Tuesday, September 19, 2006 (SF Chronicle)
Larry Stumes, Special to The Chronicle
Lost In The Fog
Lost in the Fog was the heavy favorite every time he raced, and he won 11
of 14 starts, but he was a longshot against cancer, and the disease
claimed his life Sunday evening.
Perhaps the most popular horse ever from Northern California, and one of
only two to win thoroughbred racing's coveted Eclipse Award, Lost in the
Fog was euthanized through injection at trainer Greg Gilchrist's barn at
Golden Gate Fields.
Gilchrist had led Lost in the Fog out of his stall to graze some
surrounding grass when he left to saddle a horse, Patranzi, he had in the
eighth race.
"I got someone to put him away, and immediately after he went back in his
stall he started showing signs of discomfort," Gilchrist said in a
national conference call Monday. "I came back from running my horse, and
he just kind of went downhill real quick. I got Dr. (Don) Smith, and he
gave the injection. I always said when it got too bad, Lost in the Fog
would let you know. If he was a person, he would have said, 'It's time.' I
probably won't ever get over it."
Doctors at UC Davis first detected a cancerous tumor in Lost in the Fog's
spleen Aug. 13, and two more tumors were discovered five days later. His
condition was deemed terminal, but instead of having the colt euthanized
then, Gilchrist had him taken back to Golden Gate Fields.
While Lost in the Fog was kept comfortable in familiar surroundings,
steroids and holistic medicine were tried in an effort to reduce the size
of the tumors, and he had a chemotherapy treatment Sept. 7.
"He was very alert and happy most of the time, not much pain and
suffering," Gilchrist said. "But he had some bad days; it would just come
out of the blue and hit him. And this time it was just different. The
cancer was just too far advanced, and we couldn't get it turned around.
"I almost was being selfish there a little bit. It was great to spend time
with him every day and be around him and remember things and be with him
right up until the end. I'm the one who got him into this; I owed him
something on the way out. He never let me down, even in the defeats. I
didn't want to let him down."
Gilchrist first saw Lost in the Fog at the Ocala (Fla.) March Sale of
2-year-olds in training in 2004.
"He was out by a tree, and I remember looking at him," Gilchrist said.
"I'll have to go back there two or three times a year (for sales), and
I'll be in that spot."
Gilchrist didn't buy Lost in the Fog at that sale, but he did arrange for
owner Harry J. Aleo to purchase the colt for $140,000 in a private
transaction a few days later.
Lost in the Fog made his racing debut Nov. 14, 2004, at Golden Gate Fields
and won by 7 1/2 lengths. Then he set a track record in a 143/4-length
domination of the Arizona Juvenile at Turf Paradise. Eight greater stakes
victories followed, six of them on the East Coast, including the Grade 1
Kings Bishop Stakes at Saratoga.
He took a 10-for-10 record into the Breeders' Cup Sprint on Oct. 29 at
Belmont Park, but he faded to seventh after leading from the top of the
stretch to midstretch. Still, he dominated the voting for the Eclipse
Award as the nation's champion sprinter of 2005.
Lost in the Fog raced three times in 2006, winning the Aristides Breeders'
Cup Handicap on June 3 at Churchill Downs, and making what would be the
final start of his career in the Smile Sprint Handicap on July 15 at
Calder, where he finished ninth. He ended his career with $978,099 in
earnings.
"There are so many memories," Gilchrist said. "He took us to so many
places and we met so many good people. It's not going to be something that
will be easily forgotten, and I don't ever want to forget it.
"This morning I got up and looked back through the charts. To win the
Aristides under adverse conditions, to say the least, he had to have those
tumors in him then, (and) to go on and do what he did, what a champion he
is."
The Eclipse Award sits on top of the 86-year-old Aleo's television set.
Only one other Northern California horse, Brown Bess in 1989, has won an
Eclipse.
"It's a sad day," Aleo said in a telephone interview with The Chronicle.
"Geez, I never thought I'd feel so bad about a horse passing away. I
haven't felt this bad when some of my friends died. We did everything we
possibly could to try to save him. That I feel good about. We always said
that if it got to this point, it was time to put him down.
"What a heart this horse had. I feel real sad that we can't pass on those
genes, but in a way this is closure. He gave us so much joy. We went all
over the country with him, and he had an aura about him. When he ran at
Golden Gate Fields (in the Golden Bear Breeders' Cup Stakes) and broke the
track record, I'll never forget that day. They more than doubled their
normal attendance. And when he ran at Bay Meadows (in the Bay Meadows
Speed Handicap), and people were 10-deep in the paddock cheering. How much is all that
worth? It's priceless.
I look at that damned Eclipse Award on
top of the TV, and it's still unbelievable to me."
Russell Baze rode Lost in the Fog in all but one of his races.
"A horse like that doesn't come around very often," he said. "He was a
special horse, and I was happy to be associated with him. Even though we
all knew it was going to happen, it's sad to hear it out loud."
Lost in the Fog's body was taken to UC Davis for postmortem, and then he
will be cremated.
"We'll get his ashes back and it's very possible he'll go back to Southern
Chase Farm in Florida (where he grew up), and we'll find a suitable place
to bury him there," Gilchrist said. "People come and go, and horses come
and go. That's life, that's what we have to deal with. I'll just see him
on the other side."
Larry Stumes is a freelance writer. You can e-mail him at
scare0103@aol.com.
The original article can be found on SFGate.com here:
A wonderful Video Of Lost In The Fog -Interview with Russell Baze
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