Word: moccasin
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
When owners first nominated their horses for this week's 92nd running of the Kentucky Derby last winter, the handicappers all figured it for strictly a three-horse race: Buckpasser, 1965's champion two-year-old, Moccasin, 1965's champion two-year-old filly, and Graustark, the much-touted, undefeated wonder horse. But there is many a slip 'twixt the Cup and such lip. Two months ago, Buckpasser cracked his right front hoof and had to be scratched. As sometimes happens with fillies, Moccasin failed to improve; she will not run. That left all the roses...
Owned jointly by Kentucky's A. B. ("Bull") Hancock Jr. and Virginia's William Haggin Perry, Moccasin seems to have inherited all her family's good traits, none of the bad. Ridan was an incorrigible people-hater who ran away with his exercise boys. Lt. Stevens once threw Jockey Johnny Heckmann so heavily that Heckmann was out of action for two months. Moccasin, insists Trainer Harry Trotsek, 53, is "a perfect lady," so mild-mannered and businesslike that Trotsek refuses to take any personal credit for her success. "Good horses," he says, "overcome all sorts of things...
...Dollar. Moccasin has overcome her share. As a yearling, she grew so fast that she was inclined to be lazy; to keep painful calcium deposits from forming in her ankles, she had to be "fired"-a process in which a veterinarian cauterizes the ankles with a hot iron. She has also had her share of bad racing luck. Last month, in a warmup race for the Alcibiades Stakes at Keeneland, Moccasin broke so badly that she was ten lengths behind the field by the time she got untangled. She still won the 6½-furlong race by three lengths, repaying...
That was the closest Moccasin has ever come to losing. In the Alcibiades itself, Moccasin was such a commanding favorite (1-10 in the early line) that the Keeneland management converted the race into a betless exhibition. Moccasin won by 15 lengths. The same thing happened two weeks ago at Maryland's Laurel Race Course. Only four fillies showed up to challenge Moccasin in the $93,620 Selima Stakes, so track officials canceled all betting on the 1 1/16-mi. race. Moccasin won by five lengths, leading every step...
With $209,517 already in the bank, Moccasin can wrap up the two-year-old filly championship with a victory in the $75,000 Gardenia Stakes at New Jersey's Garden State Park this week. But Trainer Trotsek is a persistent pessimist. "This game is made up of 'shoulda,' 'coulda' and 'woulda,'" he says glumly. "Who knows? A better filly might come along." Sure, Harry-next year. Owners Hancock and Perry are watching the progress of a little bay yearling whose parents' names are Nantallah and Rough Shod...