{"id":2400,"date":"2006-05-06T01:43:20","date_gmt":"2006-05-06T01:43:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blacktypebugler.com\/?p=2400"},"modified":"-0001-11-30T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"-0001-11-30T00:00:00","slug":"oldbtb_4","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/?p=2400","title":{"rendered":"Derby Post # 16:   2YO Champ Half A World Away"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><DIV><FONT face=Verdana size=2><IMG height=126 alt=\"Nextbonus Silks\" hspace=15 src=\"http:\/\/www.yoss.info\/fgsilks\/nextbonus.gif\" width=71 align=right border=0>HAWA is a familiar acronymn to Sim fans.\u00a0\u00a0You gotta know that it stands for the reigning 2 year old main track champion <STRONG>Half A World Away<\/STRONG>.\u00a0\u00a0<\/FONT><\/DIV><DIV><FONT face=Verdana size=2><\/FONT>\u00a0<\/DIV><DIV><FONT face=Verdana size=2>A handsome chestnut\u00a0colt with a silver star on his forehead, HAWA commands your attention as long as his memorable name.\u00a0\u00a0 He was the people&#8217;s &#8220;one to watch&#8221; last season, hero of the <EM>Breeder&#8217;s Bowl Juvenile<\/EM>, multiple graded winner who just\u00a0missed in a heartbreaking loss on Del Penn Day.\u00a0\u00a0The big red colt with a tidy disposition &#8212; he enjoys his races neat (thank you!).\u00a0\u00a0 A spurious pace battle joined early <EM>just <\/EM>for the fun of it.\u00a0 Choke &#8217;em to wire.\u00a0 \u00a0Throttle &#8217;em up close and break their spirit.\u00a0\u00a0 Come the finish line, see ya!\u00a0 Half the World Away can put some daylight on ya&#8230;&#8230; and thensome.\u00a0<\/FONT><\/DIV><DIV><FONT face=Verdana size=2><\/FONT>\u00a0<\/DIV><DIV><FONT face=Verdana size=2>Talk about a lean, mean main track machine.\u00a0 Nextbonus&#8217; Half A World Away wowed Sim railbirds in 2005.\u00a0 They all marked him down\u00a0on the <EM>Bluegrass Derby<\/EM> trail and couldn&#8217;t wait for his &#8217;06 debut.<\/FONT><\/DIV><DIV><FONT face=Verdana size=2><\/FONT>\u00a0<\/DIV><DIV><FONT face=Verdana size=2>And, boy, did he deliver.\u00a0\u00a0 HAWA got off to a great start in 2006, taking the <EM>Silver Fence Derby(G3)<\/EM> as classy as can be.\u00a0\u00a0 The Belong To Me son went off at odds-on and poured it on thick, dominating the field much the best by 4 1\/2 lengths.\u00a0\u00a0 It was a superb effort over 1 1\/16 miles &#8212; eventual Derby starter San Pellegrino counted among the place finishers.\u00a0\u00a0 <\/FONT><\/DIV><DIV><FONT face=Verdana size=2><\/FONT>\u00a0<\/DIV><DIV><FONT face=Verdana size=2>The fans wanted to see more of their champion and so Nextbonus sent Half A World Away to the <EM>Equinics<\/EM>.\u00a0\u00a0 Over 9.5 furlongs, the colt faced a stellar field.\u00a0\u00a0 Unfortunately, HAWA didn&#8217;t get the jump out of the gate, yet fought hard,\u00a0missing out by only a length on the widespread photo finish\u00a0to winner Peacenik (Derby contenders San Pellegrino, Remember Tampero, Depravity also ran that day).\u00a0\u00a0<\/FONT><\/DIV><DIV><FONT face=Verdana size=2><\/FONT>\u00a0<\/DIV><DIV><FONT face=Verdana size=2>At this point, a lesser trainer might&#8217;ve backed off their prime charge,\u00a0but not Nextbonus of foxvbullet stable.\u00a0\u00a0 &#8216;Bonus listened to the fans, sending HAWA to the bigtime Derby prep races.\u00a0\u00a0 Half A World Away threw in a dull 6th-place in the <EM>Florida Derby(G1)<\/EM>, but railbirds knew that\u00a0their star couldn&#8217;t get a hold of the deep Florida surface and and the sun-burning weather.\u00a0\u00a0 <\/FONT><\/DIV><DIV><FONT face=Verdana size=2><\/FONT>\u00a0<\/DIV><DIV><FONT face=Verdana size=2>Instead, they looked forward to his warm but mild west coast\u00a0foray.\u00a0 HAWA did just that in the <EM>California Derby(G1),<\/EM> his final\u00a0Bluegrass prep.\u00a0\u00a0 He adored the California sunshine, switching tactics and displaying newfound versatility\u00a0in a runner-up performance to So\u00a0Slew Me (Alastor, Toxixsuperfreakout also in field).\u00a0 It was his career best <STRONG>100 SP# <\/STRONG>and he came from off pace too.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/FONT><\/DIV><DIV><FONT face=Verdana size=2><\/FONT>\u00a0<\/DIV><DIV><FONT face=Verdana size=2>As the #2 ranked 3YO Classic Dirt Colt, Half A World Away brings million-dollar earnings, award-winning credentials, graded black type, and thorough competitive heart to the table.\u00a0\u00a0 What a wonderful victory it would be to bring home a win for\u00a0his longtime\u00a0Sim trainer, Nextbonus!\u00a0 From a G-ranked ol&#8217; Gone West horse to an A-ranked champion of the Sim, HAWA is the stuff\u00a0of Sim dreams and more.\u00a0 He tries to be the first Sim Eclipse 2YO champion since Tower Storm (2002) to win the <EM>Bluegrass Derby<\/EM>.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/FONT><\/DIV><DIV><FONT face=Verdana size=2><\/FONT>\u00a0<\/DIV><DIV><FONT face=Verdana size=2>Can he do it or is he a short router?\u00a0\u00a0 Will jockey N Bonus bring\u00a0HAWA home a winner for\u00a0trainer Nextbonus?\u00a0\u00a0 Ha!\u00a0<\/FONT><\/DIV><DIV><FONT face=Verdana size=2><\/FONT>\u00a0<\/DIV><DIV><FONT face=Verdana size=2>All the karma is there.\u00a0\u00a0 And that chestnut colt with a silver star awaits Saturday&#8217;s great race.\u00a0 A date with <EM>Destiny<\/EM> it shall be&#8230;.. but one thing&#8217;s for certain above all:\u00a0\u00a0 <EM>his fans will be rooting him on<\/EM>.\u00a0\u00a0 <\/FONT><\/DIV><DIV><FONT face=Verdana size=2><\/FONT>\u00a0<\/DIV><DIV><FONT face=Verdana size=2>Go, HAWA, GO!\u00a0 Good luck, Nextbonus.\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/FONT><\/DIV><DIV><FONT face=Verdana size=2><\/FONT>\u00a0<\/DIV><DIV><FONT face=Verdana size=2>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/FONT><\/DIV><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Draws post 16;   Looks to improve off of Cal Derby runner-up effort<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":396,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"colormag_page_container_layout":"default_layout","colormag_page_sidebar_layout":"default_layout","footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2400","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-horses"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2400","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/396"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2400"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2400\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2400"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2400"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2400"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}