Karamanos Has Wild Ride in Da Hoss

By Nick Hahn
After one wild ride, jockey Horatio Karamanos and his mount, Tam's Terms, came on to win Saturday's $50,000 Da Hoss Stakes at Colonial Downs after appearing to be hopelessly beaten.

At the break of the one-mile turf event, Tam's Terms veered in and clipped heels with his strongest competition in the race, Union One, almost stumbling to his knees and dislodging Karamonos from his irons.

The 5-year-old Private Terms gelding regained his balance and Karamanos bounced along well into the first turn, a furlong into the race, before he could settle into any sort of riding position. By then the field was 10 lengths in front of him and Karamanos said later that he just wanted to get his horse to relax and maybe make a move in the stretch to finish in the money.

But Tam's Terms had other ideas and he began to chase down the field. Before he was done, he caught everyone else, passing the leading Union One in mid-stretch to win by a length.

Trainer Lawrence Murray couldn't believe what he had just seen.

"When I saw the start of the race I thought we were dead. I've never seen that before," said Murray as he was walking to the winning circle, still in a state of shock.

For the connections of Tam's Terms – Karamanos, Murray and owner Sondra Bender – the win provided them with back-to-back Da Hoss Stakes wins. La Reine's Terms, who won the Da Hoss last year for the trio, is Tam's Terms' half-brother.

Enrique Jurado rode Union One, replacing Ryan Fogelsonger, who fell in the race prior to the Da Hoss. Fogelsonger had four winners on the day. But in the race prior to the Da Hoss, Fogelsonger lost control of his horse turning for home and swung wide.

Falling to the turf, Fogelsonger landed feet first and rolled. He was later taken to the emergency room at MCV Hospital where he was treated and discharged. His mount, Artillery Man, flipped over the outer rail while attempting to jump it, rose to his feet and walked down the stretch mostly unscathed.

(Chart, Equibase)