Turf course at Santa Anita (Charles Pravata)

In a post from a few days ago, I mentioned that Dominican and Wicked Style were entered in a Turf allowance race at Churchill. I didn’t catch that A to the Croft was also entered in a Turf allowance on the same card!

A to the Croft finally got a win, closely tracking Princess Westley in what I believe was her turf debut. She dueled the pacesetter in the stretch and just as she pulled away Dragum started to come on. She showed a nice bit of acceleration mid-stretch to win over the game Dragum by 2 lengths. Congrats to her and her connections!
Dominican and Wicked Style weren’t quite as lucky although Dominican hit the board in third. He sat at the back of the back and came on nicely but didn’t quite have enough to catch Faith’s Magic ($32!) and A. P. Xcellent. Wicked Style sat near the back of the pack with Dominican and never really fired.

I wouldn’t be surprised if we saw Dominican on turf again… and speaking of that, I wonder what No Biz is up to?

Posted by dana on May 21 2008    
Filed Under: Charles Pravata, 2008, 4yo, 3yo, Turf, Nobiz Like Shobiz, Dominican, Come Back, Racing

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I noticed two things while looking at my virtual stable.

One is that Dominican is making the second start of his 4yo campaign, this time on turf this Wednesday at Churchill in a 1 mile allowance optional claimer (not entered for a tag).

His last out he came in a solid second over the polytrack at Keenland.

Dominican is best known for his surprise defeat of Street Sense in last year’s installment of the Bluegrass. Wicked Style, another one who surprised over the polytrack at Keenland in the Breeders’ Cup Futurity, is entered as well.

Dominican in the Bluegrass:

Wicked Style in the Futurity:

Best of luck to both of them!

The other is that Call Me Larry, a horse racing for a good cause, won the 4th at Belmont yesterday!

Call Me Larry runs for Find a Cure stable. It’s great, particularly now, to see people in the industry trying to do things other than cash out… here’s the story that first alerted me to Call Me Larry. Congrats to him and his connections, and THANK YOU for trying to do something decent!

Posted by dana on May 18 2008    
Filed Under: Geldings, 2008, Turf, Inspirational, Dominican, Racing

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Last year’s Monba winner, Dominican is making his 4yo debut tomorrow in the 8th at Keenland, a 62K 1 1/16th allowance optional claimer. He’s the lukewarm favorite at 7/2! BirdBirdistheword is also entered, he’s 10-1… neither is in for a tag.

Dominican’s last start was the West Virginia Derby in August where he came in 6th in front of my beloved Slew’s Tizzy (love is blind… our anniversary is coming up on Saturday!).

I’m not sure if he was injured or was just given a decent break but I did noticed him on the work tab. He wasn’t training very regularly at first but has put in a weekly work for the last month and has been improving nicely. Best of luck to him!

Update: Dominican came in second and Birdbirdistheword came in 3rd… congrats to both and their connections!

Also, check out the pace on last year’s race… I’m actually more impressed by his huge close than was then.

Posted by dana on Apr 17 2008    
Filed Under: 4yo, 2008, Workouts, Come Back, Dominican

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Well, it’s 3:15 on Saturday and I’ve just finished handicapping the Blue Grass… and it’s the first race I’ve finished. I’m pretty sure I can get through the Arkansas Derby and maybe even the Holy Bull if I’m lucky!

I could use the excuse that this race was really hard to figure out as the reason why I’m getting so little done, but that wouldn’t be the truth. However, that doesn’t detract from the fact that it was really hard to figure this one out!

Between the clear division of those with synthetic experience & those without + questionable pace scenario one could go back and forth about how things are going to shake out (and I did).

I’m going with the idea that Pyro, my current favorite for the Derby, will not win here. His works have been ultra consistent and his last work over the surface looks exactly like his last work before his last win + he’ll likely get the same kind of pace, but let’s face it, he doesn’t have to win. And as Valerie has pointed out, no Derby winner of the last 10 years has won this race (including Street Sense).

There are a couple items of note in this race. I’m guessing that Pletcher has entered the talented turf specialist Cowboy Cal not only to see what he’ll do here, but to create a nice pace scenario for Monba. It looks like they worked together last out and Monba did a touch better… it was a nice work for both of them.

Miner’s Claim and perhaps even Stonebird seem like they might be on or near the lead as well… while I’m not expecting anything close to the pace in the Wood, it could be a touch faster than we’ve seen in the majority of prep races.

Cool Coal Man looks great… his last work is a nice improvement at the distance, he’s proven at the distance and it bears noting that he’s in the same post position as his last two, which means he should set-up perfectly. However, he’s a total wild card on the surface.

Big Truck also looks great, even better than Cool Coal Man in my opinion because of that last work over the track + the same bullet pattern as prior to his last win. It looks like he’s gonna like the surface. Visionaire’s last work also seems to indicate that he’ll like the surface.

As for the proven synthetic runners Halo Najib looks like he could really improve here… if he runs on the pace I think he could be in the mix at the end. Could he be this year’s Dominican? Medjool looks like he could make some noise too.

Posted by dana on Apr 12 2008    
Filed Under: Pyro, 2008, Picks, 3yo, Dominican, Street Sense, Derby Trail, Handicapping, Racing

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Surf Cat, far left, wins the San Carlos. Circular Quay, far right, doesn’t. (Charles Pravata)

It’s curious to me that many of the 4yos returning from pre-Derby injuries last year are coming back in kind of tough spots. If it were up to me, I’d ease them in with softer landings.

Circular Quay, pictured above did nothing in the San Carlos, but should be expected to? Great Hunter is finally starting to show signs of life after 3 starts. He debuted in the Malibu and came in 11th, just ahead of another returning colt, Cobalt Blue.

I can’t remember what spot Ravel debuted in, but he certainly hasn’t come out swinging and I don’t believe Belgravia has done much either (please feel free to leave a comment if you remember the details of their debuts, Google couldn’t really help me).

Notional is set to debut in a handicap in about an hour, I’m hoping he’ll do as well as Doug O’Neill thinks he can. Dominican has also put in a couple of works in the past month but doesn’t seem to be working regularly just yet.

Is it just me or does it seem like there are some unrealistic expectations here? Most of these horses only have only raced a handful of times, it’s not like they have a TON of experience under their belt. It would be nice to see them set up to excel, not fail.

Posted by dana on Feb 17 2008    
Filed Under: Notional, Charles Pravata, 2008, 4yo, Belgravia, Ravel, Dominican, Great Hunter, Circular Quay, Injury, Racing

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