You can call him the real deal or the cat’s meow or now crown him king of the hill, because when Hirapour stormed home a decisive winner in the $150,000 New York Turf Writers grade I hurdle handicap, Sept. 2, he proved he is indeed one of the best steeplechasers in America.

The win was especially emotional for trainer Doug Fout. Hirapour ran down Three Carat in the Saratoga Springs, N.Y., stretch to win 25 days after finishing third (and needing six stitches to close a gash behind his right knee) in the Grade II A.P. Smithwick, also run in Saratoga. Fout’s father, well-known steeplechase and flat trainer Paul, died Aug. 16 at age 78, the day before the A.P.

“My dad won the Turf Writers with Life’s Illusion in 1975 and it means so much to me to have won it right now, so close to his death,” said Fout. “And the fact that this horse came back from an injury to win, after losing more than a week of training, it just shows what a special horse he is. I know we got lucky, but there’s a lot of karma going on here. Dad was there helping us, I know he was.”

The race was originally scheduled for Aug. 31, but heavy rains due to the remnants of Hurricane Katrina caused race officials to cancel all racing on the turf.

Those two extra days went a long way to helping Hirapour peak. “He was ready to run on Wednesday [Aug. 31], but two extra days in Saratoga really got him back to that gritty, racehorse-ready mentality,” said Fout. “He was dancing on his toes on Friday.”

The Turf Writers was Hirapour’s fifth Grade I win and his second of the year and with that win, the 9-year-old son of Kahyasi took a big step forward in his quest to repeat as last year’s Eclipse Award-winning steeplechase horse.

“He’s quite some pony,” said winning jockey Matt McCarron. “Nothing went his way on race day. The ground was much softer than he likes, he was carrying 18 more pounds than most of the other horses, and there was no pace at all to run behind. Yet when we came to the last, he landed and found that extra gear like he always does. He blows me away every time I ride him.”

McCarron didn’t get to ride Hirapour in the A.P. Smithwick as he was recovering from a broken arm. A plate and eight screws helped him heal fast enough to make it back into the irons for the Turf Writer win, but Hirapour’s third-placed finish in the A.P. was “disconcerting to say the least,” said McCarron.

Paradise’s Boss won the A.P. by controlling the pace and then getting a jump on the field. Hirapour, ridden then by Chip Miller, tried to catch him but couldn’t. But losing wasn’t what worried his connections.

“The most disconcerting thing about the A.P. was watching Serazzo pass him [to get up for second],” said McCarron. “He’s only been passed by another horse one other time. Usually, if he doesn’t win it’s just because he couldn’t there, not because horses passed him.”

“I was just gutted when I saw him let that horse go by,” added Fout. “He’s not that horse. He just doesn’t let horses pass him.”

After stitching up Hirapour’s knee Fout had to give his horse time off, then jog him before he could even gallop him. “The hardest part of the situation was that he really had to run in the Turf Writers. Our goal with this horse at the beginning of the year was to try to win the Eclipse Award again, and you have to win stakes races to win that title,” said Fout.

So with some niggling doubt as to their horse’s readiness, McCarron and Fout strategized as best they could. They had fully expected the race to set up perfectly for their horse, as they needed some speed horses to sit behind. Party Airs (Cyril Murphy), Mauritania (Zach Miller) and European import Say What You See (David Bentley) are all such speed horses. But the race turned into a tactical nightmare and completely set up opposite to what McCarron envisioned.

Say What You See did go to the front right away, but after a horrible blunder at the first, the saddle slipped and Bentley had to ride the rest of the race in a precarious position.

“I take my hat off to Dave. After jumping the first so badly, I thought he was pretty brave to keep going, especially more so when the horse kept jumping really badly, let alone do it all with a dodgy saddle,” said McCarron. Bentley did pull up Say What You See, but not until the ninth fence.

The 2003 New York Turf Writers Cup winner Praise The Prince (Jody Petty) assumed the lead after one circuit of the course with Mauritania and Paradise’s Boss pressing the pace until Xavier Aizpuru urged Paradise’s Boss to the lead as the field entered the final turn.

Danielle Hodsdon made a big move on Three Carat around the turn to gain the lead at the top of the stretch while McCarron rallied Hirapour into second place.

“Quite honestly, with 3³8 of a mile to go, I thought I was beat,” said McCarron. “Three Carat was traveling better than me, and I thought
I would never get to him. But when I pulled Hirapour out turning for home and asked him to run down Three Carat, he found that gear and dug in.”

“That gear” is a precious and infrequent commodity found in only the best race horses. “That gear” allows a horse to shift, dig in and find the speed they need. “That gear” is what makes Hirapour “such an amazing horse to ride,” said McCarron.

“It’s an unbelievable feeling to ask a horse to give more and receive that kind of response. He’s blazing fast at the end of 2 miles, and that’s what makes him so special. He always gives me everything he has in every race I’ve ever ridden him in,” said McCarron. “He won the race; it had nothing to do with me. He’s a brilliant animal.”