By Joe Bianca
A high-percentage trainer who holds his own at some of the most competitive meets in America, Tom Amoss is nevertheless known mainly for his work with blue-collar claiming types, not the precocious juveniles and sophomores that get racing fans excited for the future. That perception likely changed some with a GI Kentucky Oaks victory this spring, and it may shift further after a weekend in which the Amoss barn unveiled two potential stars to promising first-out victories at Churchill Downs.
First up in the Saturday finale under the Twin Spires was Ghost Hollow Farm's Risky Mandate (Strong Mandate). Her morning-line price of 5-1 chopped nearly in half by post time, the 3-year-old dark bay filly ran to the money, settling professionally off the speed, taking dirt and sweeping to the lead mostly on her own power past the eighth pole before drawing away to win wrapped up by 6 1/4 lengths.
“It was a fun race because there were a lot of expectations there, and she clearly lived up to it, if not maybe a little more,” Amoss said.
Heading into her debut, Risky Mandate showed a sharp but intermittent worktab, with 11 breezes on the page that went all the way back to April of 2018. Amoss said his filly was ready to make her debut as a 2-year-old in June when it was discovered she had White Line Disease, an affliction that physically eats away at a horse's foot.
“When you take the shoe off, the foot is decaying and crumbles, almost like ash,” Amoss described. “It's a fungal disease and you have to kill it, and by the time we had done all that, she really had half a foot.”
That effectively put an end to Risky Mandate's juvenile season, a harsh disappointment for her connections, given what she'd shown and the company she'd kept in the mornings.
“We thought very highly of her,” Amoss said. “She was a workmate of [Oaks winner] Serengeti Empress's and they were a lot alike in what they were showing. But the old saying is either you wait on your horse or he's going to make you wait on him, and when they make you wait on them, it's going to take a lot longer than that. The owners did the right thing and took care of their horse, brought her back, and fortunately in her 3-year-old year she prepared just like she did in her 2-year-old year.”
Kevin and Tammy Jones's nascent Ghost Hollow Farm bought Risky Mandate's dam, the aptly-named Paying Off (Malibu Moon), for $60,000 at Keeneland November in 2015. They have a small, boutique farm and breeding operation in the Lexington area and bring two to five yearlings to race every year, while selling some commercially as well.
“This one's not for sale,” Amoss said with a laugh. “People have been calling all week, there have been like 20 calls.”
Amoss added that Risky Mandate, who earned an 80 Beyer for her effort, will ship up to Saratoga and target a first-level allowance, with eyes toward stretching out and running in stakes later in the year.
In Sunday's second race at Churchill, Amoss saddled BCWT Ltd.'s Long Weekend (Majesticperfection). Also heavily supported–down to 8-5 favoritism from a 7-2 morning line–the bay also won by a wide margin. Well, technically, at least.
About a furlong into the race, Dennis' Moment (Tiznow), highly touted pre-race by trainer Dale Romans, clipped heels along the rail and stumbled, unseating jockey Robby Albarado. Long Weekend, meanwhile, had made a break for it and arrived at the top of the stretch in full control. Dennis' Moment, who briefly looked as though he'd drop back in the field, rallied riderless into the lane and started to get to Long Weekend in deep stretch, essentially drawing on even terms as the pair crossed the wire.
“I've been beaten every kind of way you can get beaten in a race through my career, so I'm like, 'This will be a new one if this horse causes us a problem,'” Amoss said. “I felt terrible for Dale; we're friends and we compared notes on our two horses and that's not the way I wanted to win. Fortunately, the horse will be back and get another chance to do it.”
Bought for $225,000 at OBS April after breezing a quarter-mile in :20 3/5, Long Weekend will also ship up to the Spa with designs on running in either the GIII Sanford S. July 13 or the GII Saratoga Special S. Aug. 10.
“I've got to give the credit to Lauren Carlisle, who bought him at the 2-year-old in training sale,” Amoss said. “She picked him out and gave him a real high grade and said, 'This is a can't miss,' and she was right.”
BCWT is the ownership name of the Webber family, who Amoss trained for in the 1990s and 2000s and whose patriarch Temple Webber died in 2014.
“This is my first horse to have for their family since he passed away,” Amoss said. “It's a group that's his wife and their kids. Very exciting.”
Thanks to last weekend, Amoss, who also works as a co-host on NYRA's live broadcasts at Saratoga, will have a few more reasons to look forward to heading up north this summer.
“It's exciting for me,” he said. “I'm not used to having a weekend where I have two promising horses do something like that.”
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