Sunday, May 20, 2012

Willes: Mario Gutierrez’s story already beyond any fairytale

By Ed Willes, The Province May 19, 2012

Fans of Vancouver jockey Mario Gutierrez watch him race to victory in the Preakness on the big screen at Hastings Park on Saturday.

Photograph by: Les Bazso , PNG

Shortly after the race that changed Mario Gutierrez’s life — Part 1 — Glen Todd told the jock Hollywood would come calling for him.
And he wasn’t talking about Hollywood Park.
But even Todd, who had a front-row seat for the amazing journey of the young rider, was having trouble processing the second act of the most remarkable horse-racing story of this year, last year or any year going back to Secretariat.
Saturday in Baltimore, Gutierrez, the jockey who was making $125 a week as an apprentice in Mexico City six years ago and who was stuck out at Hastings Racecourse as recently as last year, rode I’ll Have Another to victory at the Preakness.
The win, which came two weeks after its equally improbable win in the Kentucky Derby, gives the Windsor-based horse a chance to become the first Triple Crown winner since Affirmed in 1978.
He’ll also try to become the 12th horse in racing history to win the Crown. This will happen in three weeks at The Belmont.
Those, at least, are the facts of the story.
As for the details, the best writer on his best day would have trouble crafting this narrative.
“It’s unbelievable,” Todd said at Hastings with the grandstand still shaking with excitement.
“You can’t believe it. It’s like Mario said, ‘If this is a dream, don’t wake me up.’
“But I had faith. Everything is falling into place. It’s like you know the result before it happens. He’s going to win the Triple Crown. I know it.”
And who would doubt him at this point?
Saturday, in virtual replay of the Derby, Gutierrez and his horse ran down the favored Bodemeister, catching him over the final 100 yards and winning by a neck. Three thousand miles away, the crowd of 10,000 at Hastings were on its feet for the entire race and exploded as the chestnut crossed the finish line.
“This is the greatest thing to happen to us,” said Wayne Russell, the senior steward who’s been at the Vancouver track since 1963.
“This is the most unbelievable shot in the arm.”
Gutierrez was back at Hastings shortly after his win at The Derby. He still calls Russell, Poppa Wayne. You can’t make this stuff up.
“He’s like Bobby Orr,” Todd said of Gutierrez. “He’s gifted. The horse knows. The last guy I could see do that with his hands was (Hall of Fame jockey) Bill Shoemaker.
“This is something else. It’s like coming out of the Mexican (baseball) league to Nat Bailey to Game 7 of the World Series in one year.”
And it just keeps getting better.
Todd, the leading owner at Hastings, snapped up Gutierrez when he came to Vancouver six years ago and now considers him part of his extended family. He was there when the young jock struggled with his early success — “I said, ‘You’re not going down that road and he listened. He was there when Gutierrez emerged as the top rider at Hastings. And he was there when he moved to Los Angeles to race in the big leagues.
He’s seen it all. But it still seems surreal; still seems too good to be true. In the run-up to The Preakness, Todd had race fans making a pilgrimage to his joint, The Derby Bar and Grill, to bet fifty bucks on the, “Canadian kid.”

He received a five-page letter from an elderly women in Victoria, telling him how much Gutierrez’s win had meant to her. She didn’t have a computer or access to e-mail, but somehow tracked him down after she heard Todd’s interview on CBC.
“I’m not an emotional man, but I’ve tears in my eyes a few times in the last couple of weeks,” Todd said.
He hasn’t been alone. A week after winning the Derby, Gutierrez returned to his former track and broke down at the outpouring of emotion. On Saturday, Todd said he’ll have him back before The Belmont.
“It seemed to work last time,” he said.
“It’s a fairy-tale story, but it’s real,” Todd continued. “Why shouldn’t it go on? He has the horse. And the best part about this? It won’t change Mario. He’ll be able to drive a more expensive car, but he won’t change.”
Even if everything around him does change.

Now THIS was a hehelluva horse race

It's been kind of a tradition in my family to watch the Derby every year and this year's race was a real thriller. I'll Have Another won it and I was thrilled because of his Canadian connections. Jockey Mario Gutierrez left Mexico and rode at Hastings Park in Vancouver imagine how thrilling it would be to be a total unknown, pick up a ride in the Derby and jump out and win it. This vid is of the Derby. Just watch how Mario sits chilly and sends I'll Have Another at just the right time. WOW!

Of course after that thriller I just HAD to watch The Preakness, and it did not disappoint. For a while it looked like Bodemeister, trained by long time big guy at the track Bob Baffert, had it but then along came I'll Have Another to take it away in the last few yards. It was so exciting I was yelling at the TV for Mario to send him, send him, send him, go baby, go baby, GO BABY!

Canadian-owned I’ll Have Another wins Preakness

By Richard Rosenblatt, Associated Press

I'll Have Another, left, ridden by Mario Gutierrez, moves up as they enter the stretch to challenge Bodemeister, right on the rail, ridden by Mike Smith, and Creative Cause, center, ridden by Joel Rosario, during the 137th Preakness Stakes horse race at Pimlico Race Course, Saturday, May 19, 2012, in Baltimore. I'll Have Another won the race.

Photograph by: Garry Jones, AP Photo

BALTIMORE — Canadian-owned I’ll Have Another waited a little longer to catch Bodemeister in the stretch this time, and now that he’s done it twice in a row it’s time for a Triple Crown try in the Belmont Stakes.

With a breathtaking closing rush, the smooth-striding colt won the Preakness Stakes by a neck at Pimlico Race Course on a sunny Saturday, a nail-biter of a finish that topped his win two weeks ago in the Kentucky Derby.

The race unfolded the same way as the Derby, with the speedy Bodemeister moving to the lead under Mike Smith, with I’ll Have Another hanging back in fourth in the 11-horse field. The early fractions were slower than the Derby, but when it came time for Bodemeister to hang on, I’ll Have Another found another gear under young jockey Mario Gutierrez and ran down trainer Bob Baffert’s horse in the shadow of the wire.

“We’re thinking Triple Crown, baby,” an elated trainer Doug O’Neill said. “He’s a special horse. We’ll see how he comes out of it, and if he comes out of it in good shape, we’re heading to New York, baby.”

I’ll Have Another is owned by J. Paul Reddam, a native of Windsor, Ont., but the Canadian connection doesn’t end there. Gutierrez trained at Hastings Racecourse in Vancouver for six years.

“I knew it was a long stretch and I have to say there was a point I didn’t think we were going to get there,” Reddam said. “Bodemeister was running his guts out. It was a fantastic race. I didn’t feel confident we were going to get there until we were ten yards from the wire.”

It’s been 34 years since Affirmed swept the Derby, Preakness and Belmont and became the 11th and most recent Triple Crown champion. Since then, 11 horses have won the first two legs only to come up short in the Belmont. The most recent try came in 2008, when Big Brown was pulled up around the turn for home and did not finish. Before that, Smarty Jones was run down in the final 70 yards by Birdstone in the 2004 Belmont.

“I haven’t thought past today,” Reddam said. “We’ll just roll one day at a time and hopefully the horse is doing well out of the race. It’s going to get crazy and I’m going to try and keep everyone’s feet on the ground.”

With the two victories thrusting the colourful and controversial O’Neill squarely into the limelight, scrutiny is sure to intensify about his violations for giving his horses improper drugs. He was fined $1,000 and suspended 15 days in one incident. He is contesting another.

“We know we play by the rules,” O’Neill said. “It’s all about the horse, and we’re just going to focus on the horse.”

If margins are an indication, perhaps I’ll Have Another has a Triple Crown in his future. Affirmed won the Derby by the identical 1 1/2 lengths over Alydar, and then beat his rival by the same neck margin in the Preakness.

I’ll Have Another, sent off as the second choice at 3-1 over 8-5 favourite Bodemeister, covered the 1 3/16 miles in 1:55.94. The winner returned $8.40, $3.80 and $2.80. Bodemeister returned $3.20 and $2.80, and Creative Cause paid $3.60 to show.

Creative Cause was third, 8 3/4 lengths behind hard-luck runner-up Bodemeister, followed by Zetterholm, Teeth of the Dog, Optimizer, Cozzetti, Tiger Walk, Daddy Nose Best, Went the Day Well and Pretension.

Baffert, a five-time Preakness winner, thought his colt — named for his 7-year-old son, Bode — could pull off the win.

“I felt really good about where he was,” Baffert said. “I really thought he was going to do it. The winner is a good horse. He should get the respect now that he deserves.”

The chestnut colt has never been favoured in any of his seven races, but won five of them along with $2,693,600 after he was purchased by Reddam for $35,000 on the advice of O’Neill’s brother, Dennis.

“He showed he’s the real deal. He’s a real race horse. He gutted it out,” Reddam said. “The other horse was not stopping. He ran a bang-up race, to come and catch him, how can you criticize that? For those who have followed the horse and bet on him, that’s been pretty rewarding. I don’t know if that will be the case next time, though.

Gutierrez displayed the calm and cunning of a veteran.

“It’s not me, it’s him. It’s all about the horse,” the 25-year-old jockey from Mexico said. “He just keeps proving people wrong. I’m so happy for him because he’s such a great horse. He has a tremendous kick in the end.”

Read more: http://www.canada.com/sports/Canadian+owned+Have+Another+wins+Preakness/6650820/story.html#ixzz1vPpBn5s1

Not the best video, but the best of the ones that were available. Please try to disregard the 'canned' whinnies in it. Why do people do that?

And now you know what I'll be watching come June.......................

Murphy and other stories