Congaree Is Getting Right to the Point

Right now, trainer Bob Baffert doesn’t care which horse is better. “Congaree’s got as much talent as Point Given,” he said Saturday. “In three weeks, we’ll find out who wants it more.”

The “it” is the Kentucky Derby, which will be run May 5 at Churchill Downs with Baffert holding most of the trump cards. He won the Santa Anita Derby a week ago with Point Given and seven days later his Congaree, running in a stake for the first time, blasted the other five runners in the $750,000 Wood Memorial, winning Aqueduct’s traditional Derby prep by 2 3/4 lengths.

Granted, the top to bottom of the Wood was hardly Hall of Fame caliber, but the colt that unsuccessfully chased Congaree to the wire, finishing second, was Florida Derby winner Monarchos, and Congaree’s time of 1:47 4/5 was lickety-split. Since the Wood was lengthened to 1 1/8 miles in 1952, only four horses have run it faster, and Congaree’s clocking matched the time last year of Fusaichi Pegasus, the eventual Derby winner.

Baffert has won the Derby twice, with Silver Charm in 1997 and Real Quiet in 1998, but he doesn’t get bored easily.

“It’s not old hat,” he said after the Wood, “and at least we’re going back there knowing what to do. Between now and the race, we’ve just got to keep things at the same level, and keep our heads. It’s nice to be in the situation we’re in.”

Congaree, bred and owned by Bob McNair, the owner of the new Houston franchise in the NFL, had raced only three times before Saturday. His life was literally star-crossed from the day he was foaled. John Adger, the thoroughbred manager for McNair and his wife Janice, recalled April 20, 1998, the day the mare Mari’s Book, who had been mated with Arazi, foaled Congaree.

“The foal was so large,” Adger said, “that he cracked five ribs just getting out.”

The injury kept Congaree in his stall for 45 days, while Bobby Spaulding, the manager of the McNairs’ Stonerside Farm in Paris, Ky., worked with his staff to nurse the colt back to health.

Congaree’s travails didn’t end there. He caught pneumonia while he was being weaned. At Saratoga last August, Baffert had him cranked up for his debut, but he caught a cold and was knocked out of that start. Then after his first start--and only loss--at Del Mar in September, he needed surgery to remove a chip from his right knee.

“This horse has had so much attention that he’s become very people-oriented,” Bob McNair said. “It’s added to his professionalism, and made [Baffert’s] training job easier.”

After Tyler Baze rode Congaree in his first race, Victor Espinoza took over in the next two starts, a pair of victories by a combined 13 lengths this year at Santa Anita.

“Congaree reminds me of Fusaichi Pegasus the way he does things so easily,” said Espinoza, who rode last year’s Derby winner in his first start. “But Congaree is more professional, more focused, than the other horse. The other one played around a lot.”

Before a crowd of 16,568, Congaree earned $450,000 for his Wood win, paying $5.40 as the second betting choice behind Monarchos, who went off at 9-10. The Wood was the two-horse race that it appeared to be on paper, with Richly Blended, undefeated in three starts at shorter distances, finishing third, 9 3/4 lengths behind Congaree. The rest of the order of finish was It’s So Simple, Voodoo and Paging.

Although Monarchos’ three-race winning streak ended, his trainer, John Ward, wasn’t disappointed.

“I’ve got no complaints,” Ward said. “The Derby is a mile and a quarter, and it’s three weeks away. My horse made up a lot of ground and he finished up well. He’s fit, he’s where he needs to be. The Derby’s the first Saturday in May. This was just a scrimmage.”

Ward was also impressed by Congaree.

“The winner is a formidable horse,” he said. “My hat’s off to the Stonerside people.”

Running soft fractions of :23 and :46, Richly Blended set the pace for the opening half-mile. Congaree was outside of Richly Blended then, in second place and never more than 2 1/2 lengths from the front. Monarchos, ridden by Jorge Chavez, was fifth after half a mile, seven lengths off the lead.

Midway on the far turn, Congaree passed Richly Blended. The first six furlongs went by in 1:10, the mile in 1:35.

By the top of the stretch, Espinoza had his whip out and was using it repeatedly with the left hand. They were five lengths ahead of Monarchos at the eighth pole before Chavez got his colt rolling.

“It was a speed race,” Chavez said. “My horse ran well. He ran extra hard, as hard as he could. The winner just wasn’t pressed enough and we couldn’t run him down at the end.”

Congaree will be shipped to Louisville today, to be joined by his stablemate Point Given on Wednesday.

“We knew before the Wood that Congaree was a good horse,” Baffert said. “Today he proved that he’s a really, really good horse.”

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Trainer Mike Mitchell shipped Skip To The Stone to Aqueduct from Hollywood Park and won the $150,000 Bay Shore Stakes by 1 3/4 lengths over Multiple Choice, with City Zip, the even-money favorite, finishing fourth. Skip To The Stone, giving Espinoza his second stakes win on the card, ran seven furlongs in 1:22 2/5, paying $8.50 for $2. Skip To The Stone had won the Baldwin at Santa Anita in February, but when he tried two turns there last month, the result was a sixth-place finish, 18 3/4 lengths behind Point Given, in the San Felipe Stakes. Mitchell, saying that the Breeders’ Cup Sprint is his year-end goal for Skip To The Stone, will leave the colt in New York to run in the Withers at Belmont Park on May 5. . . . In another stake at Aqueduct, Say Florida Sandy, at 4-1, won the $109,200 Bold Ruler Handicap by 1 1/2 lengths over favored Delaware Township.