COMMENTARY : Thinking ‘Small’ Pays Off Over Long Haul

ABC’s Jim McKay billed Saturday’s Pimlico Special as “a classic confrontation between the tortoise and the hare,” between the stretch-running Concern and the speedy Cigar. But in horse racing, as opposed to the fable, it’s usually smart to bet on the hare.

Such horses as Concern, who habitually try to rally from far, far behind, are almost always at a disadvantage in the speed-favoring American racing game. Unless conditions are perfect, their late charges usually fall short.

In the Pimlico Special, Concern was not merely at a disadvantage. He was in an impossible situation. The six-horse field was devoid of speed; Cigar, a versatile runner as well as a very talented one, figured to take the lead and control the pace. Bettors forgot any sentimental preference for the hometown hero -- Concern is based at Pimlico -- and made Cigar the 2-to-5 favorite.

Predictably, Cigar led from start to finish, with Devil His Due running second all the way; Concern rallied ineffectually to be third, five lengths behind the winner. He was doomed by his own style and the circumstances of the race.

After cruising the first half mile in 48 seconds, Cigar was still so strong that he was able to run the third quarter-mile in :23 2/5 and the fourth quarter in :23 4/5. It is the mark of a genuine champion to be able to run those fractions faster than 24 flat. If Concern was going to gain appreciable ground on the leader, he was going to have to run those quarter-miles in 23 seconds or so -- something Secretariat couldn’t have done. He didn’t have a prayer.

Such situations are frustrating for the jockey, the owner, and any bettor who puts his money on the stretch-runner. But the person at Pimlico who accepted Concern’s defeat most philosophically was the one who trained him to run this way, Richard Small.

While everyone else in the sport might extol the virtue of speed, Small is willing to let horses go slow. Although he has developed some successful speedsters, he loves to train horses to relax in the early stages of a race, trail the field, and then make a big late run. Unfashionable as his method may be, Small believes strongly in its virtues-and he has the record to back it up.

“Horses don’t come back exhausted from their races when they run this way,” he said. “And even when races don’t set up right for them, they get a check all the time.” Small’s durable stakes horse Valley Crossing made 54 starts in his career and earned checks regularly for years. Concern has now made 24 starts, finishing in the money 22 times, earning $2.9 million. And he appears to have a long career ahead of him.

The toughest part of training horses to run from far behind, Small said, is sticking with the approach consistently and convincing owners, jockeys, and others of its merit. “Very few people try it because you leave yourself open to so much criticism,” Small said. “On the days that it doesn’t work, trainers second-guess themselves and say, “He was too far back.’ But if you try to alter the style of horses like this, they ain’t worth a nickel.”

Small admitted it hasn’t been easy to convince owner Robert Meyerhoff that his horses should be rallying from 10 or 20 lengths behind. And Meyerhoff said that the whole family isn’t completely persuaded: “My assistant trainer, my wife, says, “Why can’t Concern move a little bit earlier?’ ” But Meyerhoff acknowledged that the ultimate answer to their reservations is Small’s record: “He’s so successful I can’t complain,” the owner said.

So Small will patiently await the occasional days when everything breaks right for Concern -- a fast pace, an easy trip -- and he rallies to win a big money, as he did the Breeders’ Cup Classic last fall. He won’t dwell on Saturday’s frustrations. “It’s not easy,” he said, “but you have to get past the fact that there are situations where there’s nothing you can do. And there’s not a damned thing we could do about Cigar.”