Da Hoss Wins Mile Again as Geldings Have Great Day

In the first 14 years, only five geldings had won Breeders’ Cup races. In the 15th Breeders’ Cup, Saturday at Churchill Downs, three geldings won: Buck’s Boy in the $2-million Turf, Da Hoss in the $1-million Mile on grass and Reraise in the $1-million Sprint.

Geldings are not the best advertisement for the Breeders’ Cup. They used to be banned from running in the Belmont Stakes and in Europe and geldings are still not welcome in many of the top stakes races.

Da Hoss, winner of the Breeders’ Cup Mile in 1996, had run only once since then, winning an allowance race at Colonial Downs in Virginia four weeks ago. Trainer Michael Dickinson thought that he needed a race to prove to the Breeders’ Cup selection committee that the 6-year-old was sound again, but Da Hoss was still excluded from the original list. Da Hoss drew in off the also-eligible list when there were some defections.

Da Hoss is only the fourth horse to win a second Breeders’ Cup race. The others were Miesque in the Mile in 1987-88, Bayakoa in the Distaff in 1989-90 and Lure in the Mile in 1992-93.

Dickinson’s work with Da Hoss will be remembered as one of the best training jobs in Breeders’ Cup history. One of his owners, J.R. Preston, said that the horse would have been retired after the 1996 Breeders’ Cup win if he could have become a stallion.

Ridden by John Velazquez, Da Hoss came from off the pace to beat Hawksley Hill by a head, with Labeeb third, 4 1/4 lengths back. Hawksley Hill and Labeeb are both trained by Neil Drysdale. Favorite Trick, last year’s horse of the year and the favorite in the Mile, finished eighth and Desert Prince, the second choice, ran last.

Dickinson said that he won a $1,000 side bet with Ron Anderson, the agent for jockey Gary Stevens. Dickinson had asked Stevens, who had ridden Da Hoss to victory in the 1996 Breeders’ Cup at Woodbine, to ride his horse, but the jockey went to Among Men, who finished 11th. Dickinson bet Anderson that Da Hoss would finish ahead of Among Men.

“The first Breeders’ Cup win was the happiest day of my life,” Dickinson said. “Now this is. It’s taken a lot of medical therapy and vets’ bill over the last two years, but he was ready to run. This horse was lame for two or three weeks as recently as September.”

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In the Turf, Buck’s Boy and Shane Sellers coasted along on an easy lead in the 1 1/2-mile race, then held off Yagli by 1 1/4 lengths at the wire.

The win was the 14th in 25 starts for the 5-year-old Buck’s Boy, who was gelded before his first race, in 1996.

“He was more than rambunctious when he was younger,” said trainer Noel Hickey, who bred Buck’s Boy. “It was in his best interests and our best interests to do it.”

Buck’s Boy ran fourth in last year’s Turf at Hollywood Park.

“He’s a little bitty guy, but he packs a big punch,” Sellers said.

Royal Anthem, the 13-10 favorite from England, raced in the middle of the pack early, then finished seventh. Royal Anthem had been lame in his stall a week ago, with a hoof problem, and there were also backstretch rumors that he had a swollen ankle.

“He was struggling early,” said Stevens, who had ridden him to victory in the Canadian International last month. “After the first two furlongs, I knew it was going to be a long mile and a half. He lost his confidence. His head was going up and down every time he hit the soft spots on the track.”

The Sprint was won by Reraise, a lightly raced 3-year-old who was supplemented into the race for $120,000 because he hadn’t been nominated. Reraise earned $572,000 after beating Grand Slam by two lengths. Kona Gold was third, Gold Land ran fourth and A.P. Assay finished fifth as the first five positions went to horses with California backgrounds. Affirmed Success, the 5-2 favorite, settled for sixth.

Reraise is trained by Craig Dollase, who became the youngest conditioner to saddle a Breeders’ Cup winner. Dollase turns 28 next month. Dollase’s father, Wally Dollase, won the Distaff with Jewel Princess in 1996. The only other father-son duos to win Breeders’ Cup races have been Charlie Whittingham (Ferdinand in the 1987 Classic and Sunday Silence in the same race two years later) and his son Michael (who sent out Skywalker to win the Classic in 1986).

One of the owners of Reraise is Frank Sinatra, a Glendale pediatrician who with a partner bought the horse as a yearling for $8,000. Other partners have since bought interests in the horse and the principal owner is Barry Fey, a rock concert promoter from Denver.

Asked if he can sing, Sinatra said:

“I can today.”

Reraise, ridden by Corey Nakatani, had run only five times. His fourth win came in the Kentucky Cup Sprint, a 12-length romp on Sept. 26 at Turfway Park.

“That win was worth about $92,000,” Fey said. “We decided right then and there to run in the Sprint. We put the $92,000 into escrow and came up with the rest to make him eligible.”

In other Breeders’ Cup races, Escena won the $2-million Distaff by a nose over Banshee Breeze; Answer Lively was a head better than Aly’s Alley in the Juvenile; and Silverbulletday won the Juvenile Fillies by a half-length over her stablemate, Excellent Meeting.

Escena, ridden by Stevens after Jerry Bailey opted to ride Banshee Breeze, didn’t have to beat Sharp Cat, undefeated this year but unable to run after suffering a near-fatal attack of muscle cramps a week ago.

Answer Lively gave trainer Bobby Barnett a win in his first Breeders’ Cup race. The colt also gave owner-breeder John Franks his first Breeders’ Cup win. Bailey picked up his seventh Breeders’ Cup win.

The Juvenile winner usually becomes the early favorite for the next year’s Kentucky Derby, but a Juvenile winner has never won the Derby. Barnett and Franks don’t sound like the Derby is a priority.

“We’re not going to push him,” Franks said. “I’ve seen too many young horses come out of the Breeders’ Cup and be rushed into their 3-year-old year. We’ll start next year with him in New Orleans [at the Fair Grounds], but that doesn’t necessarily mean that we’ll run him there.”

Stevens rode Silverbulletday for trainer Bob Baffert. Stevens’ two wins Saturday give him six in the Breeders’ Cup.