By Accepting Challenge, Exaggerator Goes to Head of Class

Exaggerator | Equi-Photo

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OCEANPORT, NJ–They were going to go in the GII Jim Dandy S. at Saratoga, not a soft spot, but not a difficult one either. And if the Exaggerator (Curlin) team wanted to pick up some really easy money they could have waited around for next week's

GII West Virginia Derby, where they give away $750,000 and this colt would have been 1-20. That's the sort of route most people in racing look for these days, the easiest spot, the biggest purse, the smallest field. It's a mentality that has overtaken the sport and is bad for the game.

Which is why it was so refreshing to see Exaggerator in Saturday's GI Betfair.com Haskell Invitational at Monmouth. The connections, trainer Keith Desormeaux and owners Big Chief Racing LLC and Head of Plains Partners, decided to come to the Jersey Shore because they wanted to challenge their horse. Though the Haskell is worth $1 million, it wasn't easy money. Far from it. For them, coming here was all about proving how good they thought their horse was. That's why this win was not only important and impressive but deserving.

“We talked about it and said to be the best you've got to beat the best,” said Matt Bryan, who heads up the Big Chief Team.

So they put Exaggerator on a van, left Saratoga and bowed out of the $600,000 Jim Dandy, a race they very likely would have won considering the victor was a maiden, Laoban (Uncle Mo). It might have had something to do with the observation Desormeaux had made that Exaggerator wasn't fond of the Saratoga surface. But then again, he's already a graded stakes winner in Saratoga, having won the GII Saratoga Special there last year. He can't hate the track that much.

“I stand by what I said earlier,” Bryan said. “Keith and I wanted to win another Grade I to give us a leg of the 3-year-old championship.

So they didn't duck Nyquist (Uncle Mo), they took him, and they won a by a knockout. There's plenty of racing this year, but nothing about Nyquist right now suggests he's headed to a championship. The other big name in the Haskell, Gun Runner (Candy Ride {Arg}) also got beat fair and square as he was fifth.

Yes, Exaggerator got another fast pace to chase as Nyquist shot to the front in 22 3/5 and 46 3/5 and he was hounded by the Bob Baffert-trained American Freedom (Pulpit). But there was no doubt who the best horse was. If Nyquist were indeed as good as many people thought he was after his win in the GI Kentucky Derby he would have hung in there a lot better than he did. He finished fourth. American Freedom was the one who fought, finishing second, losing by just 1 1/2 lengths.

“He ran great,” said his trainer, Bob Baffert. “Too bad he had to do all the dirty work.”

American Freedom did run well, but Exaggerator was better and, at least for now, is the best 3-year-old colt in America.

Not that everyone will agree. There's no doubt that Exaggerator got another perfect trip, but what the critics will more likely jump on is the fact that once he again he won a big race in the mud.

“I tell you, if anyone is having a drought, they better schedule a big 3-year-old race and make sure Exaggerator comes,” quipped Baffert. “That will take care of the drought.”

Okay, so Exaggerator runs well in the mud. On tracks that were either listed as muddy or sloppy, he has won the

GI Haskell, the GIII Delta Jackpot, the GI Santa Anita Derby and the GI Preakness and he was second in the GI Breeders' Futurity last year. But to write him off as a mud freak–and just a mud freak–would be unfair. It's not the horse's fault that it rains so often when he races and it's not like he hasn't run some good races on dry tracks. He won the Saratoga Special on a fast track and was second in the Kentucky Derby on a dry surface.

“They don't know much about horse racing if they say that,” Bryan said of anyone who wants to accuse his horse of just being a mud lover. “This track today was nothing like the one in the Preakness The Pimlico track was literally ankle deep. I just walked out there (on the Monmouth track) and my shoe isn't even dirty.”

The GI Travers will be next for Exaggerator and even though Desormeaux has voiced some concerns about how his horse handles the track he might just have that race in his back pocket. It seems highly unlikely that Nyquist will go, it's still hard to get excited about Laoban and GI Belmont winner Creator (Tapit) finished last in the Jim Dandy. A Travers would might just seal the 3-year-old championship for Exaggerator.

Bryan is a relative newcomer to racing. He's been in the game about five years. Challenge a horse, do the sporting thing, walk away from easy money? Looks like he still has a lot to learn.

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