Post-Race Analysis:
March 30, 2002 - Camden, South Carolina: Canta Ke Brave captured
the $100,000 Grade I Carolina Cup after Lord Zada, who was first
under the wire, was disqualified and placed third for interference
at the last fence. Al Skywalker, who was third under the wire, was
moved up to second place by the stewards in the 70th Edition of
this classic race attended by 58,000 tailgaters. The final time
for the 2 1/4 mile race run over 13 natural fences was 4:20.4, well
off the stakes record of 4:16.4 set by Mr. Yankee in 1995.
As most expected, Al Skywalker went straight to the front and held
the lead throughout the first two miles of the race. Canta Ke Brave
came along side to challenge him as the field headed down the backside
the last time and briefly wrested the lead away. Al Skywalker battle
back to regain the lead as the field went into the final turn, and
then fought off a bid from Lord Zada around the turn. While those
two battled, Canta Ke Brave rallied again on the inside and was
challenging when the bumping incident occurred.
As the top three finishers approached the last fence three abreast.
Lord Zada, who was on the outside, came over on Al Skywalker, who
was in the middle, slamming him so hard he almost causing jockey
Tom Foley to come off (see photo below). That foul caused a chain
reaction, as Al Skywalker then swerved left, interfering with Canta
Ke Brave.
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The Last Fence: Lord Zada (left) started
a chain reaction when he bore in on Al Skywalker (middle)
while jumping the last fence, knocking Al Skywalker into Canta
Ke Brave (right) so hard that the later landed sideways on
the other side of this fence. This photo was taken after Lord
Zada made contact with Al Skwalker and before Al Skywalker
slammed into Canta Ke Brave. Wendy F. Kingsley photo.
|
Immediately after Lord Zada crossed the finish line a length in
front of Canta Ke Brave the second and third-place jockeys, Robert
Massey on Canta Ke Brave and Tom Foley on Al Skywalker, claimed
foul against Lord Zada and jockey Gus Brown.
Brown, the leading steeplechase rider the last two years in a
row, noted after the race that Lord Zada got tired three jumps from
home, ".....when he gets tired he wants to jump to the left. The
final outcome was unfortunate, because I think I was definitely
on the best horse," Brown said.
Tom Foley thought the interference was unintentional. "I think
Gus' horse thought he had more room than he did. He banged me and,
in turn, I banged Rob (Massey)."
"It's not the way you want to go and win a race, but we got
hampered at the last fence," said Massey. "There was three
of us going into the last fence, and Lord Zada jumped left-handed.
Al Skywalker got knocked on top of me, which really did cost my
horse a length or two. I was sideways on the landing side."
Masey told the NSA.
"It was horrible that the two horses came in on top of us," said
Jimmy Day, trainer of Canta Ke Brave. "But justice was done. When
I saw the rerun, I wasn't surprised with the decision. He's not
a quitter, thats for sure," Day told the NSA. "He got
hammered at the last but he showed true class to come back and come
back like that. He was lucky he did not get knocked down there."
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Robert Massey won the Grade I Carolina
Cup on Canta Ke Brave after Lord Zada was disqualified for
interefernce at the last fence.
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The Carolina Cup was the first Grade I victory for Claytonville
Stables' Canta Ke Brave. The 6-year-old son of River Special (by
Riverman) came close to capturing a Grade I race last summer when
he was second beaten only a neck by It's A Giggle in New York Turf
Writers' Cup at Saratoga. He had won two races from five over hurdles
last year, including the Grade III Marcellus Frost at Iroquois,
and finished third beaten only two lengths in the $75,000 Fort McHenry
at 1 1/2 miles on the flat at Pimlico.
Augustin Stables' Lord Zada was shooting for his second consecutive
Grade I victory after capturing the Colonial Cup in November. The
9-year-old son of Grade I flat winner Lord Avie (by Lord Gaylord)
has never been off the board in seven career steeplechase races.
Lord Zada has also shown strong ability on the flat, winning a 1
1/2 mile listed stake race at Philadelphia Park in 2000, and finishing
fourth in the 1999 edition of the Grade III Laurel Turf Cup, also
run at a mile-and-a-half. Lord Zada is trained by last year's leading
steeplechase trainer (by money won) Sanna Neilson.
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Lord Zada was first under the wire in
the Grade I Carolina Cup but was disqualified for interfering
with Canta Ke Brave and Al Skywalker at the last fence.
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Al Skywalker had won the Colonial Cup last year by 12 lengths,
but was not able to defend his title. The 9-year-old California-bred
son of Grade I flat winner Skywalker (by Relaunch) sports a record
of 7-2-6 from 25 career starts over fences. He is owned and trained
by Jennifer Majette and was ridden by last year's apprentice sensation
Tom Foley.
Click Here for Daily Racing Form Past
Performance Charts for the Carolina Cup (in PDF format - Adobe
Acrobat Reader required).
Past performance charts are provided by the Daily
Racing Form.
To play the Steeplestakes.com Spring 2002 Handicapping Contest
click here.
Where Have all the Grade I Jumpers Gone? Missing
from the Carolina Cup were: Campanile, who finished second in this
race last year after being DQ'ed from first in 2000; Tres Touche
who won the $40,000 Little Everglades Stakes on March 10th of this
year and is pointing toward the Grade II Atlanta Cup on April 13th;
Electron who was second in the Little Everglades Stakes and fell
in the $30,000 Imperial Cup at Aiken on March 23rd; 2000 steeplechase
Champion All Gong (GB) who is pointing toward the $1.3 million Nakayama
Grand Jump in Japan on April 13th but has been entered in a training
flat race with no purse money on the same card as the Carolina Cup
- a curious strategic move; Praise The Prince (NZ) who is pointing
toward the Grade II Atlanta Cup; Quel Senor (FR) who has been nominated
to the $25,000 Stoneybrook Stakes on April 6th; and It's A Giggle
who was also nominated to the $25,000 Stoneybrook Stakes.
Results:
|
FP
|
Horse
|
lbs
|
Jockey
|
Trainer
|
Owner
|
|
1
|
Canta Ke Brave |
146 |
Massey |
Jimmy Day |
Claytonville Stable |
|
2
|
Al Skywalker |
154 |
Foley |
Jennifer Majette |
Jennifer Majette |
|
3
|
Lord Zada |
154 |
Brown |
Sanna Neilson |
Augustin Stable |
|
4
|
Turkish Corner |
146 |
B. Miller |
F. Bruce Miller |
Mrs. Walter M. Jeffords |
|
5
|
Indispensable |
146 |
Delozier |
Jack Fisher |
Mrs. F. Eugene Dixon, Jr. |
back to top
Pedigree of Winner:
CANTA KE BRAVE C, 1996 DP = 8-8-14-2-0
(32) DI = 2.56 CD = 0.69
|
CANTA
KE BRAVE
1996 |
RIVER
SPECIAL (USA)
ch. 1990
14-4-2-3
$717,999 |
RIVERMAN
(USA)*
br. 1969 [IC]
8-5-2-1
$247,876 |
NEVER
BEND (USA)*
dkb/br. 1960 [BI]
23-13-4-4
$641,524 |
NASRULLAH
(IRE)*
b. 1940 [B] |
NEARCO
(ITY) |
| MUMTAZ BEGUM
(FR) |
LALUN
(USA)*
b. 1952 |
DJEDDAH
(FR) |
| BE FAITHFUL
(USA) |
RIVER
LADY (USA)
b. 1963
18-3-?-?
$17,715 |
PRINCE
JOHN (USA)*
ch. 1953 [C] |
PRINCEQUILLO
(IRE) |
| NOT AFRAID
(USA) |
NILE
LILY (USA)
dkb/br. 1954 |
ROMAN
(USA) |
| AZALEA (USA) |
NIJINSKA
STREET (USA)
ch. 1976
15-3-2-1
$40,650 |
NIJINSKY
(CAN)*
b. 1967 [CS]
13-11-2-0
$677,117 |
NORTHERN
DANCER (CAN)*
b. 1961 [BC]
Book |
NEARCTIC
(CAN) |
| NATALMA
(USA) |
FLAMING
PAGE (CAN)**
b. 1959 |
BULL
PAGE (USA) |
| FLARING TOP
(USA) |
STREET
DANCER (USA)
dkb/br. 1967
44-13-8-6
$224,019 |
NATIVE
DANCER (USA)*
gr. 1950 [IC]
Book |
POLYNESIAN
(USA) |
| GEISHA (USA) |
BEAVER
STREET (IRE)*
b. 1953 |
MY BABU
(FR) |
| WOOD FIRE (GB) |
STUBBORN
STAR
1987 |
STAR
CHOICE (USA)
b. 1979 |
IN
REALITY (USA)*
b. 1964 [BC]
27-14-9-2
$795,824 |
INTENTIONALLY
(USA)*
blk. 1956 [BI] |
INTENT
(USA) |
| MY RECIPE (USA) |
MY
DEAR GIRL (USA)*
ch. 1957 |
ROUGH'N
TUMBLE (USA) |
| ILTIS (USA) |
SOME
SWINGER
1972
$33,153 |
TIRRENO
(ARG)
ch. 1957 |
ARISTOPHANES
(GB) |
| TREVISA (ARG) |
BATTING
A THOUSAND
1965 |
HITTING
AWAY (USA) |
| FUNLOVING
(USA) |
CORNER
TABLE
1969 |
SWORD
DANCER (USA)*
ch. 1956
39-15-7-4
$829,610 |
SUNGLOW
(USA)
ch. 1947 |
SUN AGAIN
(USA) |
| ROSERN (USA) |
HIGHLAND
FLING (USA)
br. 1950 |
BY
JIMMINY (USA) |
| SWING TIME
(USA) |
ADMIRALS
BELLE (USA)
b. 1952
9-0-0-0
$1,200 |
WAR
ADMIRAL (USA)*
br. 1934 [C]
Book |
MAN O'WAR
(USA) |
| BRUSHUP (USA) |
BELLE
CANE (NZ)
br. 1937 |
BEAU PERE
(GB) |
| DUCKS EGG (NZ) |
Pedigrees compliments of Del
Mar Pedigree Query
Previous Winners of the Carolina Cup:
|
Year
|
Winner (Age)
|
Jockey
|
lbs.
|
Second (Age)
|
lbs.
|
Third (Age)
|
lbs.
|
|
2001
|
Al Skywalker (8) |
Foley |
142 |
Campanile (7) |
150 |
Assurance (9) |
146 |
|
2000
|
Invest West (6) |
Kingsley |
154 |
Snuggle (NZ) (8) |
142 |
Darn Tipalarm (7) |
146 |
|
1999
|
Lonesome Glory (11) |
B. Miller |
154 |
Assurance (7) |
154 |
Romantic (7) |
154 |
|
1998
|
Master McGrath (11) |
Kingsley |
146 |
Brigade of Guards (6) |
146 |
Fifth Creek (8) |
142 |
|
1997
|
Lonesome Glory (9) |
B. Miller |
154 |
Hudson Bay (7) |
154 |
Prime Legacy (8) |
154 |
|
1996
|
To Ridley (6) |
Clancy |
146 |
Eskimo Cove (8) |
146 |
Leandro (7) |
140 |
|
1995
|
Mr. Yankee (8) |
Delozier |
140 |
Mistico (9) |
166 |
Victorian Hill (10) |
154 |
|
1994
|
Moonstruck (11) |
Thornton |
151 |
Castleworth (8) |
144 |
Victorian Hill (9) |
156 |
|
1993
|
Mistico (7) |
Thornton |
160 |
Victorian Hill (8) |
158 |
Woodlast (8) |
145 |
|
1992
|
Castleworth (6) |
Clancy |
139 |
Timely Encounter (9) |
141 |
Moonstruck (9) |
154 |
Post-Race Analysis | Results
| Pedigree of Winner | Previous
Winners
