Posts from October 2008
Back at Aqueduct
The Big A in better looking days, 1965 (Festin2008)
GbG horse of interest National Pride is on the opening card of the Big A today in the Best of Luck Stakes. Tin Cup Chalice who notably beat a closing Pyro (on dirt!) last out in the Indy Derby and WV Derby runner up Web Gem are also entered.
Later on the card Nuumany & Helsinki are entered in an allowance optional claimer (not for a tag).
I know several New Yorkers who are jazzed about racing being back at the Big A… have fun y’all!
Not going to the Big A today? Check out this set of old race track photos.
Posted by dana on Oct 29 2008
Filed Under: 2008, National Pride, Aqueduct, Racing
(No Ratings Yet)
Loading ...Thank you Ginger Punch
Ginger Punch prepping at Belmont for the 2008 Beldame (Jason Moran)
As usual, Frank is right. In a passage about Ginger Punch he points out:
But in the media or around the blogosphere, there was virtually no discussion of or appreciation for Stronach’s decision to bring the champ back or the horse’s consistent excellence.
Today it was announced that the champion 5yo mare with 6 G1 wins who was in the money in 20 of 21 starts (12/6/2) was retired. Annoying that there’s only a tiny article on DRF with nothing that I could find at the Bloodhorse or Thoroughbred Times.
The best race I saw live this year hands down was Ginger Punch’s win in the Go For Wand where she was completely boxed in and had a make a hole in the stretch. After the race I was standing by fence hoping to get a good photo of her as they took her back to the barn. As she walked by, the crowd really cheered for her. A man with a very professional looking camera was also on hand. He yelled the most sincere and gushing “you’re the best Ginger Punch, a real champion!” as she walked by. I’ve been lucky enough to see her run many times in person, and even when she didn’t win, she never disappointed.
In the clip of last year’s Go For Wand (below), Moss and Bailey (presumably) tell the story about how owner Frank Stronach wanted to retire her to the shed after her 3yo campaign in 2006. It took her 4 tries to break her maiden and then she won 1 mid level allowance and placed in one. Her trainer Bobby Frankel told Stronach that if he brought her back the following year that he promised he could get her a G1. How about 3, including the Breeders’ Cup Distaff AND the overwhelming winner of 2007 Eclipse award for Older Female!
Many thanks to Stronach, Frankel and most of all, Ginger Punch!
2008 Personal Ensign:
2008 Go For Wand:
2008 Ogden Phipps:
2008 Louisville Stakes:
2008 Sunshine Millions Distaff:
2007 BC Distaff:
2007 Go For Wand:
2007 Allowance (on Derby Day at Churchill):
Posted by dana on Oct 27 2008
Filed Under: YouTube, Ginger Punch, Farewell, 2008, Bobby Frankel, Race Replay, Fans, Let Horses Race, Retirement, Racing
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...A Glimpse of the Future
(raymond)
So what just happened over the weekend? I’m not entirely sure but there’s definitely a lot to think about.
Regular GbG commenters Jason and John offer some points I hadn’t yet considered.
Jason says:
Bottom line, this BC was a disaster. Let’s see how many East Coast horses show up next year. I’m guessing between 3-5 and they will all be turf horses.
Fair point, I wouldn’t send my dirt horse next year without a real prep over the surface but I wasn’t convinced that made it a disaster as much as a monkey wrench in the wheels of determining a champion.
In my mind Curlin is still a dirt champion. He was beat on a new surface by some very talented turf horses that he probably would have beaten on conventional dirt. Good for Jackson & company for not shying away from the challenge. While I would have loooooved to have seen Curlin win, Jackson has done what fans have been asking owners to do… run your horse regularly and challenge them.
And building on some of Jason’s points, John aptly puts it this way:
Finally, the artificial surfaces have thrown the American game into an identity crisis. Our horses, finally being weaned, I assume, from their drug regimens, were teetering on the stage of world class to begin with; now, however, we’re split on what an American race horse is. The division of synthetic runners and dirt runners further muddies any conclusions we might want to make about who is the best of the best.
We have effectively divided the union via surface civil war.
But is change really so bad? Jessica plays synthetics devil’s advocate:
Let me play devil’s advocate here … what would be so bad about dirt racing disappearing, leaving synthetic and turf surfaces only?
And regular commenter, o_crunk shares this thought:
BC may be on to something longterm on synths, certainly leaves TC events with a musty old smell. Things change, maybe this *is* better?
I’m not against synthetics as much as I am in favor of doing everything possible to create and maintain safe dirt surfaces. I’m also not against the challenge of trying to figure out how handicap the synthetics. But, it’s gonna to be a long strange period of having “dirt” horses and “synthetic” horses while all of these issues get ironed out. If we do move away from dirt, is there really any reason to race on anything other turf? Did synthetics seem different enough from turf to warrant maintaining two types of surfaces? I don’t know and perhaps only time will tell.
Since the TC, the last bastion of conventional dirt, is a bigger driver of the breeding industry than the BC, it should be interesting to see how this past weekend will start to affect the status quo re: breeding. Jason raised the same question:
I wonder how this is going to affect the Breeding Industry. The next time (after 2009) Santa Anita is announced as the site of the Breeder’s Cup, who is going to pay big money for the traditional big dirt sire yearling’s?
Val at Foolish Pleasure takes up this issue and more with her stellar post entitled Death Knell of Dirt Racing. As always, she’s a must read.
Crist has done a great job providing detail on the 2 day handle that the BC proclaims to be a success. Friday’s breakdown can be found here and Saturday’s here. Other’s have also addressed the blantant spin. Crist promises to do more analysis in the coming days but a quick apples to apples look at the Classic notes the numbers at $37,748,057 for 2006 at Churchill, $30,988,618 for 2007 at Monmouth and $24,282,451 for 2008 at Santa Anita.
Frank of That’s Amore Stables sums up some of what I’ve been thinking, that Fillies & Mares and Invaders were real stars of the show (and notably, no invaders won on Friday… although Heart Shaped almost did!). Princess Haya goes one better by showing who wears the horse picking pants in the family at Darley!
As others have noted, having the Fillies & Mares on Friday deprived a whole lot of potential new fans (and many existing ones!) of a true showcase of greatness. Kevin of Colin’s Ghost sums it up:
Missed opportunity with Zenyatta especially with her possibly returning next year. How many “new fans” watching on a Friday evening?
And in closing, in case it wasn’t already clear that changes are a foot, look no further than this… something we all can agree on!
Posted by dana on Oct 26 2008
Filed Under: 2008, Raymond Haddad, Zenyatta, Santa Anita, Turf, Curlin, Breeders' Cup, International Racing, Racing
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...New Poll, Most Impressive BC Win
I can’t remember the last time I sat in front of the idiot box for 6 hours. The only thing I can say for certain is that it’s a good thing I donated my bank roll this year (more to come on that!). Mind you, this didn’t stop me from losing a little money as I had a little bit sitting around in my twinspires account… not any more!
Michael has the right idea, there’s always tomorrow to take up the arguments, debates, head scratching and opining (such as, can Swifty and I employ an Enron-like scheme to purchase Stardom Bound with credit based on projected future earnings?).
In the meantime, who did you think had the most impressive Breeders’ Cup win? The winner of last year’s poll was Midnight Lute, who is not only up for the honors again, but is the only repeat winner from last year.
As for the last poll, 28 of you said your biggest issue with the BC was the surface, 23 said it was all of the above, 22 said it was Filly Friday, 14 of you said it was the name change, 11 of you said it was the 2 day format and 9 of you said it was saddle cloth color. In hindsight, perhaps I should have added it an option to vote for “it’s too damn hard to handicap 14 races in 2 days”!
As always, thanks for participating!
Posted by dana on Oct 25 2008
Filed Under: 2008, Poll, Midnight Lute, Breeders' Cup, Rescue, Retirement
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...Welcome One and All
Zenyatta at Santa Anita (Sarah K. Andrew)
That’s right, welcome one and all to the official home of Zenyatta for Horse of the Year. We’ve been wondering why Zenyatta wasn’t mentioned in the same breath as Curlin and Big Brown for HOY, and even had a poll about it.
To ensure that the good word about Zenyatta has been known across the land we’ve had plenty of public service announcements and even a bootleg episode MTV Cribs.
But let’s just let her final breath taking performance of the year do the talking:
For those of you who had doubts that Starship Zenyatta should be in the running for HOY, I welcome you with open arms!
Posted by dana on Oct 24 2008
Filed Under: 2008, Sarah K. Andrew, 4yo, Big Brown, Impressive, Zenyatta, Santa Anita, YouTube, Curlin, Fans, Breeders' Cup, Race Replay, John Shirreffs, Racing
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