Older crop promises big racing season

For a minute or so, he looked like the best horse in the country, and he just might be, but already this year there have been similar moments of intimation, and there will be many more, when the possibilities seem so dazzling and bright the sky could be the lid on a treasure chest.

He's a giant of a horse, and when he ranged up alongside Turbo Compressor in the second turn, the visual contrast left the early leader looking like a hood ornament. Running the second half-mile in 46.42 seconds, Mucho Macho Man quickly opened up a three-length advantage in mid-stretch; and from there he cruised, his ears pointing skyward as he completed the 1 1/8 miles in 1:47.91 to win the recent Sunshine Millions Classic.

It was one of the outstanding performances of the young season, and it served as a reminder that this could be the best year in many years for older horses. This could be payback for the lackluster racing of a year ago.

The intimations began with Tapizar in mid-January, when he won the San Fernando at Santa Anita and looked as if he were just getting started. The next weekend, Inherit The Gold at Aqueduct and Thiskyhasnolimit at Fair Grounds turned more than a few heads. And last Saturday, Mucho Macho Man sparkled at Gulfstream Park.

But the cavalcade has only begun. Tapizar returns Saturday at Santa Anita in the Strub Stakes, along with Jaycito. Remember him? Like Tapizar, Jaycito was among the foremost Triple Crown candidates a year ago before injury compromised his campaign. And Sunday, in the San Antonio Stakes, also at Santa Anita, Game On Dude, the Breeders' Cup Classic runner-up, will make his seasonal debut.

Because of the older horses and, in many cases, their deferred potential, this racing season promises to be special, even extraordinary. For the first time since 1999, the winners of all three of the previous season's Triple Crown events will race as 4-year-olds. (Real Quiet and Victory Gallop, who divided the 1998 jewels, both raced the following year, but without meeting.) Kentucky Derby winner Animal Kingdom is aimed at a turf race later this month at Tampa Bay. Preakness winner Shackleford and Belmont winner Ruler On Ice are to meet Feb. 11 in the Donn Handicap at Gulfstream.

Even more remarkable perhaps is that the first 10 finishers in last year's Kentucky Derby are all in training. Dialed In, for example, who finished eighth as the Derby favorite, worked a bullet half-mile (47.88) Tuesday in Florida in preparation for his return. He hasn't raced since finishing fourth in the Preakness. And Nehro, the Derby runner-up, also breezed Tuesday; the five-eighths-of-a-mile move (1:03) was his fourth workout in New Orleans, where he's preparing for his comeback. He hasn't raced since finishing fourth in the Belmont, but he could return next month, according to his trainer, Steve Asmussen.

"It's fabulous and great for the fans," Asmussen said about the depth of quality among the older horses this year. "You'd love to see three of the first four horses in the Kentucky Derby meet again in the Stephen Foster (for a $750,000 purse, on June 16 at Churchill Downs), and it could happen. It all should make for some very exciting and competitive racing among the older males."

Tapizar, who's also trained by Asmussen, indeed oozes excitement. A very fast horse who's learning how to distribute his speed, he stole away, pricking his ears, in the San Fernando with an unchallenged opening half-mile in 46.45 seconds, and the race was virtually over. As Asmussen said, Tapizar has a high cruising speed, and when allowed simply to cruise -- well, in his first outing since his wide trip in the Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile, he won by more than three lengths, running the 1 1/16 miles in 1:41.94, and looked as if he could have circled around again.

In the Strub, though, he should encounter more pace pressure, possibly from Indian Winter, who has been sprinting. And so the Strub should be a telling test and a challenge for him, but it could also be an opportunity to announce his arrival among the nation's best.

"I like the work he has put in since the San Fernando," Asmussen said about Tapizar. "And I liked the way he was running at the wire in the San Fernando. If he can put a couple of those efforts together, he'll be in elite company."

Game On Dude, of course, already has proven himself in such company, and he's unbeaten at Santa Anita, having won last year's Big 'Cap and Goodwood Stakes. Sunday's San Antonio will be his first start since he led for most of the Classic at Churchill Downs and stubbornly persevered to finish just 1 1/2 lengths behind Drosselmeyer.

"Some horses just get better with age," Game On Dude's trainer, Bob Baffert, said about the 5-year-old gelding, "and he's getting better. He's doing really good. I think he's better than he was last year."

And last year, he was outstanding, winning three times, with three seconds, and pushing his career earnings to $2.1 million. His only poor performance, and it was hardly poor, was a fourth in the Pacific Classic -- "He just doesn't like that surface at Del Mar," Baffert said -- but otherwise Game On Dude eyeballed many of the best horses in the country and took them down to the wire, where he won his share. "The key to him is he wants to be in the fight," Baffert said.

But what about that giant who for a moment, or exactly 107.91 seconds, looked like the best horse in the country, and just might be? No race has been picked out for Mucho Macho Man's next start, said his trainer, Kathy Ritvo. But wherever he runs, he'll be the one to beat.

"He's really grown up," Ritvo said about Mucho Macho Man, who finished third in last year's Kentucky Derby. "He's very serious and focused now; he's matured … He was a nice horse last year, but he has definitely improved."

At times last year, Mucho Macho Man looked like that towering youngster you've probably seen on the basketball court -- you know the kid, the long-legged one with bursting potential who hasn't quite coordinated all the pieces yet. But Mucho Macho Man, Ritvo said, has added muscle to his back and chest, muscle that has given him better control over his considerable resources.

Yes, this is going to be a special, even extraordinary, season. The 3-year-olds generally dominate the spotlight and the attention; and in a travesty that's symptomatic of the sport's wrongheadedness, most of the country's richest races over the next five months will be restricted to 3-year-olds. But the best racing, the most exciting and intriguing and competitive racing, will probably be among the older horses.

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