I Was Mooned
Giant Moon winning the Excelsior, my day only got worse from here (Sarah K. Andrew)
My day started down hill rather quickly as Giant Moon took me out of the Pick 4. It got worse as my dreamy beloved threw a clunker in the Ashland. I only had $2 across the board on Boleyn at 62-1 but I was profoundly bummed to see Stardom Bound turn in such a lackluster performance. Why does Keeneland kill the things I love? (Think Pyro, my last year’s dreamy beloved… who’s reportedly galloping at Keeneland these days, go figure.)
Also a bummer that my pick of the day, Kodiak Kowboy, got hammered down to 8-5, so I took a wagering pass. This was just one several bad wagering decisions made in the flurry of back to back races on different channels with no chance to watch the parade, or in the case of Hawthorne, only showing Musket Man in the parade. Seriously, what’s the point of that? At least I got to see the races! Then again, perhaps not wagering on them would have been a good thing. Comparing this year’s Wood to last year’s, perhaps I’m more like my dreamy beloved than I want to let on!
On the bright side, the Derby is shaping up to have one fine field! I Want Revenge, who’s now on Twitter along with Joe Talamo, moves up to my “like like” list. Freisan Fire, Quality Road and I Want Revenge will be top 3 over at PDI but I’m not sure how I’ll rank them at this point as I’m not favoring one over the other. Swifty is sticking with Freisan Fire because of Larry Jones. I can make a case for each of them and find at least one knock for each of them. And it’s not like the Derby is tomorrow so things can change. At this point my top three won’t really imply that I like any of them more than the others.
Imperial Council, also on now on Twitter, and my dreamy beloved (I’ll still always love you!) will be moving on to the Broken Up With list. I’m bad at break-ups so I’m trying to stay upbeat and looking for Rachel Alexandra and Just Jenda to turn in nice performances today. I need to rebound with someone hot! And there’s always this week’s Pool Party / Buycott to cheer myself up with… who doesn’t love a Pick 3 Pool Party at Tampa Bay Downs?
Update: run, don’t walk over Ernie Munick’s to watch his stellar video recap of Wood Day at the Big A. It’s right up there with I Want Revenge’s fleet of foot.
Posted by dana on Apr 05 2009
Filed Under: Joe Talamo, Just Jenda, Friesan Fire, Twitter, Quality Road, I Want Revenge, Rachel Alexandra, Stardom Bound, 2009, Pick 4, Derby Trail, Sarah K. Andrew, Pyro, Keeneland, Aqueduct, Racing
(No Ratings Yet)
Loading ...
Loading ...
Ah, nothing like a good mooning at the Big A.
Favorite moments of the day were the enthusiastic rounds of applause for Talamo 1) returning to the winner’s circle and 2) when he walked through the paddock back to the tunnel. Other times I’ve heard love like this from the New York crowd include Curlin after the JCGC and Funny Cide after the JCGC.
Favorite quote of the day, as overheard by Jason Moran: “Hey Mon, You better go Animal Planet on that Mother ____”, stated by a classy Aqueduct patron just prior to the Wood Memorial.
ha, GREAT quote! Ernie’s video has some other hilarious crowd moments.
LensJockey got a great shot of you! Also, killer shot of IWR coming out of the gate.
I was kicking myself after the Excelsior because, watching the horses leave the paddock, I thought of throwing a few sentimental dollars on Giant Moon. He was one of my early Derby favorites last year and my ‘08 Wood pick, and I’ve kept him on my watch list this year. But no, cold reason held me back. It was bitter to see him pulling him away in the stretch … doing what I wished he’d do exactly a year ago and for a far better price.
Right there with you, Jessica–I was at the machine with the sentimental exacta box on my fingertips: Atoned, Cool Coal Man, Giant Moon. And at the last second, I threw out Giant Moon.
And I promise that this is the last time that I’m going to mention it.
Where is the television coverage?
Yesterday was not the first time this happened, but it was perhaps the most frustrating. About 90 minutes before post time for the Wood, HRTV announced that they would not be able to show it live. Well, we didn’t panic. We assumed - wrongly - that we would be able to watch it on TVG or NBC. How can it be good for thoroughbred racing or - perhaps more importantly - for NY racing for a key 3 year-old Derby prep to not be on TV? Or to be on some channel that even we couldn’t find (with both Dish and DirecTV). Believe it or not, there are New York racing fans who do not live in the NY broadcast area.
Valerie: My understanding is that ESPN owned the rights to show the race, but chose not to. NYRA then negotiated a deal with a local sports channel (MSG+) to air the Wood and the Carter locally. Though MSG+ is available nationally by satellite, I believe that NYRA and MSG did not have the rights to broadcast nationally.
This is what will happen with Saturday stakes races from Saratoga this summer as well, except for the Travers, which ESPN has oh so magnanimously decided to broadcast.
How the deal affected TVG/HRTV, I don’t know.
J - ugh, yeah. I dismissed him assuming that from the post position he couldn’t make the lead so he wouldn’t be a factor. I thought he looked good in the parade but what good would that do me in the second leg of the pick 4? baaaaah!
T - sorry, and wow… you know a lot about the intricacies of New York racing signal rights!
Valerie - glad Teresa could be of help!
Hmm…turns out that I may be wrong in the details, especially about ESPN owning the rights–it was pointed out to me that it might have been NBC that owned the rights. Serves me right for posting an impression rather than checking the facts…