Has Surgery Helped Rhythm’s Run?

A year ago, the questions posed to the 3-year-old colt that Shug McGaughey steered through Queens, N.Y., en route to Kentucky were: “How fast? How far?”

Easy Goer replied emphatically, running a mile in 1:32 2/5, the fastest eight furlongs ever run by a 3-year-old and the second fastest by a thoroughbred of any age, while winning the Gotham Stakes and propelling himself toward Louisville.

The question to which McGaughey seeks an answer Saturday at Aqueduct, where he will send Ogden Mills Phipps’ Rhythm into the $250,000 Gotham, is more puzzling. Simply: “How?”

Easy Goer, in McGaughey’s words, didn’t have a straw in his path between Florida and Churchill Downs. Rhythm’s route to Kentucky has been riddled with potholes.

“Things went exactly as planned last year,” McGaughey said. “Nothing got in the way except not winning (the Derby) once we got there. Things this year haven’t gone that smoothly. Maybe everything will come together on the right day this year.”

To this point, 1990 has been unkind to Rhythm. In 1989, the colt by Mr. Prospector and Dance Number easily won two races before being beaten in a photo by stablemate Adjudicating in the Grade I Champagne. He then won the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile at 1-1/16 miles. But he was quite dull, if not indifferent, in February, when he returned in the Hutcheson Stakes at Gulfstream, finishing seventh.

Rhythm’s subsequent effort in the Fountain of Youth was improved. Although he finished 10th, he was in touch with the pace while under restraint and began a move into contention before stopping abruptly.

Rider Craig Perret reported hearing deep gurgling noises coming from Rhythm’s throat as his breathing became labored. A veterinarian, Dr. James Robertson, was summoned from Ohio State University to the Phipps’ barn at Gulfstream and determined that the colt suffered from a displaced palate, and a muscle in Rhythm’s throat was cut in a 20-minute surgery. “The success rate is 50% to 60%,” McGaughey said.

So far, Rhythm’s recovery has progressed smoothly. “He’s trained well,” McGaughey said from Gulfstream, where he will run yet another Phipps 3-year-old, Private Game, in the Preview Stakes Saturday.

“And there have been no noises coming from his throat. Robertson said he’s seen horses with displaced palates that were caused by fighting a (tiring) race track. I’d like to think maybe that had something to do with it.”

Rhythm, provided his repairs withstand the stress of racing, must run well in the Gotham if he is to remain among the first rank of Kentucky Derby contenders. If he does, he will recapture most of his preseason stature.

He drew the No. 1 post in a field of 11 entered Thursday. The others in order of post position: For Really, Kentucky Jazz, Le Prince, Thirty Six Red, Senor Pete, Burnt Hills, Paradise Found, Lo Bucker, Richard R. and Cielo. Burnt Hills, a Bobby Frankel-trained, California-based shipper making his first effort beyond six furlongs, is the overnight favorite.

Most Gotham starters have something to prove, only Rhythm has something to rediscover. Said McGaughey: “We’ll find out a lot about him on Saturday.”