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Da Hoss
One of the most remarkable racetrack stories of modern times is that of Da Hoss. Plagued by constant injuries and physical problems, the gelded son of Gone West nonetheless pulled off one of the most remarkable doubles in Breeders’ Cup history. His story reflects a unique partnership between a trainer of masterful skill and a horse that simply would not be denied. Foaled on January 18, 1992, Da Hoss first saw the light of day at Fares Farm near Lexington, Kentucky. He was the third foal of Jolly Saint (by Welsh Saint), who had won the C. L. Weld Stakes (Ire-III) in Europe and the Boiling Springs Stakes (gr. IIIT) in the USA but up to that point had produced nothing of any great quality. Her first foal, Jolly Wally, never raced, while her second foal, X. S. Baggage, had not started by the time Da Hoss came up for sale as a yearling in 1993. Not only were Da Hoss’ siblings less than outstanding, but he himself was not a particularly attractive individual. He was rather small with a turned-out right forefoot. He was also extremely high-strung, a trait that resulted in his being gelded before he ever raced. Further, Da Hoss had already encountered his share of hard luck. As a foal, he had gotten a piece of gravel embedded in his right forefoot; infection set in, and a third of his coffin bone had to be scraped away before the injury would heal. So despite the fact that Gone West had already sired European champion Zafonic and the good handicapper West by West, it is perhaps not surprising that Da Hoss was knocked down for a mere $6,000 at the Keeneland September sale to trainer Kevin Eikleberry, acting as agent for Wall Street Racing Stable. Two months later, Da Hoss was sent to the Arizona Thoroughbred Breeders’ Association (ATBA) fall mixed sale but was bought back for $13,000. Da Hoss made three starts as a juvenile, winning all three. The company he kept was far from exceptional, but in his third start, the ATBA Sales Stakes, he hung up a time of 1:07-1/5, believed to be a world record for a two-year-old over six furlongs. Unfortunately, he had also begun to have trouble with his hocks. He had already developed bone spurs in them while in training as a yearling, and for the rest of his career, he would struggle with arthritis in his hocks. Many of the other physical problems he suffered as a racehorse can be attributed to his attempts to adapt and take stress off his sore hind legs. Regardless of his physical problems, Da Hoss still had shown ability, and Prestonwood Farm purchased an 85% interest in him for $235,000 early in 1995. (Wall Street Racing retained the remaining 15% interest throughout the horse’s racing career.) The sale resulted in the horse’s transfer to the barn of Michael Dickerson. Known as the “Mad Genius” during his early days as a trainer in England, Dickerson proved himself “crazy like a fox” when it came to managing Da Hoss. No one will ever know if any other trainer could have brought out the talent lurking in the little gelding’s fragile body, but in Da Hoss, Dickerson produced a masterpiece of the trainer’s art. As a three-year-old, however, Da Hoss was still a work in progress, and it took some time for Dickerson to confirm that his new charge was best suited to the turf. Although Da Hoss won the Jersey Derby (gr. IIT) and the Del Mar Invitational Derby (gr. IIT) and ran second in the Hollywood Derby (gr. IT), an early-season victory in the Best Turn Stakes (gr. III) provided enough encouragement to keep trying Da Hoss on the dirt. He managed four placings in graded dirt events during the year, but he reached the nadir of his career in the Breeders’ Cup Sprint (gr. I), finishing dead last after proving wholly unable to handle the footing. It was the only time in his racing career that he did not finish in the top three. Da Hoss emerged from the race with his various physical problems resurfacing, and did not make his first start of 1996 until July 4, when he ran third in the Poker Handicap (gr. IIIT). He then won the Fourstardave Stakes (gr. IIIT) at Saratoga, followed by the listed Pennsylvania Governor’s Cup before going to the sidelines in early September with a baffling case of hind-end lameness that defied precise diagnosis. Dickerson tried a number of different treatments, and something -- or perhaps simply “tincture of time” -- apparently worked. Da Hoss re-emerged in unspectacular fashion at the Belmont fall meet, running third in the Kelso Handicap (gr. IIIT). By this point in Da Hoss’s career, there was no question that he was a nice grass horse. However, he had never shown anything approaching championship form or even won a grade I race, and had anyone been paying him any particular attention, they might have questioned Dickerson’s sanity in pointing him to the Breeders’ Cup Mile (gr. IT). But all eyes were focused on champion Cigar, who would be making his final start in the 1996 Breeders’ Cup Classic (gr. I), and any leftover attention was reserved for the likes of European champion miler Mark of Esteem (Ire), the favorite for the Mile. Da Hoss was just another name on the entry list. Dickerson knew his horse, however, and he also knew the course. A stickler for detail (the racing press in his native England had nicknamed him “Picky Dicky“), he had walked the Woodbine turf oval repeatedly the morning before the race in company with assistant Joan Wakefield, who was wearing high heels so that Dickerson could gauge the exact amount of “give” in turf officially rated as “good.” Based on his evaluation of the surface, Dickerson gave jockey Gary Stevens precise instructions: drop to the rail for the early going, then angle out for the stretch run. Stevens followed his directions to perfection, and Da Hoss did the rest, defeating Irish Two Thousand Guineas (Ire-I) winner Spinning World by one and one-half lengths. Although Da Hoss was passed over in the Eclipse Award voting for champion turf male in favor of Fastness (Ire), he had nonetheless established his place as one of America’s best turf runners. But once again his fragile legs betrayed him. Even though he trained exclusively over the forgiving wood-chip surface of the track at Dickerson’s private Maryland training center, he kept getting hurt. Three separate injuries in February, June, and September kept him sidelined throughout 1997, and just when it looked as though he might be able to stage a return in May of 1998, the horse pulled up from a work with a recurrence of an earlier tendon problem. Dickerson refused to admit defeat. Nursing Da Hoss along with the timing of a master magician, he brought the gelding back to racing form step by careful step, beginning with a month‘s walking and a month‘s jogging before returning to serious training. The tendon stiffness seemed to work itself out, and by October, Da Hoss was ready to go. Planned starts in the Cliffhanger Handicap at The Meadowlands and a Belmont Park allowance race were washed out by rain, but Dickerson, familiar with the unpredictable autumn weather of the northeastern United States, was once again ahead of the game. He had asked the racing secretary at Virginia’s Colonial Downs, Lenny Hale, to write a race suitable for Da Hoss during the same week as the other two races, and when the Cliffhanger and the Belmont allowance came off the turf due to rain, Da Hoss headed for Virginia, where he won the allowance race Hale had carded by an easy three-quarters of a length. Da Hoss was back, but was he back to his best? Most people didn’t believe so, including the Breeders’ Cup selection committee, which after all had twenty-six nominees to choose from for the Mile. Refusing to give Da Hoss an automatic entry to the race, they named him as first alternate to the field, and his fate was uncertain until the connections of Gentlemen (Arg) (who was dual-entered for the Mile and the Classic) opted for the Classic. That left a hole in the field, and Da Hoss was in. The gelding was in the race, but not in with the bettors, who dismissed him at odds of 11.60-to-1. Although the field for the 1998 Mile was considered a weak one by the standards of previous years, the smart money was on the likes of Irish Two Thousand Guineas winner Desert Prince (Ire), Woodbine Mile (gr. IT) winner Labeeb (GB), and 1997 Horse of the Year Favorite Trick, who would start as the favorite off a strong win in the Keeneland Breeders’ Cup Mile (gr. IIT). Even former partner Gary Stevens abandoned Da Hoss, choosing to ride the Sussex Stakes (Eng-I) winner Among Men, and the mount on Da Hoss was taken up by John Velazquez. But Da Hoss fought back against the doubters, against his own fragility, and against all odds. Taking the lead at the top of the stretch, the “little gelding that could” was headed in the stretch by multiple graded winner Hawksley Hill (Ire) but dug in to win by a nose, causing race announcer Tom Durkin to exclaim, “This is the greatest comeback since Lazarus!” Immediately following the race, Dickerson announced plans to point Da Hoss towards an unprecedented third victory in the Mile, but it was not to be; in fact, Da Hoss never raced again. The wear and tear on the gelding’s arthritic hocks proved to be too much to overcome, and in mid-October of 1999, Da Hoss was officially retired. He left racing with twelve wins and seven placings from twenty starts and today resides at the Kentucky Horse Park. Other horses have compiled more spectacular records, but none have better demonstrated the Thoroughbred’s great heart. © 2005 by Avalyn Hunter |
