Pollard’s Vision Quest
A little-known aftereffect of mare reproductive loss syndrome, or MRLS, in Kentucky in 2001 was that about 100 foals gradually went blind, or partially blind. One of them, the aptly named Pollard’s Vision, will be among the 20 horses running Saturday in the Kentucky Derby.
Trainer Todd Pletcher, who will also saddle Limehouse in the 130th Derby, is thankful that Pollard’s Vision can’t see out of his right eye.
“If he had had two eyes, I probably wouldn’t even be training him now,” Pletcher said. “They bought him for $70,000” at auction last year. “If he wasn’t partially blind, he probably would have brought $300,000 or $400,000.”
Pollard’s Vision, named after Red Pollard, the one-eyed jockey who rode Seabiscuit, races for David Moore, a retired investment banker and relative newcomer to racing from Summit, N.J. In his first race -- he was beaten by 22 1/2 lengths and dropped his jockey after crossing the finish line -- Pollard’s Vision resembled a horse headed for the claiming ranks rather than a Derby prospect. Then, less than a month later, at Saratoga in August, he broke his maiden, winning by 12 1/2 lengths.
Pletcher was low-key about the colt’s campaign after that, and after Pollard’s Vision ended a five-race losing streak with an allowance win at Gulfstream Park in February, he ran third in the Louisiana Derby, then won the Illinois Derby a month ago. With John Velazquez aboard, Moore’s horse will go into the 1 1/4-mile Kentucky Derby with three wins, two seconds and three thirds in 10 starts, and earnings of $445,811.
Pollard’s Vision’s first seven starts were in sprints, then Pletcher stretched him out.
“He’s clearly a better horse around two turns,” the trainer said. “Being a son of Carson City, you might say that he’s bred to be a sprinter, but if you put a thumb over Carson’s City’s name, there is a lot of stamina” on the mare’s side of his pedigree.
It is believed that no one-eyed horse has ever won the Derby, and the last one to even try was Cassaleria, who finished 13th for trainer Ron McAnally when he represented the curiously named 20/20 Stable in 1982.
Cassaleria, who won the El Camino Real Derby at Bay Meadows three months before the Kentucky Derby, had a dry right socket, the result of the rubber-legged colt’s staggering into a foaling-shed wall minutes after he was born. Pollard’s Vision has a right eye; it just doesn’t function.
“Cassaleria didn’t know what he was missing, since he was practically born with only one eye,” McAnally said. “As a result, everything came naturally, for him, and he was easy to train.”
But Cassaleria was also claustrophobic, and McAnally, tipped off to a solution by a Pasadena astrologist who just happened to visit his barn at Santa Anita one day, built an open-air pen for the horse.
There have been other stakes-winning one-eyed horses, including One-Eyed King, Mystic Eye and Funny Fellow, but the champ, as far as purses are concerned, was probably Real Connection, a hard-knocking mare. Trainer Mel Stute bought her privately for Bill Thomas for $55,000 shortly after she’d notched her first victory. Real Connection registered her biggest victory in the 1997 Las Palmas Handicap at Santa Anita and wound up earning $1.2 million. A few years later, Real Connection died of colic.
“We had heard that Real Connection’s mother kicked her in the eye when she was a baby,” Stute said. “We tried to place her on the outside in her races, so she didn’t have to be concerned with not seeing horses on her right.”
Imperialism, another horse in Saturday’s Derby, has perfect forward vision but, because of an indented right eye, has difficulty seeing horses as they approach him from behind.
In the Santa Anita Derby, Imperialism was in tight quarters next to the fence for the stretch run, and was fouled by Rock Hard Ten, who was penalized from second to third as the stewards moved Imperialism up to second. Victor Espinoza, who rode Imperialism at Santa Anita, has been replaced by Kent Desormeaux for the Kentucky Derby.
MRLS, believed to have been caused by Eastern tent caterpillars that carried cyanide toxin from wild cherry trees to pastures in Kentucky, upended the state’s breeding industry. Late-term fetal deaths and early-term abortions cost breeders about $300 million.
Pollard’s Vision, whose dam was the unraced Etats Unis, a Dixieland Band mare, survived, but he showed signs of blindness before he was to be consigned to Keeneland’s ritzy yearling sale in July 2002. His breeder, Charles A. Smith, waited until last year to sell him.
“We’re really proud of him,” said Ginny DePasquale, Pletcher’s assistant, after Pollard’s Vision had won the Illinois Derby with a front-running trip. “He’s such a game little horse.”
DePasquale wasn’t worried when Song Of The Sword, the second-place finisher, came at Pollard’s Vision on the outside. “He can sense the horses running at him, whether he sees them or not, and he always tries a little harder. But he really doesn’t have to see the other horses. He just has to know they are there. He’s been maturing every race. He was obviously green when he broke his maiden, but he really came around the last couple of months.”
When Derby post positions are drawn Wednesday night, Pletcher would like to have a chance to place Pollard’s Vision on the outside.
“But, of course, I prefer the outside for all of my horses,” Pletcher said.
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The Cliff’s Edge, who might go off as the favorite in the Kentucky Derby, had an unusual workout Monday at Churchill Downs.
Two horses from another barn broke off in front of him, but exercise rider Maxine Correa was able to guide him to the outside and the colt finished off five furlongs in 1:01 over a fast track.
Other Churchill workouts: Lion Heart, :47 4/5, and Read The Footnotes, :47 3/5, for four furlongs; and Quintons Gold Rush, 1:01 2/5 for five furlongs.
At trainer Michael Dickinson’s farm in Pennsylvania, where he’s known for giving horses slow works, Tapit completed five furlongs in 1:06 4/5 and will arrive in Louisville on Wednesday. Rock Hard Ten, needing two defections in order to move into the Derby field, worked five furlongs in :59 2/5 at Churchill Downs.
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(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)
Tentative Kentucky Derby Field
Probable starters for Saturday’s 130th Kentucky Derby, in order of graded stakes earnings.
Post time: 3:04 p.m. PDT. TV: Channel 4, coverage begins at 2 p.m. PDT. Where: Churchill Downs in Louisville. Post-position draw: Wednesday, 2 p.m. PDT, ESPN.
*--* Horse Trainer Jockey St-1-2-3 Gr. Earn. THE CLIFF’S Nick Zito Shane Sellers 8-4-2-1 $793,258 EDGE ACTION THIS DAY Richard David Flores 6-2-1-0 $780,000 Mandella FRIENDS LAKE John Kimmel Richard Migliore 5-3-0-1 $611,000 SMARTY JONES John Servis Stewart Elliott 6-6-0-0 $600,000 TAPIT Michael Ramon Dominguez 4-3-0-0 $530,000 Dickinson CASTLEDALE Jeff Mullins Jose Valdivia 10-3-4-1 $510,000 Jr. LIMEHOUSE Todd Pletcher Jose Santos 9-5-0-3 $478,405 LION HEART Patrick Mike Smith 5-3-2-0 $475,600 Biancone READ THE Rick Violette Robby Albarado 7-5-0-0 $397,860 FOOTNOTES Jr. WIMBLEDON Bob Baffert Jerry Bailey 7-2-3-0 $375,000 POLLARD’S Todd Pletcher John Velazquez 10-3-2-3 $366,000 VISION IMPERIALISM Kristin Kent Desormeaux 15-5-4-1 $363,000 Mulhall MINISTER ERIC Richard Pat Day 8-2-3-2 $350,000 Mandella BIRDSTONE Nick Zito Edgar Prado 5-3-0-0 $327,000 BORREGO Beau Greely Victor Espinoza 7-2-3-0 $320,000 QUINTONS GOLD Steve Asmussen Corey Nakatani 5-2-1-0 $258,500 RUSH ST AVERIL Rafael Becerra Tyler Baze 5-2-2-0 $215,200 MASTER DAVID Bobby Frankel Alex Solis 7-2-4-1 $208,000 SONG OF THE Jennifer Norberto Arroyo 5-3-1-1 $132,500 SWORD Pedersen Jr. PRO PRADO Bob Holthus John McKee 7-3-0-3 $105,685 *ALTERNATES EDDINGTON Mark Hennig Jerry Bailey 6-2-2-2 $95,000 ROCK HARD TEN Jason Orman Undecided 3-2-0-1 $90,000
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* There would need to be withdrawals among the 20 horses in the field in order for Eddington and/or Rock Hard Ten to run. Eddington is first in order of preference, based on career graded-stakes earnings.