Belmont champion Summer Bird (Birdstone) romped home to victory in the Grade 1 Travers at Saratoga on Saturday afternoon, defeating highly regarded competitors Quality Road, Charitable Man, and Kensei.
The “other bird” now suddenly finds himself atop the 3-year-old colt division, having firmly rested that title from Kentucky Derby champion Mine That Bird – at least for the moment.
Big congratulations go out to trainer Tim Ice, who has always believed that his fabulous looking colt deserved a shot to face the best and has not been hesitant to run him against the most formidable foes around in both Rachel Alexandra and Quality Road.
We mentioned in the Haskell write-up that Tim was a stand-up guy that we’d be cheering for from here on out. After all the hype about Quality Road , and after all the attention that folks like me gave Kensei and Charitable Man, it was the good guy in Tim Ice that came out on top. What a year he’s having! 35 years-old and already has a Belmont and a Travers under his belt, not to mention most likely a 3-year-old male Eclipse Award.
Trainer Tim Ice and owners of Belmont Stakes and Travers Stakes champion Summer Bird pose for a picture with our family on the morning of the 2009 Haskell Invitational at Monmouth Park.
Hats off to the fantastic job they’ve done with the son of Birdstone, who seems to be following in his daddy’s footsteps with his victories in the Belmont and Travers.
Summer Bird showed the same tenacity in capturing the Travers that had allowed him to battle gamely for 2nd against Rachel in the Haskell, powering home in 2:02.83. Hold Me Back finished in 2nd with Quality Road and Charitable Man rounding out the superfecta.
As for what might be next? Well, no official word has been released, and likely won’t until they have a chance to check out Summer Bird following the race and ensure everything is sound. I will share that I asked Tim back in July what his long term goals were, and he mentioned the Travers first and foremost, but then also said that they were considering the Goodwood as a prep race for the Breeders’ Cup this fall.
Meanwhile, the procession of winners who last out ran into the dominant filly Rachel Alexandra and then returned to win continues with each passing day. Earlier in the day, the last filly to have defeated Rachel Alexandra, Sara Louise, returned to the winner’s circle by prevailing in the Victory Ride (Grade 3). The list of runners who have returned from facing Rachel to prevail next out just continues to grow and grow, and has become an angle that handicappers cannot ignore. Sara Louise, Gabby’s Golden Gal, Take the Points, Flashing – these are the runners in recent memory to have turned defeat at the hands of Rachel the Great into victory next out.
This is important because one might expect that horses would regress after being defeated as soundly as Rachel has done to them. Instead, the direct opposite has been true, and the filly winds up being flattered nearly every weekend as her legend continues to build.
It serves as a nice buffer to the “she hasn’t beaten anybody” claims that seem to get tossed around about all of the top horses when you can quickly look back and reference a growing pool of recent foes who have acquitted themselves on the race track upon returning from their “blind date with Rachel.”
Unfortunately, Munnings, third place finisher behind both Rachel Alexandra and Summer Bird in the Haskell at Monmouth Park, was not able to continue the string of runners to turn a Rachel encounter into a triumphant return. Vineyard Haven, that tenacious son of Lido Palace who at one point in his 2-year-old campaign adorned the top of nearly every “Derby watch list” one could find, proved that a return to Saratoga was indeed just what the doctor ordered. He powered home on top, but wound up drifting out badly in the lane, only to be disqualified from the win following a determined run from Capt. Candyman Can, who wound up being placed on top by the stewards after an inquiry into the bumper-car action of Vineyard Haven late in the stretch.
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