Similar Trajectory, Different Orbits for McKinzie, Mr. Money

[Wandering Eyes]

The Week in Review, by T.D. Thornton

Four-time Grade I-winning 4-year-old McKinzie (Street Sense) has always been saddled with high expectations, while 3-year-old Mr. Money (Goldencents) has now achieved millionaire status by grinding out four consecutive Grade III victories.

Convincing wins on Saturday gave each horse a divisional foothold, with McKinzie establishing himself as the top two-turn older dirt horse who might finally be getting comfortable with kingpin status, and Mr. Money carving out a niche as the late-blooming sophomore who appears primed to punch above his weight thanks to a confidence-building campaign that has him honed for a shot at better horses and bigger purses.

McKinzie got his name in 2017 when owners Karl Watson, Mike Pegram and Paul Weitman decided to christen their $170,000 KEESEP colt after the late Brad McKinzie, a longtime friend who had been an executive for Los Alamitos Race Course. They actually came up with this idea in tandem with trainer Bob Baffert while attending Brad McKinzie’s funeral after he died from cancer at age 62.

“We didn’t know if we were going to call him ‘Big Brad’ or ‘McKinzie’,” Baffert said. “We thought ‘McKinzie’ has got a stronger name. I think Brad would have preferred ‘McKinzie.’ I actually think he got a little bit faster once we named him.”

You knew those connections wouldn’t pay respects to a friend in that manner if they didn’t think the horse had the ability to honor the moniker. Yet while McKinzie achieved ‘TDN Rising Star’ status early on, he had a star-crossed 2018 GI Kentucky Derby prep season, both winning and losing stakes via disqualification, then getting knocked off the Triple Crown trail because of a leg injury. He resurfaced to win the GI Pennsylvania Derby, then was twelfth, beaten 31 lengths, in last year’s GI Breeders’ Cup Classic.

Although that Breeders’ Cup trouncing remains the only race in McKinzie’s 12-race career in which he hasn’t finished first or second, the colt didn’t project a true aura of authority until this May. Racing off a two-month layoff, he lost the Apr. 6 GI Santa Anita H. by a nose bob over a very deep and tiring track. Then he scored in the May 3 GII Alysheba S. at Churchill Downs by seeking the lead, conceding it on the backstretch, then powering home late under a hand drive.

McKinzie’s GI Metropolitan H. second on June 8 was a near miss at a one-turn mile (not his best distance) after being blocked and boxed in for most of his Belmont Park stretch run behind sharp winner Mitole (Eskendereya). For Saturday’s GI Whitney S., McKinzie was bet down to .85-1 favoritism in a race that didn’t have a clearly defined pacemaker on paper.

McKinzie broke sharply and was allowed to float out to the four path on the clubhouse turn. He emerged from a four-way go to take the initiative entering the backstretch, then jockey Mike Smith, similar to his Alysheba tactics, once again conceded the lead and switched from the inside to the two path to mildly pressure new frontrunner Preservationist (Arch). Smith let the gap expand to two lengths a half-mile out, then edged closer as the cadence quickened into the far turn.

At the head of the lane in the Whitney, McKinzie was third from the rail in a five-horse line, but he had built the most momentum and used it to roll home, opening up under his own power with only hand encouragement from Smith to win by 1 3/4 lengths.

The preliminary 111 Beyer Speed Figure he earned equates to the second-highest in the nation this year for a two-turn dirt route, behind only by City of Light (Quality Road)’s 112 in the GI Pegasus World Cup.

Baffert said he wants to give McKinzie one yet-to-be-determined start before the Breeders’ Cup in November at Santa Anita.

Meanwhile, in West Virginia…

While McKinzie has an ambitiously high bar to clear to live up to his name, it’s safe to say that the well-spotted Mr. Money is already living up to his. After veering away from the Triple Crown trail earlier this spring, his connections, owner Allied Racing Stable and trainer Bret Calhoun, have judiciously selected a series of Grade III spots, and the colt has won each of them by open lengths while being heavily favored in his last three.

Prior to Saturday’s GIII West Virginia Derby win that pushed Mr. Money’s career earnings to $1,074,220, Calhoun told Horse Racing Nation that, “Going to a Grade I and getting your butt kicked is no fun. I’m not saying that would happen, but I just think if you put yourself in a position to win, that’s a lot funner than going up against insurmountable odds sometimes. There’s nothing wrong with running for $500,000 purses and putting that money in the bank. Not to say it’s automatic, but obviously you know you’re going in there as one of the favorites.”

The last time he started north of even money, Mr. Money was seen soaring home 5 1/4 lengths in front at Churchill Downs in the GIII Pat Day Mile S. on the first Saturday in May. That win might be perceived by some as a “path of lesser resistance” alternative to the Derby, but for Mr. Money it served as a springboard to his current four-race win streak.

Subsequent scores in the June 15 GIII Matt Winn S. and July 13 GIII Indiana Derby both earned Mr. Money respectable Beyer Speed Figures of 99 (the latter while hounded by a loose horse). His stalking, pounce-at-will romp Saturday at Mountaineer Park came back with another preliminary 99 rating, underscoring the colt’s consistency.

The GI Pennsylvania Derby Sept. 21 at Parx now looms as Mr. Money’s return to tougher competition. That race is listed as the GI Runhappy Travers S. alternate for DQ’d Kentucky Derby winner Maximum Security (New Year’s Day) if he doesn’t start at Saratoga, and it almost always draws strong support from Baffert’s deep roster of sophomores (he’s won three Pennsylvania Derbies, including the last two runnings).

Now the real puzzler…

It didn’t take a degree beyond Handicapping 101 to come up with either McKinzie or Mr. Money Saturday. But the true racetrack riddle is this: Why does Mountaineer, year after year, consistently schedule its biggest race of the season to go off in direct conflict with the Whitney, Saratoga’s nationally televised feature that is the obvious focal point of the sport every first Saturday of August?

Mountaineer has a solid simulcast following as a night-time track. In what is likely an attempt to boost the on-track experience, West Virginia Derby day gets routinely carded as an afternoon program. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with that switch if that’s the intent. But does anyone in track management there know how to consult a post-time schedule so as to maximize the simulcasting revenue from the track’s only $500,000 race?

When entries were drawn for Saturday’s races, the Whitney was scheduled for 5:46 p.m.; the West Virginia Derby for 5:35 p.m. That was too close to begin with if Mountaineer intended to vie for the same audience of eyeballs and simulcast dollars. But the conflict became even more accentuated when Mountaineer got backed up by 10 or so minutes during the course of the day. So when it came time to hang up a post time for its feature, the track went with 25 minutes for the West Virginia Derby, mirroring in lockstep the exact same post time for the Whitney.

It didn’t matter that Mountaineer ended up holding the horses behind the gate for an extra 120 seconds or so while the Whitney went off promptly on scheduled post time. The West Virginia Derby horses were sent away from the gate just as the Whitney field was in deep stretch, making it impossible for anyone who wanted to devote full attention (and bankroll) to both races. There’s no telling how much in handle this easily preventable conflict keeps costing Mountaineer.

Ideally, simulcast race scheduling should follow the law of the high seas: Smaller crafts must yield the right of way to bigger ships. Saratoga is not going to adjust its race schedule to make way for Mountaineer. It’s the responsibility of the smaller vessel to be more nimble and flexible.

And it’s not as if this conflict was a one-off, one time event. In 2017, the West Virginia Derby went off at 5:45 p.m., barely one minute ahead of the Whitney. In 2018, the two tracks would have been on a similar collision course, but a lightning storm at Saratoga kept the horses in the paddock prior to the Whitney for an unexpected and extended delay. It shouldn’t require an act of God to for Mountaineer to reap the benefits of a nearly one-hour gap between those two stakes. But apparently, that’s what it takes.

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