Dallas Stewart, a longtime assistant to Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas, opened his own public stable in September, 1997, and has been bringing a string of horses to Saratoga Race Course every summer since. On July 27, Stewart, 48, won his first stakes race at the Spa when West Point Thoroughbreds’ Macho Again held off Pyro to win the Grade 2 Jim Dandy Stakes and earn a trip to Saturday’s $1 million Travers presented by Shadwell Farm. This week, Stewart will share this thoughts with racing fans at www.nyra.com as he prepares the gray colt for racing’s “Mid-summer Derby.”

SARATOGA: A SPECIAL PLACE FOR HORSES AND PEOPLE

Tuesday, August 19, 2008

The first time I came to Saratoga was when I was working with D. Wayne Lukas in the mid-1990’s, and I haven’t missed a year since. In one of the first years, we had Belmont Stakes winner Editor’s Note going in the Travers in 1996, but he didn’t do much in the race.

Winning the Jim Dandy with Macho Again was exciting because it was my first stakes win at Saratoga. I went out on my own in 1997, so 1998 was my first summer here as a trainer. From the start, I thought it was a great place to train a horse. If you can’t train a horse at Saratoga, you can’t train a horse anywhere. There’s a lot of different things you can do with them, walk them around, it’s just great.

Macho Again loves it here. He ran well as two-year-old, finishing second, and then came back to win the Jim Dandy. He’s matured and filled out since last year.

Then, so have I. Saratoga Springs is a great place to be. Downtown is beautiful to walk around in at night, I just love it, and there’s a lot of great restaurants. Some of my favorites are One Caroline, Sergio’s, Siro’s, the Spring Street Deli and the Country Corner Café. Sometimes people recognize me and congratulate me on the Jim Dandy, and wish me luck in the Travers, which is nice, but I’d really rather them focus on Macho Again. He’s the star.

The Kentucky Derby is the race everyone wants to win, but the Travers is right up there. It’s like the continuation of the Triple Crown races. Thinking about winning the Travers with him – well, it would be incredible.

MUY MACHO!

Wednesday, August 20, 2008

Macho Again is a name that fits this horse really well. He’s a fighter, he showed that when he won the Jim Dandy. He’s always real proud of himself and he feels terrific. His energy level has increased and so has his appetite. He enjoys the attention – he loves peppermints – but he needs his own space, too. His exercise rider, Kenny Bourque, and he get along really well.       
             

When we first got him in April or May last year at Churchill Downs, we thought highly of him, which is why we brought him to Saratoga. It’s a great place to develop horses, but I only bring the horses I plan on running. He ran well in his first start here, finishing second in on August 15. He needed some time to mature mentally and physically and now, he’s a lot bigger and more filled out than he was at age two. He’s a decent work horse, but he’s not the lickety-split type.
           

When he won the Derby Trial on April 26, and then ran second to Big Brown in the Preakness, we started to have a really good feeling about him. In the Belmont, he ran well for a mile and a quarter, and then got tired.  Today he drew post position No. 5, which is right in the middle of the racetrack, which should suit him real well. Hopefully he’ll get out of the gate in good shape and we’ll have a good run at them from there.

ANOTHER BEAUTIFUL DAY AT THE SPA

Thursday, August 21, 2008

It’s a beautiful morning here today in Saratoga, clear, cool – the horses are really enjoying it up here. Macho is enjoying it. He’s having a really good day. He schooled a little in the paddock in the morning with exercise rider Kenny Bourque on, and came back feeling good. He’s happy to be here. He’s got a window in the back of his stall, and he’ll stand there half the day looking out at whatever is going on. He entertains himself. He’s the kind of horse who generally likes to be left alone, but if he wants attention, he’ll let you know. He’ll come to the front and stick his tongue out – he likes you to grab it. Too much playing around and he’ll get psyched up, so we try to keep it low key.

His owners are enjoying this whole experience as well. There about 15 of them involved in this partnership for West Point Thoroughbreds, and they are absolutely loving it. They come by the barn and get to visit with the horse a bit, which is nice for them. I’ve been training for West Point for about 12 years and we’ve won a lot of stakes, so it’s been great for me and for them.

WE'RE READY

Friday, August 22, 2008

All of us know the Travers is tomorrow, but I’m not sure Macho Again is smart enough to figure that out. Tomorrow morning, he’ll wake up around 5:30, and we’ll take him out, clean him up, and hand-walk him a little bit to keep him relaxed. That’s when he’ll know it’s race day. All the prep work is pretty much done, all we have to do is bring him over to the security barn at 11:30. We’ll feed him when he gets over there.

As for myself, I’m excited about the race, and I feel good about our chances. Tonight, I’m going to sleep great, and tomorrow, after the race, I know I’ll eat well, win, lose, or draw.

Sunday, August 24, 2008

From the Equibase chart for the 139th Travers presented by Shdawell Farm: Macho Again raced in midpack between horses for seven furlongs, was caught in traffic on the turn, slipped heels and stumbled in tight at the head of the stretch and failed to threaten thereafter (8th)

 It’s clear he had a lot of trouble, a lot of traffic trouble. He almost fell down. Thank God Julien (Leparoux) didn’t get hurt. Macho Again got pretty cut up. He was pretty banged up with all that was going on. In a mile and a quarter race, you usually don’t see that. When he got back to the barn, he actually was limping around here last night. He hit a nerve in the back of his ankle and it stung him pretty good. We had him x-rayed, and the bones are OK. He walked pretty good today and he seems to be doing fine. He’s fine, I’m fine, the owners are fine, it’s just unfortunate, but that’s racing luck. It’s been a great experience watching him develop over the past 30 days. We’ll let the dust settle, make sure he’s OK, and take it from there.