Postby Tairaterces » Mon May 16, 2005 4:03 pm
Lost in the Fog has record run
- Larry Stumes, Special to The Chronicle
Sunday, May 15, 2005
As Lost in the Fog effortlessly put more distance between himself and two overmatched opponents on the turn of Saturday's $90,000 Golden Bear Breeders' Cup Stakes, the crowd began to roar and the race became one against the clock.
Lost in the Fog won that one, too.
With jockey Russell Baze hardly moving his hands, Lost in the Fog hit the wire in 1:07.32, the fastest 6 furlongs ever run at Golden Gate Fields.
"He amazes me," trainer Greg Gilchrist said. "He was 1-to-9; he was supposed to win, but the time and the way he did it is the thing. You just don't see that happen a lot.''
"He can run the second quarter-mile as fast as the first quarter, and you can discourage a lot of horses at that point. Good horses don't look like they're running fast."
Although Wind Water was supposed to try to beat Lost in the Fog to the early lead, he broke sluggishly. So Lost in the Fog enjoyed a clear advantage after just a few steps, making his sixth victory in six starts a foregone conclusion. The final margin was 10 lengths, with Wind Water 6 1/2 ahead of Olympic Miler.
"Plan A was to go, but for some reason, he didn't break sharp today," said Frank Alvarado, who rode Wind Water. "After that, the plan was done. I didn't want to send him after Lost in the Fog. Wind Water is a nice horse and I didn't want to get his heart broken, so I took care of him and got the easiest second-place finish I've ever had."
"Once he didn't break, all he would have done if he went with him was make him run 1:07 flat," said Brian Koriner, Wind Water's trainer.
Lost in the Fog led by 1 1/2 lengths after a quarter-mile in 21.46 seconds, by 4 after a half in 43.32 and by 7 after 5/8ths in :54.92.
"He was on his toes today," Baze said. "He didn't lose his footing leaving the gate today like he does sometimes. I let him run a little bit at the quarter-pole, and then I had a lot of horse left. I could have gone faster if the need arose, but it didn't."
As easy as Lost in the Fog's victory came, it wasn't his most decisive. He won the Arizona Juvenile by 143/4 lengths in his second start, setting a Turf Paradise track record of 1:13.55 for 6 1/2 furlongs.
His other victories came by 7 1/2 lengths in his maiden debut at GGF, by 4 1/2 in the Sunshine Millions Dash and 43/4 in the Grade 2 Swale Stakes both at Gulfstream Park and by 41/4 in the Grade 3 Bay Shore Stakes at Aqueduct.
"He's different than he was three months ago," Gilchrist said. "He's had more races, he's traveled, he's a lot fitter and more tucked up. We've been fortunate that he's stayed sound and didn't have any bumps in the road."
The road will be more traveled in the future as Gilchrist and Aleo look to races like the Grade 2 Riva Ridge Stakes on June 11 at Belmont Park, the Grade 2 Carry Back Stakes on July 9 at Calder and the Grade 1 King's Bishop Stakes on Aug. 27 at Saratoga.
"It's a good chance we'll run in the Riva Ridge next, because that fits into our schedule, but we have to see how tired he is after this race," Gilchrist said. "We'll take 10 days to two weeks before we decide for sure."
Someone mentioned the Breeders' Cup Sprint, a race in which Gilchrist finished second with the great filly Soviet Problem in 1994.
"The Breeders' Cup is getting out there a ways," he said. "We don't like to look ahead that far. The thing about the Breeders' Cup is that they run it every year, so you don't have to get excited about it with a 3-year-old. We want to be able to race this horse next year."
Before Saturday's race, Gilchrist compared Lost in the Fog to Soviet Problem this way: "She's still ahead of him, but he's gaining ground."
After Saturday's race, Gilchrist said: "He drew a couple of lengths closer. If he runs another like this, she'll be a bad second."
Aleo, the 85-year-old real estate mogul born and raised in San Francisco, isn't easily excited. But Lost in the Fog has an effect on people, whether it be Aleo, Gilchrist, Baze or the crowd of 6,060, about twice that of a normal Saturday, that cheered him before, during and after Saturday's race.
"Jesus, what a horse," Aleo said. "This is a super horse."
OUCH!!!!
