Exaggerator wins Haskell on mudder's day

OCEANPORT, N.J. - After describing Sunday's Haskell Invitational as Preakness "déjà vu," Kent Desormeaux had an interesting explanation as to why Exaggerator is nearly unbeatable on sloppy or muddy tracks.

"The difference between him in the mud and the others is he doesn't care," the Hall of Fame jockey said. "The others might swim . . . What most horses do in the slop is that clippety-clop makes them aggressive and he just doesn't care . . . He cruises along just like it's another day at the office."

The hot, contested pace was similar to the Preakness. The sloppy track at Monmouth Park was very much like Pimlico. The result, Exaggerator winning, was the same, this time by 1 1/2 lengths in 1:48.70 for the mile and an eighth. Exaggerator paid $7.20 as the second choice.

The only difference between Baltimore and the North Jersey shore was that Kentucky Derby winner Nyquist did not have the same fight in the stretch he had then. After setting the pace from the inside and battling through fast, but not overwhelming fractions, 1-1 favorite Nyquist got passed by the horse battling with him, American Freedom, on the far turn and was also passed very late by 31-1 Sunny Ridge, settling for fourth.

"His hands were kind of tied from the rail so we were forced to ride a little harder than we wanted to," Nyquist's trainer Doug O'Neill said of jockey Mario Gutierrez. "I'm still proud of this guy (Nyquist) and we will regroup . . . No excuses."

It is not unreasonable to think that Nyquist, who got sick after the Preakness and had not raced in 70 days, may have needed a race to get back to his best form. The colt will go back to California to train there. O'Neill seems interested in bringing him back east to run in the Sept. 24. Pennsylvania Derby, but time will tell on that.

Exaggerator has now won three Grade I races this year to two for Nyquist so he likely has an edge for 3-year-old champion. It was a last-minute call by trainer Keith Desormeaux to bring Exaggerator to Monmouth. The colt was not working well over the Saratoga surface. The trainer thought he would get a faster pace than what developed in Saturday's Jim Dandy Stakes at Saratoga. He got the added bonus of major rain and that sloppy track.

And there was the caliber of competition, a really strong group with the top three Derby finishers and American Freedom, an improving colt trained by Bob Baffert who was going for his ninth Haskell win.

"Keith just said if we were going to be the best, win the 3-year-old (championship), we've got to run against the best," Exaggerator's owner Matt Bryan said. "I think we did that today."

Indeed. Nyquist has been the standard. After losing four straight to Nyquist, Exaggerator has gotten the champ twice in succession.

Exaggerator has raced five times on "off" tracks, winning four and finishing second once. The colt's first two wins were on fast tracks, but, since then, has lost five straight on fast dirt.

Assistant trainer Julie Clark, who has been with the colt at Saratoga while Keith Desormeaux remained with the rest of his stable in California, said the colt's next start would be in the Aug. 27 Travers at the upstate New York track. If Exaggerator wins, Bryan and trainer Desormeaux would be looking at $150,000 each in bonuses just to show up to run in the Pa. Derby, $100,000 each if the colt does not win.

Exaggerator was last in the six-horse Haskell field early, but Kent Desormeaux loved what he was seeing in front of him as Exaggerator began to lengthen his stride on the backstretch.

"I thought I was going to get there too soon," he said. "I grabbed him as we fell into the far turn, asked him to slow down and wait . . . He just blew up like King Kong, thought he was the man."

Right now, Exaggerator is the country's most accomplished 3-year-old in 2016. Nyquist has time to catch up, but, after winning eight straight, the 2015 2-year-old champion has now lost two straight. His next race, which very well could come at Parx in late September, really needs to end back in the winner's circle.

@DickJerardi