We are finally approaching August 1, which traditionally marks the first week of Racing at Saratoga. If you recall, Saratoga used to be the place to be in August. July 29 is a special date for me for two reasons.
The first reason being my sister Deborah was born on July 29. She is one of the most forthright and intelligent women I know. Also, Mr. Bill Mott's birthday is on July 29, and we all know his accomplishments as a journeyman trainer. There's a little bit of a tradition with his birthday: for many years in a row, he won a race on July 29 to celebrate his birthday.
Going back to 2013, we had a horse named Sanctify in training who was in line to be Mr Mott's birthday horse that year. Sanctify had been training very well and forwardly. He looked like he was going to make his debut as a two-year-old on July 29, 2013. It's very exciting to have a horse run, especially making its debut at Saratoga, and to be held in high enough esteem by Mr. Mott to enter him on July 29, feeling like he had a shot to be the birthday horse. Lo and behold, I had two young gentlemen very interested in purchasing an interest in Sanctify. On the day that they accompanied me to the track, Sanctify had his pre-race workout the day before. So, of course, we're all very excited to see him and discuss racing plans with Mr. Mott. We go by the barn 79 if I remember correctly, and Mr. Mott is in Sanctify's stall, and he's gazing at his near hind ankle. The two young gentlemen were standing behind me, and if they had been any closer, they would have seen the blood rush from my cheeks and my knees start to wobble as if I were going to pass out. It's not a good sign when the trainer is gazing at a hind ankle on your horse two days before it is scheduled to run.
So I asked our Trainer what he was looking at, and he answered me this way. "Well, Tom, I think we're going to have to make other plans because coming out of that work. It looks like Sanctify has a meat cleaver hairline fracture of his hind pastern. He was pretty sore this morning!”
So what would you do if you heard the term meat cleaver? I'm telling you right now, I just about passed out. I sturdied myself by holding the side of the stall door. So my next question was, “Does this mean he's done? Is he finished? Meatcleaver fracture?” It sounded like a term from the Stephen King novel the Shining. Our trainer said, “No, no, no, it's something that happens. In fact, we had one other horse come up with the same thing. He'll need some time off. It'll have to heal, but he should be fine. It's pretty standard stuff for a young horse when they're pushing off behind breaking from the gate, and that's what you get." PHEW!
As I was very disappointed about not running a horse on 29 July, I was also greatly relieved that I didn't have to make retirement plans for a two-year-old. Oh, and the two gentlemen behind me? They were both walking around and just so excited to be looking at a horse in the Mott barn and considering the possibility of being part of it. So, the honest ABE that I am, I proceeded to describe exactly what Bill had told me. I said there was no way that we were going to be running on the 29th, and in fact, we probably will miss his two-year-old year, and I thought for sure that they would turn tail and head for the gate. That was not the case. These two gentlemen, ones name was Brian, shook it off and said “We're in!” and again, you could've knocked me all over with the feather.
Sanctify went on to make his first start in February at Aqueduct, got beat by a nose in a photo finish, his first time out, won his second time out, and came back to win at Saratoga the following year, went down to Belmont and set a new course record for 6 1/2 furlongs on the turf. He had 17 starts, three wins, three seconds and two thirds, and earned $174,000 plus. So, even though he was not the July 29 birthday horse for Mr. Bill Mott, he turned out to be better than OK for the rest of us.