Peter Pan a Chance for Unshaded to Prove His Worth

Three days before the Kentucky Derby, Jim Tafel delivered a draft good for $150,000 to the racing office at Churchill Downs, just in case. Tafel, a retired publishing executive from suburban Chicago, had a horse on a winning streak and was trying to buy his way into the race.

Instead, Unshaded was left on the sidelines when 20 horses--a capacity field--were entered.

Tafel accepted his refund, and sat tight. He and his trainer, Carl Nafzger, skipped the Preakness, run two weeks after the Derby. The Pimlico race would have cost Tafel $100,000 to supplement. It’s only speculative that all these greenbacks are burning a hole in Tafel’s pocket, but it’s a good bet that he might spend some of it--$100,000--to supplement Unshaded into the Belmont Stakes if his horse runs a good race at Belmont Park today in the $200,000 Peter Pan Stakes.

The Belmont, like the Derby and the Preakness, is a $1-million race, and first place is worth $600,000. Getting 6 to 1 on your money is not that heady of a gamble, but if you think you have the best horse, how can you pass at the chance? If the Peter Pan tells Tafel and Nafzger that the Belmont, two weeks from today, is the right thing, they probably will jump in, even though Unshaded is a gelding and useless for breeding purposes.

“My horse has beat some nice horses, but he hasn’t met the big fellows yet,” said Nafzger, referring to Fusaichi Pegasus, winner of the Derby, and Red Bullet, first in the Preakness. “I’ve got a nice horse, but he still has to earn his stripes.”

Unshaded, a $27,000 yearling, was still a maiden in January, when Tafel could have nominated him for the Triple Crown races for $600. Late nominations, costing $6,000, closed April 1. Unshaded had put together a couple of wins by then, but he had yet to run in a stakes race.

Seven horses, including Gallant Man, Danzig Connection and A.P. Indy, have used a win in the Peter Pan as a springboard for winning the Belmont, and last year, Lemon Drop Kid, after running third in the Peter Pan, returned two weeks later to win the Belmont and dash the Triple Crown hopes of Charismatic.

Today’s race, which drew 10 starters, has several horses auditioning for the Belmont. There is Globalize, his knee better after being kicked by his pony one morning during Derby week. Other contenders are Tahkodha Hills, whose trainer, Ralph Ziadie, didn’t rush him into the Triple Crown series after winning the Lone Star Derby April 22, and Big E E, who’s had three wins and two seconds this year.

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Hollywood Park’s Memorial Day weekend includes six stakes worth $950,000, starting with today’s $150,000 Honeymoon Handicap. Trainer Jenine Sahadi, who won the Honeymoon last year with Team Valor’s Sweet Ludy, will try to repeat with another Valor filly, Torgau, who will be making her U.S. debut.

Sunday’s $250,000 Milady Breeders’ Cup Handicap drew seven fillies and mares, two of them Riboletta and Excellent Meeting, who were 1-2, separated by seven lengths, in the Hawthorne Handicap on May 7.

Monday’s $300,000 Charlie Whittingham Memorial Handicap, the richest race of the weekend, will have a small field of grass runners. The high weight, at 123 pounds, is Dark Moondancer, trained by Ron McAnally.

Notes

Ernie Samuel, whose Sam-Son Farm was a breeding and racing force in Canada for almost 30 years, died Thursday at 69 in Toronto. Samuel collapsed on New Year’s Eve in 1996, suffering cranial bleeding and going into a coma. Though confined to a wheelchair, he recovered and continued to have a hand in the family manufacturing, steel and aluminum businesses that began with his great-grandfather in 1855. Samuel’s horses, while dominating Canadian racing, also were successful in the United States. His Chief Bearhart won the Breeders’ Cup Turf at Hollywood Park in 1997, clinching an Eclipse Award as best male turf horse.