The hard part is over, no more decisions about anything. If your horse should win or show promise in the way it ran in the Bluegrass Derby, you know that your horses next race will be the Middle Jewell in two weeks time. If your horse wins or shows promise in the Middle Jewell then it's off to New York for the New Yorker. There is no more guessing or second guessing, the cards are on the table.
It was out of my hands now, I felt that I had done my part in guiding Down The Jazz through his prep races and somehow stumbling on the sequence of races that benefitted him the most. It was out of my hands now, I had done all that I could do to get him in the greatest possible condition. I could do no more for him, it's all up to Down The Jazz to show what kind of talent I believed he really has. He will now run against the best that his generation has produced this year. He couldn't be coming into this race in any better condition.
Two furlongs into the race, Down The Jazz found his favorite early running position; Widest of all and in next to last place. Later I found that this was not as bad as it looked he was only six lenghts behind the leader in a very slow pace. At the 5/8ths pole there was a massive movement of about eight horses making their move on the leaders, R. Haffner was desperately trying to find running room closer to the rail, he took advantage of a hole that opened and guided Down The Jazz to the rail before entering the far turn. From there Down The Jazz opened his stride and in no time at all was splitting the leaders and taking command of this race. Once clear, R. Haffner set him down for the drive, steadily pulling away from this field and not leaving any doubt in anybody's mind that he was the best horse in Kentucky that day.
Down The Jazz proved to everyone that he is the horse I thought he was. I must have made the right decision somewhere down the line. Stable up-date reported that Down The Jazz came back "A Little Groggy" , and why not. He had just demolished the best horses of his generation and won at the 10.0f distance in his first try. the last time he returned A Little Groggy , was after winning the Holy Bull and he returned to Sharp the very next week. In the Bluegrass Derby he recorded the SPF of 103, the same as in the Holy Bull at that time was his LTH. His LTH now is 110 so he will not recess off this effort.
It's Cut and Dried ................. A Done Deal!!
Next Stop? ................... Maryland
