Barzulu broke sharply, rated nicely, jumped well and easily won the $35,000 Regions Bank Imperial Cup hurdle stakes, his first win over hurdles in the
United States. In fact, the New Zealand import did everything a stakes horse is supposed to do as he raced around the Aiken Steeplechase’s smooth turf oval, Aiken, S.C., March 26.

Jockey Matt McCarron held Barzulu in fourth, as the seven-horse field fell in behind the early pace of Shady Valley (Robert Walsh), then nosed his way into third as the horses went down the backside for the last time. McCarron held that position as he negotiated Aiken’s turn for home, a notoriously tricky turn with a fence on an angle.

As they straightened up for home with two fences to go, McCarron just dropped his hands and Barzulu leapt into the bridle, collaring the early pacesetters, Shady Valley and Unalienable Right (Danielle Hodsdon) at the second-last and drawing away to a smooth, 4 3/4-length win.

“You could tell two fences from home, it wasn’t a matter of him winning, but of him winning by how much,” said trainer Doug Fout.

This was Barzulu’s first U.S. win from six starts, though it wasn’t from lack of trying. The 8-year-old gelding ran in six stakes races last year, and the worst he finished was sixth.

Granted, said Fout, at Aiken he was given a tremendous weight break, 8 pounds, “but the way he won was impressive and I think this legitimizes his claim to run in the stakes races.”

Imported from New Zealand last February, the horse, already fit and schooled, was due to make his American debut at the year’s first meet, Little Everglades (Fla.). But he popped a curb and had to take some time off. Fout said, in hindsight, he just should have given the horse the rest of the year off.

“There’s a window of opportunity with horses that are shipped from the Southern Hemisphere,” the Virginia-based trainer explained. “If you ship them over and run them right away, they do well for a while and then you have to give them a break. Or you need to ship them over and turn them out and let them acclimate [to the Northern Hemisphere], then bring them back to run. In hindsight, prepping him, then giving him time off for the injury, then bringing him back again was not the best thing to do.”

Fout said that all of Barzulu’s near misses last year were due to just being “bone weary.” Now that the bay gelding has had a winter off and time to relax, he’s come back into training a different horse.

“Last year he just seemed nervous all the time, like he was worried about something. He did everything we asked him to do, but he didn’t do it happily. This year he walks home from a gallop instead of jigging. He’s more settled, and he’s stronger too, a better horse.”

Trainer Lilith Boucher thinks Class Concern will be a stronger, better horse too, but she thinks that will happen next year, when the gelding turns 5. This year, though, he must not be in such bad shape, as the gelding broke his maiden at Aiken in his first start over hurdles, winning by 1334 lengths over Marablue Farm’s Forget The Judge (Hodsdon). Lilith’s husband, Richard Boucher, rode him.

“He’s a little dude, 15.1 [hands], and he’s like a pony, anyone could ride him,” said Lilith. “He’ll be better next year when he gets a little broader and a little stronger. But he’s such an efficient jumper, that’s what makes him good over hurdles.”

Class Concern comes by his jumping talent honestly, as he is the half-brother to Class Yankee and to Class Eminence, both winners over hurdles. Mede Cahaba Stable & Stud and Mignon Smith bred all three.

But despite his obvious talent over fences, Lilith said she will probably take Class Concern back to the flat track. “He won a stakes race for 3-year-olds on the grass at Laurel (Md.) in the fall,” she said. “He’s a three-other-than condition, which is a tough condition to run under, but his flat-track career is not over yet. I’m just waiting for the turf to open. He’s better off being a dual-purpose horse. It’s just more efficient to run them on the flat track.”

Class Concern’s stablemate, Class Sprite (Jody Petty) also did well at Aiken, finishing second in the $20,000 Budweiser Cup allowance hurdle to Man O’Mystery (Hodsdon).

“That was a good second because it legitimizes him,” said Lilith. “He broke his maiden at Camden [S.C.] in November, and this was his first run back since then, so it was a good, solid effort.”

Unlike Class Concern, Class Sprite, out of another of Smith’s mares, will probably run over hurdles more than on the flat. A true distance-loving horse, “Sprite” only really blossomed when he ran in jump races.

“He got beaten three times on the flat by a combined 100 lengths, but when we took him to the point-to-points he couldn’t lose. And now he’s doing well at the sanctioned meets, so we’ll keep trying,” said Lilith.