One of the two horses, Barbaro, went on to win the Derby in dynamic fashion only to injure himself in the Preakness Stakes. The other, Showing Up, finished sixth, 10 lengths back.
Now, two months later, Barbaro is struggling to survive in the aftermath of his injury, a gripping and emotional tale being played out nearly every day in the news media. But off to the side, Showing Up is emerging as a horse that may be special, too, offering some solace to the owners Roy and Gretchen Jackson as they endure Barbaro’s plight.
The twists in this story are considerable, among them the fact that Barbaro began racing on the grass, then shifted to the dirt, while Showing Up has done the opposite, shifting from the dirt to the turf. And while Showing Up will forever be in Barbaro’s shadow, he is creating attention, nonetheless.
“Everybody who gets on him says he’s as good a horse as they’ve ever sat on,” said Showing Up’s trainer, Barclay Tagg, also the trainer of Funny Cide, the 2003 Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner. “The jockey thinks he’s a super horse. I’m a guarded person and I don’t like to get too excited, but he’s done everything we’ve asked of him.”
Unraced until February, Showing Up won his first three starts before running in the Derby. He was at a disadvantage against more seasoned colts and finished out of the money with the regular rider Cornelio Velasquez aboard.
After the Derby, Tagg reasoned that he needed to stay out of the way of Barbaro, who is trained by Michael Matz. Not only did Barbaro appear a cinch to win the Triple Crown, but Tagg figured that Barbaro had the 3-year-old championship locked up the instant he crossed the wire in the Derby.
His options limited, Tagg decided to try Showing Up on the turf, a move that may lead to a championship. Making his turf debut in the $1 million Colonial Turf Cup on June 24 at Colonial Downs, Showing Up won by three and a quarter lengths. Covering the mile and three-sixteenths run over a firm turf course in 1:52.98, he broke the course record by nearly two seconds. A good dirt horse, he ran like an exceptional turf horse.
“He’s bred for the turf,” Tagg said. “His father was a turf horse, and he has turf breeding on the dam’s side of his pedigree. As well as he ran on the dirt, I just thought he moved better on the turf. Besides, there was a point where I was convinced Barbaro would win the Triple Crown. I didn’t want to run against him in the Preakness or Belmont. It was a no-brainer.”
For the Jacksons, Showing Up’s emergence has been good news during a tough and draining period in which Barbaro remains in the intensive care unit of the George D. Widener Hospital for Large Animals in Kennett Square, Pa.
“Yes, he has helped ease the pain because we missed seeing a star on the racetrack,” Gretchen Jackson said during a telephone interview last week. “With Barbaro, there will always be sadness and the thought that he never got to finish out the type of career we were hoping for. Nothing will replace that, but to have this other horse come along is something else.”
Showing Up would have been heavily favored in last Saturday’s $1 million Virginia Derby, but Tagg did not want to run his horse again on just three weeks’ rest. Still, he has big plans for Showing Up, who was purchased for just $60,000 last year at a sale of 2-year-olds. Tagg said that Barbaro deserved to be the 3-year-old champion, an award usually given to a dirt horse, but he added that Showing Up could be named the male turf champion.
With that goal in mind, he has mapped out a schedule that consists of the Secretariat Stakes on Aug. 12 at Arlington Park, the Joe Hirsch Turf Classic on Oct. 7 at Belmont and the Breeders’ Cup Turf on Nov. 4 at Churchill Downs. Sweeping those races may not compare to what Barbaro could have accomplished, but it would be fine in its own right.
And for the Jacksons, it will certainly be something to look forward to
