One-Eyed Colt Shows Derby Promise
Todd Pletcher watched the start of the third race from Belmont Park last July 5 with the sort of nervous excitement that only an unraced but obviously gifted 2-year-old can produce. You know they are good, but how good? Might this be the one who will take you to coveted places like the Kentucky Derby? About a minute later, Pletcher, a trainer, feared that the only place this horse was headed was to bottom-rung claiming races.
Pollard's Vision, who had shown so much talent in morning workouts, was dreadful, losing by 22 1/2 lengths. He compounded the debacle by tossing his jockey, John Velazquez, to the ground after he finally crossed the finish line. Pletcher was disappointed, but thought he could blame the colt's being blind in his right eye for the poor showing.
''The gates opened and it seemed like it all came undone,'' he said. ''Dirt hit him in the face and he completely retreated. My first thought was: 'Boy, we might have made a mistake here. This horse might not be capable of dealing with this.' ''
It was a premature assessment. Pollard's Vision, named after Seabiscuit's jockey, Red Pollard, who was also blind in one eye, won his next start by 12 1/2 lengths and has never again shown signs of being affected by his limited vision. From his inauspicious debut, he has moved toward the top tier of 3-year-olds and can take a major step tomorrow with a good performance in the Louisiana Derby, one of two major preps this weekend for the Kentucky Derby.
A $600,000 race, the Louisiana Derby is expected to attract a large field, topped by the rapidly improving Gradepoint. Twelve horses have been entered in today's San Rafael at Santa Anita, the other major weekend race, with the undefeated Lion Heart as the favorite.
When Pletcher and the bloodstock consultant Edward Rosen advised David Moore to buy Pollard's Vision at a 2-year-old sale last April at Keeneland, Moore was only mildly concerned by the blindness issue. Moore trusted Pletcher and Rosen and had a natural affinity for the colt because Moore is nearly blind in his left eye.
''We were a bit taken aback when we first saw the horse but not deterred,'' Moore said. ''From a physical standpoint, Todd was very impressed with him, and he had one of the fastest workouts at the sale.''
Other potential buyers obviously felt differently. Pollard's Vision sold for $70,000, but Pletcher estimates he would have gone for as much as $300,000 with two good eyes.
There is no guarantee that a one-eyed horse will be a successful racehorse. Horses routinely get dirt kicked in their face during a race, and one-eyed horses may also become intimidated if, surrounded by horses or pinned against the rail, they are unable to see adequately what is going on.
''What happens is that they develop their other senses on their blind side,'' Dr. Allan Wise, an equine veterinarian, said. ''Their tactile and auditory senses improve. You can come up behind them on their blind side and they'll turn in your direction, even though they can't see you.''
There is a short list of horses blind in one eye who have succeeded in top-class races, among them Funny Fellow, the 1969 Donn Handicap winner, and One-Eyed King, winner of the 1960 Donn. The one-eyed mare Real Connection earned $1.25 million competing in the mid-1990's. Cassaleria ran 13th in the 1982 Kentucky Derby and is believed to be the last one-eyed horse to run that race.
By his second career start, it seemed that Pollard's Vision had overcome whatever bothered him in his debut. He easily won an Aug. 1 maiden special weight race at Saratoga and developed into a midlevel prospect by the end of last year. His best performance as a 2-year-old might have been in the Nov. 16 Huntington Stakes, where he was third.
''There's really not that much different about riding him,'' Velazquez said. ''All I have to do is try and keep his face clear. Basically, I have to either keep him to the outside or close to the front. He has a lot of talent and, hopefully, he's got enough to show it at the next level.''
It was not until his second start this year that Pollard's Vision showed that he might have enough ability to make the Kentucky Derby. He demolished a decent field at Gulfstream Park, winning by five and three-quarters lengths. The Louisiana Derby is the next logical step, a race in which he will prove that he deserves to continue on the Kentucky Derby trail or be pointed toward less ambitious goals.
Moore admits that he is caught up in a dream. He has been in the business for a little more than a year and he already has a horse good enough to run in a major Kentucky Derby prep race, which he knows is not supposed to happen. It is not meant to be that easy, especially when your horse cannot see out of one eye.