Ode to a Front-Runner

By Dana Byerly, Hello Race Fans Co-founder

June 15, 2012 Leave a comment

It was announced yesterday that fan favorite, 9-year-old gelding Presious Passion was retired. He made his last start in Grade 2 Monmouth Stakes last Saturday, setting the pace as usual but fading early and finishing sixth.

The front-runner with the oddly spelled name always delighted fans with his loose-on-lead antics. It wasn’t uncommon to see Presious Passion 8-10 lengths ahead of the field down the backstretch. And his name wasn’t the only name oddity, his trainer shares her name (at least in pronunciation) with a short-lived, clever soap opera parody from the 70’s.

In his 52 starts he won 14 times, scoring nine graded stakes wins including the 2008 and 2009 Grade 1 United Nations. If you’ve never had the pleasure of watching Presious Passion run his A-game, and even if you have, you’re in for a treat.

But first, a special thanks to Chris Rossi, Kevin Martin and Chris Hernandez for digging up some of these replays during a Twitter Presious Passion love-fest. Also, a big thanks to our friends at the Breeders’ Cup for making many of these replays available at their (stellar!) YouTube channel!

Presious Passion Lifetime Past Performance courtesy of Brisnet.com

2009 Breeders’ Cup Turf
He didn’t win this one, but the HD and camera work really showcases Presious Passion in all his front-running glory.