by Jennie Rees
The influence of the wildly popular California Chrome on this week’s Breeders’ Cup goes well beyond all the “Chromies” and extra fans he’ll pack into the Santa Anita Park grandstand for Saturday’s $6 million Classic. The 2014 Kentucky Derby winner and Horse of the Year, who this season has morphed into the world’s top-ranked horse and America’s richest, also is responsible for the 3-year-old Tom’s Ready being in Friday’s $1 million Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile.
Tom Benson, owner of the New Orleans Saints and NBA Pelicans, owned racehorses decades ago but got out of the business after his son died in 1986.
“It was the summer of 2014, and everybody was really excited about the horse game because of California Chrome,” said Greg Bensel, the Saints and Pelicans senior vice president for communications and broadcasting who also oversees the GMB Racing operations for Benson and his wife, Gayle. “Mr. Benson said, ‘Hey, let’s try to get back into this, Greg. I want to Gayle to own it and we’ll name it GMB Racing.’ That’s how it back-started.”
Benson tabbed New Orleans products Al Stall Jr., Tom Amoss and Dallas Stewart — who race at the city’s Fair Grounds Race Course in the winter and are based in Kentucky the rest of the year — to buy him a few yearlings. Each trainer was given a $400,000 budget, or as Bensel said, “We gave them a salary cap, like we do in the NFL. They could go buy whatever they wanted, but they had a goal of getting us to the Kentucky Derby.
“Dallas was the first one to strike.”
That was Tom’s Ready, a son of the popular stallion More Than Ready who failed to reach his preset minimum sales price of $145,000 at Saratoga’s 2014 yearling sale.
“Dallas called and said, ‘I’m looking at this More Than Ready. I’m going to go see if I can make them a deal. How high do you want to go?’ I asked Mr. Benson, ‘Are you ready to buy this horse?’ He said, ‘I’m ready.’ Hence the name Tom’s Ready. More Than Ready and Tom was ready.”
GMB’s Amoss-trained Mo Tom got the most attention early on, winning the Fair Grounds’ Lecomte Stakes, with Tom’s Ready second. Tom’s Ready threw in a clunker in the Risen Star, coming out with a foot problem, but then earned his shot at the Kentucky Derby by being second in the Louisiana Derby won by Dirt Mile contender Gun Runner.
Mo Tom was eighth and Tom’s Ready 12th in America’s greatest race. It’s easy in hindsight to wonder if a horse sired by More Than Ready, himself better at shorter distances, really wants to run the Kentucky Derby’s 1 1/4 miles. But as Bensel said with a laugh, “Dallas is a trainer that if you have a tricycle, he thinks he can compete in the Indianapolis 500. If we have to stretch this horse out a little bit to maybe go beyond his limits, Dallas thinks he can do it. And we love that about him. Now, reality set in and we discovered soon that this guy is a bonafide miler or seven-furlong guy and can compete with any of them at that level.”
Indeed, Mo Tom rallied from well back to win the seven-furlong Woody Stephens on the Belmont Stakes undercard. He languished home ninth in Saratoga’s King’s Bishop but rebounded to take Churchill Downs’ mile Ack Ack. Finishing fourth was heavy favorite Runhappy, last year’s Breeders’ Cup Sprint winner and champion sprinter who was making his first start in nine months because of bone bruising.
Runhappy is in the Dirt Mile, along with favored Dortmund, who has been chasing California Chrome in his past three races, and Vyjack, another horse who discovered a thriving career as a miler after running in the 2013 Kentucky Derby.
“Great race,” Stewart said, “It’s what the Breeders’ Cup is all about.”
The Benson team is facing a California gold rush indeed: They’ll arrive at Santa Anita Thursday, watch the races Friday, fly to San Francisco to see Saints practice Saturday and play the 49ers Sunday and then attend Monday’s Pelicans’ game at Golden State.
“We love it and cherish the competition,” Bensel said of horse racing. “Both Mr. Benson and Mrs. Benson love it. We dipped our toe in it last year when we attempted to get Tom’s Ready in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile (off a maiden victory) and we were an also-eligible. They’re really fired up, but they’re also realistic. They know it’s going to be a tough ask of Tom’s Ready, but he’s one of those horses that surprises you. And then when you have Dallas Stewart training for you, you never know.”
