Daily Racing Form National Digital Edition
Hennig returns to big stage
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – In 2000-01, Mark Hennig won 21 graded stakes. It has taken him 13 years to win his last 21 graded races.
Certainly, Hennig did not forget how to train a good horse. He simply wasn’t getting them in his barn with as much frequency.
“It wasn’t like we couldn’t see the horses the last 15 years,” Hennig said Monday morning at Gulfstream Park. “We just didn’t have the budget to buy them.”
That seems to be changing. Retained by Don Adam to be his main trainer, Hennig has been getting the horses that used to be out of reach. Over the next two weekends, Hennig and Adam – who along with his wife, Donna, races as Courtlandt Farms – will be participating in significant races that could get them to the Kentucky Derby and Kentucky Oaks.
Saturday at Gulfstream Park, Hennig and Adam will send out Strike Power, a homebred, in the Grade 1, $1 million Florida Derby as well as Cache, a $500,000 yearling purchase, in the Gulfstream Park Oaks. On April 7, Hennig will run My Miss Lilly, a $670,000 yearling purchase, in the Grade 3, $300,000 Gazelle at Aqueduct.
Hennig, 52, has been on the big stage plenty of times before, winning major races for owners such as Ned Evans and Team Valor. He has won 1,381 races, 104 of which are graded stakes.
In the summer of 2002, Hennig won Grade 1 races on back-to-back days at Saratoga for Evans with Summer Colony and Gygistar. Hennig has just one Grade 1 victory since – the 2005 Pimlico Special with Eddington.
“I was 27, 28 years old when I started with Mr. Evans, and obviously had a lot of success early on and probably couldn’t appreciate it as much as I can now,” Hennig said. “But, also, Mr. Adam has got so much class and is such a pleasure to deal with. It makes a big difference to our whole outfit from top to bottom.”
Adam, 83, has used many trainers over more than three decades in the sport. He began moving horses to Hennig in the summer of 2015 and began buying yearlings for him that September. That first crop didn’t pan out. The ones purchased in 2016 have fared better.
“Mark, in my view, has had a history of success when he’s had nice horses,” Adam said. “When he trained for Ned Evans he was one of the top trainers in the country because he had nice horses. I see the underlying ability that the gentleman has, and the care that he provides the horses and training in New York is a prerequisite for me. I go to New York fairly often, and when I’m there I like seeing the horses.”
Strike Power is a son of Speightstown out of the mare Gold d’Oro, whom Adam campaigned with Bill Mott. Gold d’Oro won twice on turf at 1 1/4 miles.
After a smashing eight-length debut win going 5 1/2 furlongs at Gulfstream on Dec. 23, Strike Power won the Grade 3 Swale at seven furlongs on Feb. 3. In his first try around two turns, Strike Power finished second to Promises Fulfilled in the Grade 2 Fountain of Youth going 1 1/16-miles.
His brilliant speed and the fact his sire was a sprint champion have some wondering if Strike Power will excel at 1 1/8 miles and beyond. Toward that end, Saturday’s Florida Derby at nine furlongs is a test.
“He’s given me a little confidence since the Fountain of Youth; the horse just keeps going forward,” Hennig said. “Who’s to say he can’t go that far?”
Both Hennig and Adam said Strike Power would have to win or be a very strong second in order to move on to the Kentucky Derby.
“If Strike Power does not win the Florida Derby, I’m not sure he can win at a mile and a quarter,” said Adam, whose previous Derby starter, Adriano, finished 19th of 20 in 2008. “Going to the Derby is not my end goal.”
His goal, Adam said, is to have a successful stable. While Strike Power is a homebred, Adam has an unraced 3-yearold by Tapit, Tough Times, for whom he spent $850,000 at the Keeneland September yearling sale of 2016. Tough Times happened to be Strike Power’s workmate last year. After having some physical issues that prompted Hennig to stop on him, Tough Times is expected to resume training on April 2.
Hennig has appreciated the patience Adam has shown with the development of these horses. There have been frequent calls made to inform Adam of a hiccup or two.
“With each one I had to call him about, he handled it well,” Hennig said. “I think there was a confidence we had picked out the right individuals, we had the ammunition, we just needed not to go firing it too early because it wasn’t in the best interest of the horse.”
Hennig said that this year he will be getting about a dozen 2-year-olds from Adam, many of whom were purchased at auction as yearlings. So, there is more to look forward to.
“It feels different when you get up in the morning and you have these horses to look forward to seeing when you get to work,” Hennig said.