SWADE – AN UNHERALDED BUT STUNNING EQUINE ATHLETE SEEKS SECOND WIN IN THE SAGICOR BREEDERS’ CLASSIC (GR.1R. – BAR)
At 8 years old, SWADE is approaching the sunset of a most remarkable career and many of the keen racing fans among us are blissfully unaware of just how remarkable it really has been given the myriad number of injuries and illness that have plagued this very handsome son of Nosferatu. Last Saturday was merely his 20th career start, when he returned to the track after almost a year’s lay off nursing yet another sprained tendon.
SWADE as a 2-year-old and early 3-year-old suffered from chronic sore shins which so inhibited his preparation for racing that he was only able to make his first appearance on the track midway through his 3-year-old year. Because of recurring sore shins he raced only four times as a 3-year-old, and was third in his second start. However after his 4th start in September 2001 he developed a career threatening injury to his off-fore (right) tendon, with the result that he was thought by his connections no longer to be a racing proposition and was given away to play polo. SWADE then spent many months being schooled as a polo horse, but he was too big for polo and any thoughts of him developing into a good polo horse were eventually abandoned. No use for racing, no use for polo, what would become of him?
Having been returned to his owners David, Robin and Stephen Bynoe and Stephen Walcott, and since his tendon injury appeared to have somewhat improved, he was put back into training in January 2003 and some 18 months after his last race he made a return to the track as a 5-year-old. His trainer Stephen Bynoe was able to nurse him through more sore shins and an ever present suspect tendon and by August of that year he was able to get six races out of him, all sprints so as to avoid putting the tendon under the stress of the longer distance races. During this period he won once, was second twice and was third twice, but after his win on August 2003 he sprained his other tendon, the on-fore (left) tendon.
SWADE was now a late 5-year-old with two “bowed” tendons. Did it make sense trying with him any further? It so happened that sentiment (which in horseracing gets the better of reasoned judgment) prevailed and SWADE was put out to pasture to rest in the hope that his tendons might repair in time – a long shot at best!. During this period Geoffrey Bynoe took over from his uncle Stephen as trainer, and after nearly a year’s lay off SWADE returned to the track in July 2004 as a 6-year-old. He was able to race four times before more problems ensued. It was at this time that he was at his most impressive, in those starts finishing 4th, 1st, 1st and 1st and in so doing moving from class F3 to C3.
On November 6, 2004 in the Sagicor Breeders Classic (GR.1R. - BAR) he absolutely demolished all of his creole peers winning in the still record time of 1.49.4 and leaving in his wake the likes of KABUL, CAPTAIN P.J. and SUPER STYLE.
Was he destined to be the third son of the magnificent Nosferatu to win the prestigious Sandy Lane Barbados Gold Cup (GR.1 – INTER.) ? As events would unfold this was not to be for whilst in training for the Coolmore “Home Of Champions” Trophy (GR.1. – BAR) race, the prep race for the Gold Cup, SWADE now a 7-year-old and then in the best ever condition of his life, developed “tick – fever”, an extremely debilitating illness from which horses can take many months to recover.
Any thoughts of running in the 2005 Gold Cup had now been dashed, but being blinded by the super athlete that Swade had now become, his connections erroneously decided to race him in the Tanglewood Stakes (GR.1R. – BAR) instead, on Gold Cup day; a decision which would have adverse consequences for Swade for the rest of 2005, and one which they would later very much regret. He would however run a commendable race in the Tangelweood to be beaten only 4 lengths by the winner SUPER STYLE.
The combination of running when not fully recovered from “tick-fever” and his suspect tendons dogged SWADE in the few starts that he was able to make in 2005; and in the Sagicor Breeders Cap Classic (GR.1R. – BAR) in November 2005, the race that he had won so impressively in 2004 he was last of 10 beaten on the day by an KABUL. SWADE came out of this race with a swelling on his left tendon, an ominous indication that his unfortunate injury prone career might be over, but his owners persisted, keeping him in light training with a view to running in the Tanglewood on Gold Cup Day 2006.
Again this was not to be because in his final gallop for the Tanglewood he once again sprained his left tendon and this time it was visibly swollen large, torn and hemorrhaging. Surely this was the end end of this stunning enquire athlete!
Incredibly and almost in defiance of all veterinary logic, and eleven months after his last start, SWADE now over 8-years-old returned to the track to win his first race back in convincing style beating the very useful imports LIGHTNING PILOT, I’M A LUCKY NATIVE, MILLIONDOLLARNOBLE and LADY OF HONOUR and others. His time on a yielding track was 1.1 seconds better than a strong B & LOWER field on the same day which was won by FAVORITE PLAYER and included the classy WHISKEY FOR ME , a certain Gold Cup prospect.
For those who may have thought that this Saturday’s 2006 Sagicor Breeders’ Classic (GR.1R. – BAR) was a straight duel between the impressive KABUL and the precocious 3-year-old Triple Crown winner ZOUK will now need to think again because the stunning SWADE is again in the mix. The Gold Cup apart, this Saturday’s race should be one of the most exciting races at the Garrison for many a year.