"Not the most talented but was long on heart"
When we purchased TWO DOWN AUTOMATIC as a yearling at the Fasig Tipton July sale his sire, Smoke Glacken, was just off to a good start standing for a $15,000 fee. Today he is much more established in the marketplace and commands a fee of $30,000. I thought the purchase price of $70,000 was a fair price for TWO DOWN as a yearling and he went to Rim Roc Farm immediately after the sale where Bill Wofford had him under tack and jogging in a big field by September. He was an ornery cuss and studdish, he would do what one made him do and not much more.
We sent him down to Laredo to Cash Asmussen around late December where he was prepared for racing. They break and train 150 200 head every season so TWO DOWN learned to act in a mannerly fashion most of the time. Around April I began to hear that unless he became more focused he would likely become a gelding sometime in the future. Cash had him fit enough to send to Steve Asmussen at Lone Star in late May for his first start. He finished an uninterested 7th after trying to mount the lead pony on the way to the post. Steve called after the race and suggested strongly that if this colt was going to be successful as a race horse it would be as a gelding. After I agreed to geld him Steve said he wanted to run him back quickly one more time as he felt there would be marked improvement.
He was right as TWO DOWN won his next start just doing just enough to get up in the last 30 yards. He was still just doing enough to stay out of trouble but we had the maiden win out of the way and he showed some determination for the first time. We backed off after the race, gelded him and gave him a little time off as we found a small spur in a knee. We chose to monitor it rather than operate as it had not flaked off and he was dealing with it.
TWO DOWN AUTOMATIC was revved back up and ready to run by December in New Orleans where he was entered in an entry level allowance. He ran a fast race closed well and won running down the speed in the last sixteenth. We were a little braver next out and ran in the Sugar Bowl Stakes just after the New Year where he finished a good second behind a fast sprinter named Wildcat Shoes. Steve jumped him up to the Grade 3 LeComte Stakes which is a prep for the Louisiana Derby for his next start at a one mile distance. He was a respectable third to a colt named Fire Slam who was highly regarded. Two Down showed good speed going a mile but he did not have his usual closing kick when stretching out to a two-turn race for the first time. Steve was a bit skeptical about him stretching out to further distances so we skipped the Louisiana Derby and headed for Oaklawn Park.
 We entered another one mile event named the Southwest Stakes hoping to answer the little nagging doubt about his distance capabilities with another shot at a mile. The entries looked a little tougher than his last race as there was a colt from the East coast making his first start in three months that was undefeated to this point. His name was SMARTY JONES and the more we learned about him we suspected he might be more than a flash in the pan. Steve had been there a few mornings and saw him training and he made an impression physically in the paddock. I remember asking Steve if he thought he trained like a good one and he said there was no doubt about his speed, we were hoping he needed a race. We were in light carrying 112 and getting 10 lbs. from Smarty who had not raced in three months and Steve said if we were ever going to beat him it would be that day as Two Down was race sharp and ready for a top effort. He was correct on all accounts. Smarty was vulnerable that day and Two Down gave him all he wanted losing by of a length after looking like he might get by him at the sixteenth pole. It was the closest anyone would get to SMARTY JONES until his only loss in the Belmont Stakes after smoking the fields in the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness.
TWO DOWN had finished well going a mile but he was started to tell us that a mile was all he had in that kind of company. We came back a month later in another mile stakes at Oaklawn and he won by 5. The press asked if we were wishing we had waited another week to try Smarty again in the Arkansas Derby and Steve told them he had seen enough of Smarty Jones for a while. We opted for the Withers Stakes at Belmont Park where we third to a pair of fast horses named Medalist and Forest Danger. It had been a long spring and we had not missed a dance. It was starting to show as his monthly vet bill was about equal to his training bill. His knee was holding as we x-rayed periodically so we decided to try one more race at Churchill before giving him a break. We ran fourth in a 200K stakes at Churchill and turned down the heat for a couple of months after that. It had been an exciting spring being competitive from New Orleans to New York with a gelding that was not the most talented but was long on heart.
He never failed to give a good effort and to this day after 20 starts and 14 finishes in the money he still brings his game face on race day. Two Down is still owned by Dapple Stable; his Dapple ownership/fan club group is made up of three Texas families who never give up on him.
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