Other than the results of the votes, the big news coming out of last night's Eclipse Awards was the comeback of Champion Sprinter Benny the Bull.
The now six-year-old horse was retired in late August after developing ankle chips. But after stud plans failed to come together and an operation to remove the chips went smoothly, his owners began kicking around the idea of a return.
I recently spoke with trainer Richard Dutrow Jr., who really loves the enigmatic stretch runner and is ecstatic about the chance to train him again.
"I absolutely love the horse. He’s one of the funniest, coolest horses I’ve ever been around. By watching him train, you’d never think he’d be up for sprinter of the year. It took him forever to do anything. He did not want to work. When he would walk to the track, he wanted everybody in the world to feel so sorry for him because we were making him go out there and gallop. He'd have his head down."
"One day it was the funniest thing. I’m always standing on the rail at Aqueduct. Here comes Benny. It takes him like an hour and a half to walk a sixteenth of a mile, and he heard me open a mint wrapper. Naturally he was all over that. He came right to me, took the mint, and started marching right back home. It was the funniest thing I ever saw. I couldn’t stop laughing."
Dutrow said it was primarily IEAH Stables' Michael Iavaraone's idea to buy Benny privately, which IEAH did following the Lucky Lionel colt's win in the Iowa Sprint at Prairie Meadows on June 30, 2007.
Dutrow also credits exercise riders Michelle Nevin and Rudy Rodriguez for their work with Benny.
"They might be one of the reasons he turned out to be the sprinter he did. Those two people fit whatever is best for the horse they’re on. Maybe letting Benny be Benny, it turned him into the sprinter he is."
Dutrow said Benny is on a farm in Ocala right now, next to his old stablemate Diamond Stripes. The two horses traveled to Nad al Sheba together in March of 2008 when Diamond Stripes won the Godolphin Mile (UAE-G2) and Benny won the Golden Shaheen (UAE-G1).
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2 comments:
I am guessing the rough economic times combined with Benny's less than fashionable breeding are the reasons he is headed back to the track.
Maybe the bad economy's silver lining will be the fact horses run longer....
Good point Julie.
The lower stud fees go, the less pressure to retire our star male horses.
Benny's return is good news for racing fans. He's a really unique horse.
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