by Don Clippinger
At the 2016 Goffs August sale at Doncaster, Baltimore business owner George Mahoney Jr. really, really wanted to buy Swansea Mile (Ire) (Dylan Thomas {Ire}. He wanted him enough that he took over the bidding from his Pennsylvania-based trainer, Ricky Hendriks.
He thought he had prevailed in the bidding at 19,000gns, but actually had not. The bid failed to meet Lodge Hill Stables' reserve on the hurdler, by then a three-time winner. But Mahoney and Hendriks negotiated a private sale, and Swansea Mile, then six, was on his way to America.
Despite a promising start last fall, a fourth in Belmont Park's G1 Lonesome Glory H., Swansea Mile took almost a year to live up to Mahoney's enthusiasm for him when he won Saratoga Race Course's G1 A. P. Smithwick Memorial H. on July 27. Few bettors had enthusiasm for him that day; he went off at 28.50-1 and paid $59 to win.
Swansea Mile will have an opportunity Thursday to establish whether the Smithwick was a one-hit wonder or the real deal when he meets a large and talented field in the G1 New York Turf Writers Cup H., Saratoga's traditional jump racing centerpiece. Like the Smithwick, Thursday's 2 3/8-mile race carries a $150,000 purse.
A two-time champion steeplechase jockey (1986 and 1987), Hendriks does not believe the added distance will be a problem for Swansea Mile, and the three-furlong run from the last fence to the finish line is a plus for him. A winner in training flat races, Swansea Mile also appears to favor level surfaces to the hilly terrain of some race meets.
Hendriks is confident that Swansea Mile has maintained the glowing good health that accompanied his Smithwick victory. “He's going back into this race great. I rode him [Monday] morning, and he felt good,” the trainer said. “He just does his job. He's a soldier.”
Swansea Mile's breakthrough victory in the Smithwick did not shoot him to the top of the handicap. He will carry 146 pounds, including Michael Mitchell, his partner in the Smithwick. Carrying the 156-pound highweight will be Robert A. Kinsley's Modem (GB) (Motivator {GB}), a closing second in the 2 1/16-mile Smithwick in his U.S. debut. Modem is trained in Maryland by Elizabeth Voss, who also will saddle last year's New York Turf Writers winner, The Fields Stable's Portrade (Ire) (Trade Fair {GB}), who also carries 146. The front-runner is winless since his Grade 1 victory a year ago.
This year's race also will feature three newcomers to U.S. jump racing, including two owned by overseas interests. Mighty Acorn Stables' Casino Markets (Ire) (Fruits of Love) is trained by Emma Lavelle in Wiltshire and will carry 150 pounds.
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