"Spread your wings, don't be afraid to try The world can be hard, you gotta live a little 'fore you die"
-Alan Jackson, 2015, You Can Always Come Home
Newspaperofrecord is a unique American racing story.
You cannot find a horse in the first three generations of her pedigree that was based outside of England or Ireland. She was born on March 1, 2016 in Ireland through the mating of Lope De Vega and Sunday Times via small-time breeder Allan Belshaw. Newspaperofrecord was sent to Tattersalls as a yearling for public auction and sold for 200,000 guineas to American owner Bob Klaravich. Smartly, Klaravich sent her to world-class trainer Chad Brown, who was schooled at the foot of Bobby Frankel, the namesake for who some consider the best horse to ever set foot in the UK.
Brown has the phenomenal combination of practical experience as a training apprentice combined with an Ivy League education in Animal Science from Cornell University - a perfect synthesis of the then and now.
The opening of Saratoga Racecourse in stunning Saratoga Springs, New York is the most obvious marker of summer racing in America. Newspaperofrecord put in eight stamina building morning workouts in preparation of her two-year-old debut.
Chad Brown horses are very popular and the word was out on this one as well - she demolished a maiden stakes field by nearly seven lengths stalking the leader and exploding in the final furlong to draw away at odds of 3/2.
Group company was next up at spacious Belmont Park in New York City, but again it was no test for her. Going off at evens she led every step of the way to again win by nearly seven lengths. Obviously, the Breeders Cup was next.
I was on the rail just past the finish line for her race on a very cool, dank and cloudy autumn afternoon. I was looking forward to seeing two horses in person, Enable and Newspaperofrecord.
The gate sprang open for the Breeders Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf and she immediately jumped to the lead with little effort maintaining a one to two length lead for the first six furlongs.
As the field approached the home turn champion jockey Irad Ortiz, Jr. gave her the cue and vrooooooooooooooom....off she went destroying a top-level field, again, by nearly seven lengths, galloping by me past the wire completely alone.
She was now 3 for 3, winning by over 20 total lengths, and looking for the next challenge.
There are two routes you can take with a very special horse - the path well worn or the road less traveled.
The worn path will likely bring you success, but the road less traveled can bring you reward not imagined. Brown and Klaravich could have chartered a ho-hum path including some no-one-cares G2 in June followed by another so-what race in July that would be run in front of a few thousand fans. Thankfully, they are going for the road less traveled - a run at Royal Ascot and potential glory in the 1 mile G1 Coronation Stakes on the Friday card.
No American-trained horse has won the Coronation and only a few have even tried, but shooting for a place in history is how you cement greatness. She will prep for this challenge on Friday at Churchill Downs on Kentucky Oaks Day in the G3 Edgewood Stakes with a post time of 619 pm in front of over 110,000 admiring fans.
Her odds will be on the order of 1/5 or 1/4, but this race isn't about gambling and winning, it is about enjoying a potential world-beater and hoping she takes the next step forward.
You don't keep the horse at home to rack up meaningless win streaks against lesser competition, you don't have the horse win the same race four years in a row, you don't make excuses about travelling - you place the horse on a plane, send her to a challenging situation and let her exude class. That's what was done for Goldikova. That's what was done for Enable.
Now, we can add Newspaperofrecord to the list and hope this isn't her final trip to Europe. Longchamp is calling. The Curragh is calling. You can always come home.
