Borel, at least for now, is best for the Bird

Now maybe this case is settled. For two more races, anyway.

Calvin Borel -- once again, for the third time -- is the jockey of Mine That Bird.

Borel's first ride with the 3-year-old reigning Canadian juvenile champion was of course the duo's stunning, rail-skimming, upset win in a sloppy Kentucky Derby on May 2. Obviously it's the biggest win of the gelding's life.

When Borel took off the horse to ride super-filly Rachel Alexandra in the Preakness, Mine That Bird didn't get a good trip, nor the world's greatest ride, from Mike Smith. The Bird finished a gaining and frustrating second to Borel and the history-making filly.

Smith took off the horse to ride on the west coast on Belmont Stakes day, and Borel was back in the irons at Belmont. Inexperienced over "Big Sandy," Borel has been criticized for moving with Mine That Bird too soon. The horse flattened out in deep stretch and finished a tired third.

And, off goes Calvin, this time by choice of the horse's connections, trainer Bennie Woolley Jr. and owners Mark Allen's Double Eagle Ranch and Buena Suerte Equine.

Their choice of replacement? Mike Smith, who in the West Virginia Derby gave the horse a ride very similar to Borel's mistake in the Belmont; moving too soon. Even Smith thought so, calling it "total rider error."

Smith was booked to ride Mine That Bird in the Travers, but the horse was scratched after undergoing minor surgery for an entrapped epiglottis. So now, contractually, the Kentucky Derby winner was again without a rider. And his connections reach back in the hat, stir the available jockeys around a bit, and pull out ... the same guy who won with him in the Derby and lost aboard him in the Belmont.

Calvin Borel worked the gelding Monday at Saratoga. He'll ride Mine That Bird in the Goodwood S.-G1 on Oct. 10 at Santa Anita, and -- unless some other big change occurs -- in the Breeders' Cup Classic at the same track on Nov. 7.

It's the best choice for a horse that must be starting to feel like a displaced foster child.

What we do know is the following:

1. Mine That Bird ran the race of his life in the Kentucky Derby.

2. He's pretty much run his guts out every time since, with trip and tactics -- not lack of talent -- being primarily what's gotten him beat.

3. Borel was responsible for one of those rides, but it was at a mile and a half and over a track with which Borel (through no fault of his own) was completely inexperienced; a race, the Belmont Stakes, that has reputation for undoing very good horses and riders.

I really believe that, paired-up again and given 9 or 10 furlongs, Calvin Borel will push the button at the right time and offer Mine That Bird his best shot to win in the Goodwood and the Breeders' Cup Classic.

That doesn't mean he will win. But if he loses these two, I'd like to think it won't be due to the ride he was given.

Fear the Queen? Calvin Borel, Mine That Bird and the ongoing jockey-rider chess match

What if it's really about Rachel?

As reported, jockey Calvin Borel on Wednesday was taken off Kentucky Derby winner Mine That Bird by owner Mark Allen and trainer Bennie Woolley Jr.

Allen said it was because Borel was hedging on whether to ride Mine That Bird in the $750,000 West Virginia Derby-G2 on Aug. 1, or to ride the Grade 3-placed Medaglia D'Oro colt Warrior's Reward in the $500,000 Jim Dandy S.-G2 at Saratoga instead.

Allen said he didn't want Borel leaving him hanging, waiting on the jockey's decision "until the last minute" again as in the days leading up to the Preakness Stakes.

But Borel didn't leave Allen, Woolley and Mine That Bird "hanging" prior to the Pimlico classic; they had over a week to find a rider and there's only two weeks between Derby and Preakness anyway. And, jockey/trainer allegiances aside -- as Borel has a long relationship with Warrior's Reward conditioner Ian Wilkes, who was an assistant to Carl Nafzger, whom Borel calls "Mr. Carl" -- it would make sense to me for Borel to stick with the heavy favorite in a $750,000 race over a horse that, even with luck, will be merely a middling contender in a $500,000 affair.

Then Anne Mayea, a contributor to a Yahoo horse racing discussion group of which I'm a member, offered some insights that hit home.

What if it isn't about Warrior's Reward or even Mine That Bird at all?

What if it's all about Rachel Alexandra?

Precedent, and Borel's own words, are more than clear. Forced to make a choice between the two horses, Calvin will forever take Rachel Alexandra over Mine That Bird.

That isn't necessarily a conflict leading up to the first weekend of August. Though there's speculation that Rachel Alexandra might be entered against colts again in the Haskell Invitational-G1 at Monmouth Park, that race is on Sunday, Aug. 2. Borel could ride Mine That Bird in the West Virginia Derby on Aug. 1 at Mountaineer and Rachel in the Haskell the following day, no problem.

Only if Rachel were entered in the Jim Dandy instead (and she is training at Saratoga) would race-dates for the two conflict. And it could happen.

Even if not, then the Travers Stakes-G1 at Saratoga looms large.

Woolley has already stated that Mine That Bird's next race after the West Virginia Derby will be the Travers, at 10 furlongs over the Saratoga course on Aug. 29. And Rachel will be there, in training if nothing else.

Rachel will likely race twice between now and Labor Day: Her connections' available choices are many, but most attractive could be: the $1 million Delaware H.-G2 against older fillies and mares on July 19; the Coaching Club American Oaks-G1 against 3-year-old fillies at Belmont on July 25; the Jim Dandy on Aug. 1 or the Haskell on Aug. 2, both against 3-year-old males; the Alabama Stakes-G1 against her own age and gender at Saratoga on Aug. 22; the Travers against 3-year-old males on Aug. 29; and the Personal Ensign S.-G1 going 10 furlongs against older females at Saratoga on Aug. 30.

Rachel's primary owner, Jess Jackson of Stonestreet Stables, has indicated an interest not only in racing his filly against older females, but in racing her vs. colts again. If Rachel doesn't undertake that inter-gender challenge in the Jim Dandy or Haskell, the remaining spot then becomes the Travers -- which would force Borel off Mine That Bird by his own choice anyway.

Of course, nobody knows whose horse will be fit for any given race. But if things in all camps (including that of Warrior's Reward, whom Borel is riding in the Dwyer S.-G2 on Independence Day) work out as planned, Borel might have three horses he was riding as of Wednesday morning, all pointed at the Travers on Aug. 29. And Rachel trumps all.

So while Mark Allen might be using a potential conflict with the Warrior's Reward mount as his reason for taking Calvin Borel off Mine That Bird, he very well might be playing a bigger chess match -- and thinking one or two races and moves ahead as a result.

Allen might really be saying that he'd rather trade-out Borel for another pawn in the black Double Eagle Ranch silks right now, than have to worry whether the present 3-year-old queen of racing is going to sweep his cajun knight out of the saddle again later in the game.

How much is that Birdie in the window?

A blogger I follow, Sid Fernando + Observations, reports that an insider has told him offers are flitting in for Kentucky Derby champion Mine That Bird.

"Sid" reports the asking price could be in the range of $4 million to $5 million.

I don't find that surprising, as the horse has proven himself to be game in follow-up (narrow) losses in the Preakness Stakes and Belmont Stakes. Barring injury, he has a bright future ahead, including rich races this summer against other 3-year-olds, and a potential trip to the Breeders' Cup. And, as a gelding, he could run on for years, although that could be another reason for owners Double Eagle Ranch (Mark Allen) and Buena Suerte Equine to sell now; he has no stud value.

Clearly Mark Allen isn't afraid to spend money on horses; he dropped something akin to three-quarters of a million on a bunch at sales last year. And with a multimillion-dollar oil field business sale in his recent past (his share a reported $30 million), he isn't hurting for money and doesn't in any way need to sell Mine That Bird.

Personally, I don't see the joy in buying a horse somebody else "made" in hopes that he'll get me in an owner's box at the Breeders' Cup. And if a horse that had done this much for me, I think you'd have to pry his papers from my cold, dead fingers.

But Allen went down that exact road himself -- buying MTB for $400,000 essentially after the horse had already earned his Canadian juvenile championship at Woodbine, and for the express purpose of a quick wheelback into the 2008 BC Juvenile. So he certainly shouldn't be above selling the colt to someone making the same gamble, and for about a tenfold profit.

Borel at Belmont: Blackball by default

Many observers, myself included, were critical of jockey Calvin Borel -- in print or otherwise -- for having no mounts during Belmont Stakes week and trying to win the third leg of the Triple Crown on Mine That Bird with very little experience traversing "Big Sandy."

Today Steve Haskin of The Blood-Horse reports that the decision wasn't Borel's. Haskin says he's been told nobody would give Borel a mount during the week at Belmont save one trainer, and that Borel was advised to take off that horse. (I believe I've heard elsewhere that lone ride was to be on the turf course, anyway.)

Calvin Borel is such a kind man that it isn't surprising, I guess, that he would deflect all criticism of his lack of mounts during Belmont week by good-naturedly saying it didn't really make a difference; that like all races, you just "break ... and turn left." It likely did make a difference -- Big Sandy and the Belmont aboard a keyed-up horse have been the undoing of more famed jockeys than he -- but if he tried and couldn't get mounts, what was he to do? Call the whole Belmont trainer colony everything but sons of God?

I don't really know what to make of a situation in which the hottest jockey in America can't get a ride for a week. On the one hand, you'd think somebody -- some little barn with a handful of horses, typically stuck hiring bug-boys and second-tier NY-circuit veterans -- would hand him the reins for a race or two during the week. Even if Borel wasn't aboard a winner, he'd get the feel for just how expansive that turn for home and how long the final stretch are; how you can't go as early as your instincts make you think.

(Haskin doesn't think Borel moved to soon aboard Mine That Bird; I still do. The outside trip might have cost him even more, and maybe Borel just couldn't hold back an uncharacteristically rank horse, but Mine That bird used too much energy, too soon.)

On the other hand, if you're a New York trainer of any stature, top-rung or bottom, what's really to be gained by naming Borel to a half-dozen mounts during Belmont week? Why break commitments and risk fracturing relationships with local jockeys for a rider, Borel, who almost certainly won't be there to ride your horse back the next time he runs?

It isn't your job to get the guy ready to run the Belmont. It's your job to win today, tomorrow and next week and next month with your owners' horses. Even if Borel wins on your horse, you can only say you've benefited if it seemed there was little chance of that horse winning without Calvin Borel. At Churchill Downs that happens almost every day; at Belmont Park, you probably have just as good a shot with any of a dozen other, more familiar, guys or gals in the irons.

There'd need to be some compelling reason to ride Borel instead of your regular guy, or even in the case of a horse that hasn't established a good working relationship with a jockey yet. You might do it if Borel was there to ride a friend's horse in the Belmont; a fellow trainer with whom you've had an on- and off-track friendship for a decade all around the Northeast. Or if it's realistic that you might have a horse in a nice race at Churchill someday and could want Borel in the irons for that one. Or even if the owner of Borel's horse is someone with whom you'd like to earn points, so that you might train some of his horses in the future.

It's likely none of that's the case with Belmont's trainer colony and Mine That Bird.

This might be a product, then, of a formerly obscure horse with perhaps destined to again be obscure connections in owners Double Eagle Ranch (Mark Allen) and Buena Suerte Equine, and trainer Bennie Woolley Jr. What's a Belmont-based trainer to think of collaborating with them?

They're the Sunland Park crowd; New Mexico guys. Mark Allen, despite his oil-business money, will likely never have a substantial string at Belmont and consider you as the trainer. And Woolley -- personable though he seems to be in horse circles -- is someone you just met; you owe him no return of a former favor and it's unlikely he'd ever be in a position to repay your favor of putting Borel aboard a long-shot in the fifth on Belmont Friday. Legging-up Borel would be a courtesy from which you'd not be expecting ever to benefit directly; nothing but "a kindness," as we say in the South.

I mean, follow the links ... there's probably an explanation behind why the NTRA has mugshots but still no bios on these men, nearly six weeks after their horse won the biggest race in America, the Kentucky Derby. Aside from Mine That Bird, nobody in racing's upper echelon is really expecting to hear from these guys again.

So in a game that's all about gaining and exploiting advantages -- not just from gate to wire, but from the sales, to morning workouts, to the entry box, to the saddling enclosure, to post-parade, to gate, to wire -- there was almost nothing to be gained for any Belmont trainer to put Calvin Borel on horses during Belmont week.

Call it a "blackball by default," perhaps.

There might have been some New York allegiances involved -- trainers who'd rather see a jockey or conditioner from the Belmont colony win the Belmont Stakes, rather than these upstarts in cowboy boots and their sudden-celebrity jockey. Or even some jealousy among NY-circuit jockeys and trainers watching this Louisiana middle-school dropout from Churchill breeze into the Big Apple and appear on late-night TV as a guest of David Letterman.

But there didn't need to be any animosity at all for the same net result to occur: No rides for Borel to prep his skills for the Belmont.

It's tough for the guy, for his horse, and for the connections. And it makes you admire Calvin Borel all the more that he had the good spirits and grace to smile through defeat and never utter a harsh word -- knowing he and the horse had tried their best when nobody would do him a favor all week in New York.

No "kindness" for the kindest jockey in America. That is a little bit sad, isn't it?

How's this for a quick-hitter?

Even after a plot to keep Rachel Alexandra out of the Preakness Stakes fell by the wayside Sunday, the connections of Kentucky Derby winner Mine That Bird, owned and trained by men experienced in the improvisational pugilistic arts, remain interesting.

The day after the Birdstone gelding scored at an improbable 50-1, the Anchorage Daily News reported that principal owner Mark Allen of Double Eagle Ranch in New Mexico might have become criminally entangled in Alaska's ongoing public corruption probe, if not for immunity gained as a condition of his father Bill's plea bargain. Certainly that story has now made the rounds fairly well, but as colorful as this group seems to be, it seems that stories not normally told of Derby-winning connections could keep filtering to the top.

Like this: The Minneapolis Star-Tribune, also on the day after the Derby, might have been the first to report that Allen and longtime trainer (and ex-bull rider) Bennie Woolley Jr., first became friends as the result of a bar brawl. It's only a brief reference to the scuffle in a story primarily about the horse -- who, hopefully, will get to be the one in the spotlight ongoing. But it seems that some 25 years ago, Allen fomented fisticuffs in a drinking establishment, Woolley for whatever reason came to his aid, and the two have been buddies since.

The Associated Press sort of wrapped up the coverage of the connections later in the week, including some additional details on the Alaskan bribery probe.

As a small-town Kansas boy with a modest upbringing, I'd like to root for connections that are a little (O.K., a lot) rough around the edges by Triple Crown standards. Married into a rodeo family, I have a fondness for the fellas who congregate behind the chutes. It's a tough crowd, but if you can show 'em you're legit -- particularly that you're interested in and truly know their sport, not just a (ahem) tinhorn assigned to cover the rodeo -- they'll take you in almost as one of their own.

On the other hand, as a journalist by training and trade, tasked with keeping an eye on local government and business for signs of corruption, the bribery mess in Alaska keeps me from jumping on the Allen-Woolley bandwagon.

It does not, however, sour me on the horse. I don't wish him ill, or even particularly a loss. All he knows is he's born to race, and has earned his chance to be the first Triple Crown winner since Affirmed by running the race of his life at Churchill.

Hopefully since the plot went poof his connections have turned their thoughts fully to prepping their little fellow for the race. Because while Rachel Alexandra -- and her four-straight Beyer speed figures over 100 -- might be his biggest threat, the Daily Racing Form past performances for potential Preakness contenders show she isn't the only one.

The plot is off: Rachel is in

Thank goodness. I was starting to think Mine That Bird wasn't the only member of his team to have been gelded.

A split-second after publishing a lengthy blog post criticizing the Derby winner's connections for trying to conspire to keep filly Rachel Alexandra out of the Preakness (in cahoots with Ahmed Zayat, breeder/owner of Pioneerof The Nile), Thoroughbred Times now tells us that the fix is off. Mine That Bird's connections, including Double Eagle Ranch (Mark Allen) and Buena Suerte Equine, have backed away from the idea.

Since Rachel Alexandra, now owned primarily by Jess Jackson's Stonestreet Stables, was not an original nominee and must be supplemented to the Triple Crown races (for $100,000), Allen, Zayat and, by some reports, even the venerated horsewoman Marylou Whitney (owner of the sire) seemed bound to keep the filly out by all means necessary. Allen planned to enter a nominated maiden, Indy Express, and Whitney a recent maiden-breaker who is 1-for-10 lifetime in Luv Gov. (Edit: Whitney's camp says they'd only enter Luv Gov if he didn't keep Rachel Alexandra out of the race. But you can't convince me they were ever serious about actually running a 1-for-10 horse in a Grade 1 race.)

Sports Illustrated says Allen, who initially told Thoroughbred Times that he just wanted his jockey back (Calvin Borel took off 'Bird to ride Rachel), eventually decided that shutting the filly out of the race "just ain't right." I'm glad he reached that conclusion, whatever coercion there might have been behind the scenes to achieve that change of heart. (Allen says there was none.)

The only bad thing about Allen and Zayat changing their minds is the reduced impact of the awesome illustration commissioned for the first, fuming blog. At least I still think it's funny.

In the long run, provided Rachel runs sound in the Preakness (regardless whether she wins) this is the best resolution for racing, and even for Mine That Bird. Why risk turning a potential folk hero -- the 50/1 Derby long-shot winner -- into the villain? Now if he wins the Preakness under a different rider (edit: Looks like Mike Smith), most fans will be rooting for the diminutive, gelded son of Birdstone to win a Triple Crown in the Belmont Stakes, not against him.

Maybe even me.

Borel owes nothing to anybody, not even an explanation

For a decision that seemed like a relative no-brainer to me, Calvin Borel is catching a little bit of grief -- in the blogosphere anyway -- for choosing to take off Kentucky Derby winner Mine That Bird in order to stick with Rachel Alexandra and likely ride the filly in the Preakness Stakes.

For the life of me, the only two "reasons" I can see motivating Borel's detractors to believe that he should have retained the mount aboard Mine That Bird is some sense of tradition mingled with misguided loyalty ("How can you take off the Derby winner with the Preakness at hand?") or, potentially, something resembling chauvanism.

The latter sentiment would never really make sense, though that doesn't mean there aren't a few observers who believe that picking the male horse is always a shrewder choice. We'll see soon enough whether Mine That Bird and his new rider, as yet unnamed, can finish ahead of Rachel Alexandra in the Preakness. (And sure, if the 'Bird wins, Borel looks like a bonehead.)

You could make a better argument for the former if it wasn't apparent that Borel is likely choosing the better horse, and certainly the mount to which he feels a stronger connection and owes greater loyalty.

Calvin Borel has race-ridden Mine That Bird exactly once, in the Kentucky Derby. He did his job to perfection and brought home one of the unlikeliest of victories to the gelding's connections, trainer Bennie Woolley Jr. and owners Double Eagle Ranch and Buena Suerte Equine. Borel owes those connections nothing; they were blessed to have one of Churchill's best on their long-shot. He's paid any debt to them in full by winning that race.

Besides, their horse has run eight races in which he wasn't ridden by Calvin Borel. And won four of them, including three stakes races at Woodbine. In fact, those three stakes races were won with Chantal Sutherland in the irons. And wouldn't bringing her in to replace Borel spice up the Preakness? ... Borel takes off the gelding to ride the filly; MTB's connections ask their boy's long-lost ladyfriend, in whose company he had so many great dates, to step back into his life and show Borel what might have been!

Whether it's Chantal Sutherland, who has proven beyond doubt she can pilot this 'Bird to the winner's circle, or somebody else, the Derby winner is going to get a fine jockey in Borel's absence. After all, Mine That Bird is the Kentucky Derby winner. And much as I'm a fan of the man, Borel's brilliance gleams brightest at Churchill; another jockey might serve MTB even better at Pimlico.

Meanwhile, Rachel Alexandra and Borel have their own good thing going. They're undefeated since pairing up five races ago, including three Grade 2 stakes and the G1 Kentucky Oaks. It matters not to me that her connections have changed (read what I think about the sale); not from Borel's perspective, anyway. She has a legitimate shot of winning the Breeders' Cup Ladies Classic (please call it "Distaff" again!) and a 3-year-old filly Eclipse, or more. You don't take off that sort of filly. You ride your heart out for her until whomever owns her says you can't ride her anymore.

A second undercurrent of negative sentiment in this debate is the belief of some in the blogosphere (or their readers, anyway) that fans would excoriate Woolley and Co. if they were to take Mine That Bird away from Borel and hand him to someone else for the Preakness. Certainly that would be true if Rachel Alexandra were pointed to the Black Eyed Susan instead of toward facing the boys. But it's far-fetched in my mind to think they'd even consider such a thing after the ride Borel gave their horse at Churchill; a ride in which Mine That Bird's career-best Beyer was elevated from an 81 to a 105. And even if they had -- considering Rachel Alexandra is expected in the Preakness -- what would Borel really have lost?

Wouldn't it be sort of like if a hypothetical gent miraculously found himself dating not one, but two former American Idol winners, and Kelly Clarkson up and tells him, "I've found someone new. Carrie Underwood can have you!" Sure, the blessing of abundance was great while it lasted. But how bummed out could he really be?

I still don't see how Borel can be faulted for the choice he's made. He's ridden Rachel Alexandra for five races to one (albeit brilliant ride) for Mine That Bird. She has "champion" written all over her and Mine That Bird still has something left to prove.

Borel's decision really shouldn't need so much explaining. Lucky for Calvin I'm here to save him the energy.