San Diego Union-Tribune (Sunday)
Maximum effort avoids major upset at Del Mar
Sometimes, horse racing greatness is measured in romping ease as the distance between first and those fading in the rearview mirror grows at the speed of Pinocchio’s nose.
Other times, greatness reveals itself in the grit and grind.
Heavy favorite Maximum Security, the horse that won the 2019 Kentucky Derby before stewards ripped away the roses, the horse with the empty gas tank that roared back to win the $20 million
Saudi Cup in February, the horse that lost its trainer to a drug investigation and jockey to COVID-19 found a way — again.
The 4-year-old bay colt mined one final push during a stretch duel with Midcourt and Triple Crownwinning jockey Victor Espinoza on Saturday to win the $150,000 San Diego Handicap at Del Mar racetrack by a nose.
“The horse is a fighter,” said new trainer Bob Baffert, who took over when Jason Servis was hit with federal indictments for doping-related charges. “I saw him at Saudi, he looked like he was beat. He does not give up.”
Maximum Security now has finished first in 10 of 11 career races, if you count the Kentucky Derby that faded after rider objections. That meant he entered Saturday with the withering weight of expectations reflected by 2-5 odds.
For the other four horses, there was everything to gain.
Yet Maximum Security refused to wilt, again.
“When we turned for home,” freshly placed jockey Abel Cedillo said, “I had to get to work.”
Cedillo picked up the mount when jockey Luis Saez became handcuffed by travel restrictions after testing position for COVID-19 two weeks ago at Keeneland. He found enough under the gas pedal to fight through a who’swho that included Espinoza, Hall of Famer Mike Smith and Del Mar’s reigning riding champ, Flavien Prat.
In spite of variables piled upon variables and routines shredded by circumstance, the star showed when the finish-line lights shined bright.
“That was crazy,” Baffert said. “… Maximum Security, he showed today, it took a great horse to do what he did. At the three-eighths pole, (Cedillo) was out of horse.”
The horse, which moved within $20,000 of being a $12 million career winner for Gary and Mary West of Rancho Santa Fe, reminded that dirty work often impresses more than dominance.
Maximum Security found himself one head bob away from losing.
He’s apparently not into that sort of thing, though.
“He’s the kind of horse you have to ride all the way,” Cedillo said. “You have to
keep working on him. We got it done. I thought I’d won the photo, but you can never be sure about those things. But it came out right.”
The remarkable part, according to Baffert: He came into the race about “80 percent” prepped as the trainer learns about his newest stable attraction. Though Baffert normally would put a horse in stakes races through gate work, he opted not to in this case.
Call it a successful first date.
“I didn’t have him really gunned up for this race,” Baffert said. “I wanted to use this for the next one (in the Pacific Classic). But we’re learning about the horse. … I knew this horse was going to have to gut it out.”
Factor in that it was Maximum Security’s first trip to the West Coast and reasons he seemed ripe to stumble grew.
“That was pretty impressive, because he should have been beat,” Baffert said.
Maximum Security navigated the 1 1/16th-mile course in 1:44.54 on what Baffert describes as a deeper, slower track.
“It takes a special horse to win a $20 million race halfway around the world, be off five months, new trainer, new rider, bad trip and still have the will to win,” Gary West relayed via text. “Most horses would have given up at the quarter pole.”
The win also helped shake whispers about the horse’s connection to Servis, though there has never been public confirmation of a single drug positive. Hall of Fame jockey and NBC analyst Jerry Bailey said a post-servis victory would reshape any lingering narrative.
“Max is the most tested racehorse on the planet and has never had a bad/positive test,” West texted. “If there were any bad tests, including the race in Saudi Arabia, they would be on the front page of every newspaper on earth.”
Sometimes, winning is messy.
“That’s the sign of a great horse,” Baffert said. “He reminds me a lot of (Kentucky Derby, Preakness winner) Silver Charm in that way.”
Win with grace or win with guts. In the end, there’s beauty in both.