Lava Man and Big Booster, omnisurface stars (Charles Pravata)

What do Monterey Jazz and Panty Raid have in common with Lava Man and Einstein? They’ve also won graded races on all three surfaces! I was a little surprised that the media missed Monterey Jazz joining this elite group when he won the American Handicap, not to mention that Pantry Raid was also on the list. Kevin of Colin’s Ghost noticed Monterey Jazz and o_crunk contributed Panty Raid.

Omnisurface Stars grew out of a twitter conversation in the spring between Kevin, Jessica of Railbird/Raceday 360 and myself when we were trying to think of other horses that have performed well on all three surfaces after Einstein won the Santa Anita Handicap. As it turns out there are quite a few that span the range of class.

While Parading could join the ranks of the the all graded winners ranks with a graded win on dirt, local stakes and allowance heroes Bold Chieftain, Proceed Bee, Fort Prado, Absoulute Heaven, Storm Treasure and Taletobetold all have won on all three surfaces. Other graded stakes winners who have won on all 3 but not in graded company include Big Booster, Christmas Kid, Court Vision, Dearest Trickski, Delightful Kiss, Parading and Zappa.

We’re also tracking those who have won on 2 of the 3 surfaces and have been in the money (ITM) on the 3rd surface. Forever Together, Molengao and Stream Cat belong to the all graded stakes club in the category. Awesome Gem, Booyah, Giant Oak, Nownownow, Santa Teresita, Sealy Hill, Slew’s Tizzy and Student Council all fall into this group but not at the all graded level.

These horses are not alone in their achievement and over time we hope to record them all. If you know of any or come across any horses not on the list while looking over a past performance (which is how we complied the data), please let us know! We have a contact form at the site that you can use.

As time goes on we’ll upgrade the site, perhaps adding separate docs to list dam, sire and damsire, although for now every horse name links to their Pedigree Query page.

In the meantime, we hope the project will shed light on this emerging achievement. And hey, as Swifty pointed out to me, it could even be a useful marketing angle to tennis fans!

Posted by dana on Jul 13 2009    
Filed Under: Impressive, 2009, Giant Oak, Omnisurface Stars, Einstein, Internet, Lava Man, Inspirational, Charles Pravata, Racing

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Happy First Saturday in May! To be honest, I’m a having a little trouble getting jazzed about today with the late scratch of I Want Revenge after all the other defections and breathtaking splendor of Rachel Alexandra being wasted on connections that see the Triple Crown only as a function of showcasing stallions. Talk about a bring down, at least they’re out and proud about it and not trying to pretend that it determines the best 3yo in training… I’ll give them that.

Moving on, another reason why I’m having a hard time getting jazzed is that I felt there was more value apparent in the Oaks card, such as my picks of Miss Isella and Bullsbay, than I can find today. That doesn’t mean I’m not going to try!

Kodiak Kowboy looks tough to beat in the Churchill Down, this is his distance and if the track is still sloppy or off I might single him in any multi-race wagers. An acception to that would be Accredit who should benefit from the added distance… leave him off at your own risk. The Roundhouse is an interesting long shot to me as he’s improving and has placed to Kodiak Kowboy in the past (although he was the fav in the race).

Update: Accredit for the win! Still alive in the Pick 6 and Pick 3. The Roundhouse got up for the 3rd, was really hoping he could get place as I had a little exacta box of the two. Kodiak Kowboy was hard ridden half way through, not his day.

The Eight Belles (nee La Troienne) is a little tough. I’ll go with Just Jenda here but will throw in Warrior Maid and Lady’s Laughter for some fun. Warrior Maid is cutting back to a distance that suits her and has done well on the second off and Lady’s Laughter is more of hunch play than anything. She’s won at a mile on the dirt and placed by a neck to Stone Legacy, who was only 20 or so lengths behind the 2009 Triple Crown winner yesterday. I’m having trouble getting jazzed about Four Gifts as the favorite but the distance should suit her and she’s reunited with her winning jockey, Shaun Bridgmohan, which is always something to take note of.

Update: Ugh, Four Gifts beats Just Jenda and leaves me playing for 5 of 6 in the Pick 6. Warrior Maid gets third. Oh, I’m also out of the Pick 3 now too, damn. Time to order pizza!

I really liked Ballymore Lady in the Distaff Turf Mile (look, a race that’s still called Distaff!! ok, maybe my mood is lifting) but I’ll use Elusive Lady, Visit and Lemon Chiffon. I do like Tizaquenna but wonder if she needs to sets the slow pace to win on the turf? I’m not sure that’s going to happen with Rasierra in the race so I’ll stick with my other 3.

Update: Guess that answers that question about Tizaqueena, she can sit off the pace and win! Dawn After Dawn, who looked ready to rock in the parade, hung tough for second while Lemon Chiffon was third. It looked to me like Smith struck Elusive Lady with his whip in the stretch when as he passed with Lemon Chiffon. Elusive Lady, my pick, definitely stopped.

I’m looking forward to betting against Informed Decision in the Humana Distaff, but will not leave her off any multi-race tickets. She hasn’t fared as well switching from synthetic to dirt and Secret Gypsy and Game Face look tough.

Update: I only played a small exacta of Royal Michelle over a few horses because she looked really good in the parade but Informed Decision blew by the rest of the field in the stretch. Naturally I left her off my desperation Pick 3. I think my frat boy neighbors are having a Derby party, maybe I should ask them who they like, ugh!

Before I handicapped the Woodford Reserve I thought I might single Einstein, but regardless of the fact that that Einstein loves the distance and surface combo, Proudinsky and Zambezi Sun are interesting and should do well on the softer turf. Proudinsky is on a roll and training well for Bobby Frankel while Zambezi Sun should finally show what European turf class is about after running on concrete turf and then poly out in Cali. This one should be interesting. After just watching the first turf race of the day, the outside post should also be helpful to Zambezi Sun and Einstein.

Update: As it turns out, I could have singled Einstein. What a race! Very thrilling stretch battle with Einstein getting up in time to beat a very game Cowboy Cal. At least I’m alive in the double. It’s now confirmed that my neighbors are having a Derby party, they’re all dressed up and when their door opened I heard someone explaining what Quinella is.

And now for the big one, the breeding showcase, the Stallion Derby! Like many a player my pick to win is Friesan Fire. I took me until now to really settle on that as my official pick. I almost, ALMOST went with Desert Party.

My A-Team, top 3 are: Friesan Fire / Desert Party / Papa Clem. I would not be surprised to see any of those three win. I will definitely have tri and exact boxes of those three + win bets on Desert Party and Papa Clem (Friesan Fire’s odds will probably be too low for me for a win bet… but if he looks good, who knows!).

I’ll also use Musket Man and Summer Bird. I may do a $1 3/5/all ticket ($204) but am not entirely sure yet. I also ready have some interesting live futuracta tickets with Friesan Fire on top so I’ll wait to see the parade and spend the rest of the afternoon trying to figure out how to construct my tickets.

Good luck, let’s get them all home safe and may the best stallion win!

Update: I had a brutal day at the windows but as it turns out, the only gelding in the field won… take that “Stallion Derby”!

Posted by dana on May 02 2009    
Filed Under: 2009, Einstein, Picks, Shaun Bridgmohan, Friesan Fire, Desert Party, Pick 3, I Want Revenge, Rachel Alexandra, Churchill Downs, Trifecta, Bobby Frankel, Handicapping, Derby Trail, That's Why They Call it Gambling, Larry Jones, Kentucky Derby, Exacta, Pick 6, Pick 4, Racing

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The Derby party is over for Stardom Bound as her connections decide to point her to the Ashland and then the Oaks. I’m no trainer but doesn’t that seem like a quick decision? I’m also a little sad that they seem to have lost confidence in her. Plenty of folks have pointed out that her colleagues are just now catching up to her, she certainly didn’t take a step backwards but it seems like they’ve interpreted it that way.

Not that I want to turn in to the Gawker of racing but the internets uncovered some interesting speculation this afternoon… “look for Gomez to replace Smith” on Stardom Bound. But if we’re gonna speculate, you would think that any switch would be to Prado as Dutrow’s go to rider, although Iavarone was vague about when the transfer would happen. This just feels a little bit too much like the Hard Spun/Pino knee jerk reaction moment, that is, if it happens!

And because you knew it wouldn’t be long before this argument got trotted out:

Stardom Bound doing right thing staying w/ fillies. After Eight Belles, why would any owner consider taking the boys on? What’s the point?

The tweet-o-sphere immediately responded with:

It worked for Zarkava in the Arc and Goldikova in the BC Mile… both races less than 6 months after Eight Belles

And Ventura just finished a nose behind Gio Ponti in the Kilroe Mile. Sex isn’t a safety issue.

PETA has a worse rep than horse racing. Fs beat colts at ALL levels of the game. A filly won a classic not 2 years ago. There is no argument

R2R beat what people call ‘the greatest horse of this generation’. That’s ‘game over’ right there. Educate the peeps, don’t let PETA do it.

Educate is right + keep pressure on industry re: horse safety, welfare. Pandering to ignorance, anthropomorphism not the answer.

Fingers crossed that we can move on quickly from that argument, and I’m ready for the “Sex is not a Safety Issue” T-shirt!

In light of Einstein’s Big Cap win, Jessica and o_crunk have been trying to come up with a list of horses to win graded stakes on all three surfaces. So far they have Lava Man and Panty Raid. I just noticed Monterey Jazz has also has the 3 surface sweep. That’s a pretty short list, but then again it’s not an easy accomplishment. There have to be at least a few more, no?

Update: yes, there are quite a few more in fact. And doesn’t that sentiment re: “staying with the fillies” seem laughable now.

Posted by dana on Mar 09 2009    
Filed Under: 2009, Impressive, Stardom Bound, Mike Smith, Omnisurface Stars, Twitter, Einstein, Internet, Lava Man, Hard Spun, Derby Trail, Mario Pino, Garrett Gomez, Racing

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4 minutes to post, time for a commercial!

Has anyone else watching Santa Anita via simulcast found the commercials during the parade maddening? I can’t figure it out. Besides the race, the parade is the only other thing I want to see. NYRA, who’s been tearing it up over on Twitter, does faaaaabulous parade camera work on the simulcast.

I’ve had a private little boycott of SA going since the inception of the parade commercials that I broke to play the excellent Big Cap card. I should have stuck with it as I had a rotten day at the virtual windows. At least I kept my wagers light, thanks to the commercials.

Meanwhile, back on the east coast Kiaran McLaughlin summed it up by joking:

They’ve got good races out on the West Coast. Why didn’t (I Want Revenge) stay out there?

I’ll move I Want Revenge in to my top 10 list and look forward to seeing him in the Wood. I was never a Haynesfield believer, at least not for the Derby, so no surprise there. I like Val’s read on Imperial Council. I liked the way he closed as and will keep an eye on him, although he might be improving just a hair too late for the Derby.

I’m not sure I put any stock into the idea that I Want Revenge’s win validates Pioneer of The Nile. I like PoN but I Want Revenge’s performance in Robert B. Lewis was just so-so, not the strong performance of yesterday plus there’s that pesky synth/dirt question for PoN. GbG commenter and all around smart guy o_crunk probably has PoN’s number as a turfer.

As impressive as I Want Revenge was, even more impressive is Mr. Ernie Munick’s video of Gotham day at the Big A! Sights include a walk down wind tunnel memory lane, race caller smack down, Brooklyn Backstretch with Derby fever, local fans supporting their local jockey colony (as long as they’re winning) and a little holiday ballet on the fence. Fun stuff… it even made me wanna go to the Big A!

And how about Einstein? Kate of Keiblog shares this sentiment:

Einstein should inspire more horse owners to race their champs beyond 3 and 4. Japan does it. And obviously a champ is a champ! Go Einstein!

I won’t disagree, it’s great to have such a versatile talent around to show the rotten kids how it’s done!

Posted by dana on Mar 08 2009    
Filed Under: Einstein, Aqueduct, 2009, Twitter, I Want Revenge, Santa Anita, Kiaran McLaughlin, Grrrr, Derby Trail, Race Callers, NYRA, Racing

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Curlin beating Lawyer Ron in the Jockey Club Gold Cup at Belmont (Charles Pravata)

It’s looking like that’s what Curlin will be next Saturday in the Man o’War! The licensing issues are still not totally worked out, but inching closer with the expectation of it being finalized in the beginning of the week.

The licensing issues could be resolved at the beginning of the week when a Kentucky civil-court judge is expected to formally transfer the assets of two Kentucky attorneys who own a minor interest in Curlin to those who won a civil-case judgment against them.

Not only does it look like we’ll see him in New York, but it seems to be shaping up to be a turf war, so to speak, with Breeders’ Cup turf champions Red Rocks and Better Talk Now also expected to run.

And in other good news on the turf, my boy Thorn Song , back at his best distance of a mile, beat the impressive Einstein by about a length and half in the Firecracker at Churchill today, not that I could wager on it with my TWINSPIRES account (ludicrous!).

Happy 4th y’all!

Posted by dana on Jul 04 2008    
Filed Under: 2008, Steve Asmussen, Twinspires, Signal Wars, Einstein, Thorn Song, :), Belmont, Fans, Curlin, Turf, Charles Pravata, Racing

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