Coil is Haskell's surprise winner

OCEANPORT, N.J. - Yesterday's Haskell began like it was going to mirror the endless trip for trainer Bob Baffert and his crew from Southern California to North Jersey on Saturday. They waited at Del Mar to watch what they thought was "a future superstar" make his debut. The horse ran terrible, eighth of 10. So, they hopped a private plane in a less-than-perfect mood.

They tried to land near Monmouth Park. The lights were not working at the local airport. They circled, looking for an airport. They were diverted to Northeast Philly. They landed and had no car.

Trainer, jockey Martin Garcia and the rest of the entourage finally got to sleep around dawn. They were at Monmouth with Coil, a lightly raced 3-year-old taking on the Preakness and Belmont Stakes winners. When the stall doors opened in the $1 million Haskell, Coil recoiled, going backward as the other seven horses went on their way.

"Why did we even come?" Baffert asked aloud.

Less than 2 minutes later, he found out why. Coil ran around the entire field, caught Preakness winner Shackleford with 200 yards to go and went on to win the Haskell by a neck. Shackleford, the 3-2 favorite, did what he always does - tried hard from start to finish - and finished second. Belmont winner Ruler On Ice was third.

Coil, making his first start on dirt after running exclusively on California's artificial surfaces, was winning his first graded stakes. And confusing the 3-year-old picture even more, if that is possible.

Mike Pegram, one of Coil's owners, said they would definitely consider the Pennsylvania Derby with the horse. He is well aware there is a $50,000 participation bonus for the trainer and owner of the Haskell winner. The whole crew could have made a pit stop at Parx after landing. They certainly would have found action while they were waiting for their ride.

Coil paid $8.40 and ran the mile and an eighth in 1:48.2 on a surface that was yielding very fast times all day. The surface also inhibited horses close to the rail so Coil's five-wide move was the correct style.

Since 2001, Baffert has run five horses in the Haskell. And won them all. It began with Point Given in 2001. The run continued with Point Given's son, Coil.

Garcia had been telling Baffert for weeks that Coil would run better if he removed the blinkers. They were and the colt ran the race of his life.

"I think when you have a really good horse you can do whatever," Garcia said.

Garcia confirmed the horse went "backward" at the break. Which turned out to be not such a bad thing. The jockey was able to get the horse away from the rail and to the better part of the track. Coil did the rest.

When they all finally arrived at their hotel, they were short a few rooms so Baffert sent Garcia to his assistant Jim Barnes' room. Garcia knocked on the door. Barnes looked through the peephole and did not see anybody; Another knock. Nobody there. Finally, Garcia called and told Barnes to let him in. Jockeys and peepholes do not go together.

"That was a hall-of-fame ride," Baffert said of the jockey he helped make famous last year by putting him on Preakness and Haskell winner Lookin At Lucky.

After the break, Baffert really thought the horse had no chance.

"I thought he's going to have to be a great horse to win this race," Baffert said. "He's going to have to be like his daddy."

Well, Coil is not that, at least not yet. Point Given won the Preakness, Belmont, Haskell and Travers on the way to Horse of the Year.

Coil would have to do a lot of winning between now and November to get into that conversation. For now, the colt is a player in a wide-open division.

What started off as "the trip from hell," ended up in the winner's circle. Baffert is having one of his greatest years, winning with 31 percent of his starters. He was no factor in the Triple Crown, but has been a factor everywhere else. Now, he has a serious 3-year-old.

"When [Coil] started making that move, I thought he might hit the board," Baffert said. "When he made that big move on the outside, it was unbelievable. I was hoping that this horse had that."

Baffert was suitably impressed that Coil had beaten the Preakness and Belmont winners, saying, "a star has emerged."

Time will tell on that. For now, another favorite has failed to win another major race in a year where winning streaks among 3-year-olds simply do not happen. Perhaps, Coil will be the one.