Awesome Gem out of Breeders’ Cup and out of action because of a hind issue
Peter J. Callahan and Catesby W. Clay bred 8-year-old gelding Awesome Gem, was expected to run in his fifth straight Breeders’ Cup race, but the experienced gelding has been pulled out of training because of a hind issue which will probably sideline him for about 60 days.
The son of Awesome Again, out of Piano by Pentelicus, Awesome Gem was pointed toward the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Classic on 5 November, 2011, at Churchill Downs.
The Craig Dollase trained gelding was coming off a second place finish in the Grade 1 Goodwood Stakes at Santa Anita Park on 1 October, 2011, under jockey D Flores over at 1 1/8 miles on dirt.
Awesome Gem was up against a good line up which included the likes of Game on Dude and the Haskell Invitational winner, Bob Baffert trained Coil.
Awesome Gem kept it real till the end, but couldn’t go past another experienced gelding Game on Dude, but kept the 3-year-old Coil at bay at all times and finished second behind Game on Dude, who covered the distance in 1 minute and 47.36 seconds.
The West Point Thoroughbreds owned Awesome Gem, prior to the Goodwood Stakes bagged the Grade 3 Longacres Mile Handicap at Emerald Downs on 21 August, 2011, at about 1 mile.
Under jockey D Flores, Awesome Gem was up against a runner who seldom loses a race at Emerald Downs, and it was Noosa Beach who has a fantastic record at the venue.
Defeating Noosa Beach on his own turf would’ve required a special horse, and Awesome Gem has all the ingredients to be that special one to visit Noosa Beach’s den and come out smiling.
The gelding showed an exceptional turn of foot, and left behind Noosa Beach in the final strides and won the 1 mile long handicap with the winning time of 1 minute and 34.80 seconds.
Awesome Gem had been a regular runner in the Breeders’ Cup since 2007, as he finished third to Curlin in the Classic back in 2008, finished sixth to the champion mare Goldikova in the Mile in 2009, seventh to Zenyatta in the Classic, and last year he finished seventh to Eldaafer in the Marathon.
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