SPORTS
Fauquier Times | www.fauquier.com | May 8, 2019
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Watch out for the horse with the titanium hat GOLD CUP, from page 22 “He’s obviously inexperienced at the level, especially with this lot,” Doyle said of the daunting challenge for the second-time timber starter. “But … he was jumping so well, I let him jump his way” to the lead, tailed by Doc Cebu and Super Saturday, third in the ‘18 Cup. Norris pressed the leader over the final two fences, drawing level over the last. But as he well knew, Andi’amu retains the speed of the Grade 1-level hurdler he once was, and Doyle gradually opened daylight to the wire. Defending champion rider in Virginia, Norris said the relatively slow pace defused Le Chevalier’s signature “late run.” “I’d hoped for a stronger pace up front with Andi’amu and Doc Cebu going headto-head, but it never materialized.” Andi’amu ran the 4 miles over 23 fences in 9:12 2/5, nearly a minute slower than the 8:19 record. Only six of 34 Cup winners at Great Meadow have been more than 9 minutes. To Young, it was enough. “This horse is just so honest, a real trier,” Young said. “He’s like a gift.”
Strength of steel
Andi’amu is a marvel of modern veterinary science: He’s got steel pins in his leg and wears a titanium hat on his head. Both keep him healthy and happy, and that’s what it takes, Young explained, to put him in the winner’s circle. Multiple Grade 1-placed over hurdles since imported from England in 2015, Andi’amu swapped to the cross-country “steeplethon” division last year, starting his current six-forsix tear with a bumper at Green Spring then a win in the Alfred Hunt at Glenwood and the steeplethon last May. The French-bred was sidelined after last year’s Gold Cup with a slab fracture of the third tarsal in his right hock, which is, essentially, the front part of the back “knee.” Dr. Dean Richardson at Pennsylvania’s New Bolton Center surgically repaired the break, knitting the bone with metal pins. “Leslie took her time to bring him back slowly,”
Andi’amu races in a therapeutic titanium hood, known as a Potter Hood.
BY THE NUMBERS
PHOTO BY DOUGLAS LEES Accountable and Ross Geraghty, left, dig in to hold off Balistes (Emme Fullilove) in the Virginia-bred turf race. said owner Tom Collins. “I didn’t want him to (torque) his hock jumping up and down off the banks, and over the big (natural) brush” in the cross-country division, Young said of her decision to swap to the timber division after another bumper prep win at Green Spring in March. The first-time timber starter led at nearly every call to win the Middleburg Hunt Cup two weeks ago at Glenwood. “We took a shot, and it paid off.” On race days, Andi’amu wears a black “hood” made of titanium – the contraption looks like blinkers – with ear and eye holes, but without the blinker part. “It helps keep them calm,” Young explained. “(Racetrack supplier) Big Dee’s sells them.” The $75 drug-free therapeutic hood, known as the Potter Hood in standardbred racing, helps an equine athlete “relax and focus,” according to Big Dee’s. “If it works, I’m all for it,” Young said.
Only one favorite prevails
Rosbrian Farm’s Optimus Prime, idle since winning the Grade 2 Ferguson at the International meet last October, was one of the only favorites to win Saturday. He showed no signs of rust as he powered to the lead two fences out to win the $75,000 Grade 2 David Semmes Memorial by 8¾ lengths. Irv Naylor’s Sempre Medici, who set the pace for most of the 2 1/8mile Semmes, finished second, and Straylight Racing’s Invocation closed ground from the back of the six-horse field for third. Trained by Ricky Hendriks, Optimus Prime won in 4:06 flat. The highest-ranked horse in NSA hurdle ratings, Optimus Prime was sent off at 4-5. Even that was generous for his many backers, who collected $3.60 on a $2 bet. Longshots were the order of the day at the mutuels. First-time starter Clondaw Camp (Tom Garner) set the bar in the first,
paying 20-1. Steeplethon winner Days of Heaven paid 4-1, ratings winner Ack Feisty 7-1 and maiden Other Cheek 5-1. More than $100,000 was bet by the enthusiastic crowd estimated at 50,000. Complete results, more photos and videos are at nationalsteeplechase.com. Full charts, including race calls and payouts, are at equibase.com.
It paid to play your hunch at Saturday’s Gold Cup as beaten favorites rivaled sure-bets. A small $2 win bet correctly pegging each of the day’s winners would have swelled to $114 by the ninth: 1st race: 20-1 shot Clondaw Camp won by 1 length. 2nd race: 4-1 shot Days of Heaven won by 2 ½ lengths. 3rd race: 7-1 shot Ack Feisty won by 4 lengths. 4th race: 5-1 shot Other Cheek won by a half-length. 5th race: 1-2 favorite Optimus Prime won by 8 lengths (20 ahead of the second-place finisher). 6th race: 5-1 shot Andi’amu won by 3 lengths over 2-1 favorite Le Chevalier. 7th race: 9-1 shot won by 2 ¾ lengths over 2-1 favorite Barnacle Bill. 8th race: 2-1 favorite Gostitbehere won by a half-length. 9th race: 2-1 favorite Accountable won by a neck.
“This horse is the gift that keeps on giving. “ Leslie Young Trainer