Evening Attire out of the gate in the Brooklyn (Sarah K. Andrew)
10 year old Evening Attire just demolished the Greenwood field and ended his 0-10 losing streak on the road!
The new Breeders’ Cup Marathon just potentially got a whole lot spiffier!
Posted by dana on Jul 19 2008
Filed Under: :), Geldings, 2008, Sarah K. Andrew, YouTube, Breeders' Cup, Race Replay, Evening Attire, Racing
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Curlin & Robby Albarado on the cover of Monmouth’s 2008 program (Sarah K. Andrew)
If you come to GbG with any regularity you are well acquainted with photographic work of Sarah K. Andrew. She’s one of the talented photographers that radically enhances the GbG experience on a regular basis by allowing bloggers to freely publish their work for appropriate credit. A nice proposition all the way around, but I feel like I’m getting the better end of the bargain!
One of Sarah’s excellent shots of Curlin winning the Breeders’ Cup Classic is the cover for Monmouth’s 2008 program! Way to go Sarah, another job well done!
And since we can’t say it enough, thanks to all of the excellent photographers who make their work available to bloggers… may you always be appropriately credited!
Posted by dana on Jul 15 2008
Filed Under: Sarah K. Andrew, Monmouth Park, Internet, 2008, Robby Albarado, BC Classic, Fans, Curlin, Breeders' Cup, Racing
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Notional w/Joe Bravo up comes back with an upset in the Salvatore Mile at Monmouth (Sarah K. Andrew)
Today was the kind of day that reminds me why I fell in love with racing almost 2 years ago. Swifty and I planned on heading out to Belmont today come rain or shine, and while we didn’t get much shine we also didn’t get any rain. A few friends were planning to meet up at Monmouth for the United Nations and Salvatore Mile, but I really just wanted to have a nice quiet day at my beloved Belmont.
Swifty was hanging out with his 12 year old nephew Ted this weekend, or as I like to call him, the Future Handicappers of America. He joined us last year for Swifty’s birthday outing and proved to be a bit precocious picking Dance Away Capote in the Duda Stakes.
Since it had been raining for two days, all but one of the turf races were on the dirt and there were a bunch of scratches. I only lightly handicapped so I wasn’t planning on playing very heavily to begin with. We got there not too long before the 3rd. My pick, Akin, had scratched so I took a pass. In the 4th I put Paris Winds over Them There Eyes for a couple bucks to no avail. In fact, I didn’t cash a ticket all day (again) but it started to get interesting in the 5th race.
I usually don’t like to play maiden races. I don’t have an affinity for using breeding in handicapping, although it’s on my list to work on, so I just throw a couple of bucks on a long shot here and there. The 5th was a Maiden Special Weight and no different for me… except no one was at long odds. In the paddock #9, Discreet Treasure was really acting up. There was no audio to speak of in the grandstand so we couldn’t hear what Jason Blewitt or Jan Rushton were saying, but Discreet Treasure was pretty worked up.
It was a 7F turf race that moved to the dirt. Quickly looking over the entrants I noticed that Discreet Treasure, a first time starter, was only showing one work on turf, and not even the last one! As they came out for the parade he looked great, perhaps too great. Did he leave his race in the paddock? Number 10, Counterspy, looked good too so I boxed them.
I’ll just let you watch the race for yourself… he’s the grey. A very big thanks to Party Manners for posting it!!
As it turns out, he’s a half to Discreet Cat, not that I knew that until I got home and watched Throughbred Action. And as great as it is on the replay it was even more thrilling in person. I can’t wait to see more of him!
The next race was also fantastic. It was a state bred allowance for non-winners of two. You may remember the name Overextended from the very beginning Derby Trail. He ran primarily on the west coast in all the big preps as a 2yo and even placed to Colonel John in the Real Quiet. I didn’t incorporate him into my losing trifecta key with Dr. W on top of the 4 long shots but his race was great nonetheless.
Just like Discreet Treasure he sat way off the pace, and talk about procrastinating, he still wasn’t in the race at the 1/16th pole! Then out of nowhere he closed like freight train… all I can say is welcome to New York! Previously trained by Doug O’Neill and now trained by Mark Henig, I’m sure we’ll be seeing him round these parts more often!
I liked the undefeated By The Light in the Prioress although I knew Indian Blessing would be tough at the distance on a muddy track. I was hoping it would have been Indian Blessing pressing Secret Gypsy with By The Light sitting off the pace but Indian Blessing has finally shown she can rate.
It was great to see Indian Blessing back and I thought By The Light was impressive given this was her first graded race! I had the 2 of them in a tri-box with Secret Gypsy but Indian Way spoiled that on the wire.
We busted out there right after the race and I got home in time to see the United Nations. I would have liked to have seen the Salvatore Mile, especially given that Notional pulled an upset! This really made my day… I loved him in the Risen Star was bummed when he had to drop off the Derby Trail with an injury. His 4 yo campaign has had an Evening Attire-like start, so to see him come back with a nice win that puts him in the BC was yet another excellent moment in a very satisfying race day. You can see it here, if it shows up on YouTube I’ll post it here as well.
I love that Mary Hartmann, Mary Hartmann and Precious Passion won the United Nations! I don’t know too much about her, except that I loved her sunglasses and Randy Moss (or someone) said that she started off as a hot walker some 20 years ago. But seriously, it’s always great to see one of the many non-high profile, hard working trainers win a big race and when it’s a woman it’s even more special. It goes without saying that there’s that extra level of “it ain’t easy” for women who work in a business that’s male dominated such a sports, or in my case, technology. So, good for her!
And to top it all off, Zenyatta stayed undefeated holding off an impressively closing Tough Tiz’s Sis in the Vanity Handicap. 6 for 6… is she looking more interesting for the Classic to you yet?
Posted by dana on Jul 05 2008
Filed Under: TBA, Monmouth Park, Wrap Up, Discreet Cat, Dance Away Capote, :), Randy Moss, Doug O'Neill, Zenyatta, Tough Tiz's Sis, Indian Blessing, 4yo, 2008, Sarah K. Andrew, Sprint, Inspirational, Maiden, Race Replay, Breeders' Cup, Breeding, Belmont, Come Back, Turf, Trifecta, BC Classic, YouTube, Notional, Evening Attire, Racing
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...First off, thanks to everyone who voted in the Jeremy Rose suspension poll, everyone had an opinion about it, and a good discussion was had by all!
No surprise that that results were close as votes just kept pouring in… Not Enough won out by a nose at 27 over Too Much at 26 while Just Right saw a decent amount of action with 21.
Turning to something positive, regular reader/commenter and west coast photog extroadinare Charles Pravata brought up an intriguing idea here that maybe Zenyatta should run in the Classic. Regular reader/commenter and east coast guitar playing, odds making phenom Ernie Munick noted that while it was something he hadn’t thought of that it was certainly intriguing… she is, after all, big as if not bigger than many of her male counterparts.
Since Curlin aced his first turf test it’s pretty safe to assume we won’t be seeing him in the Classic. And with Heatseeker retired the pickins are getting slimmer and slimmer. But it’s not just about the lack of competitiveness in the handicap division, it’s also about Zenyatta not having any real competition yet.
She’s undefeated with 5 starts and she made short work of champion Ginger Punch in the Apple Blossom. In her most recent start in the Milady, she had a rocky beginning getting pinched back out of the gate but came on strong to over the take the field in an effortless looking stretch run. She’s also closed off of both slow and fast paces, won on dirt and several synthetic tracks… one them being Santa Anita, host of the Classic.
Her next start is this Saturday in Vanity at Hollywood Park where she faces the solid Tough Tiz’s Sis and Canadian Sealy Hill.
Have a look for yourself…
Milady Handicap:
Apple Blossom:
I think the prospect of Zenyatta in the Classic is one of the most exciting things I’ve heard in a while (in addition to the problematic 20% of Curlin being transferred to a court-appointed receiver, putting him one step closer to running at Belmont next weekend)!
But let’s not get ahead of ourselves, let’s just get through this weekend, shall we? In the meantime, go Zenyatta!
Posted by dana on Jul 03 2008
Filed Under: Charles Pravata, BC Classic, 2008, Poll, Zenyatta, Ginger Punch, YouTube, Curlin, Retirement, Breeders' Cup, Race Replay, Turf, Racing
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...Fellow TBA-er Quinella Queen of Turf Luck left a comment on my recent post about Go For Wand pointing out the Breeders’ Cup Top 25 Moments Poll. To quote her exactly, “My goodness, check out the race by Pebbles in the ‘85 Turf!”
Regular reader ljk also pointed out Tiznow’s 2001 Classic. With two comments pointing towards notable efforts, I finally made my way over there. I started at the top in chronological order. It didn’t take long too get to Pebbles in the 85 Turf…. WOW!
I had never heard of Pebbles. I thought by now I had probably at least heard of most, if not all, of the great horses of the past 25 years but apparently not! Perhaps it’s because she’s a Brit, or as the announcer called her, Britain’s Super Filly.
Naturally I wanted to see more so I headed over to YouTube. The first clip I found was a compilation of Pebbles winning the 1,000 Guineas, Eclipse Stakes, Champion Stakes & Breeders’ Cup Turf.
I also found this excellent profile of her at NTRA by Jim Tierney written a month after she passed away in 2005, 20 years after her incredible Breeders’ Cup victory. The feat, her only race on American soil, won her our Eclipse Award for Outstanding Turf Female (or is that Lady?).
Tierney writes of her:
Pebbles’ scintillating performance left the Aqueduct crowd and millions watching on NBC breathless.
In 1985, Pebbles defeated the winners of the Epsom Derby, Prix del Arc de Triomphe, Juddmonte International, Irish Champion Stakes, English Champion Stakes, Epsom Oaks, Arlington Million, Hollywood Gold Cup, and Breeders’ Cup Turf.
Pebbles defeated Lashkari, who won the inaugural Breeders’ Cup Turf in 1984, along with Theatrical, who would go on and win the Breeders’ Cup Turf two years later at Hollywood Park.
I also found these two clips marked as “Story of Horse of the Year Pebbles, commented by Ian Carnaby, Clive Brittain, Steve Cauthen, Capt. Lemus, Pat Eddery.”
Part 1:
Part 2:
It should also be noted that the person who posted the two part series has an interesting archive of racing videos.
If all this international footage and hearing of accents gets you in the mood for some Royal Ascot (a bit late, but who’s counting), check out fellow TBA-er Superfecta as she’s been keeping tabs on all of the action.
I was so blown away by Pebbles that I haven’t even made it to Tiznow’s race yet!
Posted by dana on Jun 20 2008
Filed Under: YouTube, Legend, TBA, Turf, International Racing, Breeders' Cup, Race Replay, Racing
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