Philadelphia Park (~ RAYMOND)

I had the feeling that I might return to blogging tonight as I crabbed to someone in an email that I’m already sick of hearing all the droning about Curlin vs. Big Brown for horse of the year. It’s about as interesting as incessantly following who’s up in the presidential polls.

I’m somewhat surprised (and somewhat not) that no one has seemed to mention Zenyatta in the same breath as HOY (disclaimer, if you have, I may have missed it as I’ve not been keeping up with reading!).

Undefeated? Check. Won on multiple surfaces? Check. Beat an impressive reining champion? Check. Beat the impressive reining champion while making first start on new surface? Check.

Let’s face it, the Filly & Mare Classic division is making a mockery of the boys this year. I loooove Curlin and think Big Brown is pretty great but Zenyatta has been turning in consistently impressive performances all year. And her nemesis Tough Tiz’s Sis demolishing the field in the Ruffian also speaks volumes about her talent.

Speaking of the Breeders’ Cup, Kennedy has an excellent set of observations about inconsistencies with the BC. Just when I thought I had heard it all!

I’ve been too busy to compile the August SAFC reports just yet, which might be a good thing because we got a fab submission today (or possibly sometime in the past few days… I’ve been really out of it!) that has many, many great ideas/issues. One of them, which I want to point out while we’re still on the subject of the BC, is the damn saddle cloths. They’re a serious scourge for those who actually want to be able to tell which horse is which without memorizing hat and silk colors. Please, go to SAFC and complain about this one!

A juicy blind item was revealed over at Moran’s today when he finally got to tell us which NYRA official said ‘Fuck the Horseplayers’. Now I’m sort of wishing I had a done a poll when the original item came out.

GbG horse of interest National Pride won his 3rd race today at Belmont in the third, a $50k OC N2X. He had Coa aboard for the first time and caught a strong On Board Again at the wire. I also thought Goldsville was impressive for the show. He had some traffic trouble in the stretch and had to swing wide but came on nicely as well. As always, looking forward to National Pride’s next start.

And if you’re still reading, I should remind that you the deadline for the SAFC DIY Marketing Presentation Contest has been extended to this Saturday at 7pm EST. So stop farting around reading blogs and get your presentation together! We’ve already gotten a handful of great ones and are expecting a few more… c’mon surprise us with your great ideas or clever harangues! Need some ideas? Start here.

Posted by dana on Sep 17 2008    
Filed Under: Raymond Haddad, 4yo, 2008, Big Brown, Rivalry, Tough Tiz's Sis, Zenyatta, National Pride, Ginger Punch, Breeders' Cup, Curlin, Race Replay, Eibar Coa, 3yo, NYRA, Racing

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News of super Ladies has been pouring in all day, some good and some not.

Several folks have nice tributes to Genuine Risk, formerly the oldest living Derby winner. I first learned of the “big beautiful chestnut filly” here, when Val did the timely piece that the mainstream media missed (again) by doing a tie in to Rags to Riches’ Belmont win. Rest in peace Genuine Risk.

For those who may have missed it, check out Jessica’s excellent account of the post Alabama scene in the winner’s circle. Great stuff. She also has a nice day after post and Geno has a nice set of shots from what looks to be the perfect Saratoga weekend.

Country Star made her triumphant return with an allowance win on the Turf at the Spa.

And in crazy news, my jaw dropped when my phone buzzed and I read this!

Anyone who pays even moderate attention to racing in New York knows that Linda Rice is the queen of turf sprints but this is almost unbelievable… and it’s not like it was a small field!

And what makes it even more super that you can’t tell from the chart is that the first, second and forth place finishers were fillies and the 3rd place finisher was a colt. Seriously super all the way around. Does anyone know how often a trainer sweeps a super?

And just because I haven’t posted anything since Saturday’s races, GbG horse of interest National Pride showed up and won the 1st on Saturday holding off a hard closing and impressive looking Posse Cat. Thanks to his unfortunate stumble out of the gate last out he paid $8.10, which is you guessed it, super!

Posted by dana on Aug 18 2008    
Filed Under: Superfecta, Country Star, 2008, Proud Spell, Impressive, National Pride, Farewell, Saratoga, Come Back, Turf, Legend, Racing

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GbG horse of interest National Pride took a horrible stumble out of the gate in his return to the states. He trailed the field and came wide into the stretch to come in 7th out of 8th. The good news is that his odds should be reasonable next out! I just hope that stumble doesn’t eventually develop into an early retirement injury. I almost employed the Papa Backstretch betting technique on the winner, West Express ($14.80), based on how he looked but took a pass. Arrrrrrrrrrr.

The WV Derby was a pretty exciting with Web Gem almost stealing the show! Recapture the Glory and Z Fortune did not live up to their names as both were nowhere to be found. Fabulous Strike scratched out of the Harvey Arneault Memorial while Zanjero, winner of last year’s WV Derby, won the West Virginia Governor’s Stakes.

No surprise as Indian Blessing crushed field in the Test but I was a little bummed that Ms. Margaret blew my tri, however she was pretty impressive breaking slowly and coming on well at the end.

Next stop Del Mar… go Zenyatta!

Posted by dana on Aug 02 2008    
Filed Under: Indian Blessing, Zenyatta, 2008, National Pride, Saratoga, Fabulous Strike, Racing

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As mentioned before, both Numaany and GbG horse of interest National Pride have been back in the U.S of A training after being acquired by Godolphin in the fall last year.

National Pride has not raced since his debut in November where he broke his maiden impressively beating Saratoga Russell. Numaany has raced a few times in Dubai unsuccessfully. Both look to be training well and are set to return at the allowance level at Saratoga this Saturday.

Numaany is entered in the 7th, a 1 1/16th 68k allowance on the turf and National Pride is entered in the 9th, a 6 1/2F 67k allowance on the dirt.

For those of you who haven’t seen it, here’s Numaany’s odd and impressive maiden race… the bootleg quality of the video certainly adds to the overall WTF of the scenario.

Keep an eye open for them on Saturday… not so much from a betting perspective, at least not for National Pride who’s the 2-1 favorite in the morning line, but from a “this could be interesting” perspective.

Alright, back to not blogging… and if anyone has any poll suggestions, let me know.

Posted by dana on Jul 31 2008    
Filed Under: National Pride, Saratoga Russell, 2008, YouTube, Race Replay, Fans, Saratoga, Racing

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Just last night I was lamenting the sale of Racecar Rhapsody to an unidentified middle eastern buyer. You may remember I really liked him in the Preakness (you know, the race where Big Brown showed up when I was betting he wouldn’t, just a race too early!).

This reminded me of another horse that I was intrigued by that was whisked off to Dubai after one impressive effort in the late fall. National Pride, made a notable debut on November 17th at Aqueduct, winning by 1 3/4 lengths over a Brooklyn Backstretch favorite, Saratoga Russell.

DRF reported:

On Nov. 17, National Pride won a six-furlong maiden race at Aqueduct by 1 3/4 lengths, covering six furlongs in 1:09.27 and earning a 92 Beyer. National Pride is a 2-year-old son of Macho Uno, the juvenile champion of 2000. Friday, National Pride arrived at Payson Park in Florida, where Rick Mettee oversees a string of Godolphin runners.

“He sustained a 3 1/2-furlong run in the race,” Mettee said. “It’s not like he ran for the final eighth of a mile and the field fell apart. You don’t see 2-year-olds do that too often.”

Mettee said National Pride would most likely begin a 30-day quarantine at Payson on Dec. 16 and ship to Dubai in mid-January.

So last night I made my way over to the Godolphin to see if I could find out anything about National Pride… had he raced again, was he in training? Nuttin’.

Imagine my surprise just a few moments ago when I went to my DRF virtual stable to see that he’s back on the work tab at Keenland!!! He breezed 3F at 36.4 (5/32) over a fast all weather track… AND, Numaany, who was also purchased by Godolophin around the same time must have worked with him as he posted a 3F breeze at 38 (20/32), his second at Keenland!

How exciting! I wonder what they’re training towards? Does anyone know anything about this? Perhaps we’ll also see Racecar Rhapsody again, I hope so!

Posted by dana on Jun 22 2008    
Filed Under: 2008, Big Brown, Saratoga Russell, National Pride, International Racing, Racing

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