Hard-Knocking Panama Hat Stateside for St. Leger

Panama Hat galloping on Friday at Arlington Park. (Photos by Melissa Bauer-Herzog)
It isn’t often you see a horse show up in race entries three times in one week, and it’s even less likely that that horse will stay in all three of those races. But in July of 2014, Panama Hat not only ran in three races from July 2 to July 9 but he won them all.
Those three victories were part of a stretch between June 19 and August 17 of that year when Panama Hat won five consecutive races. Those wins were bookended by two seconds with the then-3-year-old gelding. Panama Hat’s trainer Andy Oliver called that five-race win streak his most rewarding performance with the horse.
“What he did last year to win five handicaps and just beaten in the sixth [was our most rewarding performance],” Oliver said. “If he had been able to win that sixth, he would have been the first horse in modern Irish history to win six handicaps in a row simply because the opportunity doesn’t present itself to do so. So that was quite an achievement to progress like he did and this year what we’re looking forward to is that he hopefully continues to progress and can establish himself as firmly at stakes level.”
One reason that Panama Hat ran so often last summer was because of his lack of enthusiasm with training. While the horse loves racing and traveling, it can be a little more difficult to get him to put effort in at home, although Oliver said he has gotten better about it this year.
PANAMA HAT DURING HIS SECOND DAY AT ARLINGTON

“The horse, I think he was cut out to be a good horse but when he was young he just seemed very lazy. He will not train at home, they cannot get him to do anything so the only way to get him fit is to keep racing him,” said Barry Irwin, the president of Panama Hat’s owner Team Valor International. “The style of racing over there, they have handicaps ... What happens is once a week the handicapper looks at all the horses and he adjusts the [horse’s official] rating. So if you win a race, let’s say just for the heck of it the ratings come out on a Tuesday, if you win a race on Wednesday and you look like you’re several lengths better than you were in your previous race, you could run back [that week] without having to pick up a penalty so we ran this horse three times before the new weights came out so we were able to take advantage of that.”
This year, Panama Hat’s ranking has been too high for him to run in handicaps but he has stepped up to the stakes level in Europe admirably. Oliver said that he has changed for the better this year, maturing into a stronger horse and training easier than he did at 2 and 3.
“He’s stronger, he is now doing all his racing at stakes level. Last year he won five and acquitted himself very well in the big handicap, the top weight at end of the year, and was just beaten,” Oliver said. “So it was quite a feat. However, it was still a handicap. This year, he had to prove that was actually up to his current rating and he had to prove that he was a stakes horse. So he has done that. He was racing at listed and group 3 level and has proven himself of that ability.”
While he’s had two races where he finished off the board this year, he finished a close second to the highly regarded Kingfisher at 1 ¾ miles, before winning the ungraded Lenebane Stakes last out. Next up, Panama Hat will be headed back to the graded stakes level when he runs in the Grade 3 American St. Leger at Arlington Park on Saturday.
“[Panama Hat’s stakes win] was great. It was an unusual race, it didn’t exactly go to script,” Oliver said. “In fact, the script was torn up as soon as the stalls opened. He’s such a character that your concern is his temperament on the day and that’s something we’ll have to take into account [when he runs in the American St. Leger]. We will have a race plan, which is very simple and will hope he’ll be reading off the same script on the day.”
THE LENEBANE STAKES

Video courtesy of Team Valor Stable
Panama Hat loves heading to the races and even though it was his first time leaving Ireland, the gelding traveled to the United States last Saturday in good shape. While Panama Hat has looked thrilled to be on the track in the mornings at Arlington, Andy Oliver is looking forward to the trip as well.
“We’re very much looking forward to it, I’m very much looking to coming across,” he said. “It was Barry’s idea, he’s obviously acquainted with the card over there, it’s a big purse, it’s a big day. Team Valor is an American syndicate so it allows them to get to see their horse so it was all a good idea and the race conditions actually suit him well as well.”
One small worry Oliver does have about racing in the St. Leger is the question of Panama Hat’s attitude on the day. A very opinionated horse, Panama Hat has been known to throw the best-laid plans out the window but regular jockey Chris Hayes will be aboard, which Oliver believes will work in their favor.
“It will just depend on the day, a lot of it will depend on the day and Panama. He goes there in good shape, we’ve got Chris Hayes coming over, he’s his regular rider so we’re very happy with what stage he’s at at the moment but it on the day, a good proportion will be depend on Panama and what he thinks of the whole operation,” Oliver said.
PANAMA HAT ON THE TRACK AT ARLINGTON

As for the long term plans for Panama Hat after this race, Barry Irwin has plans to send him to Australia in the next few years to run in the Melbourne Cup if all goes according to plan. But for short term plans, Panama Hat will head back to Ireland to run at long distances.
“We’re just going to send him back home and then he’ll probably run in the Irish St. Leger, which is in September, it’s a mile and three quarters,” said Irwin. “We’re just coming over for the one race. Eventually what we’d like to do, he’s only 4, once he’s 5 and 6 we’ll think about sending him to Australia. It’s difficult for a horse that’s less than 5 to do anything in the Melbourne Cup so he’s got a lot of racing left in him.”
While Panama Hat has had a lighter schedule this year than last, he has still performed well in his 4-year-old year and goes off at 10-1 on the morning line as one of the longest shots on the board.