By- Topicount

The caliber of racing keeps getting better and better, and tougher and tougher. 2005 was a year for records to be broken Sunnybank’s awe inspiring Sunnybank Memorial first tied, then eclipsed Joe Cayenne’s stunning record, amassing seven G1 wins for a second consecutive season, for a new record total of 14 (and counting - Memo remains in training for 2006). Elsinore, trained by wombat, set a new sim record for consecutive graded stakes victories, with eight straight. And these trainers weren’t even _nominated_. Another record was shattered by Horseshoe Bay, the latest in a line of great sim turf marathoners, who won six consecutive G1 events, setting the standard along the way. And who can forget masterab’s gallant Allied Assault, who treated us to several head to head matchups with Sunnybank Memorial, made his own run at Joe Cayenne’s record, and went out the most impressive of winners when capturing the G1 Penn Marathon for the third year in a row. The six nominees for top trainer all had banner years (listed in alphabetical order) by any standards:

Baileybarn: enjoyed tremendous success with G1 winner Homecoming Dance, while Lexington Park II, Rivers Appelwhite, Cookie Barn and Delaware River all captured stakes events, making the stable the runaway leader for total stakes wins in 2005, bringing home 23 trophies, four more than the runner up. Champions4: always controversial, but you can’t disagree with the results, as Anticosti landed the Bluegrass Derby, then threw the sim into an uproar by passing the next two legs of the Triple Crown, while Rapid Grey won a pair of G1 stakes late in the season. This tag team, along with G2 winner Wild Cat Tales and multiple stakes winner Polish Reality, was good enough to vault the stable into second place for G1 wins in 2005, a tie for third for overall graded stakes wins, and third in 2005 earnings.

Gipper8: Led all trainers in total earnings for 2005, $7,912,944 and in earnings per start, $70,651, thanks to a masterful job with Call of the Wild II who maintained his form both early and late to pull off the Breeders’ Bowl/Sand Castle Classic double.

Masterab: Last year’s winner of the Eclipse award is back on the ballot for the third year in a row, thanks to Allied Assault, who, while stumbling a bit in the late summer/early fall, returned to the top of his game on DelPenn Champions Day (completing the three-peat in that event), and still added five G1 wins to his resume in 2005. Return of the Cat captured the G3 Swale Stakes early in the year, while Evil Yes Evil, Bad Storm Rising and Golden Slope also won stakes. Tied for fifth in total stakes wins, with 14. Sdmf2: the newcomer in the bunch (with less than 200 lifetime starts), Sdmf2 has made a splash, bursting onto the scene with top filly Swift Kick, who blew away the competition in the Breeders’ Bowl Distaff, with stablemates Top Jimmy and Cupid’s Dead also bringing home G1 glory. The stable combined for six G1 wins, good enough for a third-place tie in 2005, and third place in total earnings, with $5,829,427.

Tough competition indeed. But look at the following stats: first by number of G1 wins (9), graded stakes wins (10), leading stable by win percentage (for stables with 30 or more starts in 2005), second in 2005 earnings, $5,944,169 and in average earnings per start. Those stats belong to the winner of the 2005 Trainer of the Year Eclipse Award: Texasace. Stablemate fatattack (two time winner of the DelPenn trainers' race and in that residency's Hall of Fame) was nominated last year for Trainer of the Year, but it was the other division that brought home with the trophy, after a truly remarkable season.

I flew down to Texas, where the horses enjoy the year-round mild weather. The philosophy is, if it’s good enough for golfing, it’s good for training, too. The results speak for themselves. It was a treat to lose the winter coat and wander around the beautiful grounds with Texasace for a tour of the stable. It’s an absolutely first class operation. As a semi-tangent, I used to complain that all the Zito horses look alike, all varying shades of bay and dark bay, with little to no white markings, making it difficult to figure out which horse is actually on the track working out. The same is true here - the barn filled with quality bay horses, several of them gearing up for the Equinics, held in less than two weeks’ time (the stable already has three wins in 2006, a G1 stakes).

The horse with the corner stall (although he’s not in it - he’s out for his afternoon graze with the groom proudly and affectionately holding the leadshank), of course, is the big gun, Horseshoe Bay. The elegant bay has the look of a stayer, lean and well-muscled. The son of Red Ransom knows he’s a star, accepting the attention as his due with a slightly bored air before lowering his head back down to the lush green grass. It’s understandable - Horseshoe Bay has certainly captured the sim’s attention, having set the record for consecutive G1 victories, and then, once the streak was snapped, rebounded by defeating a topflight field, including Sunnybank Memorial and Allied Assault, in the Breeders’ Bowl Turf. Texasace had his doubts before that race - almost didn’t enter Horseshoe Bay - but that smashing win settled all of his concerns. "He’s simply the real deal." I asked texasace the same question I asked masterab of Allied Assault a year ago - would his star turfer ever try the main track? I had no better luck this year than last, with the most noncommital poker look in return. I’ll translate that into not any time soon. Anyway, Horseshoe Bay ended his sensational season with 9 wins from 13 starts, seven of them in G1 company, and picked up right where he left off in 2005, winning a G1 win to kick off his four year old campaign.

If Texasace doesn’t own a breeding interest in Red Ransom, he should look into it - soon. Red Tejas, who is a pocket-sized version of Horseshoe Bay, would be the star in almost any other sim barn. The tempermental filly (in case you were wondering where the "Red" came from, as she’s no chestnut), is fast and furious, using her explosive late kick to go charging from the back of the back towards the front, in sprints, no less. Red Tejas used her rocket boosters to reel off six wins from 12 starts in 2005. Those victories, included a pair of G1 wins, one of them on DelPenn Champions Day, and a G2.

Texas Pride, a compact dark bay filly, poked her head out of the stall, clearly begging for of a peppermint, which was quickly forthcoming. Her head disappeared briefly into the stall as she crunched on the treat, only to re-emerge as she watched the goings-on with interest. The Deputy Minister filly began the season as a promising 3yo, but took a bit longer to get going than her trainer expected. Still, she continued to improve with increased distance, falling more in the mode of G1 winner Taylor Made II, another Deputy Minister filly trained by texasace in his fatattack barn, finally notching her first career stakes victory in the Valid Slew Stakes held in late December. Texas Pride finished the year with five wins in 13 starts.

You can’t miss Blessed Belle’s bright white star, emblazoned between her bright eyes. The tall filly is a bit nervous, pawing at her straw from time to time. "It’s the biggest trick to get her to relax," commented texasace, as he gave the daughter of A.P. Indy a peppermint. Part of the solution was to stretch her out in distance. The filly responded with six wins from 13 starts, including a score in a restricted stakes, and two stakes placings.

The rest of the current stable roster consists of a bunch of promising, lightly raced three and four year olds. The royally bred Lite’s Out is bred for the lawn (Sadler’s Wells x Nijinsky II), but has so far done his best running on the main track, winning one of three starts. Another son of Sadler’s Wells, Manaic, looked solid in his first two starts on the turf, but then got shut off at the start in his stakes debut, losing all chance, and ending his season with one win from five starts. Adalida, a daughter of Deputy Minister, won two of six starts as a sophomore, while Dance Across Texas, texasace’s latest Red Ransom offspring, won his career debut, then finished fourth in stakes competition. Toy Cannon, by Awesome Again, was the lone maiden in the barn (although that changed with his first start in 2004, which he won with a 90 SF), but the juvenile colt showed promise in those two races, closing for fourth and second, each race with a speed figure of 80+. Several of the other horses to carry the texasace silks in 2005 were: Remember the Alamo, a now-retired Deputy Minister colt who won one of six starts; Super Buda, a juvenile daughter of Sadler’s Wells who won one of five starts before being transferred to the fatattack division via auction, Dangerous Lies, an Empire Maker filly who showed little in four starts, as well as several claimers who help bring in the breeding points.

Critics might claim that if you get enough wellbred horses, you’re bound to get a good horse or two - that this isn’t as much talent as playing the odds. If things were as simple as that, there'd be a lot more stables with texasace's statistics, and that isn't the case. Texasace (and stablemate fatattack) consistently send out top caliber runners. Baylee’s Dreamer and Spirit of Texas are among the best racers Danzig’s ever sired. Same with Texas Tornado and Taylor Made II, both G1 winners by Deputy Minister. Prior to Horseshoe Bay and Red Tejas was the multiple graded stakes winning Big Red Niner, also by Red Ransom. Breeding the best to the best and hoping for the best is only part of the equation - the ability to get, and keep, a horse competing successfully against graded stakes competition, takes skill. So does maintaining a 25% win percentage and a 54% ITM percentage - even after 835 career starts. When a horse wearing the famed green silks with the Ace of Spades is loaded into the starting gate, you know that entry has its running shoes on. Congratulations on a well-deserved win!