gm10
06-07-2012, 08:03 AM
From the trainer's biography
"Breeders’ Cup Turf
Pat Eddery had been nervous about
Pebbles’ prospect of staying a mile
and a half in the Breeders’ Cup Turf
and could not believe how relaxed she
was when he came over three days
before to work her. She seemed to be
enjoying everything about Aqueduct
but her jockey faced a dilemma: “I
could not risk her stamina by having
her too handy but Aqueduct is even
sharper than the usual American
tracks and to come from off the pace
was an undeniable gamble.”
On the day, seagulls flapped and
coasted over the concrete jungle
as the helicopters of the rich and powerful clattered in. The Americans
do racing razzmatazz well and, with
replays of the principals’ recent
outings sho wing on TV screens all
around the course, the excitement
built to a peak. The band played
the US national anthem for a crowd
of 45,000 but even the Americans
could not wait to get a glimpse of
the ‘superfilly’ who had been made
favourite to beat the colts over a
distance she was attempting for the
first time. Everybody knew who the
star of the show was and Pebbles did
not let down the scriptwriters.
Eddery says: “We were lucky that
the Breeders’ Cup was at Aqueduct
that year, it’s a sharp little track. I
went round the inside. They made
her favourite because she had beaten
all the colts at Newmarket. The
problem was that it was one and a
half miles but Clive wasn’t bothered.
He’s got that gift and he produced
her just right on the day. I wasn’t
confident that we’d do it. I was very
lucky. Before the quarter pole Angel
Cordero, who for me is one of the
greatest riders ever, spotted me
coming up the inside but he didn’t
shut down on me and it worked out
great.”
British jockey Tony Ives, on Lord
Derby’s Teleprompter, the winner
of the Budweiser Arlington Million,
led the 14 runners at a scorching
pace. To conserve Pebbles’ suspect
stamina, Eddery took the risky
course of anchoring her at the back
and hugging the rail. With a circuit
to go she was last but one and then
she was baulked as Eddery started to
move her up along the back straight.
Afterwards he admitted: “Things
were a bit tight and she lost her stride
for a moment or two.”
Turning for home, America’s
Greinton swept past Teleprompter,
while several runners still formed
a potential wall ahead of the filly.
But at that moment a chink of light
appeared inside Teleprompter on
the far rail and Pebbles pounced like
a cat. Immediately displaying the
famous acceleration that had won her
the 1,000 Guineas and taken her past
Rainbow Quest in the Eclipse, Pebbles
went through the gap and took the
lead. It doesn’t quite sound like him,
but one US report quoted Eddery as
declaring: “She really put her toes out
and started eating up the ground.”
STEVE CAUTHEN, on Daniel
Wildenstein’s Strawberry
Road, then launched a
powerful attack but Pebbles
kept pulling out extra for a
clever win.
When the time was announced,
lowering the course record, there was
an audible gasp from the crowd. It
was then the biggest prize ever won
by a British-trained horse.
What Pebbles’ trainer didn’t talk
about that night and for a long
time afterwards was the strategy
he adopted to ensure once again
that Pebbles was not upset by the
preliminaries.
“At Aqueduct it was how we could
get away with the parade. We’d got
permission for Come On The Blues
to pony her and walk down the track
with her, but how could we get her
into the parade ring? She had to go in
front of the stands and there would be
a lot of noise.
“I was walking off the pathway and
I saw these big beer wagons going
under the stand and I wondered
where they were going. You could
see the shaft of light at the end of the
tunnel. So we followed them right
through. The last one went up and I
looked out and there were the barriers
on the left and straight on was the
parade ring.
So I thought, ‘We’ve found a way’.
The question was whether to ask for
permission, which they wouldn’t have
given us. So I said, ‘We’ll tell nobody
what we’re going to do’. I went to the
man on the gate and I said, ‘Look,
when we come past for this race I’ve
got 50 dollars if you open the gate
and we just walk through and I’ve
got 50 dollars for you when I come
back’. He said, ‘Okay buddy’. So he
opened the gate. Because we were
the only filly in the race, we were
last and suddenly we disappeared.
Apparently the commentator said,
‘The English wonder filly hasn’t
turned up’. But we got the saddle on
and the commentator said, ‘Well, the
English filly’s in’. For a moment they
were shocked and then it was, ‘Oh,
she’s here’.
“When we left the stable area we
had to be in number order. When the
stable manager had seen us off – his
job was to check us out, every horse in
its place – we were on the way. Having
done it, I didn’t make a big blab about
it and never mentioned it for several
years because I never knew when I
would be going back.”
"Breeders’ Cup Turf
Pat Eddery had been nervous about
Pebbles’ prospect of staying a mile
and a half in the Breeders’ Cup Turf
and could not believe how relaxed she
was when he came over three days
before to work her. She seemed to be
enjoying everything about Aqueduct
but her jockey faced a dilemma: “I
could not risk her stamina by having
her too handy but Aqueduct is even
sharper than the usual American
tracks and to come from off the pace
was an undeniable gamble.”
On the day, seagulls flapped and
coasted over the concrete jungle
as the helicopters of the rich and powerful clattered in. The Americans
do racing razzmatazz well and, with
replays of the principals’ recent
outings sho wing on TV screens all
around the course, the excitement
built to a peak. The band played
the US national anthem for a crowd
of 45,000 but even the Americans
could not wait to get a glimpse of
the ‘superfilly’ who had been made
favourite to beat the colts over a
distance she was attempting for the
first time. Everybody knew who the
star of the show was and Pebbles did
not let down the scriptwriters.
Eddery says: “We were lucky that
the Breeders’ Cup was at Aqueduct
that year, it’s a sharp little track. I
went round the inside. They made
her favourite because she had beaten
all the colts at Newmarket. The
problem was that it was one and a
half miles but Clive wasn’t bothered.
He’s got that gift and he produced
her just right on the day. I wasn’t
confident that we’d do it. I was very
lucky. Before the quarter pole Angel
Cordero, who for me is one of the
greatest riders ever, spotted me
coming up the inside but he didn’t
shut down on me and it worked out
great.”
British jockey Tony Ives, on Lord
Derby’s Teleprompter, the winner
of the Budweiser Arlington Million,
led the 14 runners at a scorching
pace. To conserve Pebbles’ suspect
stamina, Eddery took the risky
course of anchoring her at the back
and hugging the rail. With a circuit
to go she was last but one and then
she was baulked as Eddery started to
move her up along the back straight.
Afterwards he admitted: “Things
were a bit tight and she lost her stride
for a moment or two.”
Turning for home, America’s
Greinton swept past Teleprompter,
while several runners still formed
a potential wall ahead of the filly.
But at that moment a chink of light
appeared inside Teleprompter on
the far rail and Pebbles pounced like
a cat. Immediately displaying the
famous acceleration that had won her
the 1,000 Guineas and taken her past
Rainbow Quest in the Eclipse, Pebbles
went through the gap and took the
lead. It doesn’t quite sound like him,
but one US report quoted Eddery as
declaring: “She really put her toes out
and started eating up the ground.”
STEVE CAUTHEN, on Daniel
Wildenstein’s Strawberry
Road, then launched a
powerful attack but Pebbles
kept pulling out extra for a
clever win.
When the time was announced,
lowering the course record, there was
an audible gasp from the crowd. It
was then the biggest prize ever won
by a British-trained horse.
What Pebbles’ trainer didn’t talk
about that night and for a long
time afterwards was the strategy
he adopted to ensure once again
that Pebbles was not upset by the
preliminaries.
“At Aqueduct it was how we could
get away with the parade. We’d got
permission for Come On The Blues
to pony her and walk down the track
with her, but how could we get her
into the parade ring? She had to go in
front of the stands and there would be
a lot of noise.
“I was walking off the pathway and
I saw these big beer wagons going
under the stand and I wondered
where they were going. You could
see the shaft of light at the end of the
tunnel. So we followed them right
through. The last one went up and I
looked out and there were the barriers
on the left and straight on was the
parade ring.
So I thought, ‘We’ve found a way’.
The question was whether to ask for
permission, which they wouldn’t have
given us. So I said, ‘We’ll tell nobody
what we’re going to do’. I went to the
man on the gate and I said, ‘Look,
when we come past for this race I’ve
got 50 dollars if you open the gate
and we just walk through and I’ve
got 50 dollars for you when I come
back’. He said, ‘Okay buddy’. So he
opened the gate. Because we were
the only filly in the race, we were
last and suddenly we disappeared.
Apparently the commentator said,
‘The English wonder filly hasn’t
turned up’. But we got the saddle on
and the commentator said, ‘Well, the
English filly’s in’. For a moment they
were shocked and then it was, ‘Oh,
she’s here’.
“When we left the stable area we
had to be in number order. When the
stable manager had seen us off – his
job was to check us out, every horse in
its place – we were on the way. Having
done it, I didn’t make a big blab about
it and never mentioned it for several
years because I never knew when I
would be going back.”