Yanakov Philosophical About Travers Longshot

SARATOGA SPRINGS, New York–It matters not to owner-trainer Mikhail Yanakov that his Anaximandros (Hard Spun) is the longest shot in the field–50-1, to be exact–in the $1.25-million GI Travers S. at Saratoga Race Course.

“No, because nobody knows me,” he said Wednesday morning.

Fair point. Midway through his second year as a trainer, Yanakov, a native of Russia of Greek descent now based in Florida, is trying major league Grade I racing for the first time. And it's a double dose at the Spa. Fifty-five minutes before Anaximandros tackles 13 others in America's oldest horse for 3-year-olds, he will saddle Applicator in the $1-million GI Sword Dancer S.

Named for an ancient Greek philosopher, Anaximandros, has won two of five starts, both against older horses at Gulfstream Park and was fourth in his lone stakes start, the GII West Virginia Derby. Yanakov, 40, said his colt did not adapt well to Mountaineer Park after shipping in a few days before the race and ended up seventh lengths behind front-running Cupid (Tapit).

“I wanted to bring him a little bit earlier, but the racing office said, 'You need to wait until after the entries. If you're in, you can come,'” he said. “That's why we waited and I brought him too close [to the race] and went into the race not at 100%.”

Careful not to repeat that mistake, Yanakov has made sure that Anaximandro has had time to adjust to Saratoga.

“I brought him two weeks ago,” he said. “Over here I see him more happy.”

That positive report was a mix of good news and bad news, a coulda, woulda, shoulda explanation.

“I see a much better horse than how he ran in West Virginia,” he said. “If I had been able to bring him when I wanted him and had him in the same condition as how I ran him at Gulfstream, he would have been, for sure, second, for sure. I don't know if we beat [Cupid], or not, but, for sure, he would have been second.”

Yanakov acknowledged that he is asking a lot of his colt, sending him out against against the likes of GI Preakness S. winner Exaggerator (Curlin) and the first two finishers in the GI Belmont S., Creator (Tapit) and Destin (Giant's Causeway).

“Yeah, it's a tougher race, no question, and I would like him to have more weight on his body, but I want to try it, where we are right now,” he said. “I'm not saying we know something, but I want to see where we are.”

A major reason why Anaximandros is in the Travers, is something that might deter others: distance.

“Listen, I can't find any other mile and a quarter races in this country,” he said. “This is the last chance and I want to see him in the mile and a quarter.”

Yanakov has a interesting backstory that began in Stavropol, a Russian city 870 miles south of Moscow. While growing up in a family with a construction business, he fell in love with horses and said he knew all the champions in Europe and the U.S. and learned about breeding and bloodlines. In 2009, after moving away from competing on motorcycles and in car racing, he came to the U.S. and, with support from a partner back home, bought 50 horses at the Keeneland November to export to Russia.

“I saw how the industry was going here and I thought that next year I would buy horses and keep them here,” he said, laughing as he explained that there was very little purse money available in Russia. That situation is changing now with the advent of gambling on the sport.

While delving into breeding, Yanakov had a racing stable, Olympia Star. His mare, Dance to My Tune, purchased for $200,000 at the 2009 Keeneland November sale, finished second to Zenyatta in the 2010 GI Santa Margarita. The ridgling Skipshot, who he now stands as a stallion, won the GII Swaps S. in 2010.

In the last couple of years, Yanakov has scaled back his Olympia Star business, which he said he grew too fast. He has 30 broodmares and and 15 horses in training, many of them 2-year-olds he has bred. Typically, he buys mares in foal to stallions he likes, sells the foals as yearlings, and breeds the mares back to his stallion. Last year, he became a breeder-owner-trainer.

“I'm a breeder first,” he said. “Now I train myself because I see things a little bit different. I came every morning to see what the trainers of my horses were doing. I didn't want to say, 'I don't like this.' I said, 'Listen, let me try myself.'”