Leading riders Alan Garcia and Rafael Bejarano at Del Mar (~ RAYMOND)

Congrats to Rafael Bejarano for winning the Del Mar riding title this year!

Raymond took a little west coast excursion recently and captured this rare shot of the east and west coast Peruvian-born boutique meet title holding jockeys. As you can imagine, he took a ton of other great shots worth checking out!

In other west coast news, GbG fav Lava Man finally has his retirement plan set, he’s off to Old Friends. No doubt Old Friends will see an uptick in visits with this beloved gelding settling into his new home… good for them!

Posted by dana on Sep 04 2008    
Filed Under: 2008, Raymond Haddad, Alan Garcia, Rafael Bejarano, Saratoga, Lava Man, Racing

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Lest you think I’ve been abducted or have run away with the circus I thought I should post a little something.

I’ve been busy over here crunching numbers for SAFC’s first reports and I’m happy to say that it’s going well!

The submissions have been well thought out and well intentioned for the most part with no real smart ass or useless contributions. The effort is definitely off to a great start and I’ll post more about the reports and some of our upcoming plans soon (after I get done with the reports… just visualize me with a digital wheel-barrow taking lots of piles of data from one place to another and then deciding it all should go in 3 separate piles elsewhere to then change my mind again).

A few little things that have jumped out at me recently…

Jess Jackson schools us all on the classy way to trash talk:

I would love to meet Big Brown. It would be great for the industry and the fans. But all we can do is take one race at a time. I don’t know where it would be. I suspect they might retire him before we ever get a chance to meet. (If we do) I prefer it be on dirt and at a mile and a quarter.

Did anyone else think this statement by Paul Pompa was odd:

The Woodward isn’t in our thinking right now,” said Pompa, a 25% owner of Big Brown. “The timing isn’t right for the horse. Mike Iavarone (of co-owner IEAH Stables) and I discussed it, and we’re not going to Saratoga. There is no reason to rush him back. He’s coming off a tough race.

It was a tough race in part because he was coming off a break. That race probably did him a lot of good as he actually fought for his win. Many others have made far more concise and astute readings of this situation than I could so I’ll leave it at that, but that sentiment seemed completely ass backwards to me.

And finally, Lava Man’s 2005 Hollywood Gold Cup recently popped up on YouTube so I added it to my Lava Man post. It’s an incredible race, he really blows them away at something like 6-1 where it seemed obvious he was somewhat disregarded.

Back to the digital wheel-barrow.

Posted by dana on Aug 07 2008    
Filed Under: Big Brown, Self Appointed Fan Committee, 2008, Hollywood Gold Cup, Curlin, Lava Man, Racing

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As usual, Ernie was right. Last night I asked for ideas for a new poll and this morning this item turns up indicating that Music Note is under consideration for the Travers. Although I can’t be too hard on myself as I did I pick Music Note for the Travers in Geno’s Saratoga Contest.

My other around the way track pals have differing opinions. While we all think the Alabama will be one helluva race with Music Note, Railbird finds the prospect of Music Note in the Travers very interesting. On the other hand Brooklyn Backstretch correctly points out that a win in the Travers is no more significant or impressive than a win in the Alabama.

I commented at BB that each win comes a different set of bragging rights… to quote myself:

…the competition will be tougher in the Alabama and if she runs there it will certainly be the best race of the meet but beating a bunch of colts has it’s bragging rights too…

Here’s her Mother Goose:

Here’s her Coaching Club Oaks:

What do you think? Travers or Alabama?

In our last poll, which had a whopping 102 votes(!), 68 wanted to see Lava Man become the west coast Funny Cide by going out on an easy win and then becoming a stable pony. 15 folks wanted to see him turned out, 14 wanted to see him drop into softer competition and keep running and 4 folks wanted to see him try again at the same level. We can still keep our fingers crossed that he’ll be a stable pony!

Posted by dana on Aug 01 2008    
Filed Under: 3yo, YouTube, 2008, Poll, Funny Cide, Race Replay, Fans, Saratoga, Lava Man, Racing

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My all time fav shot of Lava Man, winning his 3rd Hollywood Gold Cup (Charles Pravata)

The reports are in, my favorite horse currently racing is official retired. As it turns out he has some issues with his ankles so he won’t get the Funny Cide one last harrah race many of us were hoping for. It’s still unclear if he’ll be Doug O’Neill’s stable pony so keep your fingers crossed!

There weren’t as many of his races up at YouTube as I would have liked, in an ideal world I would post all three Hollywood Gold Cup’s and both Santa Anita Handicaps.

2005 Hollywood Gold Cup:

2006 Hollywood Gold Cup:

You’ll have to go to NTRA video archive to the 2007 Hollywood Gold Cup.

2007 Santa Anita Handicap:

Back to NTRA for the 2006 Santa Anita Handicap.

While not a race, here are his last minutes on the track as a race horse after the Eddie Read:

I’ve written about Lava Man frequently and you can see all of my posts here.

Congratulations to Lava Man’s connections for possibly the best claim ever and many thanks for keeping him around… he’ll be missed. Enjoy your retirement old man!

Posted by dana on Jul 30 2008    
Filed Under: Farewell, Charles Pravata, Geldings, Hollywood Gold Cup, 2008, Doug O'Neill, Santa Anita, YouTube, Retirement, Fans, Lava Man, Race Replay, :(, Hollywood Park, Racing

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Rainy vacations, that is. The last few vacations I’ve planned have turned out to be rainy, why should this one be any different?

I meant to make a “gone fishin’” post before I left but didn’t get a chance. I may make a post or two from my deluxe accommodations at the Bates Motel but am on an official blogging break, if there is a such thing, until I return next week.

In the mean time you can catch good opening day posts here, here and here.

Is Lava Man really retired? If so I’ll do a proper send off post when I return but until then you can go here for race replays.

Did Jeremy Rose’s suspension really get reduced? Here’s some good commentary on it.

And one small exciting note, Mushka makes her return on Friday in an allowance race!

Everything else can wait til I get back… good luck everyone and happy rainy Spa!

Posted by dana on Jul 24 2008    
Filed Under: 2008, Mushka, Lava Man, Saratoga

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