Congaree Takes It Slow and Wins

In all the previous 27 runnings of the Swaps Stakes only once was the first half-mile run as slowly as Sunday’s at Hollywood Park.

A horse accustomed to running his opening four furlongs in 45 seconds or faster, Congaree now was loping along, and the time on the tote board--:49 1/5--looked as if some of the lights had blown out.

It was the way that Congaree and his jockey, Gary Stevens, were navigating that early ground that impressed Bob McNair the most in the $500,000 race.

“Our horse was perfectly relaxed,” said McNair, the owner of the NFL’s new Houston Texans, who races Congaree with his wife Janice. “That was the most encouraging part of the whole race.”

Part of a pace that accounted for absurdly punishing fractions, Congaree still was a hearty third in the Kentucky Derby, and two weeks later he was third again in the Preakness. With his more renowned stablemate, Preakness and Belmont winner Point Given, back at the barn at Santa Anita, the Swaps was a cakewalk for Congaree, who won by four lengths against a small field largely bereft of Triple Crown seasoning. The McNairs’ colt paid $2.20, by 40 cents the smallest win payoff in the race’s history.

“We were worried about being that big of a favorite,” said John Adger, who manages the racing operation for the McNairs. “Some pretty big favorites have taken their lumps in this race.”

Biggest of all, of course, was Seattle Slew, fresh from his Triple Crown sweep and bet down to 1-5 when he finished fourth while J.O. Tobin was winning the Swaps in 1977.

Congaree, withheld from the Belmont Stakes, was a well-rested horse, not having run in almost two months, and Sunday he was ridden for the first time by Stevens, who also rides Point Given for trainer Bob Baffert. Victor Espinoza had ridden Congaree for his Wood Memorial victory and Derby third, and Jerry Bailey was aboard in the Preakness.

Until Sundown, the Affirmed Handicap winner on June 17, finished second, three-quarters of a length ahead of Jamaican Rum, in the six-horse field. The winning time of 1:48 3/5 was the slowest Swaps since Thunder Gulch’s 1:49 in 1995, the year the stake was shortened from 1 1/4 to 1 1/8 miles.

Like the rest of the Congaree camp, Stevens also was elated that Congaree didn’t try to burn himself out early.

“I didn’t know if it was going to be possible to get him to go that slow,” said Stevens, who won his third Swaps. “He was very professional, very relaxed, throughout the post parade and throughout the race. He kicked home real nice. He was smoking the last part, but he should have been.”

Named after a river in South Carolina where the McNairs were college sweethearts, Congaree won for the fourth time in seven starts and the $300,000 purse swelled his overall total to $997,400. Baffert, who also won the Swaps last year with Captain Steve, was noncommittal about where Congaree will try to hit the million mark. Point Given’s next assignment is the $1-million Haskell Handicap at Monmouth Park on Aug. 5.

Baffert had predicted a big effort in the Swaps for Congaree, based on a succession of fast workouts at Santa Anita.

“He ran like he’s been working,” the trainer said. “It was nice that there wasn’t a speed horse in there just cooking away, but this horse, with age, hopefully will learn to relax. His game is speed. He’s quite a horse and he showed it today. He’s still learning how to run.”

Point Given and Congaree could make for a lively matchup in the $4-million Breeders’ Cup Classic at Belmont Park on Oct. 27. In that event, the fall air in New York would be heavy with omens. The last two Classic winners--Cat Thief and Tiznow--won the Swaps.

Unlike Congaree, Blueprint has had only one rider this year--Stevens--and the 6-year-old Irish-bred survived a three-horse dash to the wire for a half-length victory in the $200,000 Sunset Handicap. Kudos, the leader at the eighth pole of the 1 1/2-mile grass race, finished second, a neck in front of Northern Quest, in the five-horse field.

Blueprint, trained by Bob Hess Jr., had run only twice this year, winning the San Luis Rey Handicap at Santa Anita before running third in the San Juan Capistrano Handicap three months ago. Hess indicated he will run his horse one more time--in New York--before the Breeders’ Cup Turf on Oct. 27.

Blueprint, bred by Queen Elizabeth II before being sold last year, paid $4.40 as the favorite. His time was 2:26.

Chris McCarron, who finished second aboard Until Sundown in the Swaps, won the first of three stakes on Hollywood Park’s next-to-last card of the season, riding Came Home to victory in the $107,400 Hollywood Juvenile. Like Congaree, Came Home was heavily favored--he paid $2.60--and he also won by four lengths.

Bred and owned by Trudy McCaffery and John Toffan, Came Home is a son of Gone West and Nice Assay who won his first race by eight lengths against maidens at Hollywood Park on June 3. He kicked himself while breaking awkwardly in that race, and Sunday he was an anxious loader. McCarron dismounted in the gate, Came Home was removed from his stall and wasn’t reloaded until the rest of the field settled in.

“He had what we call second-race jitters,” McCarron said. “Young horses sense that the races are getting serious and their adrenaline starts to kick in.”