PRESIOUS PASSSION CONNECTED TO THE GHOST OF DR. FAGER

A SIMILAR QUALITY OF THE BRILLIANT HORSE OF THE YEAR, CHAMPION OLDER HORSE, AND CHAMPION SPRINTER OF 1968 LIVES ON IN THE DEFENDING UNITED NATIONS S. WINNER PRESIOUS PASSION AND U.S. SERVICE PEOPLE AT HOME AND ABROAD: BIG, WINNING HEARTS!


Often horse racing enthusiasts like me lament about bygone dayswhen horses competed as older horses and carried weight in the graded stakes ranks. Our collective attention can be diverted from enjoying the marvelous runners that are still racing in our presence. Thanks to COLIN’S GHOST writing about the brilliant DR. FAGER and supplying video of his remarkable win in the 1968 United Nations International H. under a staggering 134 pounds, I found out that the “good doctor” was owned by W.L. McKnight. Fitting, isn’t it that the 2008 United Nations International winner PRESIOUS PASSION, also a two-time winner of Calder’s G.2 W.L. McKnight H., returns on Saturday to defend his title?

PRESIOUS PASSION has won seven stakes lifetime, six were graded, ranged from 1 1/16 miles to 1 ½ miles, and all came on the turf. His career record is 38-11-6-2 and has earned his distaff team of owner PATRICIA A. GENERAZIO and trainer MARY HARTMAN nearly $1.4 million (not to mention how much in winning wagers on a gelding that is never favored). While the 6y.o. son of multiple G.1 winner ROYAL ANTHEM is not in the same league as DR. FAGER in terms of quality, speed, and versatility, PRESIOUS PASSION owns the same front-running style and admirable determination to win.

Witness the grit of his last win, the ungraded Monmouth S. run at 1 1/8 miles just three weeks ago, and compare it with DR. FAGER’s U.N. Handicap. Watch his dogged determination to win, despite getting passed in the stretch after setting the pace. I cannot find the video to imbed it, but you can find it courtesy of bloodhorse.com here.

Patrons of Monmouth Park and fans of New Jersey racing will always remember this gelding that won stakes from age three to six so far in his career. Win or lose on Saturday, PRESIOUS PASSION deserves to be remembered in our memory banks as a gelding that persevered in a game where talented American horses are whisked off to the breeding shed. In my book, a measure of greatness is having a body of work that is repeated year in and year out. While he lacks the brilliance of other foals of 2003 like ill-fated Kentucky Derby winner BARBARO, Champion BERNARDINI, multiple G.1 turf winner SHOWING UP, or eventual BC Mile winner KIP DEVILLE he makes up with, as Trevor Denman says, “A heart as big as the racetrack.” On Independence Day weekend, it would be fitting if the ghosts of Dr. Fager and his owner W.L. McKnight could give PRESIOUS PASSION another push to a repeat U.N. win.

Enjoy your July 4 weekend while remembering the military that died for their country, put their lives on the line every day they wore or currently wear a uniform, and currently protect our freedoms.

Thank you, service men and women in America and around the world, for using your humungous hearts and honoring the commitment to uphold the ideals of the U.S.A.

I’ll leave you with Voices of Glory, two brothers and a sister, who auditioned for America’s Got Talent with a touching story and stirring rendition of “God Bless America”!