Saunders Hoping For Better Luck This Time

Published: June 4, 2011 12:34 pm ET

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This time last year, trainer Bruce Saunders was prepping Rock N Roll Heaven for the richest race for sophomore pacers, the $1.5 million Pepsi North America Cup.

The New Jersey resident shipped his star pacer to Canada to compete in the Burlington Stakes (now called the Somebeachsomewhere Stakes), the springboard to the North America Cup.

It was in that race that raised eyebrows as the career winner of $2,774,478 was pulled up and did not finish the race. Saunders then qualified Rock N Roll Heaven three days later to race four days later in the North America Cup elimination. He finished fourth in the final.

Now, Saunders, who has trained winners over $25 million is back again as Lookinforadventure will contest in the $100,000 Somebeachsomewhere Stakes this Saturday.

“We are hoping for a better result,” Saunders laughed from his East Rutherford home. “Lookinforadventure is coming into the Somebeachsomewhere in fine form. Hopefully, it takes a wicked mile to beat him.

“We have an important three weeks in Canada, there’s a lot of money to go for and a lot of top colts. This will sort out who the top colts are and who belongs in the middle of the pack.”

Last season the four-time winner banked $219,538 and captured the $200,000 New Jersey Sire Stakes final in 1:52. He then shipped to Canada to compete in the $1 million Metro Stakes, but had no luck.

Coming into this season, Saunders was very optimistic with his pupil’s chances of having a lucrative campaign.

“He trained down sensational, we set out a program for him this season but that changed due to what was happening to The Meadowlands so we made alternative plans.”

Everything seemed to be going as planned for Lookinforadventure until his first sophomore qualifier.

“We had a few speed bumps to overcome earlier this year," Saunders said. "He got himself all torched up the first time we qualified him, then we were a few weeks getting him comfortable with a few equipment changes.”

The son of Rocknroll Hanover is fresh off a fourth place finish to Big Jim in the $400,000 New Jersey Classic last Saturday at The Meadowlands, an effort with which Saunders was pleased.

“He raced much better in the final, compared to the elimination,” Saunders explained. “In the final, Brett (Miller) was able to drop him in behind the pace setter, Shadyshark Hanover and turning for home, he went to the inside and finished well. I thought if he went to the outside, he might have had a better chance because he bares out a little. Overall, it was a good effort and he should advance off that.

You Can't Always Judge a Book (Horse) by the Cover

Excuses are a part of horse racing and they always have been. As a horse owner, or a handicapper, you will hear many like "he lost a shoe", or "she bled". Sometimes these excuses are valid, sometimes they are simply the connections hoping against hope that their horse is better than he is, sometimes they are not even given, because it might hurt the colt's stud value. This is prevalent in both breeds, although I find in standardbred racing if you ask a horse owner what the problem was, he is much more forthcoming than in the runners. For example, when Big Brown ran like an eight year old Mountaineer maiden in the Belmont, some close to the horse tried to blame the rider to deflect , when to virtually everyone else there was a problem. A good deal of horseplayers thought exactly that when August rolled around that year. Rock n' Roll, who won both the NA Cup and Meadowlands Pace met American Ideal in the Holmes, and he came second. Later on he went to the Jug and lost, coming a poor third in the final. In Lexington a few weeks later, I remember betting a pile against him, only to see Brian Sears trip him out and win. He was driven like a horse who needed a trip.  There were some who said he did not like a half mile track because of his Jug performance. There were others who thought he was totally cooked, never to be the same. Come Breeders Crown time it was game, set and match Rock though - he completely crushed in the BC, and looked as good as he looked in the Metro a year and two months earlier. Pure magic.  So, as with a lot of us who are fans, we might speculate that Rock's sharpness had run its course and (I for one) might dock him for not being as dominant as some others for his entire career (Rock n' Roll Heaven/Beach), but it was all explicable. They are not machines, they are racehorses. When they show brilliance, and then do not have that same brilliance, chances are it's not the driver, the surface or the size of the oval. It's simply an issue that all horses have from time to time, and we can never be too harsh on them without knowing exactly what's happening.

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