Assessment captures the Mile; Belvoir repeats
Published 11:06 am Thursday, August 20, 2009
It’s been quite a year for Assessment.
This past weekend at Emerald Downs, the five-year-old gelding etched his name in the record books, coming in from the 12-hole to win the 74th running of the $300,000 Grade III Longacres Mile.
Ridden by Emerald Downs’ all-time leading jockey Gallyn Mitchell, Assessment, pegged with 7-1 odds at the beginning of the race, ran the Mile in 1 minute, 33-2/5 seconds, becoming the first horse since 1935 to win from the 12-hole.
“I couldn’t have drawn it up any better,” Mitchell said. “I got him to relax for me really well. I told (Howard Belvoir and owner Lou Tice) the 12-hole doesn’t bother me at all. (Assessment) has been running his eyeballs out this year. I got to save a little ground, and I peeked up and saw the leaders were going pretty fast. Before I knew it, I was running them down.”
Assessment quickly found the rail and ran into sixth-place after the start of the race, entering the final stretch two lengths back of leader Atta Boy Roy, ridden by Ricky Frazier. Assessment and Mitchell caught Atta Boy Roy and held off California-entry and betting favorite Awesome Gem.
“(Assessment) is a dream to ride,” Mitchell said. “I asked him to pick it up at the three-eighths, and I almost went inside, but I thought I had too much horse to get him stopped. At the sixteenth pole, I knew we had Atta Boy Roy, and I looked back and nobody was coming, and it was a great feeling.”
Awesome Gem, ridden by Hall of Famer Russell Baze, finished a nose ahead of Canadian invader Teide, in second place.
“I have won two Miles now, and I don’t want to sound cocky, but both times I honestly believed I was on the best horse,” Mitchell, who won the mile in 2000 with Edneator, said. “I know we were in against some great horses, but I have all the confidence in Assessment. Anyone who has ridden him seven times like I have now would feel exactly the same way.”
The win marked the second consecutive Mile victory for trainer Howard Belvoir. Last year Belvoir won with Wasserman, ridden by Jennifer Whitaker. Assessment was fourth in 2008’s running of the Mile.
“Gallyn (Mitchell) rode him well (this year),” trainer Howard Belvoir said. “The race worked out like we planned it. We got a better trip then I thought we would. Not often it goes to plan, but today it went exactly according to plan. Lou Tice is a positive thinker, and maybe that helped us today.
“I’ve always said Assessment was the better of the two (Mile horses),” Belvoir said. “I picked him out in Kentucky, and he’s proven to be a very good horse. All he needed was some racing luck. He didn’t get it last year, but this year is making up for it.”
This year Assessment has earned four wins and three second-place finishes in seven starts, including three stakes victories, the Mile, the Mt. Rainier Handicap and the Budweiser-Emerald Handicap. He has earned $257,000.
The victory automatically qualified Assessment for the $1-million Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile at Santa Anita in November.
“We’ll see how he comes back from this race and goes from there,” Belvoir said.
