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"How about that, Sean ?!" - Jonathan Sheppard H. (GI)
Aug 23, 2023 22:00:20 GMT -5
Post by tenfurlongs on Aug 23, 2023 22:00:20 GMT -5
“How about that, Sean?!”
Hokan wasn’t ever supposed to be much of a racehorse, I guess. He was by Trempolino, the Arc winner a decade earlier, but the mare wasn’t a plum, not a lot to gravitate towards. Julie Krone rode him the first time, on a cloudy September day at Belmont, sat out the back of the field and got sweaty, dirty, and tired, finishing tenth by many, in a two-year-old maiden claimer yet. If you were to hang your hat, this wasn’t the hook, or the door, or the room. He ran ten more times that year and the next, always improving, but never troubling the judge. During his four-year-old season, he came into the hands of Janet Elliot, the brilliant jumps trainer and Jonathan Sheppard protégé. She reasoned that he might do well over a distance of ground, on grass, so she sent him to a runner-up finish going eleven furlongs at Delaware Park.
If I told you that insight isn’t always brilliance, but sometimes just trying another way of going at it, it’d take some of the romance out of the thing, but the truth is often just that. Hokan went first time over the hurdles at Far Hills that fall, jumping like he was born for it. His 1998 campaign was very good absent a victory, until he arrived at Saratoga, where he took an a-other-than under Arch Kingsley, Jr. at the end of July. Trainer Elliot gave him a flat race prep in mid-August where he finished an uninspired fifth, prepping for the biggest target of the jump meet, the NY Turf Writers Handicap (GI). Under new rider Sean Clancy, Hokan sat unhurried out the back, advanced to the fore at the next-to-last, rallied on the turn and surged to the front to prevail by a neck. Hokan never won again, but for a brief time that summer he was the best jumper anyone had ever seen.
The Phipps Stable, especially under the guidance of Ogden Mills Phipps, established a pre-eminent breeding operation in the latter part of the last century, with a broodmare band par-excellence. The filly Numbered Account was brilliant at two, sublime as a 3yo, and still relevant as a 4yo, later becoming a Reine-de-Course as an influential broodmare, most notably as the dam of Private Account. Through her granddaughter Get Lucky, she produced the filly Daydreaming, which was a GII-winning sprinter/miler. Such classy, durable stock was well-coveted by owners and breeders, and when an offspring became available, astute camps reached out. Daydreaming was covered by Giants Causeway in 2008, adding significant stamina to produce GI-winner Imagining, which prospered as a 4 to 6yo 10F-12F runner. All of which led to current events.
Hoping to strike the bell again with Daydreaming, she went to Curlin in 2017, producing the colt Awakened, which was later gelded. He followed a pattern that was eerily similar to the aforementioned Hokan, running well without winning, before being privately purchased by Riverdee Stable and Ten Strike Racing from the Phipps family. He mounted a successful 2022 campaign with a couple of victories, and has been even better as a 6yo, where today the future met the past and the things that align in the universe did so, to which I bore witness.
Sean Clancy is a successful man, in family and in business. While he wears his heart out down his arm there, speaking about family, and the racing family, from his words and demeanor as Publisher and column writer at The Saratoga Special you can still feel that small, undeniable part of him that strives for the thrill of victory. Mostly well-observed through others, in thought and deed, but not without a sliver of hope for just a bit of his own.
Under new rider Thomas Garner, who guided him to a second-place finish in the 2023 Jonathan Kiser Novice Stakes three weeks earlier, Awakened sat unhurried out the back, advanced to the fore at the next-to-last, rallied on the turn and surged to the front to prevail by a length. A Grade 1 winner for his owner, who 25 years ago managed the same feat aboard Hokan, at this place, in this race, at this time.
How about that, Sean?!
TW
Hokan wasn’t ever supposed to be much of a racehorse, I guess. He was by Trempolino, the Arc winner a decade earlier, but the mare wasn’t a plum, not a lot to gravitate towards. Julie Krone rode him the first time, on a cloudy September day at Belmont, sat out the back of the field and got sweaty, dirty, and tired, finishing tenth by many, in a two-year-old maiden claimer yet. If you were to hang your hat, this wasn’t the hook, or the door, or the room. He ran ten more times that year and the next, always improving, but never troubling the judge. During his four-year-old season, he came into the hands of Janet Elliot, the brilliant jumps trainer and Jonathan Sheppard protégé. She reasoned that he might do well over a distance of ground, on grass, so she sent him to a runner-up finish going eleven furlongs at Delaware Park.
If I told you that insight isn’t always brilliance, but sometimes just trying another way of going at it, it’d take some of the romance out of the thing, but the truth is often just that. Hokan went first time over the hurdles at Far Hills that fall, jumping like he was born for it. His 1998 campaign was very good absent a victory, until he arrived at Saratoga, where he took an a-other-than under Arch Kingsley, Jr. at the end of July. Trainer Elliot gave him a flat race prep in mid-August where he finished an uninspired fifth, prepping for the biggest target of the jump meet, the NY Turf Writers Handicap (GI). Under new rider Sean Clancy, Hokan sat unhurried out the back, advanced to the fore at the next-to-last, rallied on the turn and surged to the front to prevail by a neck. Hokan never won again, but for a brief time that summer he was the best jumper anyone had ever seen.
The Phipps Stable, especially under the guidance of Ogden Mills Phipps, established a pre-eminent breeding operation in the latter part of the last century, with a broodmare band par-excellence. The filly Numbered Account was brilliant at two, sublime as a 3yo, and still relevant as a 4yo, later becoming a Reine-de-Course as an influential broodmare, most notably as the dam of Private Account. Through her granddaughter Get Lucky, she produced the filly Daydreaming, which was a GII-winning sprinter/miler. Such classy, durable stock was well-coveted by owners and breeders, and when an offspring became available, astute camps reached out. Daydreaming was covered by Giants Causeway in 2008, adding significant stamina to produce GI-winner Imagining, which prospered as a 4 to 6yo 10F-12F runner. All of which led to current events.
Hoping to strike the bell again with Daydreaming, she went to Curlin in 2017, producing the colt Awakened, which was later gelded. He followed a pattern that was eerily similar to the aforementioned Hokan, running well without winning, before being privately purchased by Riverdee Stable and Ten Strike Racing from the Phipps family. He mounted a successful 2022 campaign with a couple of victories, and has been even better as a 6yo, where today the future met the past and the things that align in the universe did so, to which I bore witness.
Sean Clancy is a successful man, in family and in business. While he wears his heart out down his arm there, speaking about family, and the racing family, from his words and demeanor as Publisher and column writer at The Saratoga Special you can still feel that small, undeniable part of him that strives for the thrill of victory. Mostly well-observed through others, in thought and deed, but not without a sliver of hope for just a bit of his own.
Under new rider Thomas Garner, who guided him to a second-place finish in the 2023 Jonathan Kiser Novice Stakes three weeks earlier, Awakened sat unhurried out the back, advanced to the fore at the next-to-last, rallied on the turn and surged to the front to prevail by a length. A Grade 1 winner for his owner, who 25 years ago managed the same feat aboard Hokan, at this place, in this race, at this time.
How about that, Sean?!
TW
