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Holy Blood On Pace for the Triple Crown
Original article written by Andrea Bouwkamp posted 9 years 0 weeks agoThe SIM tends to be mostly Thoroughbred enthusiasts, however there are many other breeds in this game and this article is solely devoted to the Pacing Triple crown.
The Triple Crown of pacing consists of the Niatross Pace, the Western Dreamer Pace, and lastly the Blue Bucket Stakes which will be contested Wednesday evening.
The Pacing Triple Crown series did not start until SIM year 23 and has only one Triple Crown winner in its history. That horse is Igetcash, who won the triple in year 26. Since then there has been 4 others to capture the first two only to fail in the final race. This coming Wednesday evening a 5th goes for the Crown; Izzy Rafferty’s Holy Blood.
His career record coming into Wednesday’s event is 9 starts 6 wins and 3 places. He has never finished worse than 2nd. Last season, Holy Blood was named champion 2yo pacer after winning the Steward’s Cup Juvenile Pace in convincing fashion. He started his 3yo season off with a narrow lost to his rival, Kyasuriin Matsumoto’s Holy Irishman, who will also be in the Blue Bucket Stakes to pull-off the possible upset. Since that loss, Holy Blood has managed to win 4 consecutive races, including the first two legs of the Triple Crown.
Holy Blood is a product of the incredible cross of Holy Roller with Igetmoney mares. This ‘nick’ has also produced millionaire Igetgoing and champion Neverends along with multiple other stakes winners.
It looks to be only a field of 4 for the Blue Bucket Stakes. Along with the previously mentioned rivals, 2 other quality colts are joining the fray: Laura Cameron’s Listener (who has also defeated Holy Blood once) and Chris Fielder’s Pulau Jeju Do.
Holy Blood came about due to the extreme generosity of another SIM player Franky Dam. “Franky has leased me several of his top Pacer mares for few SIM years now and Boiling Blood is among those. Her colt Holy Blood has turned out to be one of my best Pacers ever to race and of course become one my favorite SIM horses period. He has been ultra-consistent in a breed where disparity is the biggest rule of late,” said owner Izzy Rafferty, while also adding, “I am nervous for the race next week but knowing Pacers I expect anything can happen. His main rival in the past two legs Holy Irishman has been getting closer each race and could easily finish ahead of us in the Big Blue Bucket Stakes, as well as any of the other quality colts in the field. I wish everyone good luck and regardless of the results on Wednesday I am still very proud to campaign such a nice colt.”
I guess we will all see on Wednesday how Franky Dam's generosity pays out for Izzy Rafferty.