Improved Silks and Dynaformer's Discovery

In conjunction with Tom Hall's Throwback Thursday features in BloodHorse Daily, BloodHorse.com will present corresponding race stories from the pages of the magazine each Thursday. This week is a recap of the 1988 Discovery Handicap (gr. II) at Aqueduct Racetrack, written by Bill Finley with the headline "Dyna-Mite" from the Nov. 19, 1988 issue.

Racing, like football, is a game of inches, a sport wherein slight margins can mean the difference between glory and defeat. An example was the Nov. 12 Discovery Handicap (gr. II) at Aqueduct. By inches—a nose, in fact—the $174,300 stakes went to Dynaformer, which bested Star Attitude.

The difference between the two might have been the Aeroform silks worn by Dynaformer's rider and developed by Rhonda Allen, wife of the Discovery winner's breeder and owner, Joseph Allen. With a wave of popularity augmented by the success of trainer D. Wayne Lukas' horses on Breeders' Cup Day, Aeroform silks have captured racing's attention.

The new, tight-fitting silks, made of either Lycra (trade name of a nylon material) or polyester tricot fabric, are designed to cut down on wind resistance. They are similar to the suits worn by Olympic speedskaters. According to studies conducted by Dr. Richard Brandt at New York University, Allen's Silks, when used instead of conventional silks, will allow a horse to improve his performance at a mile by 8.5 feet.

"These things are working," marveled jockey Angel Cordero Jr., who rode Dynaformer and won a pair of Breeders' Cup races (the Sprint [gr. I] on Gulch and the Juvenile Fillies [gr. I] with Open Mind) while wearing the new silks. "Each time I put this on, it seems that the horses are winning."

Dynaformer had not been winning prior to the Discovery. He carried a six-race losing streak into the New York stakes, not having won since the May 30 Jersey Derby (gr. II). His most recent race resulted in a three-length defeat to Blair's Cove in an overnight handicap, and off that race, the Aqueduct patrons made Blair's Cove an even-money favorite, with Dyanformer at 7-2.

Minnesota-bred Blair's Cove showed little, however, struggling to finish a distant sixth in the seven-horse field. He stayed close briefly, as Make Luck set the pace, with Congeleur in second. Cordero had Dynaformer in sixth, content to wait for the speed to tire.

Dynaformer, never leaving the rail, moved up approaching the far turn, then shot through a wide hole along the inside to open a clear lead at the three-sixteenths pole. Star Attitude, a winner of an allowance race at Keeneland by eight lengths in his prior start, made a race of it nevertheless.

Closing quickly under Craig Perret, Star Attitude fell just short, and it seemed he would have been up for the victory in another jump or two. Congeleur finished third, three lengths behind Star Attitude. Cefis, winner of the Pennsylvania Derby (gr. II), lagged far behind in the early going and closed for fifth.

In addition to the new silks, a factor in Dynaformer's victory might have been the addition of a cage bit.

"He's had a bit of a habit of wanting to lay on the rail," said Kiaran McLaughlin, the Lukas assistant currently in charge of the New York division. "When the jockey goes to make his move, he can't because all the horse wants to do is stay on the fence and he acts sour and resentful when you take him off of it. So, we put this bit on, which acts like a run-out bit in reverse and will keep him from lugging in."

Dynaformer paid $9.20 and covered the distance in 1:50 over a fast track. He earned $104,580, increasing his career total to $575,088.