Catch him if you can

Updated: October 30, 2009, 9:21 PM ET

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By Bill Finley
Special to ESPN.com
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Mary Hartmann had bought into the conventional wisdom, that the only way to win a distance race on the grass was to get a horse to relax and save something for the last three furlongs. She trained Presious Passion to develop his stamina and told his riders to drag him to the back of the pack.

"We encouraged the jockeys to take him back because that's what turf horses are supposed to do," she said.

Coming from off the pace, Presious Passion had his share of successes, albeit modest ones. He won the Grade III Cliff Hanger at the Meadowlands and the Grade II William McKnight at Calder, but seemed incapable of rising to the next level. Today, he's one of the most accomplished grass horses in America and is among the horses to beat in the upcoming Breeders' Cup Turf. The difference? Hartmann ignored everything she had been taught.

Presious Passion may be the most unusual grass star ever. The 6-year-old doesn't just go to the front. He bolts out of the gate at breakneck speed, opens up daylight on the field and dares his opponents to catch him. It works. Since he converted to being a frontrunner, he has won seven stakes, three of them Grade I's.

"I used to get worried when I saw him out there doing that." Hartmann said. "Turf horses going long aren't supposed to be out there doing that. You're supposed to save something for the last three-eighths. That's what I grew up thinking. He breaks all the rules."

The conversion occurred when Hartmann began to sense that Presious Passion had a mind of his own and didn't want his riders to force him to do something he didn't want to do. If that meant doing something completely unconventional, so be it.

"If you fight with this horse, he becomes unrideable," she said.

The new style was first seen in the 2008 Mac Diarmada. With Jose Lezcano aboard, Presious Passion opened up by eight lengths on the field after ripping through six furlongs in 1:10. That time, it didn't work. He stopped badly and finished eleventh. But Hartmann wasn't ready to give up on her new strategy. Presious Passion tried it again in the 2008 Pan American, where he opened up by 12 lengths on the field and held on to win by 1 _ lengths at odds of 20-1. He was just getting started.

He won the 2008 United Nations, the 2008 William McKnight , the 2009 Mac Diarmada and the 2009 Monmouth Stakes, all of them by sprinting right to the front.

In the 2009 United Nations, he took things to a new extreme. With Elvis Trujillo riding, he opened up by 20 lengths on the field. This time, it appeared that Trujillo had gone way too fast. Though still well in front, Presious Passion ran the opening six furlongs in 1:09 4/5, the type of pace that seemed certain to exhaust him.

"He was happy doing that," Trujillo said of the United Nations ride. "It might have looked like he was going too fast, but if I had tried to hold him back he would have stopped."

The field started to whittle away at Presious Passion's lead, but they never did catch him. He won by two lengths.

"He was on a mission that day," Hartmann said. "It's almost like he knew it was a big race and he was just going to go for it."

He opened up by 10 lengths in the Arlington Million, but stopped and finished last. The Million was run over the type of tiring "good" course that Presious Passion does not like. Back on a firm course, he continued his preparation for the Breeders' Cup with a win in the Clement Hirsch at Santa Anita, where he opened up by a mere six lengths.

That was his 13th career win and pushed him over the $2 million mark in earnings. That's the sort of thing Hartmann never could have expected when Presious Passion first arrived in her barn. He was bought privately by owner Patricia Generazio as a yearling for $10,000 and wasn't particularly well bred. Hartmann was hoping for a horse who could win a few races and make some money and little more. A trainer who had never been given a chance to work with a top horse or an expensive yearling buy, Hartmann has been on the ride of her life.

"This horse means the world to me," she said. "He's a neat horse with a great personality and disposition. I feel blessed to train him."

The $2 million Breeders' Cup Turf will be the stiffest challenge of Presious Passion's career, but the it's not a particularly strong edition of the race. With Gio Ponti, America's top grass runner, opting for the Classic, Presious Passion may need to worry only about the European challengers. Like everyone else, they're going to have to run him down. He doesn't make that easy.

Bill Finley is an award-winning racing writer whose work has appeared in The New York Times, USA Today and Sports Illustrated. Contact Bill at wnfinley@aol.com.