Stardom Bound returning from an 8 month layoff in a G1 on a new surface, nice! (Jason Moran)

Ok, four… Pyro and Stardom Bound.

Thanks for the memories, I still love ya!

Pyro - 2008 Risen Star:

Pyro - 2008 Louisana Derby:

Pyro - 2009 Forego:

Stardom Bound - 2008 Del Mar Debutante:

Stardom Bound - 2008 Oak Leaf:

Stardom Bound - 2008 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies:

Stardom Bound - 2009 Las Virgines:

Stardom Bound - 2009 Santa Anita Oaks:

Posted by dana on Nov 28 2009    
Filed Under: 2009, Stardom Bound, Risen Star, Del Mar, Jason Moran, Fairgrounds, Race Replay, YouTube, Santa Anita, Pyro, Racing

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Pyro and Kodiak Kowboy in the Forego (Adam Mooshian)

Yours truly has been under the weather the past few days, and is now playing a little catch up. What did I miss? Stuff you already know and possibly even forgot about such as the fabulous come backs of Ventura, Regal Ransom and Theregoesjojo(?). There was also a timely reminder about not getting carried away plus the return of one of my favorite tweeters!

Filed under “not more of the same”, Breeders’ Cup 360 launched late last week, a site designed and developed by Jessica of Raceday 360. Congrats to the BC and Jessica on the launch and be sure to check out the stats section!

While no doubt folks can still find things to grouse about re: the Breeders’ Cup, they’ve been making a nice effort this year to not only include fans and players in the feedback process, but to cater to them with things like evening out the two days a bit and creating two all BC Pick 6s, creating a site specifically for players and announcing a Friday TweetUp (or Tweeters Cup as Ernie calls it). While I still hold out hope that by this time next year the Ladies Classic will be renamed the Filly & Mare Classic, I’ll also give them props for listening and starting to make changes.

The R2 Collective, brain child of Dean from Pull the Pocket, quietly launched last week. Dean’s idea is to have a specific place to discuss marketing, technology and new media as it pertains (or doesn’t yet!) to racing. I have a few ideas for posts kicking around but Dean is on fire, check him out!

Also notable, pals and former colleagues from the TBA have taken up over at the NTRA to cover the Breeders Cup. Val of Foolish Pleasure & Fillies First wins the best author photo!

And finally, War Echo returns! The stunning 3yo 3/4 sib to my beloved Pyro (a.k.a. the new Kodiak Kowboy) made a triumphant debut as a 3yo in the Silverbulletday (who was inducted in the Hall of Fame this year). Shortly after she was sidelined with an injury. She jumped out at me in the parade and looked a lot like Pyro in that long Fairground stretch.

Back before Rachel Alexandra unleashed her torrent of kick ass on the racing world War Echo seemed like a promising up and comer. Will she be able to put it together in time to get to the 2009 Breeders’ Cup? Check her out in the 3rd at Belmont tomorrow and then stay tuned!

Posted by dana on Sep 22 2009    
Filed Under: 2009, Fairgrounds, War Echo, Twitter, Rachel Alexandra, Pyro, YouTube, Belmont, Breeders' Cup, Race Replay, Come Back, Racing

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Pyro returns to training for his 4yo campaign (Banamine)

While we wait around for some decent racing this weekend and the Belmont jockey announcements a few things caught my eye.

My beloved Pyro is back on the work tab! I had heard that he’s been galloping at Keeneland for awhile but nothing official until now. As if the news of the Belmont Special service being restored wasn’t enough, Pyro will be based in New York with Rick Mettee! Perhaps we’ll get a chance to see him at Belmont before the end of spring-summer meet.

This week’s HANA pool party takes place this Saturday at Canterbury Park, race 8. If you’re not familiar with Canterbury Park, check out Ted’s excellent recap of opening day!

I’m not sure about you but I’ve been enjoying Equidaily’s hilarious new editorial graphic trend… well done!

Are the now seemingly repetitive tote failures the side effect of Mercury Retrograde? We should probably be so lucky as Mercury Retrograde ends on June 14th.

Kennedy has a nice look at some of the current 3yo sprinters who are overshadowed by the Triple Crown while Ghostnapper has an interesting take on how team Zenyatta really needs to step it up.

And finally, buried at the bottom of a DRF post about something else, it looks Channing Hill is heading back east to Monmouth for the summer:

Two jockeys who found California a tough circuit to crack have left for greener pastures. Channing Hill won just two races from 53 mounts in Southern California and has left for Monmouth; Jesus Rios won 13 races from 163 mounts and left for Calder.

Be sure to say hi to Channing while you attend the ReRun 3rd annual Day at the Races Fundraiser at Monmouth on June 13th!

Posted by dana on May 21 2009    
Filed Under: 4yo, Channing Hill, Zenyatta, 2009, HANA, Technology, Pyro, Belmont, Come Back, 3yo, Sprint, Racing

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Giant Moon winning the Excelsior, my day only got worse from here (Sarah K. Andrew)

My day started down hill rather quickly as Giant Moon took me out of the Pick 4. It got worse as my dreamy beloved threw a clunker in the Ashland. I only had $2 across the board on Boleyn at 62-1 but I was profoundly bummed to see Stardom Bound turn in such a lackluster performance. Why does Keeneland kill the things I love? (Think Pyro, my last year’s dreamy beloved… who’s reportedly galloping at Keeneland these days, go figure.)

Also a bummer that my pick of the day, Kodiak Kowboy, got hammered down to 8-5, so I took a wagering pass. This was just one several bad wagering decisions made in the flurry of back to back races on different channels with no chance to watch the parade, or in the case of Hawthorne, only showing Musket Man in the parade. Seriously, what’s the point of that? At least I got to see the races! Then again, perhaps not wagering on them would have been a good thing. Comparing this year’s Wood to last year’s, perhaps I’m more like my dreamy beloved than I want to let on!

On the bright side, the Derby is shaping up to have one fine field! I Want Revenge, who’s now on Twitter along with Joe Talamo, moves up to my “like like” list. Freisan Fire, Quality Road and I Want Revenge will be top 3 over at PDI but I’m not sure how I’ll rank them at this point as I’m not favoring one over the other. Swifty is sticking with Freisan Fire because of Larry Jones. I can make a case for each of them and find at least one knock for each of them. And it’s not like the Derby is tomorrow so things can change. At this point my top three won’t really imply that I like any of them more than the others.

Imperial Council, also on now on Twitter, and my dreamy beloved (I’ll still always love you!) will be moving on to the Broken Up With list. I’m bad at break-ups so I’m trying to stay upbeat and looking for Rachel Alexandra and Just Jenda to turn in nice performances today. I need to rebound with someone hot! And there’s always this week’s Pool Party / Buycott to cheer myself up with… who doesn’t love a Pick 3 Pool Party at Tampa Bay Downs?

Update: run, don’t walk over Ernie Munick’s to watch his stellar video recap of Wood Day at the Big A. It’s right up there with I Want Revenge’s fleet of foot.

Posted by dana on Apr 05 2009    
Filed Under: Joe Talamo, Just Jenda, Friesan Fire, Twitter, Quality Road, I Want Revenge, Rachel Alexandra, Stardom Bound, 2009, Pick 4, Derby Trail, Sarah K. Andrew, Pyro, Keeneland, Aqueduct, Racing

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Runaway horse training at Saratoga, just another odd occurrence in an odd opening week. (Sarah K. Andrew)

Swifty and I returned from Saratoga late last night. Even though it rained almost everyday and long shots were not doing that well it was a great trip… even better than last year!

Today at Saratoga it was sunny and Tergesti & Wanderin’ Boy were the only favorites to win, with 4 of 10 winners having odds in the double digits. Now I know how Pyro feels.

It will probably take a me a couple of days to get back up to blogging speed but here are some highlights:

Papa Backstretch is my new handicapping idol, hitting 5 winners on Thursday!

As first reported at Raceday 360, there’s a roving band of pre-teen boys following Sam the Bugler around heckling “no shot” every time he talks to a woman.

I got to have dinner with these fine folks and a few others who don’t actually blog (yes, there are people who don’t blog… but not many!).

I cashed some tickets! Although I gave it all back and then some, but I did manage to make some good picks.

Swifty has now created the Adam R. Wiener patented Trifecta System, PayPal $9.99 here.

Swifty and I wore our best loud and nutty outfits on Saturday (me red plaid shorts, him bandanna pattern/madras-y pants w/elegant straw chapeau). At one point we were at the paddock and stone faced Edgar Prado rode by on his mount, looked at us and chuckled. I think this was this might have been non-betting highlight of the trip!

Swifty won the best 2 out of 3 ticket cashing contest (we had one every day starting on Friday). Congrats to Swifty!

I won the unofficial “Pastiest legs in Saratoga” contest 2 days in a row and Swifty won the “Nutty-est Male Outfit” on Saturday. We saw someone who may have had us both beat but it turned out my legs were pastier and he was a she.

There was an excellent riderless horse moment on Sunday in the 7th race when Hanginonaprayer broke through the gate and was a running the race all on her own, without a rider. A rider & pony (what are they called?) finally caught her right by the finish line and the crowd cheered her all the way!

All this and so much more, and I even took pictures this time (as requested by my mother)… stay tuned!

Posted by dana on Jul 28 2008    
Filed Under: Wanderin' Boy, 2008, Riderless Horse, Pyro, Sarah K. Andrew, Fans, Saratoga, Racing

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