“Hunches are for idiots, morons and suckers.”
April 4th, 2008By Jude T. Feld
Hall of Fame trainer Nick Zito said Robert LaPenta’s heavily favored War Pass didn’t have a fever before his Tampa Bay Derby (G3) debacle.
John M. Weber Photo
War Pass capped his perfect two-year-old season last year with a resounding victory in the Bessemer Trust Breeders’ Cup Juvenile (G1), causing racing pundits from coast-to-coast to compare him with Secretariat and Seattle Slew.
The buzz continued in February when the flashy son of Cherokee Run was worked publicly in an allowance race at Gulfstream Park, destroying his competition and earning an above-par speed figure.
Sent off at a nickle on the dollar for the Tampa Bay Derby (G3), War Pass got out of the gate in a tangle, was bumped and jostled early in the race and never really regained his composure, finishing dead last and causing some severe bridge-jumping in Hallendale.
In a post-race interview, his owner, Robert LaPenta reported that War Pass had a fever earlier in the week, but that notion was denounced by trainer Nick Zito, who said the colt had an elevated temperature, but that he was fine for the race.
People left the War Pass bandwagon like rats on a sinking ship.
“He’ll never win another race.”
“Just a cheap speed horse.”
“I never thought he would handle two-turns.”
“He’ll be off the Derby trail now.”
“I wasted a pick in my Road to the Roses stable.”
None of these geniuses have ever had a bad day?
A horrible start, a troubled trip and the possibility that War Pass was under the weather was evidently not enough to keep the crowd from throwing, “the best horse since Seattle Slew” under the bus.
I’ve been a War Pass fan for a long time and I didn’t turn in my HorseHat when he got beat at Tampa. I still think he’s a pretty nice colt.
Hall of Fame trainer Bobby Frankel says, “Hunches are for idiots, morons and suckers,” but I’ve got a hunch War Pass is gonna run great in the Wood Memorial (G1) on Saturday.
