From a non-regular that does step up once in awhile - The NYT
Palace Malice, a Long Shot, Rewards a Promoter for His Patience
By JOE DRAPE
Published: June 8, 2013
Before Todd Pletcher was a trainer with 200 horses in his stable, millions in his bank account, expensive suits and an exquisite haircut, he was a guy with eight horses who was in desperate need of clients. One of his first was a wily old Southerner named Cot Campbell with an affinity for plaid sports coats and porkpie hats who had pioneered the novel idea that horse ownership did not necessarily have to be exclusive to rich people.
In other words, Campbell was a promoter with a résumé P. T. Barnum would have been proud of. He had been a water ski show master of ceremonies, a sportswriter, an apprentice funeral director and an advertising copywriter before he came up with a plan to syndicate racehorses — to get a few partners who loved the sport to pool their money and have some fun.
He called his outfit Dogwood Stable and they had been successful, but Campbell was looking for a young trainer to take him over the top. In 1996, he chose Pletcher and sent him four horses. On Saturday, leading a heretofore hard-luck colt named Palace Malice by the shank into the sun-splashed winner’s circle of the 145th running of the Belmont Stakes, Campbell, a spry 85, was reminded again that you could do well by doing good.
Wrapping his arm around one his foundation owners, Pletcher let his eyes wrinkle, a grin crack and some genuine warmth melt his usual stoic face. “This is an emotional one for me,” Pletcher said. “He gave me an opportunity when no one knew who I was.”
That Palace Malice had graced them with this moment was even more gratifying because Campbell, Pletcher and his jockey, Mike Smith, had made enough mistakes in their handling of what they knew was an extremely talented colt to frustrate even the most patient horseman.
Palace Malice, son of the two-time Horse of the Year Curlin, had always been a standout in the mornings, blowing like a rocket down the straightaways and handling like a Ferrari on the turns. In the afternoons, when it was money time, Palace Malice was not so good.
In March, he ran himself into trouble in the Louisiana Derby and stumbled home in seventh place. In April, he gawked in the stretch of the Bluegrass Stakes, hung and was lost by a neck. To correct that problem, Pletcher and Campbell fitted Palace Malice with blinkers, restricting his peripheral vision, and threw him into the toughest competition he had ever faced, in the Kentucky Derby.
It was a disaster. Between the restricted vision and a sloppy track, a panicked Palace Malice blew out of the gate and led the field through a blistering half-mile that set up a closing run from the long-striding Orb. Smith, a Hall of Famer, knew he had failed to control the colt, figured he would lose the mount, but decided to call Campbell and own up to his mistake. He wanted another chance.
He got it, but the announced crowd of 47,562 and horseplayers beyond obviously were not sure if Smith deserved it. When Malice, as those close to the colt know him, skittered into the starting gate, the odds board flashed him a long shot at 15 to 1. Orb, the Derby winner, was the people’s horse at odds of 2 to 1, while Oxbow, the Preakness champ, was being dismissed as a one-hit wonder at odds of 10 to 1.
The Belmont is a mile-and-a-half marathon and not conducive for horses going too fast, too early. But two of them did — Frac Daddy and Freedom Child looked like Palace Malice on Derby Day and blitzed through a half-mile in 46.66 seconds and three quarters in 1 minute 10.95 seconds. Behind them, like a pair of jet fighters, Gary Stevens on Oxbow and Smith on Palace Malice stalked.
Joel Rosario and Orb, meanwhile, moved more like a blimp. They were loping along in ninth.
But all three found their after burners as they slung shot around the turn. Stevens and Oxbow were leading the way.
“Well, maybe,” he said he thought to himself.
But he could feel Smith and Palace Malice on his flank. They were bouncing around the turn as if running on a trampoline. When Smith squared his colt’s shoulders and looked down Belmont’s never-ending stretch, he felt Palace Malice catch a second wind.
“He was breathing and rolling,” he said. “We’re going to get there.”
Stevens, 50, and Smith, 47, have known each other their whole careers and our friendly.
As Palace Malice blasted past Oxbow at the 3/8th pole, Stevens bid his buddy adieu.
“He looked over and it was like a big brother, giving a little brother a word,” Smith said.
What were those words?
“You go on with him, big boy,” Smith said. “You’re moving better than me.”
Yes, he was. He also was moving farther away from the late charge of Orb, who had more ground than gumption to get past either Palace Malice or Oxbow. His trainer, Shug McGaughey, could see it from the clubhouse.
“They shook loose and we were just too far back to catch them,” he said.
With a furlong left, Campbell knew he and his syndicate were going to cash a first-place check worth $600,000. Those savvy enough to look past Palace Malice’s previous hard-luck trips were rewarded with $29.60 for a $2 bet.
For an old horseman and promoter like Campbell, though, the victory eluded measurement by dollar signs. He said he understood that his clock is winding down on the opportunity for big wins like the Belmont. He is not exactly retired, but he has cut his stable in half.
“I don’t want to chase any rabbits I can’t catch,” he said. “I’m in the twilight of my career, if you want to put it euphemistically. I’ve had the most wonderful life a human being could have. And this is quite a chapter of it.”
Al Bello/Getty Images
Palace Malice, ridden by Mike Smith, pulling away to win the Belmont Stakes.
