The late great George sired just one filly. Pray that she does him proud
You couldn't make it up. Nor, then, should you try.
Just what are the odds against this happening? Over 30,000 thoroughbreds were foaled in 2007. One was christened My Wife Knows Everything. The other, The Wife Doesn't Know. Last Sunday, they both showed up at Monmouth Park in New Jersey. In the same race. And finished first and second.
The artfully schizophrenic race call, by Larry Collmus, has gone viral on YouTube and this lowly claiming race is reckoned to be giving the American sport a bigger push than the combined careers of Zenyatta and Rachel Alexandra. Collmus has been interviewed on breakfast television by CBS, and the race replayed across several national networks.
That's the thing about the best stories. They could never be scripted in advance. The people at Racing For Change can try to enhance their reach, but the abiding charm of racing is that you never know what horses – as the fickle agents of fortune – might have in store.
That's why Date With Destiny could be the start of something big. This is the one and only foal produced by George Washington, the virile champion who proved a flop at stud. George Washington was the most charismatic of thoroughbreds. He was wilful, boastful, a physical paragon. Only when it came to asserting his rights, as herd leader, did he disclose his mortal frailty.
His death in the Breeders' Cup Classic – in a ghastly slop at Monmouth Park – was one of the most harrowing moments in modern Turf history. Even then, he seemed able to transcend the tragedy, suggesting himself as the final, unanswerable rebuke to the old culture of US dirt racing, already reeling at the graphic breakdowns of two Triple Crown stars in Barbaro and Eight Belles.
As things have turned out, that battle is a long way from being won. Last week Santa Anita, having introduced a synthetic surface in 2006 to redress such unconscionable stains on the sport's conscience, announced the restoration of dirt racing by Christmas. As ever, then, there is no point scripting a fairy tale when men can view the welfare of these noble animals through a prism of self- interest. On the one side, that might describe the powerful interests vested in the survival of dirt pedigrees; on the other, perhaps, are the unprecedented dividends discovered for our own horses during consecutive Breeders' Cups at Santa Anita.
For now, then, George Washington's one tangible legacy remains this young filly. In giving 320,000 guineas for her as a yearling, it might be argued that Julie Wood got herself a bargain regardless of her ability on the track. As the sole conduit for George Washington's genes, Date With Destiny represented a uniquely precious breeding prospect.
As things have turned out, she seems to have inherited something of her sire's class. Making her debut at Newbury seven weeks ago, she travelled strongly throughout and won readily. Today she seeks to upgrade her value with a Group Three win at Goodwood, though her trainer, Richard Hannon, admits that he has no idea how she will cope with the testing ground. George Washington loved fast ground and his daughter certainly seemed at home with conditions at Newbury.
drive from www.independent.co.uk
No comments
Post in 