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Sunday, May 13, 2001

John Ward calls himself a conservative trainer, but he's pretty darn colorful when it comes to describing Monarchos' late move to victory in last weekend's Kentucky Derby.

"I'm a person who deals in images," Ward said during a teleconference Thursday. "When I saw the isolation view NBC had of him, it reminded me of when you're on the interstates and one of those little red Suzuki motorcycles come zipping by you in traffic.

"When he starts running, he drops about 2 inches lower, he lengthens his body, pins his ears back and starts to work in and out.

"He's so powerful in the shoulders that he has a good turn of foot and can turn left or right while he's doing this [run]. Other horses, once they're in a big solid run, it's not a good idea to deviate them one way or the other. This horse just keeps speed up no matter where he goes.

"It's like he's on Rollerblades."

Ward said he would stick with the same, somewhat unusual training regimen that worked for him and Monarchos in the Derby. He did not work the horse at all Derby week, limiting him to gallops and jogs.

Ward thought the colt, who gallops aggressively in the mornings, was fit enough to win the Derby and still have enough energy left to take on the fresh horses that show up in the Preakness.

"If it worked in the three weeks between the Wood and the Derby, why wouldn't it work in the two weeks between the Derby and the Preakness?" he asked rhetorically.

Ward also told the media how the purchase of Monarchos for $170,000 at the Ocala, Fla., 2-year-old in training sale last year was part of a fairly recent decision by him and owner John Oxley to find potential Derby horses when they went to horse sales.

"It's a commitment you have to focus on," Ward said. "We've seen [D. Wayne] Lukas and [Bob] Baffert do it. You've got to have a singular focus if you're going to get to the Triple Crown.

"We learned fast."

Cam Fella dies

Cam Fella, one of the most influential pacers in modern harness racing history, was euthanized Wednesday after battling cancer for several years. Cam Fella, a champion racehorse and top sire, was 22. Since his retirement from stud duty and a lengthy goodwill tour of North America, he had resided at the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington.

As a racehorse, Cam Fella won 61 races and more than $2 million between 1981 and 1983. That win total included a record 28 consecutive victories at the end of his career. He was the Horse of the Year in 1982 and 1983 and later inducted into the Harness Racing Hall of Fame in Goshen, N.Y.

As a stallion, Cam Fella sired 1,002 foals with total earnings of $94.5 million. His progeny included five $2 million earners (Presidential Ball, Cam's Card Shark, Precious Bunny, Camtastic and Goalie Jeff) as well as nine other winners of $1 million or more.

At the time of his death, Cam Fella was suffering from kidney cancer. Testicular cancer ended his stallion career in 1996.

New series

The National Thoroughbred Racing Association and CNBC have reached agreement in principle for the telecast of a new series of races, the NTRA 2-Year-Old Challenge. The races comprising the series, worth up to $1.3 million in bonuses, lead up to the Breeders' Cup Juvenile at Belmont Park Oct. 27.

The races include the Hopeful Stakes at Saratoga Sept. 1; the Futurity Stakes at Belmont, Sept. 16; the Norfolk Stakes at Santa Anita Park, Sept. 29; and, on Oct. 6, the Breeders Futurity at Keeneland and the Champagne Stakes at Belmont.

If a horse wins any of the series races and the Breeders' Cup, his owner will receive a $250,000 bonus. If the horse goes on to win the Kentucky Derby the following spring, an additional $1 million will be awarded.

The series also includes a $50,000 bonus for the consignor if the colt was sold at public auction. Only owners and consignors who participated in the NTRA voluntary auction or foal registration programs are eligible.

More TV Talk

Nielsen ratings for the telecast of the May 5 Kentucky Derby on NBC included a final rating of 8.1 and a 21 share -- making it the most-viewed sports show of the weekend. Those ratings for the telecast, NBC's first in a five-year contract, marked a 40 percent increase over the 5.8 rating (17 share) earned by ABC last year. ... ESPN's pre-Derby program last Saturday was turned on in 1,074,531 homes, making it the most-watched horse racing telecast in the network's history.

Pohla Smith can be reached at psmith@post-gazette.com.