Beginners Battle In Bashford Manor

ESPN college basketball analyst Dick Vitale calls them diaper dandies. Major league baseball, the NFL, NBA, NHL and NASCAR call them rookies. They are the young and talented who have yet to prove their mettle at the next level of competition. In horse racing they are referred simply by their age - 2-year-olds. And one of the first big games of new season is Friday night at Churchill Downs in the grade 3, $100,000 Bashford Manor Stakes at 6 furlongs.

And like Walter Payton coming into the NFL out of small Jackson State or Jerry Rice out of tiny Mississippi Valley State, a top contender in the Bashford Manor does not hail from the high profile breeding farms of Kentucky nor the high powered barns of a Todd Pletcher or Bob Baffert.

Brassy Boy is a Arkansas homebred owned by Millsap Stables, and is by Storm and a Half, who stands for a paltry $2,000 in Starkman, Ark. He is trained by Hal Wiggins (photo at right), best known this year as the trainer of Rachel Alexandra before she was sold after her win in the grade 1 Kentucky Oaks and before the Preakness.

Brassy Boy comes into the Bashford Manor with a victory over maiden claimers (the lower of the two maiden race levels) and a come-from-behind allowance win at 28-1 which surprised even Wiggins. Jockey Corey Lanerie returns to ride.

On the other side of the prestige ledger in the Bashford Manor is Mission Impazible. Trained by multiple training champion Todd Pletcher, Mission Impazible is by Unbridled's Song, who stands in Kentucky for $125,000. He is ridden by two-time Jockey of the Year John Velazquez and may be the favorite Friday night coming off a troupble third place finish in the grade 3 Kentucky Juvenile Stakes at Churchill April 30.

Another contneder is Backtalk, a son of Smarty Jones who we mentioned on The Brock Talk after the colt broke his maiden in his frist race at Churchill Downs in mid-June. Backtalk is trained by Tom Amoss and will be ridden by Marcos Mena.

$100,000 Bashford Manor (gr. III, Race 10, 7:24 p.m.), 2YO, 6 Furlongs (Dirt)
PP. Horse, Jockey, Weight, Trainer
1. Grand Slam Andre (KY), S Bridgmohan, 118, S M Asmussen
2. Westrock Gold (FL), J R Leparoux, 118, D W Lukas
3. Brassy Boy (AR), C J Lanerie, 120, H R Wiggins
4. Mission Impazible (KY), J R Velazquez, 118, T A Pletcher
5. Backtalk (FL), M Mena, 118, T M Amoss
6. Even Wilder (KY), J K Court, 116, T Veinot
7. Soundman (KY), J Theriot, 118, D W Lukas
8. Vito Filitto (KY), C H Borel, 116, B S Flint
9. Flatter Than Me (KY), R Albarado, 118, M R Scherer