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Woodward Poses Challenge to Holy Bull

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WASHINGTON POST

When Holy Bull won the Metropolitan Handicap, demolishing a field of top-class older rivals, he gave evidence that he is the best racehorse in the country. When he won the Travers Stakes, he displayed a combination of raw speed, stamina and courage that marked him as the best American racehorse in years. Under normal circumstances, the outcome of the Woodward Stakes might have been a forgone conclusion, a coronation of Holy Bull as 1994’s horse of the year.

Yet many astute handicappers can’t wait to bet against the favorite at Belmont Park Saturday. Holy Bull may be facing an insuperable challenge in this 1 1/8-mile race.

He is a one-dimensional speedster; jockey Mike Smith can’t restrain him and make him sit behind another horse -- even if the other horse is setting a suicidal pace. This is the gray colt’s one weakness, and trainer Wayne Lukas tried to take advantage of it in the Travers by entering a “rabbit,” a sprinter who would go all-out to set an early pace that would enervate Holy Bull. The strategy almost worked. After dueling for the lead, Holy Bull held on desperately to win by a neck over Concern.

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“I don’t know how the Woodward could be any tougher than that race,” Holy Bull’s trainer Jimmy Croll said this week. But he is about to find out. Of all the thoroughbreds on this continent, none could have posed a more difficult test for Holy Bull than Bertrando. This is no cheap “rabbit” who will show speed for half a mile and succumb. Bertrando is as fast and classy as Holy Bull. He has seized the early lead in every start of his 18-race career. He won the Woodward by 13 1/2 lengths last year, and he earned the Eclipse Award as the champion older horse.

Bertrando is probably not the same horse he was in 1993; owner Edward Nahem decided to send him to stud in the winter and then bring him back to competition this summer. Bertrando was trounced in his first big test this year, the Pacific Classic at Del Mar, but he still had all of his old speed, running the first six furlongs of the 1 1/4-mile race in 1 minute 8 3/5 seconds. If he shows that kind of speed again, he’ll give Holy Bull the fight of his life.

The stakes are high for Holy Bull. Croll has declared that this will be the colt’s last start of the year. (He is not nominated to the Breeders’ Cup.) If he loses, and then sits out the rest of the season, he could jeopardize his claims to a championship. But a Woodward victory would clinch the horse of the year title. Even Go for Gin’s trainer, Nick Zito, said, “If the Bull wins, I concede.”

Can Holy Bull battle with Bertrando and still have enough energy left to beat his seven rivals in the Woodward? If there were a horse in the field who had comparable talent and a strong stretch kick, the Bull wouldn’t have much of a chance. But the older horses in the race are not an exceptional group. Even in the best performances of their lives, Devil His Due, Colonial Affair and Tinners Way have never run as fast as Holy Bull does on an ordinary day.

However, Holy Bull’s contemporary, Go for Gin, may be a formidable foe. He delivered solid performances in winning the Kentucky Derby and finishing second in the Preakness; Zito has freshened the colt and given him one prep race to rev him up for a fall campaign. He has speed, but he is tractable enough to sit behind the anticipated Holy Bull-Bertrando duel.

If Holy Bull is a short-priced favorite, betting against him might be a smart move, but I’m not going to do it. I have little confidence in any of his rivals (except, maybe, Go for Gin) and, moreover, I want to see Holy Bull win. He is a great horse, and he deserves to be recognized as such. If Holy Bull loses the Woodward after a fierce duel with Bertrando, few people are likely to give him credit for an honorable defeat. I am rooting for him to win and establish himself, unequivocally, as 1994’s horse of the year.

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I can resist betting the Woodward because there are so many other top attractions on the Belmont card -- the first of two Super Saturdays that are designed as prep races for the Breeders’ Cup. The pick six here Saturday consists of six Grade I stakes.

Maryland-based trainer Barclay Tagg will saddle one of the most interesting horses on the card, Royal Mountain Inn. The 5-year-old has displayed great promise throughout his career, but he has repeatedly been hindered by physical problems and has won only one stakes race. Tagg has been pointing him all summer for Saturday’s $400,000 Man o’ War Stakes, and Royal Mountain Inn seems poised to establish himself as one of the best turf runners in the country.

The East’s leading 2-year-old colts and fillies will contest the Futurity and Matron stakes. They are apt to confirm the prevailing opinion that there are no good juvenile colts this season, and that Lukas’ undefeated filly Flanders may be the best 2-year-old of either sex.

Bettors handicapping the Vosburgh Stakes shouldn’t be deceived by Virginia Rapids’ last-place finish in his most recent start. The stretch-runner was hindered by a ridiculously slow pace in the Forego Handicap at Saratoga, but he had previously proved that he is the top seven-furlong runner in New York.

No matter how much excitement these other stakes generate, however, it is inconceivable that they will match the drama of the Woodward, as Holy Bull battles with Bertrando, puts him away and then braces for the late challenges that may determine the year’s champion racehorse.

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