Trainer Bob Hess Jr. clearly knew he had something special in his two-year-old Boys at Tosconova to debut him in front of a record Kentucky Oaks-day crowd in the Grade 3 Kentucky Juvenile Stakes at Churchill Downs. But watching the longshot’s considerably rattled nerves – not surprising for an unraced horse who was seeing and hearing 116,000+ people all at once – in the warm-up, I could only think that jockey Kent Desormeaux had a few unkind thoughts towards his agent for getting him that mount. I took this photo before the race:
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| Boys at Tosconova prior to the Kentucky Juvenile S. on April 30, 2010. |
Sadly for Hess, who purchased the son of Officer for $35,000 as a yearling, and Desormeaux, after the second-place effort here a 75% interest in the colt was sold to Jay Em Ess, for whom he broke his maiden at Belmont by 12 lengths and won the Hopeful S.-G1 at Saratoga today for trainer/jockey team Rick Dutrow Jr. and Ramon Dominguez.
I love all your photos, FJK. BOT was fun to watch today, too bad he's with a trainer who is not among my favorites, to put it mildly.
ReplyDeleteI don't think he's among anyone's favorites, babe :) And it's always harder to root for the guy who gets the ready-made horses -- anyone can train 'em after someone else spots and develops their talent.
ReplyDeleteFrances, you have a knack for seemingly being in the right spot with your camera all the time. Great pix and description of his antics.
ReplyDeleteEven a blind squirrel finds an acorn every so often.
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