Bob Hill
Staff writer
Tracksideview.com

Only one horse can cross the finish line first, and long after the results are in the record book it becomes easy to remember the names of the winners and forget the names of others that performed with distinction.  For a handicapper, knowing which horses ran great races without winning often is a key to a next-time bet, but even minus that consideration it seems appropriate to talk about the races run by six horses in the 2009 Breeders’ Cup that were winners in my book despite not finishing first in their respective races.

Cloudy’s Knight is a nine-year-old gelding that has been a warrior for many years.  He was foaled in the same year as Funny Cide and Empire Maker.  He was the Canadian Turf Horse of the year at age seven in 2007.  He is a multiple graded stakes winner.  He missed all of 2008 because of a tendon injury.  He was magnificent in the BC Marathon on Friday, leading for most of the stretch drive until being beaten a nose by Iron Man.  The 1¾ mile distance of the Marathon was the longest that Cloudy’s Knight had ever run in competition.  To do so with such class and success at his age is a testimony to the horse and to his trainer Jonathan Sheppard, clearly one of America’s top handlers of flat ground and steeplechase runners.

After the finish of the Grade 1 Spinster at Keeneland in October, more than one expert had opined that Mushka would not have passed Proviso in the stretch run.  Proviso had veered to his right in deep stretch and bumped Mushka, leading to Proviso’s disqualification.  Several days later, the operators of  Trakus, the electronic system used at Keeneland to track every horse’s position and speed throughout each race, had concluded that given the speed of each horse at the time of the bumping incident Mushka would indeed have overtaken Proviso.  That news prompted a second round of discussion about the race, and at least one national writer hoped in a pre-BC article that Proviso would beat Mushka and set the record straight.  Mushka, as you probably know, finished second to Life Is Good in the Ladies’ Classic, overtaking Proviso in a stretch run reminiscent of the Spinster.  Mushka did set the record straight, in style!  She has three wins and a second on synthetic surfaces and promises to be a force next year if kept in training.

Much of Saturday was a lesson in racing luck.  No race pointed out that fact more than the Sprint where post-time favorite Zensational got away a step too slow and never made the lead, a place where he does his best running.  The second favorite in the race, Gayego, appeared to miss the break as well, settling at the very back of the pack from where he finished fourth in a four-way photo finish.  The handicapper I most respect, Steve Davidowitz, observed to me later that four-way photo finishes certainly resolve very little — other than sorting out the pay outs of the bets.  Amen to that.

Lookin At Lucky proved to me to be the best of the two-year-old colts on the track Saturday despite his second place finish in the Juvenile.  Drawn to the far outside, he was bumped and carried very wide in the first turn. Despite that circumstance, he led just feet from the finish line before being edged by long shot Vale of York (IRE).  Another in that race that lived up to the high regard that his connections had for him all summer and fall was Piscitelli.  That one led the field throughout the 1 1/16-mile race and hung on grudgingly right to the finish.  Piscitelli has shipped all over the country to compete against other top two-year-olds, and on Saturday he proved that he belongs in the company of the really good ones.

For sheer, absolute grit is it possible to name any horse that outperformed Presious Passion?  He set the pace every step of the way in the BC Turf.  Even after defending champion Conduit passed him in the stretch drive this guy battled on until the very end.  Of all the horses that I admire for their BC performances, Presious Passion tops the list.  What heart he displayed!

Last but not least on my list of top non-winning performances is Gio Ponti.  Weeks ago I mentioned to friends that I liked his chances in the Classic.  At 10 furlongs he is the class of American turf racing, and his trainer Christophe Clement is as good at moving horses on and off grass and synthetics as anyone in the sport.  Gio Ponti was fabulous in this race, losing only to the other-worldly Zenyatta.

I think people associated with thoroughbred racing have a better perspective on what winning and not winning means than those associated with many other sports.  They understand that there are a thousand moments in every race that conspire against winning, and they also understand that often times a great effort goes unrewarded or unnoticed.  There are many reasons I so enjoy the sport, and being able to recognize great effort when winning is not the outcome ranks at the top of the list.  “All hail, Cloudy’s Knight, Mushka, Lookin At Lucky, Piscitelli, Presious Passion, and Gio Ponti!”