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From Good to GREAT - the pain of losing a good horse to another trainer

By Bill Heller
First Published: 14 October 2008 - Issue Number: 10

Losing an under-achieving horse is a reality trainers live with daily. But how do you lose a horse who performs spectacularly in his debut? How do you lose a horse you’ve waited your whole lifetime to train?

Helen Pitts and Pat Reynolds might still be basking in Curlin and Big Brown’s success had each horse’s incredible debut not triggered multi-million dollar deals which led both horses to new trainers, Curlin to Steve Asmussen and Big Brown to Rick Dutrow, Jr.

“Bottom line, there’s always that sense of personal satisfaction,” Reynolds said in the Saratoga paddock in early August. “Curlin looked like a world-beater the day he broke his maiden. And for us guys to get these type of horses ready to win the first time out, that’s what generated those million dollar offers. If the horses would have got tired and hung on and won by a thumbnail, don’t think for a minute the phone would have been ringing off the hook.”

Instead, Curlin won his debut at Gulfstream Park in February by 12¾ lengths.

“People were calling that night,” Pitts said. “All kinds of numbers were flying.”

Six weeks later, in trainer Steve Asmussen’s barn, Curlin won the Grade 3 Rebel Stakes by 5¼ lengths on the way to taking the Preakness, Jockey Club Gold Cup and Breeders’ Cup Classic to earn Horse of the Year and Three-Year-Old Championships. He’s gone on this year to add the Dubai World Cup and Stephen Foster, before capturing the Woodward at Saratoga August 30th.

Big Brown won his debut on closing day at Saratoga on turf in September by 11¼ lengths for owner Paul Pompa, Jr. “Immediately after the race I turned to Paul and said, ‘That’s a $2 million race.’” Reynolds said. “By the time he got to the Northway, he had two phone calls. And they were serious inquiries.”

In Dutrow’s barn, Big Brown subsequently won this year’s Florida Derby, Kentucky Derby, Preakness and, after his mysterious debacle in the Belmont Stakes, the Haskell Stakes.

“You know, I spoke to Helen,” Reynolds said. “She said, ‘Five years from now, people are going to be asking you, ‘How did it feel when they took the horse?’’ Helen just told me, ‘You’ve got to grin and bear it.’”

Reynolds does. Pompa continues to be Reynolds’ most important owner.

And Pitts? What else can she do? On September 5th, she married Greg Blasi, whose brother Scott is Asmussen’s assistant trainer. “At least I keep Curlin in the family,” she said.

Yet another trainer, Kenny McPeek, Pitts’ former boss before she struck out on her own, also might have had Curlin in his barn, had he not decided to take a sabbatical before quickly returning to training. “Kenny McPeek was the guy who picked out the horse, and when he came back training horses, Curlin was the only horse that he asked for that he didn’t get back,” Pitts said. “So how does Kenny feel? So the whole thing is just the way that it unfolded. The way the Big Brown thing went down is the way it went down...

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