The Week In Review: Pink Lloyd…Part Horse, Part Machine

Plenty of good horses ran over the Thanksgiving weekend, some of them more talented than Pink Lloyd (Old Forester). But talent is only one part of the recipe that makes a horse special. The other ingredients include heart, charisma, consistency, determination and the ability to over-achieve. A catchy name doesn't hurt, either. And that's why the 5-year-old gelding Pink Lloyd might just be the most likeable horse currently competing in North America.

The GII Kennedy Road S. Saturday at Woodbine may have been overshadowed by richer and more prestigious races, but it was a pretty big deal, especially in Canada. Pink Lloyd wasn't just trying to win a race, he was looking to put his name in the Canadian racing history books.

Trained by Bob Tiller, Pink Lloyd came into the race at seven-for-seven on the year, all of the wins coming in stakes (click here for a pre-race feature by Perry Lefko). Yes, five of them had come against Ontario-breds, but he had won two open races, the Jacques Cartier S. and the GIII Vigil S. Canadian racing historians checked the record books and determined that no horse had ever won eight stakes in a single season at the Canadian tracks. The horseplayers made Pink Lloyd 3-5, but his price was clearly affected by sentiment. This was not an easy spot. Ikerrin Road (Ire) (Iffraaj {GB}) had won three of his last four, including the GIII Bold Venture S., and Tombelaine (First Defence) was shipping up from New York after being claimed for $100,000 by Michael Iavarone.

Yet, Pink Lloyd made it look easy. He stalked the pace and then drew off in the stretch to win by 2 1/4 lengths. Jockey Eurico Da Silva punched his fist in the air as if he had just won the Queen's Plate.

“He has a lot of heart, he has that desire to want to win,” Tiller said prior to the race. “Heart is definitely what he's got. Plenty of it. He's just been a racing machine ever since we got him to the races.”

It's easy to dismiss the accomplishment as something that came in either restricted competition or in open stakes that don't normally attract top American sprinters. All of that may be true, but eight stakes wins in one year is a remarkable achievement and a testament to the courage and will of this particular racehorse.

That the horse is this consistent and durable is even more remarkable when you consider he didn't make his first start until Aug. 28, 2016, when he was four.

“Frank Di Giulio is one of the main owners and I used to get on phone with him and I told him if I can ever get this horse to the races he's going to be a very good horse,” Tiller said. “I really, really liked this horse. He always kept coming up with different problems–shins, hocks, tibia fracture, quarter cracks. He had it all. But we got him there.”

He won his first three starts, lost his next two and has gone undefeated since. With each win, his popularity grew and he's now considered the heavy favorite to be named Canadian Horse of the Year.

“It warms your heart,” Tiller said. “It's a very competitive business, but a lot of people wish me well with this horse. He's really exciting and people love him. People know him. We've had a lot of write-ups in newspapers. Everyone at the track knows him and pulls for him.”

Pink Lloyd broke the record set in 1968 by Viceregal, a son of Northern Dancer, who went eight-for-eight as a 2-year-old, but only seven of the wins came in stakes. He was considered a contender for the GI Kentucky Derby but was injured in his first start at 3-year-old, in a race at Keeneland, and never started again.

Pink Lloyd will not start again this year. Tiller has considered racing him outside of Canada and hasn't ruled out a start somewhere in the U.S. next year. But he's also aware that he can win a pile of money with a similar campaign each year in Canada and doesn't know if he wants to mess with a winning formula.

The Fall Highweight: It Just Doesn't Work Anymore

Back when handicap races were really handicap races–the racing secretaries actually tried to weight the horses to give every starter a reasonable chance–New York's Fall Highweight H. was a unique race that added a little spice to the calender. It's morphed into a race where all that happens is that every starter is given six or seven pounds more than they normally would and isn't even, by definition, a highweight race.

To be an official highweight race someone in the field, whether they run or not, must be assigned 140 pounds. NYRA doesn't bother to do that anymore. Stallwalkin' Dude (City Place), the winner, was the highweight at 134 pounds. The last horse to carry 140 pounds and win the Fall Highweight was Mt. Livermore in 1985.

But what really separates the modern era Fall Highweight from its predecessors is the spread in weights. Stallwalkin' Dude is a quality sprinter who has won eight stakes races. Yet he was assigned nine more pounds than two horses, Great Stuff (Quality Road) and Schivarelli (Montbrook), who last raced in claimers and eight more pounds than another claimer, Hey Jabber Jaw (Mineshaft).

Compare that to 1946 when top weight Polynesian (140 pounds) was asked to spot as many as 34 pounds to another horse in the field. This is not a race for the modern era. Just rename it something like the Ta Wee S. (in memory of the filly who won the race twice) and treat it as any other race. Time to pull the plug.

Uncle Mo… Star Grass Sire?

When Mo Town (Uncle Mo) won Saturday's GI Hollywood Derby at Del Mar, he became the first offspring of Uncle Mo to win a Grade I grass race. But that the 3-year-old has prospered since being switched to the grass by trainer Tony Dutrow should not come as a surprise. It seems Uncle Mo is a lot more versatile a sire than people have given him credit for.

Since Aug. 1, sons or daughters of Uncle Mo have combined for seven grass wins, two of which were registered by Mo Town. He's also got a Grade II grass winner in Mokat (Uncle Mo), the winner of the 2016 GII San Clemente H. According to Thoro-Graph figures, Uncle Mo's win a healthy 16 percent of the time on the turf versus 21 percent of the time on the dirt. Normally, most sires win at a lower percentage with their turf horses than their dirt horses because turf races tend to have bigger fields.

Enticing Win at Churchill

As is usually the case, the GII Kentucky Jockey Club S. at Churchill came up tough and should be a good indicator of who will belong once the road to the GI Kentucky Derby starts in earnest early next year. The Godolphin-Kiaran McLaughlin team obviously has a top prospect in Enticed (Medaglia d'Oro), who edged Tiz Mischief (Into Mischief) by a head. Enticed's dam is It's Tricky, a three-time Grade I winner and a six-time stakes winner. You can't get much better bred than that.

Enticed was last seen running third in the GI Champagne S. The runner-up in that race was Good Magic (Curlin), who came back to win the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile. It makes you wonder what happened to Champagne winner Firenze Fire (Poseidon's Warrior). After winning the Champagne by a half-length, he lost the Juvenile by 20. Something most have gone amiss with him that day and it will be interesting to see what kind of comeback he can mount next year.