BackTrack: Ginger Punch Powers to Ogden Phipps Score

On the morning of the June 7 Belmont Stakes (G1), a parliament of clockers sat perched high in the press box timing horses. "Who's that?" one of them asked, as a chestnut flashed across the racetrack below. "That's the champ," another clocker answered. "That's Ginger Punch. Look how easy she moves."


A week later, Frank Stronach's homebred Ginger Punch, the 2007 Eclipse Award-winning older female, raced through the Belmont stretch in much the same manner—in hand, and without another runner close to her. Only this was no morning workout. This was the $300,000 Ogden Phipps Handicap (G1) for older fillies and mares that Ginger Punch was dominating en route to a 7 3/4-length score.

Out of the gate in the 1 1/16-mile contest, breaking from the outer-most post in the field of six, jockey Rafael Bejarano took Ginger Punch in hand and tracked the pace from third position, on the outside and in the clear.


"I had the best horse in the race," said Bejarano. "After the break, I saw some horses going to the lead, so I followed the speed, getting position and getting ready."


J. Paul Reddam's Mistical Plan raced the opening half-mile on the lead in :46.86, hugging the rail over the fast, sandy surface, which had been sealed some 20 minutes earlier due to an impending thunderstorm. But the most impressive bolt of lightning on the afternoon was now on the pacesetter's heels waiting to be let loose.


At the top of the lane, Bejarano asked the Bobby Frankel-trainee for her run, the response was immediate, and the race was essentially over as the 5-year-old daughter of Awesome Again, out of the Bold Revenue mare Nappelon, drew away from her outclassed rivals. Inside the final sixteenth of a mile, Ginger Punch, who had recovered from a quarter crack discovered three weeks prior, was geared down, and she stopped the timer in 1:42.37.


"She's much more powerful this year," Bejarano told Hall of Fame trainer Frankel on the walk out of the winner's circle. "I asked her, and she went right away."


The triumph avenged a neck loss in the 2007 edition of the Ogden Phipps when the front-running Take D' Tour defeated a fast-closing Ginger Punch. 


Bred in Florida, Ginger Punch, who shouldered high weight of 123 pounds, notched her 10th victory from 18 starts, and increased her career earnings to $2,555,603. She has finished out of the money only once in her career.


Of course, Ginger Punch didn't always turn heads with her ability or looks. Back in 2005, Stronach tried to sell Ginger Punch at his annual 2-year-olds in training sale held at Adena Springs South near Ocala, Fla. Luckily, he elected to retain her when the bidding stalled at a mere $27,000. Stronach did, however, lose Ginger Punch's dam, Nappelon, when she was sold at the Keeneland January mixed sale in 2006 for $15,000.


"She's (Ginger Punch) not the prettiest filly in the world, but she's got the heart of an elephant, and that's what counts," Frankel said. "Today she ran like she trained. I don't know what's next. Today, she carried 123 pounds—you want champs to stay around, but the weight starts piling on."


Ginger Punch's win in the 2007 Emirates Airline Breeders' Cup Distaff (G1) gave Awesome Again, also bred by Stronach, his fourth Breeders' Cup winner, and second consecutive winner in the Distaff after Round Pond won in 2006. Ghostzapper  (2004 Classic Powered by Dodge, G1) and Wilko (2004 Bessemer Trust Juvenile, G1) were also sired by the son of Deputy Minister.


Awesome Again, who won the Breeders' Cup Classic himself in 1998, stands at Adena Springs near Paris, Ky. He trails only Sadler's Wells (six), Danzig (five), and Kris S. (five) in siring Breeders' Cup winners.

Darley Stable's Golden Velvet, from the barn of trainer Kiaran McLaughlin, rallied from mid-pack to finish second in the Ogden Phipps. The Doug O'Neill-trained Mistical Plan showed some grit in the lane and lasted to finish third. Cowgirls Don't Cry (winner of the grade 2 Shuvee Handicap in her last start), Moon Catcher, and Spectacular Malibu completed the order of finish.


It wasn't all joy for the team of Frankel and Bejarano on the afternoon. Earlier on the card, Swanky, a 3-year-old son of Swain, making his debut, collapsed and died after the finish line. The preliminary report by the attending vet was "an apparent cardiovascular collapse."


"I never saw something like that happen to a young horse before. He was coming back (to the grandstand side) strong, and when I was taking off the saddle it happened," said Bejarano, who was comforted on the track by fellow rider Edgar Prado. "It's just very sad, and I know (Bobby Frankel) is sad about it, too."


The Ogden Phipps is named for the famed owner, breeder, and racing executive who died in 2002. Phipps was a founding member of the New York Racing Association, and chairman of The Jockey Club for 20 years. He owned Reviewer, the sire of Ruffian, and inherited Bold Ruler, who would later sire Secretariat, from his mother's Wheatley Stable. In all, Phipps, who won the Eclipse Award as leading owner in 1988 and '89 and breeder in 1988, bred nine champions, including Buckpasser, Personal Ensign, and Easy Goer. Phipps was also a champion athlete himself, winning the United States court tennis championship seven times and the British championship once.

"Mr. Phipps was a great guy. He was one of the last of the old sportsmen of that era," said Hall of Fame trainer Shug McGhaughey, who began training Phipps' runners in 1986. "He loved his horses. He loved to watch them run, and loved to go see them at the farm, which is something a lot of the new people (owners) don't know about. He was a great inspiration for me to be a young guy and to be around, and kind of learn about the game from."