2006 Blue Grass Stakes winner
March 29 - Sinister Minister
The highlight reel moment of his racing career was winning the Toyota Bluegrass Stakes at Keeneland. He was sent to Japan and did sire a Japanese Triple Crown winner in 2023! I don't profess to be an expert on racing in Japan so, maybe they have a few every year or maybe they haven't had one in 50 years, but it sure sounds good, especially for a horse that had really fallen off the radar in the states shortly after his Bluegrass win in 2006.
A few years ago, and I was trying to upload the racing form for the next day from Twinspires. It was about midnight, and I just had to click and see what was happening with live racing. I was delighted to see a horse in a race in Japan. He was about 80-1, but I didn't care, it was like running into an old friend. So, I put my $2 tip of the cap on my old friend's son and bid my $2 farewell. Except in one of those only in Hollywood moments, he won. I have no idea what his name was, but I do know that this chance encounter netted me around $160. Thank you, old friend. I haven't forgotten you!
Sinister Minister was a blazing speed horse who put on one of the most dazzling Kentucky Derby prep performances ever seen, even if the big day at Churchill Downs did not quite pan out for him. He was foaled in 2003, a son of the stallion Old Trieste out of the mare Sweet Minister. He raced for the partnership of Mike Pegram, Karl Watson, and Paul Weitman, the same trio behind many of trainer Bob Baffert's top runners. The dark colt was bred for speed, and he ran with all of it.
The signature day of his career came in the spring of 2006 at Keeneland in the Blue Grass Stakes. Sinister Minister went straight to the lead and never looked back, opening daylight in the stretch under jockey Victor Espinoza. He crossed the wire 12 and three quarter lengths in front in track record time, demolishing a strong field of three year olds. The performance was so eye catching that Sinister Minister was suddenly one of the favorites for the Kentucky Derby just three weeks later.
The big race did not go his way. Sinister Minister got caught up in a fast early pace in the 2006 Kentucky Derby and faded badly, finishing 16th in a race won by Barbaro. Bob Baffert brought him back later that year, but the colt never quite recaptured his Blue Grass form. He kept showing his trademark speed in older horse company over the next two seasons, but the soft long stretches and big fields never matched up with his front running style the way that one perfect afternoon at Keeneland had.
After his racing career, Sinister Minister went on to a stallion career. He was eventually exported, and his progeny kept the family flying speed alive on tracks around the world. Sinister Minister is remembered for that one stunning Blue Grass Stakes afternoon, the kind of performance that gets played over and over on racing highlight reels. Bob Baffert has trained many speed horses, but few ever opened up daylight quite like Sinister Minister did at Keeneland that day.
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