This Horse Is a Credit to Its Race

Itsallgreektome.

Is that a sentence? Or a cliche? Or an expression of confusion?

None of the above.

Itsaveryhappythoroughbredracehorse.

Not only is this a happy thoroughbred, but he also happens to be fast but patient and intelligent without getting snooty about it.

It sounds very much like Itsallgreektome is almost human. To hear Wally Dollase, his trainer, tell it, the horse almost is. You expect to walk up to his stall and hear him quoting Socrates.

Indeed, after talking to Dollase, I half expect to go out to Del Mar for Saturday’s $1 million Pacific Classic and discover the entry in the No. 1 post position has only two legs.

I mean, this horse has figured out that he can get some extra time in the sun if he gets his work done early. I assume he wears Speedos.

“He gets the things he likes,” Dollase explained. “He doesn’t like to be in his stall 23 hours a day. He likes to spend time in the sun. We work him at 5:45, because that’s the time he wants to work out, then we move him into the sun pen for three or four hours. He loves it. He’s very close to human.”

When you talk about Itsallgreektome’s handicap, you couldn’t be sure if you were talking about the weight he’s going to carry or his golf game.

“At 11 o’clock,” Dollase continued, “he’s ready for his grain. That routine fits him perfectly.”

I assumed Itsallgreektome could fix his own lunch if need be, probably in a microwave in his stall.

This trainer and this horse are obviously rather good buddies.

“You just have to keep him happy,” Dollase said. “You can’t treat him like a machine. You do special things with him. I spend more time with him, because he wants me to. With other horses who aren’t as intelligent, it’s no big deal.”

Intelligence? I knew this horse was an Eclipse Award winner, but I didn’t know anything about his Phi Beta Kappa key.

“Compared to human beings,” Dollase said, “this horse has something most other horses don’t have. He is intelligent. Intelligence is a big factor in running well. Every good horse I’ve ever had has been intelligent. There’s just a certain air about the very, very bright ones.”

Those of lesser intellect, Dollase said, are more inclined to run scared and get spooked by the pressure.

“Of course,” he conceded, “if they’re too intelligent, they figure out what you’re doing and sulk. They know they’re going to get their oats no matter what.”

So Itsallgreektome is not overbearing in his intelligence, like some Ivy League intellectual. But he does have the blood lines to be a little haughty, should he be so inclined.

His great, great, great and great some more grandfather was Mahmoud, a record-breaking winner of the Epson Derby a few decades ago. Pedigree is traced rather specifically when it comes to thoroughbred race horses.

With his gray coat, Itsallgreektome looks the part of a descendant of Mahmoud.

“He reminds me of what Mahmoud must have been like,” Dollase said. “His spots are called Mahmoud spots. You can see the white spots. It’s interesting what hereditary factors do in racing.”

Mahmoud, to be sure, was a distance horse. The Epson Derby, for example, is run at 1 1/2 miles. That would appeal to Itsallgreektome.

“At 1 1/8 (miles) and up,” Dollase said, “he’s a superior horse.”

Itsallgreektome, you see, is a patient horse. He does not want to be rushed. Let him go at his pace until he is ready.

“He kind of conserves his energy,” Dollase said. “He doesn’t get into a big hurry early. He stays very composed. We do lots of long gallops where we don’t let him pick it up until the last three-eighths of a mile. That’s when he wants to run.”

The Pacific Classic is run at a nice distance for a patient horse. The Classic is at the classic 1 1/4 miles. That distance is to horses what the mile is to runners.

However, Saturday’s field is packed with classic horses as well. It is the best field in Del Mar history, so much so that Unbridled, a Kentucky Derby winner and also an Eclipse Award winner, is listed at 6-1 on the morning line. He’s listed as fifth out of eight horses.

One of those with shorter odds is Itsallgreektome, listed third at 9-2. That’s undoubtedly fine with him. After all, he doesn’t want to be any closer to the front than that this early in the week.

In truth, Itsallgreektome won’t want to be any closer than that well into the race on Saturday. Let the front runners burn themselves out and then watch his smoke.

Itsallgreektome will be easy to spot. He will be the one who runs so easily that it may look like he is hardly running at all. He doesn’t pound the surface as much as he skims it. And, of course, he has that gray coat with those white Mahmoud spots.

I forgot to ask if he would be wearing a Walkman and listening to classical music.