Howard Belvoir sits in his office in Barn 2 at Emerald Downs.<\/p>\n
Over his right shoulder, a cutout-wooden jersey replica of Wasserman\u2019s silks, complete with Belvoir\u2019s pirate logo, sits next to a photo collage of all the past winners of the Longacres Mile.<\/p>\n
Wasserman, owned and trained by Belvoir, is on the opposite wall, as well, in a pair of photos commemorating the 7-year-old\u2019s 2008 Longacres Mile victory.<\/p>\n
The 65-year-old pauses when asked why the Grade III Longacres Mile race is such a prestigious race.<\/p>\n
\u201cI can always quote Herman Sarkowsky,\u201d Belvoir said. \u201cHe\u2019s a big sportsman and was an owner of the Portland Trail Blazers. He won the Breeder\u2019s Cup with Phone Chatter (in 1993\u2019s race for juvenile fillies) and the Mile with No Giveaway (in 1995), and when they interviewed him he said (the Mile) meant more than the Breeders\u2019 Cup. He said it was because there has been so few horses to do it and it\u2019s in your hometown. Here\u2019s a guy who has done so much and he thought it was one of the big thrills.\u201d<\/p>\n
This year Belvoir is hoping to replicate last year\u2019s thrill by winning his way back into victory circle with either of his two entries, Wasserman and Assessment, into the 74th running of the Longacres Mile on Sunday at Emerald Downs.<\/p>\n
Belvoir\u2019s Wasserman will look for consecutive Mile wins, a task completed by just two horses \u2013 Simply Majestic in 1988-89 and Trooper Seven in 1980-81.<\/p>\n
\u201cI expected quite a bit coming in this year,\u201d Belvoir said. \u201cEveryone had high expectations for Wasserman. He was good last year and he got lucky and won four photos (photo finishes). Lost one and won four. You\u2019re very fortunate when that happens and a horse knows when he wins, so he picks up and thrives and builds on that. He was good. And everybody had confidence in him this year.\u201d<\/p>\n
Although Wasserman, ridden by jockey Jennifer Whitaker, has not lit the track on fire this season, finishing third twice and second once in six races, Belvoir holds out hope that his horse can capture the Mile again.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s a horse that has to have the pace in front of him, the speed in front of him to close,\u201d Belvoir said. \u201cHe\u2019s also got to have a clean path plus track variant. Sometimes it favors speed and sometimes it favors pace. And it changes day to day. This year the track has favored speed more than normal. But he\u2019s stayed sound.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe mile is traditionally tough to come back from,\u201d he added. \u201cYou can go through the list and the horses that win don\u2019t run much. It\u2019s just kind of hard on them.\u201d<\/p>\n
Belvoir also will have a chance to reach the winner\u2019s circle with Assessment, owned by Tice Ranch Stables, who has been the horse to beat in this year\u2019s meet, winning three races and taking second in three more this season. Assessment was fourth in the Mile last year.<\/p>\n
\u201cLast year when Wasserman was winning all the races, I kept telling everyone that Assessment was a better horse,\u201d Belvoir said. \u201cBut he finds trouble. Any trouble around he\u2019ll find it. But if he finds a clean trip he\u2019s a better horse. Plus he\u2019s younger. Four-year-old is a tough year, which was last year for him. Five years is supposed to be the prime. So he\u2019s in the prime. Wasserman, he\u2019s 7.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThere has been some mitigating factors, too,\u201d he continued. \u201cWasserman was turned out to field. He\u2019s like an old football player. It takes longer for him to get ready.\u201d<\/p>\n
Assessment, on the other hand, spent the off season in a stall, which Belvoir said enabled him to get off to a quicker start.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe just got into it more,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Belvoir said that although he hoped that both horses did well in the race, he still has a soft spot for Wasserman.<\/p>\n
\u201cI hope Wasserman comes back and wins the mile this year just to redeem himself,\u201d he said. \u201cHe\u2019s run good every time this year, but Assessment has beat him every time, but it\u2019s been close. Me, I\u2019m fortunate that both horses have come out OK and are able to run it again this year.\u201d<\/p>\n
Of course, the Mile is not just a two-horse race. Belvoir said he expected tough competition from the other Washington horses and invaders from California.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a tough field this year,\u201d he said. \u201cAwesome Gem is tough, if he comes.\u201d<\/p>\n
Awesome Gem, a 4-year old, has a first-place finish at Hollywood Park under his belt, as well as a second-place finish at California tracks this season.<\/p>\n
Also expected to vie for the bouquet is Gallon, a 4-year-old trained by Jim Penney and ridden by Juan Guiterrez who has won the Mile twice. So far this season Gallon has a second and two third-place finishes in this year\u2019s meet at Emerald Downs.<\/p>\n
Also in competition for the Mile title are Autism Awareness and Crafty Power from California.<\/p>\n
The draw for the Mile was conducted on Wednesday. Wasserman drew a good spot, the No. 2 hole, while Assessment received the precarious No. 12 spot.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe post position is very, very important in the Mile here,\u201d Belvoir said. \u201cIf you get outside the five or six hole, you\u2019re going to get hung out wide on the first turn, they\u2019re going to push you wide, and if you get wide you\u2019re going to run a lot further than a mile. It\u2019s very important, especially this year. There is a lot of speed this year, which should help Assessment and Wasserman. It\u2019s a good field, a good race and it looks like the weather is going to be good.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Howard Belvoir sits in his office in Barn 2 at Emerald Downs. Over his right shoulder, a cutout-wooden jersey replica of Wasserman\u2019s silks, complete with Belvoir\u2019s pirate logo, sits next to a photo collage of all the past winners of the Longacres Mile. Wasserman, owned and trained by Belvoir, is on the opposite wall, as […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":232,"featured_media":20954,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"yst_prominent_words":[],"class_list":["post-20953","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20953"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/232"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20953"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20953\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20954"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20953"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20953"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20953"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=20953"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}