Diminuitive 'Vicar' Faces BC Dirt Mile Test
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Take a look at Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile (gr. I) contender Vicar's in Trouble, and Tobey Maguire's line as the jockey Red Pollard in Seabiscuit comes to mind: "Though he be but little, he is fierce."
Much has been made of this 3-year-old colt's size—or lack thereof—through his life and racing career, but Louisiana-bred 'Vicar,' a dark bay son of Into Mischief with a ground-gobbling stride and the heart of a warrior, doesn't know how small he is.
In 10 starts, aside from a 19th-place run in the Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (gr. I) where he was bounced around like the orb in a pinball machine from post 1, the Mike Maker trainee has never finished worse than third. He won the LeComte Stakes (gr. III), Louisiana Derby (gr. II), and the Super Derby (gr. II), and comes off a second in the Oct. 4 Indiana Derby (gr. II). A runner whose breeders just barely got $8,000 for him as a yearling, he's raked in earnings of $1,228,292.
And now he's making his first start against older horses Oct. 31 on the world stage.
"What a nice horse he's turned out to be, God bless him," said Patti Miller of the bloodstock service EQB Thoroughbreds. Miller and her partner Jeff Seder found Vicar's in Trouble at the 2013 Fasig-Tipton Midlantic 2-year-olds in training sale and bought him for $80,000 on behalf of Ken and Sarah Ramsey, who will send him postward as the only 3-year-old in the Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile (gr. I).
At the Midlantic sale, Vicar's in Trouble was consigned by Pike Racing for Clyde Taylor, who purchased the diminuitive colt from Spendthrift Farm and Mark Toothaker for that $8,000 bargain price at the Equine Sales of Louisiana's 2012 yearling auction.
"He was a very good physical specimen," Miller said, recalling what attracted her to Vicar's in Trouble. "He looked very athletic and had a good leg going, a very clean movement, and good cardio. When (regular rider) Rosie (Napravnik) got off him one time and said 'this is a little horse with a great big heart,' she didn't know it was both literally and figuratively!"
Vicar's in Trouble had some growing up to do before he broke his maiden, however. He was shipped to Todd Pletcher but the Eclipse Award-winning trainer sent him home.
"We started out by giving him to Todd Pletcher and Todd thought he was a little on the small side, a little immature, so he sent him back and we gave him to Mike Maker," Ramsey said. "I wasn't sure what we had; we ran him first time at Keeneland just to get a start in him, and then we ran him in a Louisiana-bred race and he kind of made us pick up our heads with that one."
The talented colt broke his maiden at second asking last December in state-bred company at Fair Grounds Race Course & Slots, and did so in emphatic fashion, striding away by 13 lengths. It was almost as if the little horse looked his rivals in the eye and tried harder than ever just because they were so much bigger than him, Ramsey said.
"I said 'Oh my gosh, we actually might have a runner on our hands, taking off like that,'" Ramsey recalled.
They certainly did.
Vicar's in Trouble won the LeComte Stakes by 6 3/4 lengths and took the Louisiana Derby wire-to-wire to win by 3 1/2. In the Super Derby he was forwardly placed but allowed a frontrunner to do the work before blowing by en route to a 7 1/4-length score. Prior to that victory he was third in the West Virginia Derby (gr. II) after getting hooked in a pace duel, that effort coming off a third in the Iowa Derby (gr. III).
"He's got heart, he's got game, and he knows his way to the winner's circle," Ramsey said.
In the Dirt Mile Vicar's in Trouble will face the likes of 2013 winner Goldencents —who is also by Into Mischief—and West Virginia Derby victor Tapiture, along with mutliple graded stakes winner Fed Biz and foreign invader Bronzo. He adds an interesting factor to the set-up of the race, as a speedy frontrunner cutting back to a mile after running his past seven races at distances from 1 1/16 miles to the 1 1/4 miles of the Kentucky Derby.
"He's been going a mile and a sixteenth, mile and an eighth; I think he should hang on for a mile without a problem," his owner said.
So once again, the little horse that could has a tall task to handle. But unlike his name and diminuitive stature suggests, Vicar rarely finds himself in trouble.
"I thought we'd give him a shot out there in the Breeders' Cup; we know a 3-year-old against the older horses isn't always good, but he's showed up for us more than once," Ramsey said. "He could shake loose and surprise them."