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Sim Trainer Stats Sim Race Stats |
VOLOTILE NIJINSKY Owner/Trainer: titleist Record: 60-22-7-7, $4,704,672
Win: Canada Mile-G1, All Comers Stakes-G1, G.S.R. Mile-G1, A.S.R. Mile-G1, Jack The Man Stakes-G1, First She Cheats Then Keeps The Ring-G1, Utah BB Mile-G2(2x), Queen Sam-G2, Buddy Boy Mile-G2(2x), Arcade Handicap-G2, Coalmine Mile Cup-G2, Mine Senor Special, Pron Regard Handicap, Dream's Spun Gold Handicap. Place: Delaware Mile-G1, Sterile Mile-G1, G.S.R. Mile-G1, Jockey Club Classic-G2, Port Marshua Handicap-G3, Tally Ho Mile-G3, Rousillon Handicap. Show: Jack The Man Stakes-G1, Queen Sam-G2, Amerika Stakes-G3, Say I'm Smart Special, Gatlin Stakes. Volotile Nijinsky's story is a strange mix indeed. The turf miler's career is not a straightforward lecture of a picture-perfect champion. On the contrary, he was more like a mad scientist, full of thrills, chills, and spills. The grand and gifted experiment occasionally went awry. More often than not though, Volotile Nijinsky was just plain dynamite. He takes his place in the Hall Of Fame as one of the greatest milers ever in the Sim. Volotile Nijinsky began his historic career as a 3yo in the springtime of 2001. Trainer Titleist saw the son of the Northern Dancer stallion Semi Northern dispatch his opening races over the dirt with ease. The colt even inhaled a main track mile in 1:35 in just his 5th career start. Too late for the Triple Crown trail, Volotile Nijinsky found himself sooner rather than later over the grass. A four-and-a-half length romp over an Alabama overnite field set him up beautifully for a late summer and autumn grass campaign. Over six weeks, he finished 2nd in the Jockey Club Classic-G2, 1st in the Coalmine Mile Cup-G2, and 4th to older horses in the Fujimoto Stakes-G2. These three graded stakes (all positively sizzling in 1:34 and change!) would stamp him as one to watch. Players raced their horses more often in the game's early days. It was called time-and-a-half, an expedient gameplay characteristic where horses would recover 1 1/2 times faster than their real-life counterparts. Additionally, "wear and tear" did not exist till about 2004. Volotile Nijinsky made 14 starts as a 3yo -- not a bad amount by today's standards. However at ages 4 and 5, he would go on to make 18 and 17 starts respectively, vigorous schedules, perhaps even for that era. But the heavy itinerary didn't bother Volotile Nijinsky -- on the contrary, it was all part of his strange brew. He opened his 4yo season with a trio of masterstrokes won by a combined total of 10 lengths. He manhandled the A.S.R. Mile-G1, bagged the Buddy Boy Mile-G2 over a yielding course in easypeasy fashion, then put forth the fastest victory of his career in Queensland's Arcade Handicap-G2 in 1:33 2/5. After a couple of losses in the spring, 'Nijinsky won an exciting stretch duel over Pleasant Neck in the All Comers-G1, a race traditionally important for turf milers. He would go on to take the popular Queen Sam-G2 mile later that summer after a failed attempt at sprinting. By September 2002, Volotile Nijinsky was a solid six-time graded stakes winner notable for raw elemental talent. Over the next few months though, he would through achievement and circumstance transcend into that Sim celebrity realm. He took both of his BB Mile preps in fantastic fashion, winning the rich Canada Mile-G1 and Utah BB Mile-G2, both races particularly fast stepping stones. The victories made Volotile Nijinsky one of the heaviest favorites on Breeders Bowl day. He looked like a sure bet as the one to beat. But here's where we get into the bittersweet nature of Volotile Nijinsky's story (please, let it pass quickly!). The 4yo colt broke well enough over the Illinois surface in his usual menacing midpack spot. But by the time the field eclipsed the far turn, Volotile Nijinsky came up empty in the face of a youngblood onslaught. Sophomores PGPG's Filly, Ray Of Pye, and the great Storm Dog plain outswept Volotile Nijinsky to the wire. He struggled home disappointingly in 4th place, some 7 1/2 lengths behind Storm Dog. What ignominy beaten by fillies and a sophomore colt known for sprinting! Most Sim shooting star stories would end on that sour note (perhaps consoled by a lone graded victory a year later, but, nevertheless, bittersweet). Volotile Nijinsky however was full of thrills. He positively shocked the Sim two weeks later winning the G.S.R. Mile-G1 in 1:33 3/5, one-fifth of a second faster than the BB Mile. Trainer Titleist then asked Volotile Nijnsky for his best in Grade 1 company on the dirt. 'Nijinsky bravely ran 2nd in both the Sterile and Delaware Miles in wickedly explosive final times of 1:34 1/5 and 1:33 2/5. With eight graded stakes triumphs in 2002, he was nominated for the turf horse Sim Eclipse Award, but lost to Joe Cayenne. Trainer Titleist campaigned Volotile Nijinsky the following year with all eyes on the Breeders Bowl Mile. The 5yo added second-straight scores in both the Buddy Boy and Utah BB Miles and held his own solidly near the top of his division, racing consistently at the 1:34 and under barrier. He lost his defenses of the Queen Sam, G.S.R. and Canada Miles though, but acquitted himself well in those contests. Ultimately, 'Nijinsky flopped again on Breeders Bowl day -- this time he was well beaten in Storm Dog's second-straight BB championship. He retired in 2005 (after abbreviated 6yo and 7yo campaigns) with a record of 22 for 60 lifetime and 16 graded and stakes class victories. Volotile Nijinsky quietly sat in his trainer's stable until the spring of 2007 when he was bred to Seeking The Gold. He was a bittersweet story in many ways. Brilliant, terribly talented, with a whole trophycase of celebrated stakes races. Yet he never added his name to a rollcall of champions or a list of Equinics or Breeders Bowl winners. Faded into the background of Sim history, he was only remembered by a handful of players. But with time now on his side, we can look back at Volotile Nijinsky's career and appreciate many of the finer points. He was a 6-time G1 winner on the turf and proven to be an equal commodity on the dirt as well, having been G1-placed *twice* over that surface. He dominated the 2002 turf mile division like few horses have since and was just as consistent in 2003 at age 5. He was a far from transiently strange mix whose memory of raw talent and elemental capability echoes to today. He was the motoring, mobile, Volotile Nijinsky, master of the flat mile. Explosive like dynamite, and, though bittersweet, now he shall forever endure in the Hall of All-Time Greats. |
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