The Breeders' Cup horse that arrived last at Churchill Downs ran first Saturday as Concern beat Tabasco Cat by a neck in the $3-million Classic, ending on a high note a long year of unfulfilled promise for the 3-year-old colt from Maryland.
Trainer Dick Small's style is to ship a horse to a race at a late hour, and by van instead of plane. He made no exception with Concern, even though the late-running son of Broad Brush was appearing in the most important stake of his 21-race career.
A 10 1/2-hour trip brought Concern and the trainer to Kentucky at 3 a.m. Friday, long after all the other Breeders' Cup horses had settled in and been tested during workouts over the Churchill Downs track.
Concern did all of his Breeders' Cup preparations at Pimlico, where he worked a mile on Monday. "I find that most horses do better in their own surroundings," Small said. "It's better not to disrupt their daily rhythms."
Small played it even closer to the vest when Concern ran in the Travers in August. For that race, the horse was driven to Upstate New York and arrived at 4 a.m. on the day of the race, about 13 hours before post time. He lost by a neck to Holy Bull, the probable horse of the year who didn't run in the Breeders' Cup.
Being beaten by necks and running second and third have been Concern's style, a rut that ended in time for his owner-breeder, Robert Meyerhoff, to collect a purse of $1.56 million, more than half a million dollars more than his colt had earned from all his previous labor. Concern went into the Classic with only three victories--and seven seconds and eight thirds--in 20 races, and this year he had been beaten seven consecutive times since winning the Arkansas Derby by a neck in April.
"He still had an extended string of some pretty good races," Small said, explaining what business Concern had in the Breeders' Cup. "He had run well enough lately, well enough in some races that the horse probably thought that he had won."
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