Johnny Eves and David Flores winning the Malibu (Charles Pravata)

I’m a little bummed that I didn’t handicap the Malibu [DRF], not that I would have hit anything. This was just the kind the kind of race I love to play… a decent sized field with only a couple of favorites and a lot of potential at nice odds. These types of fields are more typical of allowance or claiming races, rarely graded stakes, let alone a G1… let’s hope there’s more of this in 2008!

I threw a little sentimental bet on Great Hunter, I’ll have to watch the replay to see his performance. It looked like he was either a little bottled up or hesitant about pushing his way through, hard to tell. Either way I’m glad he’s back.

I thought Cobalt Blue looked good in the parade and I noticed Johnny Eves ($24) in the parade as well. I was also happy to see Hurry Up Austin get up for 4th, I’ve always liked him for whatever reason.

I love to see a horse step up the way Johnny Eves did. Jay Robbins, his trainer, said in the post race interview that he trains like good horse… good to see him proof it. And let’s hear it for geldings! David Flores is also off with a bang winning 4 on the card.

If you were lucky enough to have the $1 Super, you had a 120,856.50 payday. If you had the $1 trifecta, you had a $8,831.50 payday!

In other payout news, even with 3 races paying out more than $20 per winner, the Pick 6 was hit at Aqueduct!

The results are as follows:
  4th: Wild Garden ($3.50)
  5th: Cherna ($40.40)
  6th: Hunsley Bunsley ($8.70
  7th: Dance Gal Dance ($23.40)
  8th: Beau Dare ($8.10)
  9th: Unbreelievable ($20.40)

$2 Payout: $91,252… congrats to all who hit that ticket! Definitely Ubreelievable.

Malibu race replay at NTRA.

Posted by dana on Dec 26 2007    
Filed Under: Charles Pravata, Geldings, Superfecta, Santa Anita, Trifecta, Great Hunter, 2007, Pick 6, Racing

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Sophie’s Salad at Saratoga, can also be found on the menu at Mesa Grill! (Sarah K. Andrew)

The minute I don’t post for a day or two all kinds of things come up that I want to point out, or how to turn several small posts turn into one really long post.

Back in Action:
NTRA has several items of note on those who are back in action, of one kind or another. Great Hunter & Spring at Last are back in training and Rags to Riches is preparing to start training in Cali.

You’ll have one more time to ask yourself “Will He Shine?” as he will retire after his next start in the De Francis Dash.

In a Back in Action two-fer, or perhaps a Back in Action one-fer and a Back in Cali one-fer, one of my favorite turfers, Obrigado, is set come back after a few months off on Saturday at Hollywood Park with Patrick Valenzuela up.

Following-up:
Slew’s Tizzy showed in Commonwealth Turf Stakes. He seemed to like to surface and started to come on in the end. If it were me I would probably run him on the turf again or perhaps send him out to Cali to see how handles the various synthetic tracks.

Around the blogosphere:
Speaking of synthetic tracks, Teresa at Brooklyn Backstretch, one of the only folks I’ve seen to consistently raise this worthy issue, has a post on the “big toxic waste dump” factor.

John at The Race is Not to the Swift has a couple of posts of note. One has two interesting videos of Aqueduct… one that documents some shuddered off areas and one that’s a bit of profile and/or ‘whatever happened to’ as told by those who are there. This post generated some discussion about NYRA that’s worth checking and perhaps chiming in if you’re interested.

His other post that has several video clips of sires being shown off at stallion tours. The one of Giacomo, no doubt preparing for his work day, is somewhat alarming (perhaps impressive?) yet also giggle worthy with ridiculous background music and angle of the video. All in a days work!

Valerie at Foolish Pleasure has a nice homage to Octave, a horse that no doubt didn’t get the respect she deserved being R2R’s stable mate.

This also generated some interesting discussion about how the current graded stakes system fails to recognize horses like Octave, among other things. If you’d like to see the American Graded Stakes Committee do something about that, and I know you would, go here and leave a comment.

I Rarely Disagree:
A few opinion pieces and interviews from 2 folks I rarely disagree with… Steve Haskin does not disappoint in his Talkin’ Horses transcript that’s full of great insight and commentary.

Dan Liebman has 2 nice editorials of note, one suggesting that there are plenty of ways in which tracks can work together to better each other and one that discusses a new heartening direction in marketing for the BC.

Finally, I had a business lunch today at Mesa Grill, owned by noneotherthan Celebrity Grill Master and Horse Owner extroadinare, Bobby Flay. Sophie’s Salad was on the menu but no Catmosphere burger… probably not a bad thing.

Posted by dana on Nov 14 2007    
Filed Under: Dan Liebman, You Can Help, You Tell 'em!, Sarah K. Andrew, De Francis Dash, Steve Haskin, NYRA, Marketing, Rags to Riches, Retirement, Slew's Tizzy, Great Hunter, 2007, Octave, Racing

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Just noticed that Great Hunter had a work at Hollywood Park yesterday, a 3F 38.40 H 13/21 on a fast track… it’s great to see him back!

Also, there will be more BC posts as the week goes on, I’m not done yet.

Posted by dana on Oct 30 2007    
Filed Under: Workouts, 3yo, 2007, Great Hunter

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Article about Bill Kaplan (who I like a lot) and Imawildandcrazyguy’s preps for the Belmont. I think he ran an extremely impressive race in the Derby. He was BEHIND Street Sense in 20th place and closed to 4th on the OUTSIDE. I’m really looking forward to see what he’ll do in the Belmont.

Actually, I really like all the probable Belmont entrants… the top 3 from the last 2, Tiago, Great Hunter, Slew’s Tizzy and Imawildandcrazyguy are contenders as far as I’m concerned… throw Rags to Riches in there and look out!

[NTRA]

Posted by dana on May 25 2007    
Filed Under: Belmont Stakes, Imawildandcrazyguy, Bill Kaplan, 2007, Great Hunter, Slew's Tizzy, Tiago, Rags to Riches

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My strategy for the 3rd pool was to basically bet against Curlin, Street Sense & Circular Quay (and watch them win, place and show on Derby day).

The things that I don’t like about Curlin are that he hasn’t raced against tough competition and we have no idea if he’s got the heart for a fight. Could he hold his own against Street Sense in the stretch?

As for Street Sense, he seems to need precise placement to really get the job done. While Circular Quay overcame a potential huge disaster in the Risen Star and finished well, I’ve never had a gut feeling for him.

$10 on:
No Biz - while somewhat goofy, I think he’s probably the horse to beat
Hard Spun - the only teeny tiny reservation I have about him is that he hasn’t beaten, or run against, any of the favs
Scat Daddy - he’s so gutsy!
Tiago - if he performs like his last race, watch out

$8 on:
Great Hunter - looked to me like he got stuck in traffic in the Blue Grass, he’s beaten both Street Sense & Circular Quay

$6 on:
Cowtown Cat - ran great his last 2 races
Domincan - can’t believe his odds didn’t lower more
All Other 2 year olds - you never know

$2 on:
Officer Rocket - even though his showing was poor in the Arkansas Derby, he’s beaten Teufelsberg, Hard Spun & Street Sense!
Teuflesberg - he’s beaten Hard Spun and despite his incredibly slow pace was pretty game in the stretch during the Blue Grass, I think he’ll do better when he’s not the pacesetter.

I also put some money on the Oaks, I haven’t been following the Ladies too closely (that will change next year), but here’s what I did:

$4 on:
Boca Grande
Octave

$2 on:
Autobahn Girl
Dawn After Dawn
Dream Rush
Moonee Ponds

Posted by dana on Apr 16 2007    
Filed Under: Teuflesburg, Circular Quay, Great Hunter, Octave, Autobahn Girl, 2007, Dream Rush, Dawn After Dawn, Dominican, Curlin, Street Sense, Hard Spun, Nobiz Like Shobiz, Tiago, Triple Crown, Derby Trail, Wagering

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