Edmund Gann said he never even gave it a second thought when trainer Bobby Frankel told him he would stay at Saratoga to saddle Empire Maker in the Jim Dandy Stakes yesterday instead of making the trip to Monmouth Park to oversee Peace Rules in the $1 million Haskell Invitational.
For most of the year, it's been that way.
Empire Maker gets the majority of the attention. Peace Rules simply does everything Frankel asks -- and all his pedigree allows.
Anyway, Gann, the owner of Peace Rules, heard all he needed to hear from Frankel on Saturday night.
"He told me, 'I've done all I can do. The horse is fit. It's up to the racing gods now,'" said Gann, a longtime horse owner. "When Bobby Frankel says a horse is ready, a horse is ready. That was enough for me."
It was also more than enough to whip what was arguably the best field in Haskell history, turning a race that track announcer Larry Collmus trumpeted at the start as "a Haskell for the ages" into a wire-to-wire yawner.
Peace Rules, as is his custom, went to the front and stayed there, digging in for a 1 3/4-length victory over Sky Mesa before a record Haskell -- and New Jersey racing -- crowd of 53,638 at Monmouth Park.
It was another 7 1/4 lengths back to even-money favorite Funny Cide, the Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner who threw in a mysterious clunker that had Jack Knowlton, the managing partner of Sackatoga Stables, baffled.
"I don't know what happened," he said. "(Trainer) Barclay Tagg used the word 'perfect' to describe the way he was coming into this race. He used that before both the Derby and the Preakness too. Barclay hasn't used the word perfect except for those two races."
Sent off as the 2-1 second choice, Peace Rules had his only anxious moments in deep stretch, when jockey Edgar Prado whacked the horse four times left-handed with the whip to keep him going to the finish line. Sky Mesa surged late but was never really a threat.
"He changed leads in the stretch and found another gear," Prado said of the Blue Grass Stakes and Louisiana Derby winner.
The winning time wasn't particularly inspiring -- 1:49.1 for the mile and an eighth -- but the victory was Peace Rules' sixth in 11 lifetime starts and second in a Grade 1 stakes.
"I think he deserves some respect now," Prado said. "He always seems to be a horse people forget. But we beat Funny Cide in the Louisiana Derby, and he ran as well as he could in the Kentucky Derby (finishing to third when stablemate Empire Maker surged by him late to take second). He deserves credit. He's a very, very good 3-year-old."
Gann insists he has never been bothered by the attention that Frankel and the racing world pays Empire Maker, the Belmont Stakes winner and beaten Kentucky Derby favorite -- even though it is often at the expense of his horse. Jose Cuevas, Frankel's second assistant, saddled the horse yesterday, although Frankel did oversee Medaglia d'Oro's victory in the Whitney at Saratoga on Saturday for Gann.
"Bobby has always done what's best for this horse. I have no problems with it," Gann said. "We've been together for 30 years. We've been separated a few times, but we've always gotten back together. He's probably the best trainer in the business."
It's hard to argue with the results, with the Haskell marking Frankel's 17th Grade 1 victory this year.
Peace Rules had things his own way from the start, and was never really threatened on the front end when Excessivepleasure, expected to gun to the lead, stumbled badly at the start and then had to rush up just to be in contention.
Wild and Wicked was in an early stalking position but was no threat after the opening half. Funny Cide, meanwhile, seemed to be languishing in fifth in the seven-horse field and was never in contention, rallying late just to edge Wild and Wicked for third.
"He broke real nice. I had a good hold of him, but he just spit the bit at the six-furlong pole," said Jose Santos, Funny Cide's jockey. "After that he was just traveling along. He didn't accelerate. This wasn't the horse I rode in his previous races."
http://www.nj.com/sports/ledger/index.ssf?/base/sports-0/1059971484300920.xml
For most of the year, it's been that way.
Empire Maker gets the majority of the attention. Peace Rules simply does everything Frankel asks -- and all his pedigree allows.
Anyway, Gann, the owner of Peace Rules, heard all he needed to hear from Frankel on Saturday night.
"He told me, 'I've done all I can do. The horse is fit. It's up to the racing gods now,'" said Gann, a longtime horse owner. "When Bobby Frankel says a horse is ready, a horse is ready. That was enough for me."
It was also more than enough to whip what was arguably the best field in Haskell history, turning a race that track announcer Larry Collmus trumpeted at the start as "a Haskell for the ages" into a wire-to-wire yawner.
Peace Rules, as is his custom, went to the front and stayed there, digging in for a 1 3/4-length victory over Sky Mesa before a record Haskell -- and New Jersey racing -- crowd of 53,638 at Monmouth Park.
It was another 7 1/4 lengths back to even-money favorite Funny Cide, the Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner who threw in a mysterious clunker that had Jack Knowlton, the managing partner of Sackatoga Stables, baffled.
"I don't know what happened," he said. "(Trainer) Barclay Tagg used the word 'perfect' to describe the way he was coming into this race. He used that before both the Derby and the Preakness too. Barclay hasn't used the word perfect except for those two races."
Sent off as the 2-1 second choice, Peace Rules had his only anxious moments in deep stretch, when jockey Edgar Prado whacked the horse four times left-handed with the whip to keep him going to the finish line. Sky Mesa surged late but was never really a threat.
"He changed leads in the stretch and found another gear," Prado said of the Blue Grass Stakes and Louisiana Derby winner.
The winning time wasn't particularly inspiring -- 1:49.1 for the mile and an eighth -- but the victory was Peace Rules' sixth in 11 lifetime starts and second in a Grade 1 stakes.
"I think he deserves some respect now," Prado said. "He always seems to be a horse people forget. But we beat Funny Cide in the Louisiana Derby, and he ran as well as he could in the Kentucky Derby (finishing to third when stablemate Empire Maker surged by him late to take second). He deserves credit. He's a very, very good 3-year-old."
Gann insists he has never been bothered by the attention that Frankel and the racing world pays Empire Maker, the Belmont Stakes winner and beaten Kentucky Derby favorite -- even though it is often at the expense of his horse. Jose Cuevas, Frankel's second assistant, saddled the horse yesterday, although Frankel did oversee Medaglia d'Oro's victory in the Whitney at Saratoga on Saturday for Gann.
"Bobby has always done what's best for this horse. I have no problems with it," Gann said. "We've been together for 30 years. We've been separated a few times, but we've always gotten back together. He's probably the best trainer in the business."
It's hard to argue with the results, with the Haskell marking Frankel's 17th Grade 1 victory this year.
Peace Rules had things his own way from the start, and was never really threatened on the front end when Excessivepleasure, expected to gun to the lead, stumbled badly at the start and then had to rush up just to be in contention.
Wild and Wicked was in an early stalking position but was no threat after the opening half. Funny Cide, meanwhile, seemed to be languishing in fifth in the seven-horse field and was never in contention, rallying late just to edge Wild and Wicked for third.
"He broke real nice. I had a good hold of him, but he just spit the bit at the six-furlong pole," said Jose Santos, Funny Cide's jockey. "After that he was just traveling along. He didn't accelerate. This wasn't the horse I rode in his previous races."
http://www.nj.com/sports/ledger/index.ssf?/base/sports-0/1059971484300920.xml
