Not done yet: Alternation gearing up for racing at 5

Tuesday, December 25, 2012

— Gay Revoke, in 1964-1965, is the only horse to win consecutive runnings of the Oaklawn Handicap.

Alternation may have an opportunity to join that elusive club because trainer Donnie K. Von Hemel said he’s pointing the son of Distorted Humor for the $500,000 Grade II event for older horses April 13.

Alternation scored his biggest career victory in this year’s Oaklawn Handicap and returned to Hot Springs on Dec. 16 to begin preparing for a 5-year-old campaign.

“He’s probably carrying an extra 100 pounds right now,” Von Hemel said. “But, yeah, he’s still a big, good-looking horse.”

Alternation hasn’t started since finishing sixth and last in the $500,000 Grade II Hawthorne Gold Cup on Oct. 6 at Hawthorne near Chicago.

It was the only poor performance in seven starts this year for Alternation, who won five stakes races and earned $702,723.

Von Hemel said his only explanation is Alternation didn’t care for Hawthorne’s “deep track.”

“I was happy as could be going into that race,” Von Hemel said.

The loss ended Alternation’s quest to run in the Breeders’ Cup Classic. He was then turned out for about 75 days, Von Hemel said, at owner/breeder Josephine Abercrombie’s Pin Oak Stud in Kentucky.

Von Hemel said Abercrombie’s love of racing and Alternation’s potential to be even better at 5 were major reasons why he wasn’t retired to stud.

“He’s been better each year and I think there’s still some maturing taking place,” Von Hemel said.

Alternation swept Oaklawn’s three biggest races for older handicap horses in 2012, also winning the $100,000 Essex on Feb. 4 and the $125,000 Grade III Razorback on March 10.

Alternation could follow the same schedule leading up to next year’s Oaklawn Handicap, although Von Hemel said nothing is certain in late December.

“Horses of that kind of talent, they can come back and do stuff pretty easily after that amount of time off,” Von Hemel said. “It will take a few weeks to kind of see where we’re at and what kind of work we need to get ready to run.”

Sports, Pages 20 on 12/26/2012