Look Back at Fusaichi Pegasus' 2000 Jerome Handicap

In conjunction with Tom Hall's Throwback Thursday features in BloodHorse Daily, BloodHorse.com each Thursday will present corresponding race stories from the pages of the magazine. This week is a recap of the 2000 Jerome Handicap (gr. II). Conducted in September at Belmont Park that year, it marked the first start since finishing second in the Preakness Stakes (gr. I) for Kentucky Derby (gr. I) winner Fusaichi Pegasus  . Now a prep race for Triple Crown hopefuls, this year's Jerome Stakes (gr. III) is scheduled Jan. 2 at Aqueduct Racetrack. With the headline, "Regal Return, Fusaichi Pegasus' comeback in the Jerome was a sight to behold," the story ran in the Sept. 30, 2000 issue of BloodHorse.



Fusaichi Pegasus was ready. Neil Drysdale was ready. America was ready. But was the weather ready?

As post time drew near for the Sept. 23 Jerome Handicap (gr. II), the afternoon mist and drizzle had turned into a light, steady rain, prompting Drysdale to check the condition of the track.

"I'm going to go and see if it's holding," Drysdale said. A few steps firmly planted into the dampened loam were about to determine whether the long-awaited return of racing's "Winged Wonder" would actually become a reality.

Drysdale walked briskly past the neighboring Bobby Frankel-trained horses, exited Barn 3, and hopped in his rented white Chevy Malibu, then drove the couple of hundred yards to the gap by the clubhouse turn.

The verdict? "It looks pretty good," Drysdale said. "Providing it just drizzles like this over the next 45 minutes we'll be all right. It's holding very well."

The track may have been holding the water very well, but it sure couldn't hold Fusaichi Pegasus, who leaped, skipped, bounded, and ultimately "flew" over the wet surface to turn in a performance so dazzling, it had to be seen to be truly appreciated.

Forget the final time of 1:34.07. Forget the fact he was carrying topweight of 124 pounds and conceding up to 10 pounds to some very fast, classy horses. Just focus on a stretch of Belmont, from the three-eights pole to the quarter pole, which is often an unforgiving wasteland that turns horses' legs into rubbery, useless implements of power.

Now put Fusaichi Pegasus into the picture. As Kent Desormeaux begins pushing on the Kentucky Derby (gr. I) winner, who has been stuck out on the four-and five-path on Belmont's turn of no return, remember this is a horse who has not run in four months, has had only five slow breezes in that time, and is a "work or two shy" from being at his best, according to Drysdale.

Desormeaux, not wanting anyone to get the jump on him over the wet-fast track, puts Fusaichi Pegasus into the fray, despite a brutal half in :44.36 set by Albert the Great, who is still winging it on the lead. Suddenly, the gargantuan strides of 'Pegasus' carry him right up to the leaders, erasing a four-length deficit in the blink of an eye. Desormeaux senses he may have pulled the trigger too soon and he wraps up on his colt, who has shown time and again that he came off the assembly line with several more gears than other horses.

With Desormeaux shutting down the engines, and looking back over his right shoulder, and Fusaichi Pegasus now on cruise control, with his ears straight up, the teletimer flashes 1:08 1/5 (1:08.36 to be exact) for six furlongs. That's three-fifths off the track record set last year by champion Artax. And the 3-year-old is carrying four pounds more than Artax and loping along like he's out for a morning breeze, despite turning in an amazing third quarter around that big turn in just over :23. "I thought we were going in about 1:12 1/5," a stunned Desormeaux said afterward.

Desormeaux, needing a rear-view mirror more than anything else, then gave three looks over his shoulder, as he sat motionless, way up off the saddle. After drawing clear of Albert the Great, Desormeaux gave two more looks over his right shoulder, and when the second look revealed El Corredor moving in on him, the rider threw three crosses on Fusaichi Pegasus and hand-rode him to the wire to win three-quarters of a length.

Once again, he was a thing of rare beauty and grace as he strode majestically to the wire. As Desormeaux said afterward, "Once I started riding him, he just put his foot down and took off. I think I got whiplash from it."

"That was amazing," said Richard Migliore, who had a good view of the show aboard Hook and Ladder. "I'm a believer."

Desormeaux, hearing the cheers upon his return, addressed the crowd via microphone at the end of his in-house interview: "If all you people think this is exciting for you, can you imagine what it's like being up there on his back?"

There may have been only 8,216 fans at Belmont, but the majority of them were in and around the paddock before the Jerome, with people lined up three and four deep to get a look at Fusaichi Pegasus, many of them with cameras. As he walked by, with his coat shining like burnished copper, dozens of flashes emerged from the gray shroud that had fallen on Belmont. For a horse who had been out of action for so long, there wasn't an ounce of extra flesh on him. In the post parade, he bounced along with the usual regal arch to his neck, looking every bit like a $70 million treasure.

Then came the show everyone had hoped for. Drysdale felt Desormeaux had moved too early, but understood why he had. Walking down to the track after the race, Drysdale shrugged off compliments on his masterful job of preparing the horse for such a colossal performance. "It's more the horse than me," he said.

On the track, Nick Zito was fuming over the tactics employed by Jorge Chavez on Albert the Great, who finished third, beaten 4 1/2 lengths. "What was that all about?" he said. "I want to run in the Gold Cup. This is nuts."

Drysdale took a pass on the winner's circle photo, as he stood nearby watching. Neither co-owners, Fusao Sekiguchi nor Teruya Yoshida of Shadai Farm, were present. As soon as the photo was taken, Drysdale dashed off with the horse. Walking through the tunnel, he attempted to straighten Fusaichi Pegasus' blanket, and the colt lashed back with both hind legs. When kidded he wasn't one to bask in the glories of his victories, Drysdale said, "I'm more worried about him."

Drysdale said he wants to see how much the Jerome took out of the colt before deciding whether to run in the Jockey Club Gold Cup (gr. I) or go straight for the Breeders' Cup Classic (gr. I).

Fusaichi Pegasus certainly showed no effects from the race as he was a handful getting washed down, dragging his three handlers all around the large gravel area outside the barn. Exercise rider Andy Durnin showed up and seemed numb. "That was wonderful," he said. "Just unbelievable. I was so nervous before the race. I'm just gonna go back to my hotel and take it easy the rest of the night."

A short while later, Drysdale was seen near the tunnel leading from the paddock chatting with trainer Neil Howard. After being addressed as the two Neils, Howard replied, "Yeah, but he's the genius Neil." 

There someone finally said it.