The
Virginia H. Tarra Trust’s Giant Oak was elevated to first place on the
disqualification of Successful Dan in a roughly run stretch battle to
win the 136th running of the $564,000 Clark Handicap Presented by
Norton Healthcare (GI) for 3-year-olds and up on Friday afternoon at Churchill
Downs.
Successful
Dan, who covered the 1 1/8 miles on a fast main track in 1:50.82, had finished
a head in front of Giant Oak, but because of interference with Redding
Colliery in the upper stretch, was disqualified and placed third. It was
the first disqualification in the Clark since Quest
was elevated above Evening Attire in the 2003 running.
Giant
Oak’s victory completed a Falls City Handicap-Clark Handicap double for jockey
Shaun Bridgmohan and trainer Chris Block, who had teamed the day before to win
the Grade II Falls City with Dundalk Dust.
It
marked the first time since 2005 that the same rider-trainer combo had swept
the two races with Indian Vale winning the Falls City
and Magna Graduate the Clark under John Velazquez for trainer Todd
Pletcher.
Regal
Ransom led the field of 11 through
fractions of :24.64, :48.92 and 1:13.63 while Successful Dan and Redding
Colliery raced in mid pack with Giant Oak far back. Turning for home, Duke
of Mischief moved past Regal Ransom with Dubious Miss and Demarcation
moving with him.
Just
behind the leaders, Julien Leparoux on Successful Dan moved out and bumped
Redding Colliery, ridden by Rosie Napravnik, for racing room and Giant Oak
began to advance with a seven-wide rally.
To
the inside of Successful Dan, Demarcation, ridden by Kent Desormeaux, swerved
inside impeding Dubious Miss and Duke of Mischief.
With
clear sailing on the outside, Successful Dan and Giant Oak raced as a team to
the wire. Redding Colliery was another four lengths back in third, finishing a
head in front of Demarcation, who was disqualified and placed last.
The
victory was worth $328,700 and increased the 4-year-old homebred son of Giant
Causeway’s bankroll to $956,677 with a record of 4-5-3 from 23 starts.
Giant
Oak returned $24.20, $10 and $5. Redding Colliery returned $6 and $3.80 with
Successful Dan paying $3 to show. The revised order of finish was Win Willy,
Duke of Mischief, Brass Hat, Apart, Regal Ransom, Stately
Victor, Dubious Miss and Demarcation.
CLARK HANDICAP QUOTES
Shaun
Bridgmohan (jockey, Giant Oak, placed first from second after disqualification
of Successful Dan from first to third):
“I was right outside of it all. I saw what was happening. I thought both horses
ran hard to the wire. It was all out of my hands. I was hoping I got put up.
Both horses ran hard. It’s just unfortunate things like this happen in racing.
If he shows up and gives it to you there is no telling how much talent this
horse has. I always tell Chris (Block, trainer) one of these days he is going
to show up and it just happened to be in a Grade One today.”
Chris
Block (trainer, Giant Oak, placed first from second after disqualification of
Successful Dan from first to third):
“This has been a long time comin’. This ol’ horse has had a rough, rough
go of it. He’s had some rough trips, but we’ve always known he loved
Churchill Downs and I really felt good about today. The horse trained
really great from (Breeders’ Cup) Marathon to
this. His two works were just really, really good here. I felt
coming into it if the pace was solid, and it was OK, I knew he’d come with his
run. We just need him to finish the race. (Jockey) Shaun (Bridgmohan)
said today even when he got up to that horse (Successful Dan) he put his head
up and just kind of hung with that horse instead of finishing the deal.
But this is sweet to get. This is very sweet to get.”
Q:
Even if he had not won, he was right there with a very good horse in Successful
Dan. “Absolutely. I was very proud of
him win, lose or draw. I’d even told Mr. Tarra that Successful Dan, to
me, was the horse to beat. If he’d have been second to him, I’d been real
proud of him as I am proud of him for getting kissed up there.”
Q:
He seems to be getting better with age – will he be back next year? “Oh yeah, he’s coming back next year. No doubt
about it. He’s the kind of horse we always thought he’d get better with
age, and I think that’s what’ll happen with him.”
Q:
Considering all the trouble this horse has had, is it almost ironic that this
is how he was able to win …“It
is. It really is amazing to me. I’ll be very honest with you.
I saw that horse (Redding Colliery) come out, but I thought he came out on his
own. I didn’t know Successful Dan pushed him out like that. But it
is ironic that it finished up like this.”
Q:
Was his run in the Marathon a disappointment
to you? “It was a
disappointment. I think Garrett (jockey Garrett Gomez) and I kind of got
our paths crossed, our communication crossed up from where we actually wanted
him. I thought he was a little further back than what I wanted, and I
think Garrett thought I actually wanted him back a little bit and to come with
a finish. And then he ended up wide all the way around there. But
he came out of it so good that I thought, well, we’re going to wheel him right
back in here.”
Q:
You’ve won three stakes this meet and all with Illinois-breds. We’re not
sure if anyone else has ever pulled off that hat trick … “It’s awful sweet to have these guys come down here
and run as good as they have. They all set up really well for these races
and I just glad to be here at Churchill Downs, to be honest with you.”
Q:
Where does this rank in career thrills for you? “It ranks right there at the top. (2006 Queen
Elizabeth Challenge Cup winner) Vacare was my first Grade I stakes winner and
this guy, we’ve worked so hard getting him where he’s at today, so it has to
rank right there with her.”
Q:
When you have a horse like this, do you just have to remind yourself sometime
that you have to just hang with the horse? “Absolutely. I take my hat off to Mr. and Mrs. Tarra. They put
this horse in my barn. They bred him, raised him. They turned down
a lot of money for him as a 2-year-old to do what we did today. They love
racing, they love the horse, they love horse racing and I really have to give
them a lot of credit for sticking behind the horse. We’ve had a lot of
frustrating conversations, but today it’s sweet to get this one.”
Q:
Do you have a winter plan? “He’s
going to Ocala
on Sunday for probably about 45 days rest, then probably back to Fair Grounds
to get him ready for 2011.
Rosie
Napravnik (jockey, Redding
Colliery, placed second after disqualification of Successful Dan from first to
third): “It was kind of a rough ride
all the way around. He got slammed and he came on and finished just as
strong as he wanted to.”
Q:
If it was rough all the way around, the head of the stretch was very tough … “Yeah. He slammed me pretty hard. He
knocked us completely off stride and I don’t see how they couldn’t take him
down.”
Q:
Do you think you had a chance to win at that point? “Yeah, we were coming around and he was making up
ground.”
Kiaran
McLaughlin (trainer, Redding
Colliery, placed second after disqualification of Successful Dan from first to
third, via telephone): “It was a
rough-run race for a lot of horses. I was watching our horse mostly, and
he had a rough trip. But I thought Rosie (jockey Anna Napravnik) rode him
well. He switched off down the backside and then made a nice run turning
for home and got bumped hard twice by the eventual winner that was taken down
(Successful Dan). But it was a rough run for a few horses and we’re happy
that we got put up to second and we’re a Grade I horse. We’ve had a great
year with our horse and we’ll move forward.”
Q:
He has really come into his own and proven he is a top rank horse – what is the
plan for 2011? “He is a top
horse. We’ll go to Florida
with him and look at the [Grade I] Donn Handicap and maybe the Dubai World Cup
(GI). He’s been a really useful horse for us and we’ve had a lot of fun
with him all year, and we’re happy that we got put up into second. I
thought it was a gutsy call by the stewards, and the correct call.”
Q:
Do you think he had a chance to win without the bumping? “He was wide throughout, so it was kind of just a
rough-run race. You never know, it’s hard to say. But he was
running and gaining, but I don’t know that he was going to win. But he
definitely got bothered.”
Julien
Leparoux (jockey, Successful Dan, disqualified from first to third): “I need to take a look at what happened. I just got
slammed all over.”
Charlie
Lopresti (trainer, Successful Dan, disqualified from first to third): “It’s a bad call. It’s a very bad
call.”
Q:
Thought your horse was hit from the inside and forced out …“My horse got knocked over. That’s a terrible call. I
mean, up there in the stretch that horse came over on us and knocked us into
the other horse (Redding Colliery). And then after that, we’re clearly the
winner.”
Q:
He did run a huge race as you expected he would … “He ran a huge race. What can I say? I can’t
say anything else.”
Kent
Desormeaux (jockey, Demarcation, disqualified to 11th): “He really faded for me at the three-sixteenths pole,
ducked to the rail a little bit. I had to straighten him and lost a lot of
momentum. It cost me third.”
Paul
McGee (trainer, Dubious Miss, placed 10th,
and Demarcation, disqualified from fourth to 11th):
“There was some irony there due to
the fact my two horses were doing the bumping down the stretch, so I didn’t
like that part of the race. It sounded like (jockey) Robby (Albarado) got
eliminated with Dubious Miss turning for home when he got bumped and had to
check. Demarcation ran a good race, he always does, and he’s a consistent
horse. I just wish Dubious Miss would have had a better opportunity.”