If You Don’t Like Presious Passion, Then You Don’t Like Horse Racing

He did it again. That seven year old gelding from modest beginnings, Presious Passion was back at the races and showing his speed, class, and heart once again to easily wire the field in today’s feature at Gulfstream Park. The Grade 2 Mac Diarmida Stakes was the backdrop for another Presious Passion show. As per usual, he sprinted out to a sizeable advantage, and led his competition on a merry chase. He gives the other horses a little hope as they chip away at his lead on the backstretch and the far turn. Generally this is false hope, and so it was today. When Presious Passion turned for home, jockey Elvis Trujillo knew he had a ton of horse to sprint away from his challengers. The classy turfer Winchester, in receipt of six pounds from the star of the show, gave it his all down the Gulfstream stretch, but never had a chance to catch Passion. The final margin of 1 ¼ lengths made little matter, because Winchester was not going to go by him if they went around the track again. I have seen this same scenario, Presious Passion opening a large lead and still having plenty left to sprint home to another superlative performance, time an time again, yet it never grows old. Even as I have learned to expect the show, his performances becomes no less fascinating and thrilling. I hope I get a chance to see many more races with Presious Passion out there winging it on the front end. A Sue Kawczynski Photo My next opportunity should come in the $5 million Dubai Sheema Classic. That’s right, the gorgeous, chestnut gelding will soon be hobnobbing with the Sheikhs of the United Arab Emirates. Talk about a Cinderella story. The 1 ½ mile Dubai Sheema Classic will be run at the brand new Meydan Race Course on March 27. In that race, Passion will face some of the best turf horses from all over the world. I can not tell you for sure that he will win, but I can safely say he is the horse that the rest of the field will have to worry about. You can bet your bottom dollar he will be out and winging on the Meydan turf course. Today, Presious Passion showed that he is in excellent shape and all systems are go for the trip to Dubai. Presious Passion won the Mac Diarmida Stakes for the second consecutive year. It marked the Mary Hartmann trained gelding's 14th career victory on the grass in 41 starts on the lawn. He his quickly closing in on the $3 million dollar mark in career earnings. A number that will significantly rise with a strong performance in the desert. At seven years young, Presious Passion shows absolutely no signs of slowing down, in fact he seems to be as good, if not better, than ever. His run a few races back in the Breeders’ Cup Turf was full of class, and now today he has returned to his winning ways. I can not imagine I would get any argument in saying that he is an absolute joy to watch run. I will take it one step further…If you don’t like Presious Passion, then you don’t like horse racing.

Presious Passion Part II

Who’s that horse? This is a mile and a half marathon, and he’s opening up by ten, fifteen, twenty lengths! Has the rider lost his mind? There is no way he is going to have anything left for the stretch. Here they come, the pack is closing in, the lead is shrinking fast. They’re going to run right by him. Wait a minute, the horse is Presious Passion. They’re not going to get him. This horse has another gear and a deep reserve of heart. There he goes. Presious Passion wires them again! Which race did this little vignette capture? Take your pick. Given good conditions and a stretch of green grass in front of him, Presious Passion is a front running demon. He is prone to breaking the collective will of his opponents, first with unheard of blazing speed and then with all the stretch courage of the king of the jungle. His most unusual style of winning major races was not always the case. It was only when he was finally paired with a partner not afraid to let the unique horse run his race, that Presious Passion metamorphosed into the star he is today. Presious Passion built on the good start in 2006 to his turf career, as the gelded son of Royal Anthem continued to run some promising races as a four-year-old. Consistency was not quite yet his strong suit, but a solid second place finish in the quickly run mile of the Bob Harding Stakes at Monmouth Park and then a win in the Grade 3 Cliff Hanger at The Meadowlands earned Presious Passion the tag as a dangerous turfer. As a four-year-old, he was a horse who did not always threaten, but was capable of popping up and taking home the money on any given day. This was all part of the progression of Presious Passion. At two, he was a non-winner. At three, he showed an affinity for grass, and became a stakes winner. Now at four, he was a graded stakes winner, but still far from a model of consistency. So much so, that when he entered December’s W.L. McKnight Handicap, bettors let him go at a whopping 67-1. The few fans who did back him that day went home overjoyed, as he earned a grade 2 victory over a solid field. It was in many ways, another telltale signal of the Presious Passion to come. He relished the testing 12 furlongs and came within a whisker of a new course record. Running near the lead, he pulled clear in the stretch and was much the best. In the irons that day was the successful young Panamanian jockey, Elvis Trujillo. It was the first time that Trujillo and Presious Passion came together and it would prove to be a fortuitous partnership. Like a fine wine Presious Passion is improving with age. He has now improved in each of his five seasons of racing. As he got better, his trainer Mary Hartmann began to isolate what course condition (firm) and what distances (long) her charge preferred. Buoyed by his big win in the McKnight of 2007, Presious Passion would go on to bigger and better things in his five-year-old season. To be continued… Photo Courtesy and Property of Sue Kawczynski