8/5/06

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CHESTER, WV — WHICH VERSION OF WANNA RUNNER WILL WE SEE? by Bill Mooney

When Wanna Runner is at the top of his game, he is capable of leaving his opponents in the dust. But when his performance is below par, he pretty much needs a taxi to get home.

The question is - which version of Wanna Runna will manifest itself this coming Sunday afternoon, August 6, in the 37th running of the Grade 3, $750,000 West Virginia Derby at The Mountaineer Casino Racetrack and Resort?

Bob Baffert, the three-time Eclipse Award winner who trains Wanna Runner, has told the Mountaineer racing office that the 3-year-old gelding will arrive at the track on Thursday, three days before the 1 1/8-mile race.

Wanna Runner will be accompanied by assistant trainer Jim Barnes, and will have plenty of opportunity for a gallop or two around the Mountaineer oval, familiarizing himself with the racing strip. And, in the process, he may provide the Baffert stable with some clues as to what sort of effort might be forthcoming.

On the occasions Wanna Runner has been inclined to give his best, he has been formidable. On April 1 at Sunland Park in New Mexico, he was a 4 ¾-length winner of the $600,000 WinStar Derby, a race that's contested at the same distance as the West Virginia Derby.

And his next start, in the Grade 3 Lone Star Derby run at the 1 1/16-mile distance at Lone Star Park near Dallas, Wanna Runner cruised home in front by 5 ½ lengths. "He looked like Barbaro coming down the stretch in that one," Baffert said.

Wanna Runner was bred in Ontario, and his next start was in Canada's oldest and most prestigious race, the $1-million Queen's Plate Stakes at 1 ¼ miles at Woodbine in Toronto on June 25.

As was the case at Sunland and at Lone Star, Wanna Runner went postward as the favorite. But he began to fade entering the far turn, and Wanna Runner finished tenth, beaten an embarrassing 31 ¼ lengths.

After that race, Baffert seemed as bewildered as anybody. "Sometimes horses feel good, sometimes they don't run any good," he said. "But this is the first time Wanna Runner has thrown in a clunker like that."

Of course, even the most promising of racehorses sometimes throw in clunkers. Back in January 1998, a colt Real Quiet went postward as the favorite in the Golden Gate Derby at Golden Gate Fields in San Francisco, but proceeded to put in the dullest effort of his career, getting beat by 22 ½ lengths.

But, 3 ½ months later, Real Quiet won the Kentucky Derby. Two weeks after that, he won the Preakness. And three weeks later, he came within a pug nose of sweeping the Triple Crown, getting beat in the final strides of the Belmont Stakes by Victory Gallop.

Baffert knows all about Real Quiet - he trained him. And Mike Pegram knows all about Real Quiet, because he owned him. And Pegram is the owner of Wanna Runner, as well.

Pegram is viewed as one of the more joyful owners in the thoroughbred industry. His demeanor is that of the kid who was a hopeless mischief maker in his high school classes. His preferred mode of dress is cut-off shorts and a T-shirt, and his preferred beverage is a can of beet.

He is also, though, a brilliantly successful businessman. Pegram owns well over a dozen McDonald's fast food restaurants. In July of 2004, Pegram purchased Wanna Runner at the Fasig-Tipton Kentucky Yearling Sale for $80,000. To date, the gelding has a race record of nine starts, four victories, one third-place finish and earnings of $557,306 (a figure nearly seven times that of his purchase price).

One can not quarrel with Wanna Runner's breeding. His sire, El Corredor, was a Grade 1 winner. The pedigree of Wanna Runner's dam, Shebandowana, completes a cross in his bloodlines that includes Mr. Prospector, who was one of the great sires of the 20th Century.

At age two, it took Wanna Runner three tries to break his maiden, which he did in late November at Hollywood Park. Of Wanna Runner's quartet of wins, three have come at the 8 ½-furlong distance and one at the nine-furlong distance (a furlong is one-eighth of a mile).

In his best efforts, Wanna Runner has stayed within a half-length of the lead during the early stages of the race before moving to the lead. In racing parlance, he is a stalker who attends the pace before pouncing inside the final half-mile.

This sort of maneuver has won the West Virginia Derby before. Mass Market employed a similar style of running in 2000, as did the stakes and track record-holder, Soto, in 2003. An effort identical to theirs would likely garner Wanna Runner the $450,000 winner's share of the purse, which would elevate his career bankroll to above the $1-million plateau.

Baffert has had one prior starter in the West Virginia Derby - this was American Spirit, who finished second to Stellar Brush in 1999. To date, the race has been won seven times by geldings, the most recent being Da Devil, who was victorious in 1998.

For all but one of his career efforts, Wanna Runner has been ridden by Victor Espinoza, a 34-year-old journeyman from Mexico City, who, like Baffert, is now based in Southern California.

Espinoza is best known to racing fans as the jockey who rode War Emblem to victories in the 2002 Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes. He has never ridden in the West Virginia Derby before.