When the 2021 New York turf season comes to an end, Gum gave every indication he wasn’t looking for the bench, so trainer Bill Mott decided to send the horse to Southern California for $251,000 Joe Hernandez Stakes (G2T) at Santa Anita. It was a good choice, as the 7 year old boy made a favored front nose victory Canned beer Man .
“He ended the year well,” Mott said by phone. “Where some of the horses seem to be cutting their tails, he seems to be doing quite well at the moment. He is bright and well-coated.”
Mott also liked the distance of the race, which was originally calculated for Santa Anita’s downhill run to be about 6 1/2 distances. However, after several days of rain, Santa Anita management moved the race down to the field with 6 1/2 lengths on the grass. While the sun was shining, the pitch was on the good list.
“We liked the idea of 6 1/2 — we thought it was probably the right distance for him,” Mott said.
Mott named local racer Umberto Rispoli on Chewing Gum, who faced six opponents.
“He’s the kind of horse you have to forget him in the first part of the race,” said Rispoli. “Mr. Mott guided me on the outside. The first part, he needed to find his feet and find his rhythm.”
Momos rose to the top, with Beer Can Man right behind him. Bran , he started in the US for the first time, just sitting out the first pair in third place. Rispoli, following Mott’s instructions, let the Chewing Gum settle in sixth, and that placed them three laps wide around the turn and into the long haul.
In the first leg, Beer Can Man dueled with Momos, taking the lead, but then Chewing Gum did an excellent job. He and Bia Can Man fought each other to the end.
The gap between Chewing Gum and Beer Can Man was so small that those in the winner’s final round speculated on the possibility of deadly heat. But the photo shows Chewing Gum as the narrowest winner, disappointing a large group of owners of Beer Can Man, Little Red Feather, Sterling Stables and Madaket Stables partnerships.
Mott was pleased with Chewing Gum’s effort, saying: “He did well. He had to work for it, but he got the job done.”
Chewing Gum stops the timer at 1:15.27, while Bran continues in third.
“I would say the ground really, really helped him,” Rispoli said. “He really likes that.”
Mott provides Gum training to owners of Pantofel Stable, Wachtel Stable, and Jerold Zaro. Wertheimer et Frere bred the son of Candy Ride –Sharing hearts , via forestry , in Kentucky. He became the 100th black winner for the Candy Ride, who stood at Lane’s End with a 2022 contribution nail fee of $75,000.
Although Mott trained Chewing Gum in propriety for most of the horse’s career, he actually started racing in California at Del Mar in 2019 to his breeders under the tutelage of Richard Mandella. Chewing Gum started twice for Mandella, finishing third on both occasions, before Mott took over current ownership.
In the first start for Mott, Chewing Gum broke her maiden at Kentucky Downs in 2019. The Hernandez was Chewing Gum’s first stake win, although he’d had a number of ratings before that, including 1st. Chewing Gum was 4-4-8 in 23 starts with earnings of $591,788.
Videotapes: Joe Hernandez S. (G2T)
