TUESDAY, DECEMBER 15, 2020 VOLATILE SETTLING THE ECLIPSE AWARD WINNERS, RANKING THE BEST OF THE BEST IN AT THREE CHIMNEYS by Bill Finley To celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Eclipse Awards, the National Thoroughbred Racing Association is holding a promotion in which fans will be asked to chose the top 10 horses and the top jockey and trainer during the five-decade era. Click here to play. Here are this writer=s picks. It wasn=t easy. Horses: 1. Secretariat: Champion 2-Year-Old Male (1972); Champion 3-Year-Old Male (1973); Champion Male Turf Horse (1973); Horse of the Year (1972, 1973). Could be the best horse who ever lived. What more needs to be said? 2. Seattle Slew: Champion 2-Year-Old Male (1976); Champion Click here to see Volatile at Three Chimneys Farm 3-Year-Old Male (1977); Champion Older Male Horse (1978); Horse of the Year (1977). Cont. p4 by Katie Ritz Two years ago, dual Eclipse Champion Gun Runner (Candy Ride IN TDN EUROPE TODAY {Arg}) joined the Three Chimneys= stallion program after collecting six Grade I wins for the farm and partner Winchell TARA STUD’S HOMECOMING KING Thoroughbreds. This year another Three Chimneys-owned Tara Stud welcomes home Grade I winner River Boyne (Ire) (Dandy Man {Ire}), who will. stand his first season in 2021. Emma racehorse in Volatile, a son of Violence campaigned by Three Berry and Alayna Cullen have the details. Click or tap here to go Chimneys and Phoenix Thoroughbred III, has been added to the straight to TDN Europe. roster for 2021 and will stand for an initial fee of $17,500. Before even stepping on a racetrack, the imposing gray was one to watch. His stakes-winning dam Melody Lady (Unbridled=s Song) was out of the dual Grade I winner Lady Tak (Mutakdim) and when he was a yearling, his full-sister Buy Sell Hold became the first winner for their sire and then two weeks later, Violence=s first stakes winner in the Kentucky Juvenile S. The young colt caught buyers= attention a few months later at the Keeneland September Sale, including no less of a judge than Kerri Radcliffe. The agent was on the lookout for a racehorse for the Three Chimneys-Phoenix Thoroughbred partnership, and the son of Violence checked all the right boxes. AHe was a really good-looking horse with plenty of scope and length,@ Three Chimneys= Tom Hamm recalled. AOne of his great attributes that the team really liked was the way he moved. He was very impressive and athletic-looking. He had a lot of power and leverage behind.@ Cont. p3 PUBLISHER & CEO Sue Morris Finley @suefinley [email protected] SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT Gary King @garykingTDN [email protected] EDITORIAL [email protected] Editor-in-Chief Jessica Martini @JessMartiniTDN Managing Editor Tuesday, December 15, 2020 Alan Carasso @EquinealTDN Senior Editor Steve Sherack @SteveSherackTDN Racing Editor Brian DiDonato @BDiDonatoTDN Deputy Editor Christie DeBernardis @CDeBernardisTDN Associate Editors Christina Bossinakis @CBossTDN Joe Bianca @JBiancaTDN News and Features Editor In Memoriam: Ben Massam (1988-2019) ADVERTISING [email protected] Director of Advertising Alycia Borer Advertising Manager Lia Best Advertising Designer Amanda Crelin Advertising Assistant/Dir. Of Distribution Rachel McCaffrey Advertising Assistants Amie Newcomb Kristen Lomasson 2020 in Photos: June 3. Following a moment of silence in honor of those lost to COVID-19 and to pay tribute to medical professionals, first responders, and front-line Photographer/Photo Editor Sarah K. Andrew @SarahKAndrew workers, the Belmont Park jockey colony takes a knee before the first race in solidarity [email protected] with peaceful protesters across the country. "There's a lot going on in the world right now and we wanted to show respect to all causes, and to all people, and to show that Social Media Strategist Justina Severni we here at NYRA support everybody," jockey Reylu Gutierrez said. "Horse racing, in general, supports all ethnicities. Horse racing is a worldwide sport and it doesn't matter Associate Producer what color you are, what religion you are, or what ethnicity you are. What matters in Katie Ritz horse racing is that we are one." | Coglianese Director of Customer Service Vicki Forbes KEENELAND DECEMBER SALE TUESDAY 8 [email protected] Keeneland will host its third online auction with the December Marketing Manager Digital Sale Tuesday. Bidding begins at 10 a.m. Alayna Cullen @AlaynaCullen Director of IT/Accounting BELLOCQ, LEGGETT HONORED 9 Ray Villa Renowned Eclipse Award-winning cartoonist Pierre "Peb" Bellocq [email protected] and the late Eclipse Award-winning writer William Leggett have [email protected] been selected to the National Museum of Racing's Joe Hirsch Media WORLDWIDE INFORMATION Roll of Honor. International Editor Kelsey Riley @kelseynrileyTDN [email protected] European Editor Emma Berry [email protected] Associate International Editor Heather Anderson @HLAndersonTDN Newmarket Bureau, Cafe Racing Sean Cronin & Tom Frary [email protected] 60 Broad Street, Suite 100 Red Bank, NJ 07701 732-747-8060 | www.TheTDN.com TDN HEADLINE NEWS • PAGE 3 OF 9 • THETDN.COM TUESDAY • DECEMBER 15, 2020 Volatile Settling in at Three Chimneys AEven with a bit of a troubled trip, he ran some impressive numbers and an impressive time,@ Hamm said of the 1:09:10 (cont. from p1) finish. AThat was kind of the beginning of his breakout.@ The partnership went to $850,000 to purchase the youngster, Volatile made easy work of his 4-year-old debut the next making him the highest-priced yearling by Violence to date. spring at Oaklawn Park, winning by an eye-catching A case of mild tendonitis kept 7 1/2 lengths. Volatile from the starting gate as Stepping up to stakes a juvenile, but trainer Steve company in his next start, he Asmussen knew he was just showed the same brilliance in biding his time with the colt. winning the Aristides S. The AOnce Steve got his hands on eight-length victor stopped the him he realized that he was really clock at 1:07.57--just .02 fast, so he just wanted to be seconds short of the track patient and take his time,@ Hamm record. said. AVolatile=s win in the Aristides Volatile made his debut in the was a very visually impressive summer of his sophomore season race,@ Hamm said. AHis 112 at Ellis Park, defeating maiden Beyer was the highest in 2020 rivals at six furlongs. He came up for any horse at any distance 1 1/4 lengths short in his next on any surface. If you watched start, but bounced back with a Volatile reaches Grade I stardom the race, it was one of the three-length win last November in the Alfred G. Vanderbilt H. | Coglianese most impressive things at Churchill Downs going six because he was actually geared down in the stretch. I think he furlongs. proved in that race that he was a very special horse.@ TDN HEADLINE NEWS • PAGE 4 OF 9 • THETDN.COM TUESDAY • DECEMBER 15, 2020 Sent off as the favorite next out in the GI Alfred G. Vanderbilt stallions on the racetrack. It=s a great tribute to our entire team H., Volatile broke first under Ricardo Santana, Jr. and never and the hard work that everybody here puts in. It=s something looked back as he defeated a field of all Grade I winners and ran we=re very proud of and it=s one of our main goals at Three a :22.94 final quarter. Chimneys.@ AWinning the Vanderbilt just verified what we already believed--that he could compete at the Grade I level,@ Hamm said. AHis performance in that race, coupled with the The Eclipse Award Winners, Ranking the performance in the Aristides solidified him as one of the most talented horses out there in 2020.@ Best of the Best (cont. from p1) The 4-year-old was set for his next start in the GII Vosburgh S. 2. Seattle Slew (cont) when, days before the race, he was injured with a hairline Yes, Secretariat is the greatest horse to have raced during the fracture to his right front cannon bone. last 50 years, but you can make a strong argument that Seattle AVolatile was training excellent leading up to the Vosburgh,@ Slew was next. From Day One, he was brilliant, a horse who was Hamm said. AWe were going to use that race as a prep for the the total package of speed, stamina and class. He dominated in Breeders= Cup, and then unfortunately he came up with an the Triple Crown, becoming the first undefeated horse to sweep injury. He had already done enough at that point, and we the series. After stubbing his toe and finishing second in the thought it was time to bring him to the farm and get him ready GIII Paterson H. at the Meadowlands, he became the only Triple for his stallion career.@ Crown winner to beat a Triple Crown winner when defeating Hamm said that while Volatile excelled as a sprinter, he Affirmed in the 1978 Marlboro Cup H. Not that it matters when t believes the colt would have been dangerous stretching out as it comes to compiling this particular list, but Seattle Slew went well. on to become one of the greatest sires of all time. AVolatile was obviously very fast and a good sprinter, but honestly, he=s built like a miler. He=s got a lot of stretch and length to him. Actually Steve thought he could be a good one- turn mile horse, but when the Aristides was right in front of us and he was running so well, there was really no reason to change at that point and unfortunately we didn=t get the chance down the road, but we think he could have been a good miler as well.@ AHe=s been overwhelmingly popular with the breeders,@ Hamm continued.