Starlet Series: Azeri

Starlet Series
Nuumber 6: Azeri

Joseph Di Rienzi

This is the start of an occasional series on the careers of the six best female thoroughbred horses I have observed racing in the years 1959 to the present. I have chosen these females based on their performances in their respective races. This is my assessment alone and will undoubtedly differ with others’ opinions.  I will discuss each leading female in separate pieces starting with sixth ranked Azeri.

                                                         

She was owned by the Allen Paulson Living Trust (managed by son, Michael Paulson) and trained by Laura De Seroux. (Azeri, was named after an abbreviation for the aviation checkpoint in Baku, Azerbaijan  by her breeder, the late Allen E. Paulson, a noted pilot and aircraft company owner.)  A burnished chestnut daughter of Jade Hunter from an Australian bred mare, Zodiac Miss, born in 1998, Azeri was unraced as a two year-old and had only two starts as a sophomore in 2001, both winning efforts. Ridden throughout her four year-old season by Mike Smith, Azeri won an allowance race in January 2002 at her home base at Santa Anita Racetrack. She then finished second in her initial stakes outing, the La Canada Stakes. Then Azeri went on a prolonged winning streak, capturing the Santa Margarita (defeating former Breeders’ Cup Distaff victress Spain), Apple Blossom, Milady Breeders’ Cup, Vanity, and Clement L. Hirsch Handicaps, increasing the weight she carried from 115 lb. in the Santa Margarita to 126 lb. in the Clement Hirsch. In all these victories, Azeri showed good speed and won by comfortable margins.

The Breeders’ Cup Championship races were run at Arlington Park (in the suburbs of Chicago, IL) on October 26, 2002. The 9 furlong Distaff was the first race of the day, and it produced the most impressive performance of the afternoon. Azeri was the favorite (at a relatively liberal 9-5 betting odds) over seven rivals that included sophomores Farda Amiga, Imperial Gesture, and Take Charge Lady. Mike Smith made the race very elemental in urging Azeri right from the start to take control, and she dominated the race despite setting a fast pace. Imperial Gesture gave chase about a length back with Take Charge Lady and Farda Amiga further behind in third and fourth place, respectively. At the top of the stretch, Smith asked Azeri for run, and she responded by drawing away from her rivals to win by 5 lengths in a rapid final time. Farda Amiga closed to catch Imperial Gesture just before the finish to claim second by a head while Take Charge Lady faded badly to finish sixth. 

Trainer Laura De Seroux and owner Michael Paulson marveled at this victory that was the culmination of a year that saw Azeri develop from an allowance horse to a champion. For Mike Smith, who was earning a reputation as a rider of top fillies, this was another in what would be a record setting number of Breeders’ Cup trophies. Azeri’s Eclipse Award for Older Female Horse was assured, but due to Volponi’s 43-1 upset in the later Breeders’ Cup Classic, Eclipse voters picked Azeri Horse of the Year despite the fact she had only raced against her own sex. In lieu of a dominant male horse, Michael Paulson’s outstanding filly became the default selection. After the Distaff, Azeri’s record stood at 10 wins and 1 second in 11 starts, and observers were not shy in comparing her to some of the sport’s great females. 

Azeri did not make her five year-old debut until April 2003 during the Festival of the South weekend at Oaklawn Park in the 8½ furlong Apple Blossom Handicap, a race she won in 2002. It was not, however, an easy spot to start the year. In the field were major winners Take Charge Lady, Mandy’s Gold and Affluent. Take Charge Lady, also making her 2003 debut, but getting 5 lb. from Azeri, went to the front early and set moderate fractions. Azeri, partnered with Mike Smith, challenged the leader around the far turn, but she appeared to have been repulsed in mid-stretch. Responding to Smith’s urging, the champion re-rallied, and just before the finish Azeri caught Take Charge Lady for a head triumph. Mandy’s Gold finished third, 3¼ lengths behind the embattled pair.

In her return to California, Azeri continued to dominate her peers and won the Milady Handicap under 125 lb. and the Vanity and the Clement L. Hirsch Handicaps, both under 127 lb. In winning these 3 races with clear margins, Azeri extended her consecutive victory streak to 11. With such success, speculation naturally focused on as to whether, where, and when would Azeri step out of her own sex to face male competition. Laura De Seroux was taking a cautious approach, not ruling out a future meeting against the other sex, but also not targeting a specific race.

In her final prep for a try at a repeat victory in the Breeders’ Cup Distaff, Azeri was upset in the Lady’s Secret Handicap. The defending Horse of the Year finished third (Azeri would be awarded second place on the disqualification of Elloluv), beaten a total of 2¼ lengths. The winner, Got Koko, was getting a 10 lb. advantage over Azeri’s 128 lb., but the consensus was that Azeri, in losing for the first time in 12 starts, did not show her usual spark in the race. Afterwards, she continued being readied for the Distaff until some erratic training revealed unsoundness, forcing Laura De Seroux to withdraw her from the race. Azeri’s owner Michael Paulson was, in the aftermath, non-committal as to whether the five year-old would race again. Despite missing the climatic race for females on dirt, Azeri was once again the Eclipse Champion Older Female.

At the beginning of 2004, Michael Paulson announced that six year-old Azeri would compete this year. Paulson stated that the soreness that kept the multiple champion mare out of last year’s Breeders’ Cup Distaff was gone after a period of rest. (This return to racing was over the objections of Laura De Seroux, and, consequently, Paulson replaced her with D. Wayne Lukas, who had no hesitation in mapping an ambitious year schedule starting in spring 2004.)

Azeri’s first start in Lukas’s care was the Apple Blossom Handicap. Despite winning both the Eclipse Award for Older Female and this race the previous two years, Azeri was only the third choice in the Apple Blossom, but she proved the skeptics wrong, leading all the way for a 1½ length victory. The champion’s next start was at Churchill Downs on Derby Day in the 7 furlong Humana Distaff Handicap where she just failed to give 11 lb. to oddly named Mayo On the Side, losing by a head.

Azeri, under new rider Pat Day, was next entered in the 1 mile Metropolitan Handicap, but in a field that included such males as last year’s dual classic winner Funny Cide, she faded to eighth as Pico Central, a son of 1985 Kentucky Derby victor Spend a Buck, prevailed. The 8½ furlong Ogden Phipps Handicap brought leading females Azeri, Juddmonte Farms’ Sightseek, and Ogden Mills Phipps’ Storm Flag Flying together. (The only other entry was Passing Shot.) Sightseek, who was unbeaten at Belmont Park continued her love affair with New York racetracks with an eased up 3½ length victory over Storm Flag Flying. Azeri, giving weight to all, was raced into defeat by Sightseek and faded to fourth, beaten a total of almost 12 lengths.

The three mentioned above continued their intramurals during the Saratoga meeting. In the 9 furlong Go for Wand Handicap, Azeri, getting 2 lb. from Sightseek, but giving 3 lb. to Storm Flag Flying, regained the leadership of the division with a wire-to-wire 1¾ length victory over Sightseek with Storm Flag Flying another 2 lengths behind. In the 1¼ mile Personal Ensign Handicap, Azeri carrying 122 lb. was facing Storm Flag Flying (116 lb.) again, but not Sightseek, who after suffering her first loss at a New York racetrack in the Go for Wand, was reserved for the Beldame Stakes at Belmont Park which she won in her final career start. In the race named after her grand dam, Storm Flag Flying, taking advantage of a rapid pace that softened Azeri, drove by her in the stretch for a 1¼ length victory. Azeri, game in defeat, held second by a ½ length over Nevermore. Azeri was then shipped to Kentucky where she scored a straightforward 3 length victory in the Spinster Stakes against weak opposition at Keeneland Race Course.

The big news prior to the Breeders’ Cup, held this year at Lone Star Park in Grand Prairie, TX on October 30, was the decision to run Azeri against males in the 1¼ mile Classic. Despite, her towering reputation, the task seemed formidable as she was facing last year’s Classic winner, Pleasantly Perfect, Ghostzapper (the darling of the speed handicappers), Belmont Stakes winner Birdstone, Funny Cide, and the up and coming Roses in May in the thirteen horse field. Ghostzapper from his no. 1 post was guided to the lead. Azeri, broke a little slowly under Pat Day, but she secured an inside position behind Ghostzapper. Roses in May cruised to be second down the backstretch tracking Ghostzapper’s moderate pace. Around the far turn, jockey Javier Castellano called on Ghostzapper, and he slowly drew away from Roses in May. At the finish, Ghostzapper was 3 lengths in front of Roses In May who had 4 lengths on Pleasantly Perfect. Azeri, in her absolutely final start, was a non-threatening fifth at a distance a little beyond her best.

Despite her unplacing in the Breeders’ Classic, Azeri was voted the Eclipse Award (for the third time) for Older Female Horse (although I thought Sightseek was more deserving). Michael Paulson retired Azeri in December 2004, and she joined the broodmare band at Hill 'n' Dale Farms in Lexingtron, KY. However, due to financial difficulties, Paulson offered Azeri at auction in 2009, and she was sold to Japanese owners (for $2.25 million) and currently resides in Japan at Northern Farm. Her produce record has been spotty with Wine Princess, ironically sired by Ghostzapper, her only graded stakes winner to date.

In justifying Azeri’s inclusion on my list of best females, one can point to her stellar record of 17 wins, 4 seconds in 24 starts, three Older Female Horse championships, and one Horse of the Year award. That she was unplaced in her only two starts against male horses may have been more of a function of her competing against them as a six year-old rather than at her peak four year-old season.