Like Phil Mickelson did when he won this year`s Masters golf tournament, Tres Touche shrugged off his contender title and moved into the realm of the winner after he scored a victory in the $100,000 Iroquois grade I hurdle stakes, Nashville, Tenn., May 8.
A sense of fruition sweetened the long overdue win. Like Mickelson, who ended a 0-for-42 drought as a professional golfer in major championships, and who had finished third four times in the Masters, Tres Touche`s race record reads like a textbook of near misses and almost theres.
He`s placed in 24 of his 28 starts over fences and has won a hurdle stakes race in each of the last four seasons, but the big prize, a Grade I win, eluded him. Not for lack of trying, though. In five Grade I races, the bay gelding finished second three times, once by a heartbreaking nose. His running style, bold and aggressive, and his unadulterated grittiness and consistency, has earned him the respect of every horseman in the sport.
“He`s my favorite horse,” said jockey David Bentley, who has partnered the horse in almost every one of his starts. “He gives you 101 percent every time he races. He`s been knocking at the door for so long; he really deserves this.” The win also marked the first Grade I victory for Bentley and trainer Ricky Hendriks.
The field this year was evenly matched, with Tres Touche and Polaris Stable`s Preemptive Strike (Robert Walsh), winner of two stakes this season and second-placed finisher in the Grade I Royal Chase (Ky.), the favorites. Imperial Gold and Snowball Flannagan have both won the Temple Gwathmey hurdle stakes at Middleburg (Va.), and Airolo (Chip Miller) and Duke Of Earl (Xavier Aizpuru) are winners over hurdles from France and Ireland, respectively.
But the contest quickly became a match race between Preemptive Strike and Tres Touche. Preemptive Strike went to the front as is his wont, leading by 10 to 15 lengths at one time. Bentley settled Tres Touche in second with Duke Of Earl galloping alongside. But the Irish-bred dropped off after about a mile, and the race became a matter of catching Preemptive Strike.
As the two horses made their way down the backside for the last time, Tres Touche had significantly narrowed Preemptive Strike`s lead, and with three fences to go, he`d caught the big chestnut.
“He got into this super rhythm and just jumped his way past Preemptive Strike. Every time he left the ground [over a fence], he`d land a half-step, [then] a step ahead of Preemptive Strike,” said Bentley. “He just attacked his fences.”
Tres Touche went to the lead after the second-last, and even though Preemptive Strike gamely gained back some ground before the last, the race belonged to Tres Touche. Preemptive Strike made a mistake at the last and fell, but neither he nor Walsh were hurt. Snowball Flannagan trailed in second, 20 lengths behind, and Duke Of Earl finished a distant third.
Hendriks was elated for the horse, for himself and for the horse`s owners, Barracuda Stable. “We`ve been second I don`t know how many times, and to finally win a Grade I is fantastic,” he said.
Hendriks knew Bentley was serious about winning when he talked to him before the race. “Usually I never ask Dave about how he`s going to ride the horse. I never tell him anything; he knows this horse so well I don`t have to. But for this race, I asked him, `So, Dave, how are we going to ride this race?` He immediately launched into this detailed explanation of how he planned to do it. I was a little taken aback, but then as I watched him ride the race, everything he said he would do, he did, and he did it very deliberately,” said Hendriks.
Neither Bentley nor Hendriks were 100 percent sure that Tres Touche could get the Iroquois` testing three-mile distance, with a long, heartbreaking pull uphill to the finish, which is why Bentley rode a deliberate race. Usually Bentley lets Tres Touche be the pace or run on the pace, but he knew Preemptive Strike`s frontrunning style would give him a horse to settle in behind.
Winning the Iroquois “is the highlight of my career,” said Bentley. “I`ve had opportunities to win Grade I races on other horses, and I`ve been close on Tres Touche. It was really nice that we were able to do it together.”
A sense of fruition sweetened the long overdue win. Like Mickelson, who ended a 0-for-42 drought as a professional golfer in major championships, and who had finished third four times in the Masters, Tres Touche`s race record reads like a textbook of near misses and almost theres.
He`s placed in 24 of his 28 starts over fences and has won a hurdle stakes race in each of the last four seasons, but the big prize, a Grade I win, eluded him. Not for lack of trying, though. In five Grade I races, the bay gelding finished second three times, once by a heartbreaking nose. His running style, bold and aggressive, and his unadulterated grittiness and consistency, has earned him the respect of every horseman in the sport.
“He`s my favorite horse,” said jockey David Bentley, who has partnered the horse in almost every one of his starts. “He gives you 101 percent every time he races. He`s been knocking at the door for so long; he really deserves this.” The win also marked the first Grade I victory for Bentley and trainer Ricky Hendriks.
The field this year was evenly matched, with Tres Touche and Polaris Stable`s Preemptive Strike (Robert Walsh), winner of two stakes this season and second-placed finisher in the Grade I Royal Chase (Ky.), the favorites. Imperial Gold and Snowball Flannagan have both won the Temple Gwathmey hurdle stakes at Middleburg (Va.), and Airolo (Chip Miller) and Duke Of Earl (Xavier Aizpuru) are winners over hurdles from France and Ireland, respectively.
But the contest quickly became a match race between Preemptive Strike and Tres Touche. Preemptive Strike went to the front as is his wont, leading by 10 to 15 lengths at one time. Bentley settled Tres Touche in second with Duke Of Earl galloping alongside. But the Irish-bred dropped off after about a mile, and the race became a matter of catching Preemptive Strike.
As the two horses made their way down the backside for the last time, Tres Touche had significantly narrowed Preemptive Strike`s lead, and with three fences to go, he`d caught the big chestnut.
“He got into this super rhythm and just jumped his way past Preemptive Strike. Every time he left the ground [over a fence], he`d land a half-step, [then] a step ahead of Preemptive Strike,” said Bentley. “He just attacked his fences.”
Tres Touche went to the lead after the second-last, and even though Preemptive Strike gamely gained back some ground before the last, the race belonged to Tres Touche. Preemptive Strike made a mistake at the last and fell, but neither he nor Walsh were hurt. Snowball Flannagan trailed in second, 20 lengths behind, and Duke Of Earl finished a distant third.
Hendriks was elated for the horse, for himself and for the horse`s owners, Barracuda Stable. “We`ve been second I don`t know how many times, and to finally win a Grade I is fantastic,” he said.
Hendriks knew Bentley was serious about winning when he talked to him before the race. “Usually I never ask Dave about how he`s going to ride the horse. I never tell him anything; he knows this horse so well I don`t have to. But for this race, I asked him, `So, Dave, how are we going to ride this race?` He immediately launched into this detailed explanation of how he planned to do it. I was a little taken aback, but then as I watched him ride the race, everything he said he would do, he did, and he did it very deliberately,” said Hendriks.
Neither Bentley nor Hendriks were 100 percent sure that Tres Touche could get the Iroquois` testing three-mile distance, with a long, heartbreaking pull uphill to the finish, which is why Bentley rode a deliberate race. Usually Bentley lets Tres Touche be the pace or run on the pace, but he knew Preemptive Strike`s frontrunning style would give him a horse to settle in behind.
Winning the Iroquois “is the highlight of my career,” said Bentley. “I`ve had opportunities to win Grade I races on other horses, and I`ve been close on Tres Touche. It was really nice that we were able to do it together.”
So Happy Together
Togetherness is something that Tom Foley and Al Skywalker revel in. Foley has partnered “Al” in all his stakes wins and was back in the irons again when Al cruised across the finish line, an uncontested winner of the $50,000 Marcellus Frost grade III hurdle stakes.
Because Foley spent the early spring season riding over hurdles in Japan, he was not available to ride Al in his two starts this year. Instead Bentley rode him, finishing fourth in the Little Everglades Stakes (Fla.) and third in the Carolina Cup (S.C.).
“It was great to have Tom back in the saddle again. Not that Dave did anything wrong, but Al`s a funny little horse, and there`s just something about those two together,” said trainer Jennifer Majette.
Majette was worried about the weight assignment for the two-mile Marcellus Frost. Her little bay, just barely 16 hands, was giving the field 12 pounds. But at the same time, when Al`s on form, his frontrunning ways over 2 miles is devastating and tough to match. As she and Foley had hoped, Al went “straight to the front and kept going.”
Ever since Al and Foley won the Carolina Cup in 2001, which astounded the pundits, the little bay and the Irish jockey have been winning races in their own special and unconventional way. In fact, Al`s whole support group, training program and life history is unconventional. Bought for the cost of his transportation from California to the East Coast, it took Majette a while to find out how to get the best out of the fractious horse. Headstrong, impulsive, with a wild, white-ringed eye, Al Skywalker has never made his training easy on anyone, and at the races, the gelding is more than a handful.
But through the careful ministering of Majette, of his exercise rider, Ginger Wright, who is really an event rider, and of Foley, whose own madcap Irish ways allowed him to relax a whirling dervish, Al became one of steeplechasing`s top horses. So when Majette announced that the Nashville race would be the 11-year-old`s last, it was a poignant moment.
“It`s a bittersweet moment to retire him. He`s sound and happy, and there`s a part of me that would like to see him keep running. But it was paramount to me that I retire Al sound. I didn`t want anything bad to happen to him, and I felt like I owed him that,” she said.
Foley and Majette are reverential when they talk about Al. “He`s changed all our lives. If Tom hadn`t shown an interest in Al and in me, we wouldn`t be here today. And riding Al sort of kick-started Tom`s career. The horse has changed all our lives; it`s sort of like a Disney movie,” said Majette.
More than the money and the fame that Al`s fleet feet dropped into their laps, Majette will always be deeply grateful for all Al has taught her about horsemanship. “The biggest thing he`s done is that he`s amazed me with his honesty. He just doesn`t have a cheating bone in his body. Any time he ran a race and didn`t win it wasn`t for his lack of trying, but usually something I did wrong.
“Al taught me a lot about dealing with difficult horses. He taught me patience and made me see that you have to treat horses as individuals, and you have to answer their needs to get the best out of them,” she added.
Life won`t just stop for Al. Majette and Foley have a barn full of horses in training at their Southern Pines, N.C. barn, and Al is going to be the No. 1 babysitter. “He`ll go out with the youngsters and baby-sit them, show them around. Al needs a job; he`s not the type to take retirement gracefully,” she said.
As for her future without Al racing, Majette shrugged. “I`m realistic. I don`t expect another one like this down the pipeline for a very long time, or even ever. What a ride it`s been though.”
Togetherness is something that Tom Foley and Al Skywalker revel in. Foley has partnered “Al” in all his stakes wins and was back in the irons again when Al cruised across the finish line, an uncontested winner of the $50,000 Marcellus Frost grade III hurdle stakes.
Because Foley spent the early spring season riding over hurdles in Japan, he was not available to ride Al in his two starts this year. Instead Bentley rode him, finishing fourth in the Little Everglades Stakes (Fla.) and third in the Carolina Cup (S.C.).
“It was great to have Tom back in the saddle again. Not that Dave did anything wrong, but Al`s a funny little horse, and there`s just something about those two together,” said trainer Jennifer Majette.
Majette was worried about the weight assignment for the two-mile Marcellus Frost. Her little bay, just barely 16 hands, was giving the field 12 pounds. But at the same time, when Al`s on form, his frontrunning ways over 2 miles is devastating and tough to match. As she and Foley had hoped, Al went “straight to the front and kept going.”
Ever since Al and Foley won the Carolina Cup in 2001, which astounded the pundits, the little bay and the Irish jockey have been winning races in their own special and unconventional way. In fact, Al`s whole support group, training program and life history is unconventional. Bought for the cost of his transportation from California to the East Coast, it took Majette a while to find out how to get the best out of the fractious horse. Headstrong, impulsive, with a wild, white-ringed eye, Al Skywalker has never made his training easy on anyone, and at the races, the gelding is more than a handful.
But through the careful ministering of Majette, of his exercise rider, Ginger Wright, who is really an event rider, and of Foley, whose own madcap Irish ways allowed him to relax a whirling dervish, Al became one of steeplechasing`s top horses. So when Majette announced that the Nashville race would be the 11-year-old`s last, it was a poignant moment.
“It`s a bittersweet moment to retire him. He`s sound and happy, and there`s a part of me that would like to see him keep running. But it was paramount to me that I retire Al sound. I didn`t want anything bad to happen to him, and I felt like I owed him that,” she said.
Foley and Majette are reverential when they talk about Al. “He`s changed all our lives. If Tom hadn`t shown an interest in Al and in me, we wouldn`t be here today. And riding Al sort of kick-started Tom`s career. The horse has changed all our lives; it`s sort of like a Disney movie,” said Majette.
More than the money and the fame that Al`s fleet feet dropped into their laps, Majette will always be deeply grateful for all Al has taught her about horsemanship. “The biggest thing he`s done is that he`s amazed me with his honesty. He just doesn`t have a cheating bone in his body. Any time he ran a race and didn`t win it wasn`t for his lack of trying, but usually something I did wrong.
“Al taught me a lot about dealing with difficult horses. He taught me patience and made me see that you have to treat horses as individuals, and you have to answer their needs to get the best out of them,” she added.
Life won`t just stop for Al. Majette and Foley have a barn full of horses in training at their Southern Pines, N.C. barn, and Al is going to be the No. 1 babysitter. “He`ll go out with the youngsters and baby-sit them, show them around. Al needs a job; he`s not the type to take retirement gracefully,” she said.
As for her future without Al racing, Majette shrugged. “I`m realistic. I don`t expect another one like this down the pipeline for a very long time, or even ever. What a ride it`s been though.”
Wild Ride
Zach Miller started his own wild ride in his first season of jump riding. The 20-year-old apprentice jockey guided Calvin Houghland`s Concerto Grosso home first in the maiden claiming hurdle, scoring his second lifetime sanctioned win.
Trained by Bruce Miller, who is no relation to Zach, the chestnut gelding inherited the lead after Madagascar (Ted Thompson) lost his rider and then, running loose, forced Cayenne Call (Colvin Ryan) off course. “I was supposed to stay handy and wait to go to the front, but what could I do?” said Zach. “He`s a nice, big galloping sort and he jumps really well, so we just kept going.”
Zach has worked for Bruce for a little more than a year, and his riding has come a long way under the expert guidance at Bruce`s barn.
“There`s a lot of pressure to do it right so you are always trying to get better, and you are always focused,” said Zach. “Bruce tells me how he wants his horses ridden. He`s really good going over the race and telling me about the other horses in the race and what to expect from each of them.
“Then [his son, jockey] Chip [Miller] is really good about giving me information about each race course that I ride on. And [jockey] Robbie Walsh rides there too, and he`s really stepped up to the plate in teaching me the technical aspects of race riding, like how to drive a horse to the finish without unbalancing him,” said Zach.
Zach was inspired by both fantasy and reality to become a steeplechase jockey. The exciting pageantry of steeplechasing fascinated the event rider, who regularly attended the Foxfield races near his home in Charlottesville, Va. “The idea had been brewing for some time. I evented a little, nothing major, and I knew that I enjoyed horses in my life, but eventing just didn`t seem to be a feasible job; I couldn`t figure out how to make it work. So steeplechasing seemed to be a way to have my cake and eat it too,” he said.
Zach Miller started his own wild ride in his first season of jump riding. The 20-year-old apprentice jockey guided Calvin Houghland`s Concerto Grosso home first in the maiden claiming hurdle, scoring his second lifetime sanctioned win.
Trained by Bruce Miller, who is no relation to Zach, the chestnut gelding inherited the lead after Madagascar (Ted Thompson) lost his rider and then, running loose, forced Cayenne Call (Colvin Ryan) off course. “I was supposed to stay handy and wait to go to the front, but what could I do?” said Zach. “He`s a nice, big galloping sort and he jumps really well, so we just kept going.”
Zach has worked for Bruce for a little more than a year, and his riding has come a long way under the expert guidance at Bruce`s barn.
“There`s a lot of pressure to do it right so you are always trying to get better, and you are always focused,” said Zach. “Bruce tells me how he wants his horses ridden. He`s really good going over the race and telling me about the other horses in the race and what to expect from each of them.
“Then [his son, jockey] Chip [Miller] is really good about giving me information about each race course that I ride on. And [jockey] Robbie Walsh rides there too, and he`s really stepped up to the plate in teaching me the technical aspects of race riding, like how to drive a horse to the finish without unbalancing him,” said Zach.
Zach was inspired by both fantasy and reality to become a steeplechase jockey. The exciting pageantry of steeplechasing fascinated the event rider, who regularly attended the Foxfield races near his home in Charlottesville, Va. “The idea had been brewing for some time. I evented a little, nothing major, and I knew that I enjoyed horses in my life, but eventing just didn`t seem to be a feasible job; I couldn`t figure out how to make it work. So steeplechasing seemed to be a way to have my cake and eat it too,” he said.
ADVERTISEMENT
NASHVILLE, TN’MAY 8.
The Iroquois Grade I Hurdle Stakes. 3 miles. 158 lbs.
Purse: $100,000.
Time: 5:383
Purse: $100,000.
Time: 5:383
