Crossing The Line -- won a graded stake then never got back there

Crossing The Line, 2nd in a 22.5k claimer at Santa Anita yesterday, is like I'm Steppin' It Up, except the hiatus from good races now encompasses nine starts. There can't be many horses like this. After a winning effort in the Del Mar Mile in 2007, the ESPN telecast was buzzing about the Breeders' Cup. But Crossing The Line didn't run again until December of 2009. As you would expect, that wasn't in a stakes race; it was in a $32,000 claimer.

Crossing The Line won three times in 2010, all in consecutive starts, and all in mid-price claiming races. It's doubtful he would have ever found his way back to graded stakes if he had stayed in racing condition, although you never know.

But after just missing a fourth consecutive victory (he was 3rd by a head), the gelding was AWOL for another 15 months, concluding with a September 18 allowance/optional claimer race at Golden Gate. Yesterday was his second start back. So, at least in America, (he's a New Zealand-bred), Crossing The Line has run once in a stake, and he won. Most horses with that record are of the Eastern Echo variety, who get hurt afterwards and don't get to race again. Crossing The Line presumably got hurt but did get to race again (after all, he's a gelding, while Eastern Echo had stud duty waiting).

Crossing The Line reminds me of the baseball player who ends his career with a 1.000 batting average. I was listening to a game recently, and the announcer said one of the coaches had had this record of perfection when he was a player. I think he had more than one at-bat, too, with the 1.000 batting average.

Crossing The Line's outstanding record in the races he has been running in speaks well of John Sadler's/Doubledown Stable's decision not to run him in tougher races. His record also makes him a very appealing horse. He's nine years old, and with a 15-8-3-1 ledger (that's starts/wins/seconds/thirds).

It's kind of funny, though as fans or bettors or what have you, that we come to like these horses, while a horse aggressively spotted might show the same consistency but not be lauded for it. Getting beat five lengths every time doesn't make anyone wax poetic. Probably one of many examples of how we anthropomorphize race horses, thinking that digging deep every time only is notable if the horse is going for first

I'm Steppin' It Up won his race yesterday, going off as the third choice, as the track handicapper said he would. I certainly wasn't selecting him; handicapping isn't my focus. It just seemed like the polite or the complete thing to do to mention it. I didn't want to be remiss, you know, although I suppose the omissions really only reflect poorly on you when their airing might reflect poorly on you, at least in the eyes of people who think an errant prediction shows poor reasoning.