s best effort may have been in the Comedy Central Turf where he ran a game second in a career best speed of 111.  Top notch breeding is in this horse, who has been sired by A.P. Indy but he needs to prove his talent.  It’s sure in his bloodline, and this would be a great opportunity to impress the world.

 

 

 

3.  Carnival of Love   5-2   

 

Carnival of Love was a 2010 nomination for a Sim EclipseAward in  the “Older Turf Colts and Horses” classification.  During that year, he won 5 graded races including the $4 million Ark De ComicDog.  Since that victory, times have turned a bit sour.  He’s been on the board once in six starts which was a third in the 16f Diamond Stakes, still, he finished well back.

 

He followed that with a 2011 season best speed of 111 in the Sand Castle Golden Turf Classic, finishing sixth with a strong late rally making up nearly 10 lengths in the final quarter of the 12f race.  Carnival would be rested from this March event until mid June where he again made up a ton of ground in the last quarter of the 12f Milan Grand Prix, this time with a forth and a SP of 107.

 

Trainer Super15 acknowledged Carnival’s recent struggles stating “He has had a brilliant career that is on the downside probably, but he was just given about 12 weeks off and is making his 2nd start off the layoff and could pop a big one. “  Continuing on, Super15 added “He will do what he always does, drops right to the back and should make one sustained run from the 3/8’s pole.”  But what about his future?  “I am hoping he has enough juice left this year to make it to the Arc, to try and make it 3 in a row, but that remains to be seen. “

 

This is his second race back after a rest and many times horses hit paydirt.  He does come in with only two weeks rest which is always a concern, but this guy can break out at any time.

 

 

4.  High Gold N Bold   11-1

 

High Gold N Bold has tried and tried and tried to win a graded stakes race.  15 times he has tried.  And surprise…he won on his eleventh attempt when he quieted the crowd in Japan when winning the Nikkan Sport (10f) with a career best speed on New Years Day this year at 12-1.  He won the this G3 race, which had a very high purse of $800k and drew away from the field setting up the premise that 2011 would be his year!

 

But things have gone sour since this impressive outing.  He’s had four graded races after this win and has been able to hit a speed over 100.  It’s been a very long time since High Gold N Bold has had a rest break and his recent performances may be a cry for relief. 

 

Hard to throw a lot of support behind this son of High Chaparral.  He’s been going 10f for the past year and goes 12f for the first time.  I’m not seeing any signs that the distance will help his chances against this field.

 

 

5.  K’s Kunaviche   7-1

 

In the money 19 of 20 grass races, which includes 9 wins, K’s Kunaviche seeks his third graded win.  Over a year ago, he won the Clubhouse Stakes (12f) with a career best speed of 112.

 

His second win came in the Deauville (13f) with a speed of 110, his second lifetime best.  Since that win, he’s been unable to pick up another stakes victory (however does have an allowance win). 

 

K’s Kunaviche has been racing 16 furlongs in last two starts with a third and a second.  Drops in distance and may get a boost from that.  Based on his record, it’s hard to keep him off the board and at 7-1 could enhance the trifecta payout.

 

 

6.  Winter Quest   5-1

 

Winter Quest has been victorious in 1/3^rd of his grass starts with 11 wins in 33 starts.  These include three grade wins in the Johnny Porter, Dancing North Cup and Sword Swallower, however, these all came in 2009.

 

This fella has been winless in stake races since his last graded victory.  Winter Quest has been sidelined from October through April of this year where he returned and dropped to an allowance race where he rallied from 10 back at the half to draw away with a two length win.  In May, he ran a similar effort and picked up another win at the same racing level.

 

Winter Quest posted speeds of 104 and 105 in these races and is moving back into the graded level.  These races are good enough to be competitive here and he could possibly make it three in a row.

 

 

 

7.  A.P. Popular  4-1

 

This son of A.P. Indy has never finished off the board in 14 grass starts, sporting a record of 6-6-2.  He has won two of eight graded races with the first coming in February of 2010 where he took the 10.5f Super Hero Role Playing Stakes pulling off an upset in New Zealand at 10-1 odds.

 

This past October, A.P. Popular won the Japanese Saint Legend as the 7-2 favorite running the 14f in a speed of 102.  A.P. Popular would take a well deserved rest and returned to the track in January where he recorded a personal speed record of 114 while finishing third in the Ferdichenko Cup, coming up short by 2 ½ strides.

 

The Ferdichenko Cup was the last race this colt has appeared in and he’s returning to the track after another 5-month rest.  If he can score a speed similar to his last outing, this race can be all his.

 

 

8.  Gemini Jedi   7-1

 

Gemini Jedi enters this race after establishing a career best speed of 109 when running in an 11.5f allowance race last month.  He handily won the race as the second betting choice by four lengths.

 

This will be his third start at the graded level, with a pair of mid-field finishes in his first two races.  Cezanne is the game-dam used for Gemini Jedi and Cezanne had won 30% of his races (15 of 50), interestingly, all on the dirt.

 

Three times before, Gemini has run races of speeds in the 105-106 range which were then followed by a race with a speed drop to the 94-96 range.  He’s coming off a career best speed and my fear is that he could have another drop again.  However, there is no stand-out front runner in this race, and I anticipate Gemini will inherit this roll, giving him shot to run away with the race…if he wants to try for it.

 

 

RACE SELECTIONS:

 

I’ve asked our couple for their selections and here they are:

 

Emmy has opted for a very scientific method and has chosen the #6 horse Winter Quest which is based on the number her first sim-horse wore when she picked up her first win as a trainer.

 

Quoting JD “I have looked over the field and I am quite impressed . The stables have done both my wife and I an honour in presenting a quality line up. As such, I won’t be picking a winner as I feel there are 8 deserving winners entered.

 

Now my picks:

 

Although he hasn’t won in a long time, El Skunkberto Slew is my top pick.  There’s no established front runner in this race and he should be able to fire up his cylinders and get to the front.

 

Carnival of Love came up short in last run, which was much improved.  Same as above comment, not a lot of front speed, can make it to the top and Bangs (25% win) does not hurt.

 

A.P. Popular had fantastic race in January with 114 speed after 3 month layoff.  He’s been off 5 months now and may be a bit rusty.  He can still pop another race like the January outing and gets my third choice.

 

 

 

 

CONTEST:

 

Check out the bulletin boards.  Our celebrated couple are also sponsoring a contest based on  this race under the title “Grade 1 Race Contest Week 4722”  with some great prizes.  Be sure to check it out!!!

 

 

Finally, I want to wish the couple the very best on their anniversary and many more to come.  I’m also very thankful and honored for having the opportunity to cover this race on their behalf.