by Karen M. Johnson
Barry Irwin, president of Team Valor Stables, said Sept. 25 discussions are under way with his partners, Robert Muir and Des Scott, on whether to supplement Gallant Bloom Stakes (gr. II) winner Jazzy to the $1-million Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Dirt Sprint.
The cost to supplement Jazzy to the inaugural running of the race at Monmouth Park Oct. 26 is $150,000. Jazzy’s sire, Mutakddim, was standing in Argentina when she was conceived. Mutakddim was not nominated to the Breeders’ Cup and neither was Jazzy; thus, the 15% supplemental fee.
Team Valor bought 50% of the mare last year. Her original owners, Muir and Scott, retained 50% of the 5-year-old.
Irwin indicated that Muir, a real estate developer and Scott, who owns a platinum-mining enterprise in South Africa, are on board to pony up the supplemental fee.
“(Team Valor) would like to run and is inclined to supplement, but from an economical point of view, it doesn’t make sense,” Irwin said. “Our return would be 2-1 if we won and then subtracted the money you have to pay the trainer and jockey. Here is my attitude about what happens in racing to a certain extent—people indulge themselves. If I put up money and I don’t win, I feel like an idiot.”
On the flip side, Irwin said: “There aren’t many races worth more than $150,000 for filly and mare sprinters, and winning the Breeders’ Cup would be like winning five of those races.”
Irwin said the deal-breaker for supplementing Jazzy would be if the undefeated La Traviata, a seven-length winner of the Aug. 25 Victory Rides Stakes at Saratoga, runs in the Filly & Mare Dirt Sprint rather than against males in the $2-million TVG Breeders’ Cup Sprint (gr. I). La Traviata’s connections have hinted that they may want to take on males, but haven’t made a final decision.
Jazzy raced exclusively in South Africa before coming to the United States earlier this year. Trained by Mark Hennig, Jazzy finished second in her American debut, beaten a nose, in a turf sprint, the Incredible Revenge Stakes, at Monmouth Park July 21.
That race marked her first start since May 2006, when she was third in a group I in South Africa. Jazzy returned to win the Capades Stakes, a turf sprint at Saratoga, before making her dirt debut in the Sept. 22 Gallant Bloom. She won the 6 ½-furlong Gallant Bloom at Belmont Park by three-quarters of a length.