As
I watched this afternoon's $100,000 Dania Beach Stakes from
Gulfstream Park unfold, two things struck me by the time the field of
eleven had hit the wire. The first thing was the obvious; the winner,
Summer Front, is a serious turf horse. Stumbling badly out of the
starting gate, he, along with rider Ramon Dominguez, were left with
plenty to do in the flat mile feature, but that is exactly what they
were able to accomplish, rallying stoutly on the outside to swoosh by
a solid enough looking field, for a 1 1/2-length victory. Now
undefeated in three starts, Summer
Front covered the distance in 1:35.57 over a firm turf course. The
good looking juvenile had previously won the King Cugat Stakes at
Aqueduct, and a maiden sprint at Belmont Park for trainer Christophe
Clement and owner Waterford Stable. Both of those wins came on the
grass, meaning the son of War Front has never run on anything but the
green stuff. Therin lies the second and more questionable thing that
crossed my mind while watching the win ... this may be a serious
contender for the 2012 Kentucky Derby.How
can I say this about a horse that has never run on the dirt? Recent
history is a great place to start. Lest we forget, in three of the
last six Kentucky Derbies, the big race was one by a horse considered
to be a turf horse at this stage of things. Furthermore, none of the
three, (Barbaro, Big Brown, or Animal Kingdom) had even started on
the dirt before Barbaro ran in the Holy Bull in February of his
sophomore season. Clearly experience on dirt is not a prerequisite of
the modern Kentucky Derby winner.
From
this recent history we know that Summer Front is at no disadvantage having never tested traditional dirt at this stage of his young career,
but the question remains, will this horse that Ramon Dominguez made a special trip to Florida to keep the mount, even like the dirt? I think there
is good reason to believe the answer will be yes.
Being
a son of War Front, Summer Front gets a fair amount of both turf and
dirt breeding from his sire line. War Front was a talented sprinter
on the dirt, and a son of classic sire Danzig, out of a Rubiano
broodmare. On the female side, Summer Front is out of Rose Summer, a
daughter of the versatile sire El Prado, she has plenty of both
distance and dirt in her female bloodlines, being out of a Cherokee
Colony mare. It is from this female side, that Summer Front has an
abundance of distance pedigree to fall back on as the distances get
longer. Overall his pedigree looks like one that is becoming more
common these days ... a horse that should be able to handle a variety
of surfaces.
So
the precedent has been set threefold, and the pedigree is there, but
should Summer Front really be considered as a legitimate Kentucky
Derby possibility, as we ring in the new year, despite having run on
nothing but grass? Why not ... I, for one, am ready and willing to
roll with this new angle in early Kentucky Derby handicapping.
Photo courtesy of Bob Coglianese
