The brilliant colt that should never have lost the Belmont Stakes snapped back and crackled like a sheet of lightning yesterday to run away with the $1 million, Grade 1 Haskell Invitational, proving there is justice after all, even on the racetrack.
The horse, Paynter, gave the 35,253 trackside fans at Monmouth Park the thrill of the day with a powerhouse performance and his trainer, Bob Baffert, his record sixth Haskell, the third in a row.
Paynter, the even-money favorite, blew the script when he hesitated at the gate and lost all chance to seize the lead, as everyone, including his jockey Rafael Bejarano expected. Suddenly caught in traffic, he had to ease off, leaving Gemologist to stride free and set the easy fractions.
Didn’t mean a thing to horse or rider. Bejarano just settled Paynter off Gemologist’s flank, sat there all the way round the oval till the three-eighths pole, when Bejarano set him down for some real galloping and Paynter cruised off like an Olympic sprinter to get the nine furlongs in 1:48.87.
Visually, it looked as good a run as any 3-year-old this season. This is some horse.
“It was unbelievable,” said Baffert’s assistant trainer, Jimmy Barnes.
“Just brilliant.” Bejarano said. “I had so much horse under me. He won so easily.”
The victory, by nearly four lengths, was some compensation for Paynter’s outrageous luck in the Belmont when he had the race sewn up, only to have his jockey steer him off the rail late and allow Union Rags to sneak by and stick his head in front. His loss was the “crime” of the Triple Crown.
Nonios, the Californian shipper, struggled on to get a distant second with the longest shot on the board, Stealcase, at 28-1, almost five lengths farther back in third. The margins reflect Paynter’s overwhelming superiority. He just crushed them, raising the specter of what he might do the rest of the year.
Gemologist, who battled for favoritism in the early betting with Paynter but ended up second choice at 2-1, threw in a shocker to match his Kentucky Derby flop. He had an easy lead through sleepy fractions — the half in 48.1 — but when Paynter applied the pressure he folded quicker than a Macy’s towel. Javier Castellano cracked him with the whip a couple of times without response and Gemologist slowly faded to finish dead last.
Trainer Todd Pletcher sucked it up.
“We just ran out of horse at the top of the stretch,” he said. “We’re going to have to regroup.”
He can say that again.
Dullahan, third favorite at 7-2, showed nothing. Is there a bigger disappointment this season? He settled lengths off the pace, his customary gait, then when asked, gave zilch. He finished a length or so in front of the dismal Gemologist. Boy, the horseplayers have lost a fortune on Dullahan.
“When I asked him to run,’’ jockey Kent Desormeaux said, “he came up empty.’’
His trainer, Dale Romans, said plaintively, “We’re disappointed in him. We’ll have to regroup and figure out what to do next.”
Suggestion Dale: Keep him on synthetics or switch him to grass.
Perhaps the real hero of the Haskell was the absentee trainer Baffert, who for the first time could not come to the Jersey shore, following his heart attack in March. He has now won three straight Haskells, still some distance from Woody Stephens’ record five straight Belmonts, but don’t underestimate the Silver Fox.
Baffert had the worst luck of his life through the Triple Crown, when his horses Bodemeister and Paynter finished second in them. Yet he is still having the run of his life, pressing Pletcher for top earnings with nearly $9.5 million. His stable is loaded with quality horses all across the spectrum, from 2-year-olds to older stayers.
He is just amazing. There may not be a trainer alive since Stephens who did what Baffert did with Paynter. He set him up for the Haskell with four blazing bullet works, three of them at 6 furlongs, the other at 5 furlongs. He had the horse battle hard and razor sharp for the Haskell.
Perhaps no one was more startled than Castellano on Gemologist. “When Paynter broke so slow, I had to go to the lead,” he said. “I had no choice. Plan A was to sit just off Paynter but I had to go immediately to Plan B. The first part of the race, he was so comfortable. I was so happy. But when I asked him to quicken, he just didn’t have his normal kick.”
In the end, Baffert had the last word from Del Mar, where he watched the Haskell on television.
“When you win the Haskell, even for the sixth time, it always feels like the first one. They’re all exciting and they never get old. Paynter showed the world that he is a serious horse. He can go longer and handle a mile and a quarter [the distance of the Travers]. He can handle anything you throw at him.”
Just like his trainer.