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Honest Talk Storms The Castle In The Long Island Classic

Original article written by Jack Meyer posted 9 years 4 weeks ago

The brutality of the Triple Crown reared its ugly face again Friday night as another Triple Crown hopeful failed to master the three races in three weeks that only nine found out how to do. Castle Keep took the hopes and dreams of the SIM with him to New York Friday to try and make it into the SIM history books trying to become lucky number ten to conquer the feat, a field of ten took to the post and fan Favorite Castle Keep was going to give it his all and see where the cards land.

The absence of Harkness and Crush was very noticeable from the very time the field began to take shape, Crush was surely tired after the brutal races he encountered through the first two legs of the Triple Crown, and Harkness wanted no part of 1 ½ after he failed to hold off Castle Keep in the 1 3/16th’s Baltimore Crown, so if there was going to be a villain to dethrone the king, it was coming from a more fresh foe who has eyed the Classic since day one.

The most dangerous group of the bunch, and they are all dangerous, consisted of four or five long route specialist, or borderline marathon runners who passed on the shorter Crown with dead aim on the Classic. Susie Rydell’s Waving had a rough time in the Derby, and looked as if he might be able to push it a little further in the Classic, but his sire was more of a 1 ¼ horse that was hit or miss beyond that, if he even tried.

Night Vision skipped the Derby in favor for the St. Louis Derby, wanting no part of the middle jewel either, he ran 3rd in the St Louis Derby behind Idlewind, his owner was banking on the fact that his sire, Maelstrom, enjoyed success at 1 ½, and was hoping to capture that magic with his young colt.

Eric Nalbone’s colt Dobra ran very well in the Derby finishing 4th but seemed to hang there in the stretch; he also took on Honest Talk in the Keyboard Courage before that, so he had the battle scars to hang with the big boys. His sire Doc Halladay seemed to be a 1 ¼ type at the most with a little back class in his pedigree that could push him that last quarter mile, so Dobra was one of those “wild cards” that you just didn’t know about.

Scott Eiland’s Scorpio Races was another sexy pick to dethrone the king, his sire Ball Of Fire did have a race at the Classic distance finishing a solid 3rd. Scorpio Races outlasted the rest of the speed in the Derby finishing 3rd behind closers Castle Keep and Mint, so he ran very well for the run for the roses. He is very polished and consistent, and had all the right ingredient s to pull the upset playing the villain of the SIM for just one night.

Charles Bunbury’s Honest Talk was the final threat to Castle Keep, he didn’t like the Derby for one reason or another, he had trouble in the race causing him to steady a bit, and when there are 19 other animals all trying to do the same thing you are, you could run into trouble, and that’s what Honest Talk did. He had won 4 in a row including wins over Fool’s Gambit and Dobra, and obviously cherished the 1 ½ since his sire Highly Regarded won at 2 miles six different times, he was bred for this distance.

Castle Keep was asked to do something that he will never be asked to do again, run 3 races in 3 weeks against horses that get to pick and choose when to shoot for the big money and spotlight in these races, if it were easy to do it wouldn’t be as prestigious as it is. He had a tall order to overcome, and fresh legs on Scorpio Races, Dobra, and Honest Talk seemed to spell disaster for those hopes and dreams. It was interesting chatting with one of the owners who were running their horse against Castle Keep Friday night, they said they hated to be the villain, but wanted to win the race, but if their horse didn’t win, they wanted Castle Keep to win. No one likes to play spoiler, even in the SIM, but the Classic is a big race with a lot of history to it, and every owner wants a horse to win one, which means taking aim at the ones who stand atop the hill awaiting SIM immortality.

The race went the way this SIM fanatic thought it would go, Scorpio Races and Dobra battled for the lead around the Long Island Park oval for most of the race. Castle Keep and Honest Talk sat neck and neck with each other until midway down the back stretch; they began slowly making their way at the leaders. Castle Keep was giving his all for his fans, but had nothing left to give once they hit the far turn, Honest Talk was bred for this race, and it was his to lose, and losing wasn’t an option, he came roaring down the stretch at the leaders passing Dobra with a late rush to score the ¾ of a length win.

Though we didn’t see the one for the ages that we wanted to see with Castle Keep posing in the Winner’s Circle becoming our 6th Triple Crown winner, we did, in a sense, get to see one for the ages as the one colt who was truly bred for the Classic distance showed the SIM world the age of Honest Talk was just beginning, and to bring on the next challenge, whomever it may be from……Mint anyone?

Jack Meyer


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