7/7/12 BEL Race 8 - Victory Ride Stakes - Results

Around the barn, they call Allen Jerkens "Chief"; but to the betting public, he's known as "The Giant Killer", and for good reason.  Jerkens has a history of sending out horses that upset champions.  A long history.


One famous example is the 1973 Whitney Stakes, when Jerkens send out Onion to face Triple Crown winner Secretariat.  You can see what happened below.

Later that year Jerkens would again beat Secretariat (in the Woodward Stakes) with a horse named Prove Out.


And so it was Saturday: thirty-nine years after defeating Secretariat twice; forty-five years after he beat Buckpasser in the Brooklyn Handicap with Handsome Boy; fifty years after he beat Kelso three times with Beau Purple; Jerkens did it again; as Emma's Encore, the longest shot on the board in the six horse field at 39-1, defeated the previously undefeated Agave Kiss (0.3-1) in the Victory Ride Stakes at Belmont Park.


But as big an upset as that was, perhaps an even bigger upset was that Agave Kiss failed to finish in the money; thus creating huge payouts in the Show pool, and causing an indeterminate number of bridge jumpers to re-think their life choices.  Prices for Race 8 at Belmont Park:

#......HORSE…........................WIN…........PLACE..........SHOW


2…....Emma’s Encore….........$80.00…........$26.00.…......$61.00
3…....Jamaican Smoke….............................$7.60…........$18.60
4…....Tu Endie Wei…......................................................$25.60


Lesson for all: in racing, as in all sports, there’s no such thing as a sure thing.


For those interested, the Equibase chart of the race can be found here, while the DRF version is available here.  Drf.com also has a video of the race up, which you can view here.


Peace and Love,


Jimbo