Hourly Rates
January 15th, 2006by Jude T. Feld
As I was watching the jubilant Carolina Hurricanes taking turns hoisting Lord Stanley’s Cup over their heads and skating around the arena to the joy of their raucous fans, I was reminded of thegreatestgame.com logo. It is a little known fact that the image that has made our program famous was fashioned from a photograph of trainer Bob Baffert hoisting his Kentucky Derby (G1) trophy over his head.
At 11:30 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time, after several mojitos and a few handfuls of cocktail peanuts it is amazing where your mind can wander, especially when the day started at 5:00 a.m. But as the announcers were explaining how each winning player gets to spend a day with the Stanley Cup, I was reminded of something fellow trainer Chay Knight said to me one morning at Santa Anita, the day after I had saddled a homebred winner to win the nightcap.
“Congratulations,” Chay said. “That was really great. I made a few bucks. But you know what I was thinking after the race? We go through an awful lot to win these races. We have to overcome exercise riders with hands of stone, grooms who wouldn’t know a bowed tendon from a capped hock and ambitious owners who always want to run horses over their heads.”
“Then,” he continued. “When we finally win a race, we are in the winners’ circle for what, 15 seconds, 30 max? We should be able to rent that thing and have a party as much stress that goes in to getting there.”
I laughed, acquiescing.
“You’re right,” I said. “I never thought about it that way, but you are 100% correct.”
Getting ready for bed, my thoughts turned to Saturday’s Stephen Foster Handicap (G1) at Churchill Downs.
Bowman Couch Racing, LLC’s Seek Gold, making his first start for his new owners and trainer Ron Moquett, pulled one of the greatest upsets in the 132-year history of Churchill Downs when the 91-1 shot caught Perfect Drift on the wire to win the $844,500 Stephen Foster.
I learned early in my training career that claiming horses from Hall of Fame trainers was a horrible idea. Buying horses privately from them is just slightly better. It seldom works out because there is no value, no edge. You get to the Hall by being the best at your craft, so improving on their programs is extremely unlikely.
To prove my point, in the nine-horse package deal that brought Seek Gold to the Moquett stable, two have already been given away by owners Ted Bowman, and Kristi Couch as ponies.
Seek Gold, whose races had included a runner-up finish to Saint Liam in the 2004 Clark Handicap (G2) at Churchill Downs, was tossed into the group by Zito to make it more attractive, but parting with Grade 1 winners is something trainers of his caliber usually do grudgingly.
“This year when I was down on horses, Nick sent me horses,” Moquett said. “The reason I was hanging around him was to try to get knowledge and he, for some reason, has been really generous – like he is to everybody. He’s been so classy. Nick helped me all the way through it. He kind of took me in like a little brother. He’s been as cool to me as he could be.”
“I love the fact that so many people have offered congratulations to us,” he said. “Colleagues and people that see us out here struggling and trying to make payroll and trying to pay the feed company. They appreciate what this win means to us.”
I think Ron Moquett should be allowed to rent the winners’ circle.
