In horse racing there is some good luck. And a lot of bad luck.
Pure and simple, Majestic Oops is the former - a wild and crazy success story.
From winning two of her first four races - her maiden for no tag and then an impressive allowance tally, Majestic Oops went sideways for a while. At the end she couldn’t even beat bottom claimers at Santa Anita.
But then it turned around. And how.
Two weeks ago at Oaklawn Park, Arkansas, she won the $200,000 Dig A Diamond stakes with the $114,000 first-place cheque nearly doubling her career earnings for Alberta owners and breeders Bill and Sandy Dory and Janet Kropp.
“We always believed she had potential. And she was getting better with age,” Bill said of the five-year-old mare, who pulled away to a two and three-quarter length romp.
“But was I expecting her to win a $200,000 stakes race? No. Never. Not at all.”
And the field she beat was top notch.
Odds-on favourite Hoosier Philly, who ran second, was the defending Dig A Diamond champion and a multiple black type stakes winner of over $1 million in career earnings.
“Hoosier Philly is a very, very nice horse,” said Bill, whose farm Sublime Stables, which has an exerciser and a big arena with stalls, is five minutes outside of Devon.
“But we got a great ride from jockey Abel Castillo.
“It was a ride of perfection. A brilliant ride. One of the best I’ve ever seen. He kept Hoosier Philly blocked in the stretch and he kept her there until Majestic Oops took off and it was all over.”
Majestic Oops ran eight times in Alberta last year while in the care of Craig Smith, who has been Alberta’s leading trainer the last two years.
“Craig turned her around,” said Bill, who has owned thoroughbreds with his wife since 2002.
Did he ever.
After winning a couple of allowance races, Majestic Oops showed her true mettle running second to multiple Western Canada giant Infinite Patience in the $75,000 August 24 Northlands Distaff. Big Hug, who swept this past weekend’s Alberta Thoroughbred Awards dinner taking home Champion Aged Mare; Champion Alberta-bred and, with six wins in eight Alberta starts, not surprisingly named Horse of the Year, was third.
After the Distaff at Edmonton’s Century Mile, Majestic Oops ran second to Big Hug in the October 12 Lynn Chouinard Founders Distaff at Calgary’s Century Downs.
“Big Hug and Infinite Patience are two great horses,” said Bill. “To finish second to both of them is saying a lot.”
After running very well in Alberta, Majestic Oops went south to the U.S. again and finished second in an allowance race at Churchill Downs, Kentucky, second in an allowance race at Oaklawn, second in the Trivista Overnight stakes and then a sparkling tune-up to Dig A Diamond when she romped home by four and a quarter lengths also at Oaklawn in an allowance race for trainer Dan Ward.
Ward worked as an assistant under Hall of Famers Bobby Frankel and Jerry Hollendorfer.
Majestic Oops was then all set for the Dig A Diamond where she settled into fourth-place early, made her move around the final turn and then won going away like a good thing.
“I didn’t know where to run her when she came to me in Alberta,” said Smith, who also trained Majestic Oops mother, Miss Oops.
“Majestic Oops’ form wasn’t very good coming out of California. I didn’t know where to run her.
Saying he didn’t do anything different, Smith believes Majestic Oops just got better as she aged.
“Some horses are just like that. Miss Oops was the same.
“I don’t know if it was age or just confidence but I do know that she became a different horse. In the last 13 months she really improved,” Smith said of Majestic Oops, who had seven starts in Alberta winning twice, finishing second three times and third twice.
“She was a nice horse to train and be around. I’m lucky to have had her for as long as I did.”
Smith said he wasn’t surprised that Majestic Oops won the Dig A Diamond.
“She’s just peaking.
“She showed up every time and she ran her heart out every time.”
Running the mile in 1:37.05 in the Dig A Diamond, Majestic Oops’ Thoro Graph Rating - a complicated speed figure that takes everything into account - was off the charts.
“It was the second highest Thoro Graph figure for any stakes horse in North America for that week,” marvelled Bill, who believes the biggest change for Majestic’s improvement was Jamie Mottershed, who the Dorys and Kropp use for chiropractic and acupuncture work on their horses.
“Majestic Oops banged herself coming out of the starting gate in her last start in California on February 24 at Santa Anita and hurt her hip and back.
“At that point I didn’t know if she was even going to run again. I didn’t know what we had.”
Employed by the Dorys and Kropp, Bill said Mottershed did wonders.
“She fixed all of Majestic Oops’ problems,” said Bill, who gave Majestic Oops three months of rest.
“She’s definitely a success story.”
The future of Majestic Oops is a little undecided.
“The plan is a stakes race on June 7 at Monmouth in New Jersey. And if she does well there we may go in a half a million dollar stakes race, the Molly Pitcher - also at Monmouth - on July 19,” said Bill.
The third foal of Miss Oops, Majestic Oops is one of eight horses the Dorys own - six in Alberta and two down south.
One is Drinking Again, trained by Tom Rycroft, who won on this past weekends opener at Century Mile showing great resolve.
Another is Oops and Downs, a full sister to Majestic Oops, who the Dorys and Janet Kropp, whose husband Gary sadly died a few months ago, have with trainer Carson Frey.
In the top three in nine of her 15 starts, Frey is wishing Oops and Downs can move on to bigger things too.
“We’re hoping,” said Frey, who has been a solid trainer in Alberta since he first got into the game in 1999 with just three horses.
Oops and Downs won twice last year breaking her maiden by nine lengths.
“She’s got a mind of her own,” said Frey. She’s quite a small horse. But, take her 10 feet out of her stall and she thinks she is bulletproof.
“There are some mornings when she is galloping and she will just come to a stop. She figures she’s done enough training.
“She has a few quirks.
“But there’s talent there,” said Frey, who is hoping to enter Oops and Downs this weekend.
“She’s been working very well.”
It’s quite the story how Dory, 70, a former paving contractor, got Miss Oops.
“I lucked out,” said Bill. “I went to Kentucky for a yearling sale. I had numerous horses I had picked out and one of them was Miss Oops. I liked her breeding and I hadn’t even seen her. I wound up paying just $3,000 for her.
“The next day I went to take a look at her and a young Irishman met me. I told him I had just bought her and he said ‘Why?’”
“I asked him what I meant and he showed me Miss Oops who was laying down in the pasture. The Irishman didn’t have to say anything more: Miss Oops had terribly crooked knees. She was badly offset.
“I said ‘Oops; we’ve made a mistake here.’ That’s how she got her name.”
Somehow Miss Oops won 13 of 35 races including 6 of 13 starts in 2012.
“I lost her in a claiming race but then I bought her back to be a broodmare and I had her until she died of colic.
Dory also has another horse with Frey: Chase the Chaos, who he owns with Adam Ference.
Bought with the 2023 Canadian Derby in mind, Chase the Chaos ran fifth in the Preakness. He also won the El Camino Real stakes at Golden Gates in San Francisco.
Unfortunately, Chase the Chaos injured himself in the Canadian Derby and hasn’t raced since after undergoing surgery to remove a knee chip.
“He didn’t race at all last year,” said Frey, who said the horse is training forwardly evidenced by a five furlong work in :58 seconds and change.
“I’ll give him another five-eighths work and we’ll see how that goes. Knock on wood he hasn’t taken a bad step this year at all.”
As for Majestic Oops Frey said he watched the race in awe. “Most impressive,” said Frey. “I couldn’t be happier for Bill and his partners. Not only did she win - and win easily - but she beat some really good mares.”
STOCK REPORT - Dali Dancer got up in the final strides to win her 13th career race winning the $45,000 Bev Sears stake at Calgary’s Century Downs in a thrilling three-horse photo on Saturday while Iknowbetter took the $45,000 Ed Tracey Memorial.
Both races were for four-year-olds: mares in the Bev Sears and male horses in the Ed Tracey.
Dali Dancer, sent off at odds of 9-2, held off 25-1 long shot Little Rhys Chick by a nose while 12-1 pacesetter Outlawelectricblue was third another few inches behind.
Dali Dancer won for the seventh time in her last nine starts.
The mile went in a career-equalling 1:56 2/5.
Iknowbetter, who went wire-to-wire in 1:55 1/5 as the odds-on favourite, won by a comfortable two and a half lengths for driver Kelly Hoerdt -his third win of the day. It was Iknowbetter’s second win in a row and seventh in his 15 career starts.
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Author: The Turcottes: The Remarkable Story of a Horse Racing Dynasty.