"We're hoping he's a first-Saturday-in-May kind of horse," jockey Jon
Court said, referring, of course, to the Kentucky Derby and to a long,
lanky colt with a tintinnabulary name: Archarcharch.
It's that
time of year, a time for dreaming of roseate possibilities and searching
for promising young horses. And with his victory Saturday in the
$60,000 Sugar Bowl Stakes at Fair Grounds, Archarcharch suggested he
possesses considerable promise and hinted at a future that could ring
with possibilities.
The Sugar Bowl was only his second race and
his first victory; so he's still learning the reason for all this
running in circles. In his debut last month in Kentucky, Archarcharch
left the starting gate slowly, as though awakened from a deep sleep, and
then he rushed into traffic, where Court had to grab a firm hold of the
reins to keep the colt from running headlong over his rivals.
Archarcharch
rallied strongly to finish second that day, but he ran like a novice.
He didn't switch strides on cue; he came down the stretch tossing his
head around as if looking for a companion. But his talent and potential
were so conspicuous that his trainer, William "Jinks" Fires, decided to
run the tyro in the Sugar Bowl.
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