By- Glenn L

When we think of champions, we immediately focus on what happened in the “Big Game.” For sprinters in the SIM horseracing world, the Big Game is the Breeder’s Bowl Sprint. When it comes to performance in the Big Game, none did it better last year than Barely That Auggie. Running a tough schedule of almost exclusively graded stakes, Owner/Trainer lasthope had this horse peak at the perfect time. The final tough prep race was the Northern California Tri-City Sprint where ‘Auggie’ set a new personal career SP mark of 125.9 and a new track record at 6.5f. A track-restricted allowance breather 3 weeks later had this monster primed for the $1M Breeder’s Bowl Sprint.

The Breeder’s Bowl Series is the culmination of the racing season and the dream of every Owner/Trainer in the SIM. The Sprint is 6f of pure speed. The best of the best draw into this race every year and 2002 was no exception. Eight top 35 horses were entered, including Fusaichi Devil, King’s Ransom, Walacki Bone, Ninety North and Snow Squall. The only returnee from the 2001 BB Sprint was Prospector Tackle (winner of more than $3.75M lifetime and a top 35 ranked horse himself).

The far outside #13PP seemed unlucky when Auggie appeared to get bumped coming out of the gate. Walacki Bone, Fusaichi Devil and Prospector Tackle got out early and by the time Auggie found his stride at the halfway pole, he was almost 8 lengths behind the leaders. About 2 furlongs from the wire, time seemed to stand still while he shot down the stretch and flew by the field to win by ˝ length in 1:08.4 (SP125.0, another track record).

Running in tough competition all year, Barely That Auggie was very consistent posting 3 races over 120, 6 races over 110 and only two trips under 100 all year, one of those on an off-track and the other a cruising win in a track restricted breather after the BB Sprint win. Clearly dominant in the big race, Barely That Auggie certainly deserves the title 2002 Eclipse Champion.

Race ID	Trk	RST	S	D	Race	Time	SP#	#	PP	C1	C2	C3	FIN	Jockey	Odds
1621.7015	SC	3yo+	D	6.5	Deep South Sprint -G1	1:15 1/5	106	14	14	13 6-3/4	13 10-1/4	13 9-3/4	6 6-3/4	M Mickson	6.70
1593.0708	IL	3yo+	D	5.5	Alw-15600(T)	1:03 3/5	99	6	1	2 1/4	2 1/2	2 1/4	1 1/4	M Wafford	.10
1558.0711	IL	3yo+	D	6	Breeders Bowl Sprint -G1	1:08 2/5	125	14	13	13 5-1/2	12 7-3/4	9 5-1/2	1 1/2	F Gossett	7.10
1530.2904	C1	3yo+	D	5	Alw-15600(T)	:57 2/5	100	6	2	1 3/4	1 1-3/4	1 3/4	2 1-1/4	M Mac	.10
1509.2915	C1	3yo+	D	6.5	Tri-City Sprint -G1	1:14 2/5	125	14	3	13 7	13 10-1/2	8 7	1 2-1/2	M Mac	8.40
1481.6910	BC	5yo+	D	7	-Alw	1:22	109	8	3	1 1-3/4	1 2-3/4	1 1-3/4	4 1-1/4	Z Kidder	.60
1467.2315	NB	3yo+	D	6	Sooner-Husker Stakes -G2	1:08 4/5	108	14	7	14 7-1/2	14 11-1/2	14 10-3/4	5 5-1/2	C Garber	8.00
1446.5613	MY	3yo+	D	7	The CHARGING FORBES Special -Stk	1:21 4/5	107	11	3	9 6	9 8-3/4	9 5	2 2-3/4	R Wilhite	1.60
1425.5715	SP	3yo+	D	7	Si' Amigo Sprint Stakes -G2	1:21 1/5	111	14	12	11 6-1/4	12 9-1/4	10 5-1/2	4 5-1/2	G Carter	8.20
1404.0315	KY	3yo+	D	5.5	Kentucky BB Sprint -G3	1:02 4/5	91	14	8	14 6-1/4	13 10	13 10-1/2	11 8-3/4	B Anderson	3.40
1383.0311	KY	3yo+	D	7	Bluegrass Sprint -G2	1:21	117	14	1	12 8-1/4	12 12-1/4	10 10	3 3	F Gossett	5.30
1369.3715	VT	4yo+	D	6	-G1	1:09 2/5	107	15	3	15 5-1/2	15 8-1/2	12 6-3/4	4 1-1/2	B Langhorne	5.70
1341.5112	DB	4yo+	D	6	Sand Castle Golden Sprint -G1	1:08 3/5	108	14	1	7 2-1/2	7 3-3/4	7 5	5 6-3/4	Q Cassell	6.50
1327.3714	VT	4yo+	D	6	The AGGRESSIVE BID Stakes -Stk	1:09	105	14	9	14 7-1/4	14 11	13 10-1/4	7 6-1/4	W McClendon	2.50
1299.3709	VT	4yo+	D	6.5	-- Owner Restricted -G1	1:14 2/5	115	17	6	17 7-3/4	17 11-1/2	14 10	7 6	B Langhorne	4.40
1264.4004	NC	4yo+	D	6	Backseat Driver Stakes -G3	1:08 3/5	123	14	14	13 7	12 10	7 5-1/2	1 3-1/2	E Chamblee	5.30