“We’ll freshen him up” are the dreaded words an owner almost-certainly doesn’t want to hear.
They usually come after a campaign hits crisis point and they’re usually uttered because a horse is not showing spark racing over distances that are too long for their liking.
Sometimes, the freshen-up is part of the plan. After all, there are horses that race well with their runs spaced.
But the old-fashioned freshen-up, the dreaded freshen-up, coincides with the abandoning of Plan A. It comes after a bad run or bad spate of runs and sees a horse’s trackwork lighten in order to return speed to its legs.
Then, after a three or four-week break without racing, that horse is entered in a race over a shorter, more suitable distance. And ideally, the horse will show a return to its best form.
The freshen-up is something we see each spring after the Caulfield Guineas (1600m, Group 1, three-year-olds).
Every year, almost without fail, a sprinting three-year-old (or three of them) disappoints in their big shot at a stud career, after being extended to the mile of the Guineas.
The distance and pressure of the Classic too much to bear.
Equally as predictable, the next morning, Andrew Bensley reports on Sky Channel that same horse (or three horses) will be freshened for the Coolmore Stud (1200m, Group 1, three-year-olds) on Derby Day three weeks later.
Last year the recipients of the post-Caulfield Guineas freshen were Éclair Big Bang, who was last in the Guineas, and Divine Calling, who was a fantastic second to Long John.
For Diving Calling, the freshen was part of the plan. But for Éclair Big Bang it was panic stations.
Éclair Big Bang was joined in the Coolmore Stud by Sidestep and Fast ‘N’ Rocking, who had both been subjected to the freshen after disappointing in Caulfield Guineas lead-up races.
How did they fare in the Coolmore? Terribly! In a field of 11, Éclair Big Bang was eighth, Divine Calling tenth and Fast ‘N’ Rocking last. Sidestep was a bit better – he finished sixth.
Zoustar, who won the Coolmore, was off a four-week break but he seems to love racing fresh. Off a break of three weeks or more, he’s won four out of five times.
Perhaps, all I’ve done is show that a spell should be the preferred option to a Plan B that is titled ‘freshen’.
But, in the case of Chris Waller’s out-of-form sprinter-miler Boban, a freshen could do the trick. And it might not be that far away.
The best of Boban is exciting. Here’s a horse that can unwind a sprint – carrying any weight – that no other horse in a race can match.
We saw it in the spring – five times in each of his five races. It carried him to narrow victories in the Epsom (1600m, Group 1, handicap) and Emirates (1600m, Group 1, handicap) and perhaps, most impressively in the Moonga (1400m, Group 3, handicap) at his favourite seven furlongs.
Have a look at his Moonga victory. At first, maybe you think Boban is flattered by the fact he saves ground around the home bend. But soon, what is so obvious is that, despite lugging top weight, he is the only horse to make significant ground in the race.
And as the footage begins, Boban is recovering from interference that he reacted badly to and lost ground from. That interference happened 600m from home.
This is an extraordinary victory.
Boban’s split from the 400m mark to the 200m mark of 11.05s is 0.32s (about two lengths) faster than the next best in the race – very rare. Not many horses have the turn of foot to win a Group race in a 200m space like Boban can.
That split was 0.57s (nearly four lengths) faster than both the median and mean 400-200m split in the race.
This wasn’t a vintage Group 3 outfit but Boban conceded weight to them and made them look average. It was a top-class performance.
And a performance backed up in the Emirates, when he became the first horse in 27 years to do the Epsom-Emirates double.
Boban has returned in the Autumn in weight-for-age races. And he looks a shadow of his former self. Racing against what cannot be described as vintage weight-for-age opposition, Boban was fifth in the Expressway (1200m, Group 2, weight-for-age) and then fourth in Saturday’s Apollo (1400m, Group 2, weight-for-age) comprehensively beaten by the mare Appearance both times.
After the Expressway – when Boban plugged up the straight after being held up – we were told by Waller to be patient. Boban was being prepared for the Queen Elizabeth (Group 1, weight-for-age) at 2000m and he had plenty of improvement left.
Unfortunately, the bid to get Boban to race at 2000m has robbed him of his turn of foot. And that’s his killer asset.
Even on Saturday, when he was a lot better in the Apollo, he still lacked punch in the straight. He was exposed early in the race and began to pull hard on the side of the course, no doubt blunting his finish.
Boban has always had bad manners but if he’s pulling over his pet distance of 1400m, how’s he going to settle over a mile and a quarter when the pace could be even slower.
Last year in England, the champion three-year-old miler Dawn Approach was extended to the 2400m Derby (Group 1, three-year-olds) trip and – almost literally – pulled himself out of the race.
Remarkably, he pulled so hard he was completely finished at the 400m mark and was beaten by a furlong as an even-money favourite.
Dawn Approach was simply too fast for the stayers he was racing. With similarly bad manners, its not impossible to think Boban could suffer a comparable, if not as dramatic, fate.
Boban’s next race will almost certainly be the Chipping Norton (1600m, Group 1, weight-for-age) over the mile at Warwick Farm.
There he will meet his two-time autumn conqueror Appearance at her pet trip and arguably the best horse in the country in It’s A Dundeel. Boban could show us his spring form and still be beaten three or four lengths.
But it’s much more likely we see another lacklustre performance. And then what? Does Waller push on to 2000m and the Ranvet (Group 1, weight-for-age) a fortnight later?
I’d say it’s highly unlikely. I’m guessing Waller is already planning to freshen Boban after the Chipping Norton in preparation for the George Ryder (1500m, Group 1, weight-for-age), which is three weeks after Warwick Farm and is the perfect Doncaster (1600m, Group 1, handicap) lead-up.
After the spring, I was happy to see Boban trained for the 2000m Queen Elizabeth.
Now that we’re seeing what a middle-distance preparation has done to Boban, it should be abandoned as soon as possible. Hopefully, with a bit more speed in his legs the old Boban will return.
I believe Boban can still prove himself be a force at weight-for-age but I can only see it happening after we hear of a freshen-up plan. And right now, it can’t come soon enough.
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