at colonial downs

NEW KENT -- As the horses entered the final turn in yesterday's Colonial Turf Cup, there was a burst of thunder.

When they came out the other side, favored Sailor's Cap had swept into the lead.

Soaked nearly black and muddy, the horses were virtually indistinguishable. Even the camera view was foggy gray from the downpour.

As the field waded into the stretch, Alan Garcia's mount burst to the front. Ears back against the rain, Sailor's Cap pulled away to win by more than 6 lengths over Nistle's Crunch. Your Round edged Court Vision for third.

Garcia, winner of this year's Belmont Stakes, said his horse broke behind Edgar Prado and Adriano. He tucked in behind, expecting to move when they did.

"When he moved, I want to move behind him," Garcia said. "But then in the turn, he was dead and I had to move here, now."

The horse, he said, embraced the soggy turf. An afternoon shower began more than an hour before the $600,000 Grade III stakes at Colonial Downs.

Lightning and heavy rain delayed the 5:40 post time for about five minutes. Conditions were bad enough that the final race was postponed, then canceled.

During the delay, the drenched bugle player stood in the main track mud, playing "What a Wonderful World" for what remained of the 4,557 in attendance as they sheltered under a tent on the patio.

And for the Sailor's Cap connections who made the trip to New Kent -- a few owners from the Team Valor International management group, a groom, an assistant to trainer James Toner -- it was wonderful.

Dana Antonczak, the Toner assistant responsible for working the plain bay colt, stood shivering and shelling peanuts outside the stall afterward. There were Virginia peanuts in the gift bags provided for the winner's connections, and Antonczak wanted to enjoy everything associated with saddling her first stakes winner.

"It's my first blanket of flowers," she said, nodding to the red and yellow carnations hanging over the rail.

She was still soaked, blond curls clinging to her thin shoulders. The horse already was dry and calm, tied inside his stall by his fleece-lined shipping halter to be wrapped.

Sailor's Cap, she said, had been calm about everything. He arrived hungry after the nine-hour van ride from Belmont Park and felt springy when he went out to jog in the morning yesterday.

During the delay, as most of the horses sheltered under the overhang in the paddock, the groom took Sailor's Cap out to walk through the rain.

"I thought he was going to get a little bit nervous," Antonczak said. "I could feel his muscles tensing up."

The rain was so sudden and torrential that she had jokingly suggested her first trip to Colonial Downs would be her last. But when she spotted Garcia's red cap coming out of the driving rain and her horse overpowering the field, she knew she'd have to change her tune.

No one was ready to decide if Sailor's Cap will return to Colonial Downs for a shot at the Virginia Derby (Grade II) on July 19 and pursue the $5 million bonus for winning all four races in the Jacobs Investments Grand Slam of Grass.

"We'll huddle up in the next week to 10 days with J.J. [Toner]," Team Valor associate Aron Wellman said.