Monday Morning Message with Jason Beem Aug. 12, 2024

A good Monday morning to you all! This might be one of the first times I'm actually writing this column on a Monday morning as it just went past midnight. Not to take down the fourth wall, but normally I write this column on Sundays to post so it’s fresh out of the oven on Monday morning for you all to read – after the editor corrects all my grammar and spelling mistakes, of course! 

I just got home from our Arlington Million (G1) card, and I think I want to wait until Thursday’s column to talk about that day at Colonial Downs. It’s very fresh, so I just want to take a couple of days to process before I share my thoughts on that. 

So, let me talk instead about the Longacres Mile! For years and years I’ve always said it’s my favorite race because it’s my hometown race. Now look, I’m 100% bought and paid for and will of course say that the big races at the tracks I work for are my favorite. But deep in my heart, the Mile will always be my favorite. It just is. There are too many memories, too many times watching the race with my dad, just too much childhood in that race for me not to love it the most. 

This year’s running saw Five Star General get up in an extremely thrilling edition of the race. I really thought at the three-eighths pole that early leader Clovisconnection was going to win it. He kind of “stacked and packed them” going into the first turn. It just seemed like with that trouble for many of his rivals, plus his solid early lead – well that was going to be enough to get the win. 

Five Star General put in a flashy move at the three-eighths pole, but again, I was still, at almost every point of the race, sure that Clovisconnection was going to win. But alas, Joe Bravo and Five Star General lunged right at the wire to get up and win. The final margin said it was a head, but it was a short head! 

Five Star General became the fourth horse ever to win the Longacres Mile in back to back years, and he joins some impressive company. The great Trooper Seven did it the year I was born back in 1980 and followed up with a win in the 1981 edition. Simply Majestic went back to back in 1988 and 1989. Both of those accomplishments were at old Longacres. Stryker PhD in 2014-15 and now Five Star General the last two years are the only two to accomplish the feat at Emerald Downs.  

Trainer Grant Forster has now won the Longacres Mile three times. In addition to the two with Five Star General, he also took the race back in 2005 in one of my personal favorite editions. No Giveaway, a 60-1 longshot, came from off the pace to get up and win over another Forster trainee, Quiet Cash, who ran second. But Quiet Cash was really his dad’s horse who shipped down, so I’m sure Grant was more excited to win with the horse he had trained for longer. 

Plus, No Giveway was owned by Herman Sarkowsky, who was a one-time owner of the Seattle Seahawks and the Portland Trail Blazers. “Herman the German,” as some called him, had almost won the Longacres Mile back in 1971 with a horse named *Titular II. The horse had the lead and then bolted and ended up running third. Over 30 years later, Herman and No Giveaway scored a big upset in the 2005 edition, and it was one of the coolest races ever. 

I could sit and write all day about the Longacres Mile and my favorite editions of the race. Snipledo going gate to wire in 1990. Gary Stevens winning with Louis Cyphre in 91. Not to mention many of the great editions at Emerald Downs in recent years. I spent a good chunk of this past Saturday going back and watching old Longacres Mile replays. If you’re ever bored, go watch them on Youtube. It’s a great race with great history, and that’s something to be celebrated. 

Have a great week everyone!