Posts from July 2008
Numaany & National Pride to Start Saturday
As mentioned before, both Numaany and GbG horse of interest National Pride have been back in the U.S of A training after being acquired by Godolphin in the fall last year.
National Pride has not raced since his debut in November where he broke his maiden impressively beating Saratoga Russell. Numaany has raced a few times in Dubai unsuccessfully. Both look to be training well and are set to return at the allowance level at Saratoga this Saturday.
Numaany is entered in the 7th, a 1 1/16th 68k allowance on the turf and National Pride is entered in the 9th, a 6 1/2F 67k allowance on the dirt.
For those of you who haven’t seen it, here’s Numaany’s odd and impressive maiden race… the bootleg quality of the video certainly adds to the overall WTF of the scenario.
Keep an eye open for them on Saturday… not so much from a betting perspective, at least not for National Pride who’s the 2-1 favorite in the morning line, but from a “this could be interesting” perspective.
Alright, back to not blogging… and if anyone has any poll suggestions, let me know.
Posted by dana on Jul 31 2008
Filed Under: National Pride, Saratoga Russell, 2008, YouTube, Race Replay, Fans, Saratoga, Racing
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Loading ...Noooo! Notional Retired
Notional w/Jersey Joe Bravo up celebrating a win in the Salvatore Mile at Monmouth (Sarah K. Andrew)
I had no intention of blogging tonight but I just saw this item at NTRA.
Notional, a multiple graded stakes winner, has been retired from racing after breaking the coffin bone in his left front foot when he finished fourth in last weekend’s Grade 1 Whitney Handicap at Saratoga.
First my beloved Lava Man is retired and now Notional, just when he was coming back into his own.
Valerie couldn’t have said it better last weekend when she opined “When will they accept that Notional is just a miler?” (except I would have omitted the “just”, ain’t no shame in being a miler).
The worst part was he looked GREAT in the parade for the Whitney, so great in fact that I almost thought about betting on him even though he was a clear bet against for me at the distance. All and all he ran well at the distance and I was looking forward to seeing him back a mile where he could dominate. Damn it!
2008 Salvatore Mile:
2007 Risen Star (Perhaps I will love all winners of the Risen Star):
2007 San Rafeal (the audio is really weak):
2007 Florida Derby:
Best of luck to Notional for a speedy recovery!
Posted by dana on Jul 31 2008
Filed Under: Get Well Soon, Sarah K. Andrew, Farewell, 2008, 4yo, YouTube, Notional, Fans, Retirement, Race Replay, Injury, Racing
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...It’s Official, Lava Man Retired
My all time fav shot of Lava Man, winning his 3rd Hollywood Gold Cup (Charles Pravata)
The reports are in, my favorite horse currently racing is official retired. As it turns out he has some issues with his ankles so he won’t get the Funny Cide one last harrah race many of us were hoping for. It’s still unclear if he’ll be Doug O’Neill’s stable pony so keep your fingers crossed!
There weren’t as many of his races up at YouTube as I would have liked, in an ideal world I would post all three Hollywood Gold Cup’s and both Santa Anita Handicaps.
2005 Hollywood Gold Cup:
2006 Hollywood Gold Cup:
You’ll have to go to NTRA video archive to the 2007 Hollywood Gold Cup.
2007 Santa Anita Handicap:
Back to NTRA for the 2006 Santa Anita Handicap.
While not a race, here are his last minutes on the track as a race horse after the Eddie Read:
I’ve written about Lava Man frequently and you can see all of my posts here.
Congratulations to Lava Man’s connections for possibly the best claim ever and many thanks for keeping him around… he’ll be missed. Enjoy your retirement old man!
Posted by dana on Jul 30 2008
Filed Under: Farewell, Charles Pravata, Geldings, Hollywood Gold Cup, 2008, Doug O'Neill, Santa Anita, YouTube, Retirement, Fans, Lava Man, Race Replay, :(, Hollywood Park, Racing
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...Big Brown to Run for Re-Run
Should Big Brown run in the Haskell, he will be “Running for Re-Run“, a program that donates a portion of the win/place proceeds to the rescue group Re-Run.
Here at GbG we encourage finding innovative ways to donate to thoroughbred rescue and safe retirement, perhaps IEAH can shame some other high profile owners into joining this excellent program! Eric Fein ran Big Truck for Re-Run in the Derby and fellow TBA-er Steve Zorn of Castle Village Farms also takes part in the program. Maybe IEAH should run ALL of their many acquisition holdings for Re-Run!
Posted by dana on Jul 30 2008
Filed Under: 2008, Industry, Big Brown, TBA, :), Retirement Watch, Rescue, Racing
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...Bug Boy Bling
The Bug Boys in Saratoga (~ RAYMOND)
Raymond’s ongoing series of jock portraits has recently taken a turn towards the apprentice. This shot of apprentice jockeys Jeffrey Sanchez, Joseph Berrios Cruz, and Roan Vargas hanging in Saratoga in their street clothes really jumps out… sure they look young in their silks, but they look REALLY young in their normal clothes. They’re giving me a License to Ill vibe in this shot.
Check out his this excellent ongoing exploration here.
In other news of the terrain of the young, our pal Ernie Munick, the fearless leader of the extremely popular and active Facebook group Thoroughbred Racing in New York got a great shout out in an article about the young people in Saratoga connecting via Facebook. I actually met Ernie via TRNY, as well as several other folks… as I’ve said many times before and will say it again, “Facebook, not just for the rotten kids.”
Posted by dana on Jul 30 2008
Filed Under: 2008, Raymond Haddad, Internet, Jocks, Fans, Saratoga, Racing
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