Look Back: Precisionist Earns First Grade 1 Victory

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 written by Robert Henwood of the 1984 Swaps Stakes (G1) at Hollywood Park won by future Racing Hall of Famer Precisionist followed by a stakes report for the race. Both stories appeared in the July 28, 1984 issue of The Blood-Horse.



Hollywood Park raises the added money for the Swaps Stakes (G1) by $50,000 if the winner of an American Triple Crown event starts, $100,000 if two of them are in the field. Given the 3-year-olds left competing on the West Coast at this particular time, the track might have felt justified in reducing the $150,000-added purse by $50,000, but left it intact. Seven turned out before a crowd of 42,037, only three of them stakes winners, and only Majestic Shore a starter in any Triple Crown event. (Majestic Shore was eased in the Kentucky Derby, G1).

The speedy Precisionist generally had been suspect at the Swaps' 1 1/4 miles, and when he washed out in the paddock (as usual) some observers wrote off his chances completely. He started the 7-2 third choice behind Mill House's 3-2 favorite Tights, which had beaten Precisionist in his last two previous races, the Silver Screen Handicap (G2) and Spotlight Handicap.

Ross Fenstermaker, who trains Precisionist for 86-year-old Fred Hooper, does not give jockey Chris McCarron any instructions—"that's like telling Muhammad Ali how to box"—but a 250-pound fan standing near the starting gate tried.

"Nine dollars, McCarron," hollered the railbird. "How can you beat that price? But don't let him go to the lead."

"Even you could not keep him from taking the lead," McCarron shot back at the portly gent.

McCarron let Precisionist run his own race.

"He broke on a loose rein and I didn't take any hold at all," said the Boston native. "It felt like we were going a lot faster than the clock showed (:22 4/5, :45 3/5, 1:10 1/5)."

Around the far turn, instead of holding out the white flag, the homebred son of Crozier began to increase his two-length advantage. With an eighth-mile to run, he led by seven lengths, and he increased that to 10 lengths as he hit the wire in 1:59 4/5. (J. O. Tobin set the stakes standard, 1:58 3/5, when he handed Triple Crown winner Seattle Slew his first defeat in the memorable 1977 Swaps renewal.)

Cinema Handicap (G2T) winner Prince True rallied from far back for second, a head before Majestic Shore, which was bumped coming out of the gate. Then came Office Seeker, Oceanview, Wish Ihada Million, and Tights, which jockey Laffit Pincay Jr. suspected might have bled when he "stopped to a walk" in the last furlong.

Precisionist had undergone extensive schooling since his third in the Silver Screen and had worked brilliantly, including a mile in a best-of-the-morning 1:37, July 13, with a final eighth in :12. Fenstermaker does not blow him out the day before a race anymore, preferring to give him his pipe opener three days in advance and gallop him the day before.

"He gets too nervous if you blow him out just before the race," he said.

Even though the colt was left alone on the Swaps lead, Fenstermaker feels Precisionist is now a true 1 1/4-mile horse.

"If he had been beaten badly today I would have gotten him ready for the Sprint (G1) on Breeder's Cup Day (Nov. 10 at Hollywood Park). But now we will look at the other races," said the trainer. "He'll have a few days off. Then he could run in the La Jolla Mile (G3T) or Del Mar Derby (G2T), or perhaps even the Travers (GI) at Saratoga. Mr. Hooper will decide where he starts next."

Precisionist carried top weight of 123 pounds in the Swaps, conceding three pounds to Tights and up to nine pounds to the others. He won his sixth race from 12 starts, increasing his earnings to $374,350 with his $94,300 share of the purse. An additional $27,000 Breeders' Cup Premium Award was added to the pot.

Hooper, Fenstermaker, and McCarron won their second Swaps in three years with a son of Crozier. Recently retired Journey At Sea carried 120 pounds to victory for them in 1982.

Stakes Report

Leland Ross Fenstermaker, trainer of Swap Stakes (GI) winner Precisionist, is a native of Delco, Idaho. A protégé of the five Parke brothers, jockeys, and trainers, he was 13 when he moved to California. Among the horses he galloped as an exercise boy with the stable of Fred W. Hooper were Crozier, Admiral's Voyage, and Greek Game. 

Fenstermaker went out on his own for a short time in 1962 when he purchased a horse from Harbor view Farm.

"I couldn't hire a trainer, so I went and got my own license," he said. Fenstermaker eventually returned to the Hooper barn and galloped champion Susan's Girl and other major winners. He became a trainer for Hooper in 1975, and Precisionist is one of 18 stakes winners Fenstermaker has saddled.

Precisionist's victory in the Swaps was his first added-money win since he scored by five lengths in the San Rafael Stakes (G2) on March 3 at Santa Anita. Since that time, his performance had included a second-place finish in the Santa Anita Derby (GI) and a third in the Silver Screen Handicap (G2).

Third-choice in the field of seven for the Swaps, Precisionist led from wire to wire. His time for the 1 1/4 miles was 1 2/5 seconds slower than the Hollywood Park record set by Quack on July 15, 1972, and one second slower than the stakes record set by J.O. Tobin in 1977.

Precisionist is out of the Forli (Arg) mare Excellently. The mare has a 2-year-old Tri Jet filly which is in training in New York, and a 1983 filly by the Crozier stallion Visualizer. Excellently did not have a 1984 foal. She was bred this year to If This Be So.