Bummer, no 'Bird' rematch in Travers

It probably isn't the biggest shock, but I was bummed to learn that Mine That Bird will miss the Grade 1 Travers Stakes at Saratoga this weekend as he recovers from recent epiglottis surgery.

It had been expected that the relatively simple procedure wouldn't make him miss the race, but a complication -- so minor as to perhaps not really be a complication at all -- has prompted the Kentucky Derby winner's connections to take a pass on the race as a measure of absolute caution.

I had been looking forward to the Travers as a race laden with talent in which perhaps both 3-year-old classic-winning sons of Birdstone -- Belmont-winner Summer Bird being the other -- would be coming from well off the pace and collecting the leaders in the stretch to make for the finish of the season.

And it's still got the makings of a great race. Quality Road indeed has something to prove, the talented Charitable Man might have more in the tank at the end of 10 furlongs than he did in the Belmont at 12, and Kensei has been the impressive winner of the Dwyer and Jim Dandy in succession.

Mine That Bird instead will be headed to the Goodwood in October at Santa Anita, which should be a good prep race for the Breeders' Cup Classic, at the same track over which that race will be run.

Jackson says Rachel headed to Haskell

Owner Jess Jackson said Tuesday afternoon that his fabulous 3-year-old filly Rachel Alexandra -- unbeaten in 2009 and winner of both the Kentucky Oaks in dominating fashion over her own gender and gamely in the Preakness Stakes against the boys -- will face colts again in her next start, the Haskell Invitational H.-G1 at Monmouth Park.

"Rachel Alexandra is progressing well after her stakes record victory in the Mother Goose," said Jackson, owner of Stonestreet Stables, in a statement to the media. "We are all looking forward to seeing this great athlete perform again against both colts and fillies."

In the Haskell, Rachel will get a slightly shorter trip than she weathered against colts and geldings in the Preakness. The Aug. 2 Haskell is 9 furlongs, while the Preakness distance is 9.5f. And, having done all the work on the front end, had the Preakness been about five jumps longer (or had Kentucky Derby winner Mine That Bird gotten a slightly better trip under replacement jockey Mike Smith), Rachel might well have been caught.

She won't face Mine That Bird in the Haskell, but she is likely to face a horse that has beaten him -- Summer Bird, another son of Birdstone and winner of the Belmont Stakes, in which the Derby winner came home third.

The Haskell sets up as a good race for Rachel, however. She gets to run for $1 million, in G1 company against males, but on a weekend when two other races have drawn away some of the competition.

The Jim Dandy S.-G2 at Saratoga (where she's training) is a summer classic at America's mecca for horse racing, and though its purse is half that of the Haskell's and its grade is lower, it always attracts nice horses. Among them could be Charitable Man, who last ran in the Belmont, and Warrior's Reward, who stumbled badly at the start as the 4-5 favorite in the Dwyer S.-G2 (under Rachel's regular rider, Calvin Borel) and might be in the Jim Dandy seeking redemption.

Meanwhile, Mine That Bird is committed to the $750,000, Grade 2 West Virginia Derby at Mountaineer Park. And other top 3-year-olds have fallen by the wayside, with Quality Road seemingly not yet ready to return in time for the Jim Dandy, and Musket Man, who was third in both the Derby and Preakness, hurt and taken out of training.

That doesn't mean the Haskell won't be a challenge. Whomever else is entered, Rachel will likely be on the front end with the determined closer Summer Bird coming to catch her late. He'll stand a very good chance if there's any speed in the race to press Rachel on the pace.

Whether every race is stacked, they'll all be interesting as we watch to see which horses move on toward the Grade 1 Travers Stakes at Saratoga at the end of August. We know that's where Mine That Bird is pointed if he comes out of West Virginia well. Likely Charitable Man and Summer Bird, as well, and who knows which other colts and geldings.

And, depending on how she fares in the Haskell, maybe which filly.

Mine That Bird's next flight: Almost Heaven

Trainer Bennie Woolley Jr. has revealed the schedule for Kentucky Derby winner and Preakness runner-up Mine That Bird, and it's a little bit off the typical beaten path for Grade 1 winners.

They're going to Disney World! ... No, wait. To West Virginia.

Woolley says Mine That Bird's next start will be in the West Virginia Derby-G2, to be run Aug. 1 at Mountaineer Park.

The West Virginia Derby is growing in stature, and Mine That Bird's entry could be the ultimate proof. The race has achieved Grade 2 status this year after several seasons as a Grade 3. The ascent is a bit amazing considering the race wasn't run at all from 1991-1997 and is staged at a track that is generally regarded as part of racing's second tier. But there's no quibbling with the purse: $750,000.

It's just that there are other alternatives that horsemen would usually prefer on that first weekend in August. Summer Bird, the "other son of Birdstone" who upset Mine That Bird in the Belmont Stakes, is pointed to the Aug. 2 Haskell Invitational H.-G1 at Monmouth Park, according to trainer Tim Ice. Like the WV Derby, the Haskell is run at 9 furlongs. But it's a Grade 1 and carries an extra $250K in purse money; $1 million total.

And Charitable Man, who came in fourth with a less-than-stellar trip in the Belmont, will, according to his trainer, Kiaran McLaughlin, likely race next in the Aug. 1 Jim Dandy S.-G2 at Saratoga. Another 9-furlong event, and a Grade 2 like the West Virginia Derby, the Jim Dandy is an historic stakes run at America's mecca of summer horse racing, but it does carry the lowest purse of the three at $500,000.

Leave it to Woolley and owners Double Eagle Ranch (Mark Allen) and Buena Suerte Equine to take the road less-traveled. Or maybe just to take the road instead of a plane. Mine That Bird is presently back in Kentucky, and if Woolley is going to haul him around in a trailer behind his big pickup truck, the way they got from New Mexico's Sunland Park to Churchill Downs, then Mountaineer is closer than either Monmouth or Saratoga.

Somehow I doubt that was their reasoning.

It seems all three of the aforementioned horses, health willing, are destined for the Travers S.-G1 at the end of the Saratoga meet on Aug. 29. But all are taking different routes to get there. And despite its Grade 2 status and $750,000 purse, Mine That Bird's is the more obscure.

That isn't to say good horses haven't been in the race of late. Multiple G2-winner Zanjero defeated G3-winner Bwana Bull in the 2007 renewal. Eventual multi-millionaire Magna Graduate came in second to millionaire Real Dandy in 2005. Other winners in the past decade have included Sir Shackleton, Soto and Wiseman's Ferry; runners-up have been the likes of Pollard's Vision, Dynever and the ill-fated Florida Derby-G1 winner Hal's Hope.

I'm certain that Mountaineer Park is thrilled with the news that America's plucky little hero, Mine That Bird, will be in its marquee race. Maybe even with Calvin Borel aboard. And at least the Travers is shaping up to be a potential clash of 3-year-old titans as each tries to stamp his ticket to the Breeders' Cup Classic at Santa Anita.

Unless the $125,000 Mountaineer Mile Handicap on the same day is just too tempting.

Birdstone can't stay out of his own way

The Belmont Stakes is in the books and the little 'Bird that could, 50-1 Kentucky Derby winner Mine That Bird, and his "Jockey Triple Crown" hopeful rider, Calvin Borel, are knocked down two pegs by another bird, Summer Bird.

That's right, the Derby long-shot son of Birdstone (who stole Smarty Jones' Triple Crown in the 2004 Belmont) loses the Belmont himself to another of his sire's sons, at a wee bit of a price ($25.80 to win).

In the end, Mine That Bird finished third behind Dunkirk, who nearly got taken down after some troubles in the stretch with Charitable Man. With a DQ, it would've been a Birdstone-double.

Criticism already is falling on Borel for perhaps moving too soon with Mine That Bird. I actually said it during the race to co-workers who were watching with me.

"It's too early," I said. "I'm afraid it's too early."

Mine That Bird was keen to go down the back stretch and Borel had to let him. But it was winner Kent Desormeaux, with his own Belmont shortcomings, who earlier in the week, called Borel "naive" for approaching the Belmont with confidence despite having no real experience over the track. Race-riding at Belmont is like nowhere else. Unlike most tracks, where the finish line is relatively near when the horses straighten out for home off the final turn, at Belmont, there are still some 1,100 feet left to run.

Mine That Bird had the lead when they straightened out, but having already come from the back -- and this time the long way around, on the outside -- maybe he didn't have enough left to finish like he needed. He was beaten not only by the fellow Birdstone-sired closer, but by Dunkirk, who had done all the work on the front end, but stayed on the rail in doing it.

I won't kick Borel while he's (comparatively) down, though. He's a great race-rider and we wouldn't even know Mine That Bird if Bo-Rail hadn't made one of the greatest moves in Derby history on the first Saturday in May, 2009. The Belmont Stakes has humbled more famous jockeys than he. And he still has the mount on the great filly of 2009, Rachel Alexandra.

I do wonder whether Bennie Woolley Jr. will keep Borel aboard Mine That Bird, though. Even Woolley -- though he said he'd "pat him on the back" when he saw Borel post-race -- was telling Janine Edwards after the race that the jock had moved too soon.

Final thought: How great a start to a stallion career is Birdstone having? A Derby win and a Belmont win in his first crop, and they weren't won by the same horse. And, Kentucky Oaks-G1 runner-up Stone Legacy, Tempted S.-G3 winner Livin Lovin, and multiple-stakes winner Texas Birdstone. ... That deserves a "wow."

Charitable Man bears Virginia's banner in Belmont, belies state's breeding weakness

Horsepeople in the Old Dominion were thrilled this winter and early spring when a Virginia-bred seemed a serious threat to become the fifth horse born in the state to win the Kentucky Derby.

That horse was Florida Derby-winner Quality Road, but his Derby trail ended with a nagging quarter crack. Commendably, his connections, including breeder and owner Edward P. Evans, decided they were willing to wait on a good horse, and he's being slowly brought back around to racing form for a summer campaign.

Virginia enthusiasts are excited, then, that another VA-bred has stepped in at the end of the Triple Crown Trail: Charitable Man. Coming in off a win in the track's Peter Pan S.-G2, he has a real shot to upset Mine That Bird this afternoon in the Belmont Stakes.

But, both he and Quality Road are evidence of just how far Virginia's breeding game has slumped.

While Charitable Man is owned and campaigned by Mr. and Mrs. William K. Warren, he, too, was born on Evans' expansive Spring Hill Farm near Casanova, Va. More and more, it seems, if you see a high-class Virginia-bred, it really ought to carry the "state tag" (EV), instead: Evans-bred.

This is not a knock on Mr. Evans. In fact, Virginia horse racing should be thanking God for "Ned" Evans. If it weren't for the love of his farm and his willingness to continue foaling mares there in spite of the presumed financial impracticality of the arrangement, Virginia thoroughbred breeding would have almost nothing. Evans keeps an estimated 90 mares at Spring Hill; the whole state of Virginia only foaled around 350 thoroughbreds in 2008.

Evans is the son of the late Thomas Mellon Evans, who owned Buckland Farm and was a noted horseman, breeding champion Pleasant Colony among many others. "Ned" Evans graduated with a degree in economics from Yale and an MBA from Havard, which pretty much punches a man's ticket in the business world. His chosen field was publishing, and while he maintains a residence in New York, as well, the 3,000-acre farm he bought many years ago in Virginia apparently still has a strong tug on his heartstrings.

That's apparent because Evans -- who is a member of the Jockey Club, owns an interest in numerous Kentucky stallions and could probably afford to buy a different farm or to board his mares anywhere -- keeps bringing them home to Spring Hill to live and to foal.

That likely isn't the most economical way to run a horse business, though I know others who take a stab at it, even smaller breeders. But ideally -- no, not ideally, rather necessarily -- if Virginia is going to save its thoroughbred breeding business, it needs a thriving, or at least surviving, stallion colony to do it.

Talk in Virginia Thoroughbred Association circles swirls around getting more off-track betting locations, particularly in Northern Virginia, which is a completely unserved population of around 3.5 million. Indeed, that is a big Step 1 to improving the lot of racing at Colonial Downs, and boosting the awards paid to breeders of winning foals; bonuses relied upon for ongoing income by those who make their living by selling a horse into racing hands. And the VTA makes a compelling case for the OTB expansion, including this pointed letter to Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine.

But unless the OTB revenues are also funneled into a stallion-specific bonus program -- specifically a VA-sired stakes program at Colonial Downs -- there will still be no incentive to choose a Virginia-based stallion. Breeders will continue to be much better off shipping out of state to quality stallions and returning to foal in Virginia, as Mr. Evans has chosen.

The alarming statistics showing the demise of Virginia's stallion ranks just keep piling up.

As I've already reported, of the 22 horses entered in this weekend's pair of VA-bred stakes races at Colonial Downs, 17 were sired outside Virginia and none of them -- though they're just 3- and 4-year-olds -- were sired by a stallion still standing in Virginia.

I've noted that Virginia's stallion and foaling businesses have plummeted just within the past 20 years. The number of Virginia stallions in service has dropped from 154 studs serving 837 mares in 1991, to 41 stallions serving just 123 Virginia mares in 2008. I have predicted that the numbers will be worse again in 2009.

On opening night at Colonial (scratch-filled, with the turf races moved to the muddy dirt track), there were but 18 VA-breds entered out of 83 horses in eight races. Of those 18, just one was sired by a stallion still alive and known to be standing in Virginia: If Its Meant To Be, by One Tuff Oop. Four others were sired by a quartet of stallions that once were at Virginia Tech University's MARE Center, but that facility was giving away many of its mares earlier this year and shows little evidence that its stallions, such as the capable Fred Astaire, are still in service. The others sired in Virginia, not just born there, were by horses now moved to other states (such as the accomplished runner and sire Black Tie Affair, now in West Virginia) or that have since died.

The signs of Virginia's breeding demise are almost entirely negative, and undeniable.

Virginia thoroughbred farms have produced the third-largest number of Triple Crown race-winners in history. Charitable Man could add to that number today.

But, almost by himself, Ned Evans can't keep Virginia-breds on the map forever.