Monday, June 28, 2004
The good sports behind Azeri's return
By Bill Finley
Special to ESPN.com
Racing needs stars and it need its stars to stay in training, at least
long enough that they can have a lasting impact on the public before
being whisked off to the breeding shed. The same refrain is heard year
after year from every cornerthe press, the fans, the industry--as one
marquee horse after another ends their careers well before we've gotten
our fill of them.
Wouldn't it be great to see Empire Maker racing this year, taking on
Pleasantly Perfect and, some day, Smarty Jones? Aren't we salivating at
the idea of Smarty Jones sticking around for a 4-year-old campaign
rather than cashing in right away on his potential as a sire?
So why is that an owner and trainer of one of the best horses and
biggest stars of her era are being ripped to pieces for foregoing
retirement so that she could race as a 6-year-old?
That's been the case ever since it was announced by owner Michael
Paulson that Azeri would come out of retirement and be turned over to
Wayne Lukas so that she could compete this year. Most sided with trainer
Laura De Seroux, who said Azeri had a tendon problem and needed to be
retired after she was upset in the Lady's Secret and then trained poorly
for the Breeders' Cup Distaff, a race she never made. Some argued that
Lukas was so desperate to get a top horse into his crumbling stable that
he sold Paulson a bill of goods, convincing him that he'd could have
Azeri better than ever and ready to conquer any horse at any time or
place.
Never mind that De Seroux had guided Azeri through an extremely cautious
campaign in which she never faced males, rarely left California and
tackled the same bunch of overmatched fillies and mares race after race
rather than accepting more sporting challenges. That sort of handling
clearly had left Paulson dissatisfied. The real mistake he made was not
demanding that De Seroux take off the kid gloves and showcase a
brilliant filly against males or at places like Saratoga and Belmont.
The time to have done it was when she was in her prime, not now.
Obviously, Paulson dreamed of greater accomplishments and Lukas, who has
had tremendous success over the year with fillies, including a couple
who have won Grade I races over males, seemed just the person to achieve
them.
The criticism intensified after Azeri was a dismal fourth in the June 19
Ogden Phipps Handicap in her most recent start, finishing 11 3/4 lengths
behind Sightseek. A start earlier, she was eighth in the Met Mile in her
first career start against males. The party line is pretty much this:
Lukas and Paulson have mismanaged Azeri to the point where they have
turned a once great champion into an embarrassingly poor imitation of
herself.
There's no doubt that Azeri isn't the same horse she was in 2002 and for
most of 2003, when she won divisional championships each year and was
named Horse of the Year in 2002. But neither has her 2004 campaign been
a complete disaster. She temporarily quieted the skeptics when she
kicked off her year with an impressive win in the Grade I Apple Blossom.
Wanting to keep Azeri in Grade I races, Lukas sent her into the Humana
Distaff, though it is a seven furlong race and isn't run at her best
distance. She was beaten, but by a mere head. In the Met Mile, she was
clearly overmatched. In the Phipps, she bled, Lukas is now reporting.
"She bled significantly," he said. "Now that I know this, I will take
the precautions next time she runs. It's a fixable deal."
He says he's pointing toward the Aug. 1 Go for Wand at
Saratoga, where she'll likely get another crack at Sightseek. Maybe she
will bounce back. Maybe she won't, but that still won't mean that Lukas
and Paulson deserve such scorn. All they are guilty of is taking a
chance, a rare thing in a sport where people don't dream of greatness on
the racetrack but riches in the breeding shed. Even if it hasn't worked
out perfectly, they should be commended for what has been a sporting
gesture. There are a lot of owners and trainers out there who could
learn from them.
