(gueds)

Tonight I had an appointment with my chiropractor. It’s been at least 6 or 7 months since I’ve been in to see him. This time last year I was going weekly and every week we’d discuss Big Brown, IEAH, or something Triple Crown related. And he always started the conversation “I saw something about a horse racing hedge fund” or “what do you think of Big Brown?” or “what’s up with Big Brown’s trainer?”. Obviously horse racing was out there in front of general public.

At some point this afternoon I remembered this and wondered if what, if anything, he had been seeing about horse racing. Would he ask me who I liked for the Derby or what I make of Dunkirk or I Want Revenge? How about Mullins or Paragallo? I decided not to bring it up and see what happened, to let him be the canary in the coal mine of racing’s current mainstream awareness.

Mind you, we had a lot of catching to do re: the various knots in my neck and back, but I did bring up that I had been working on a horse racing related project, in addition to my day job (as an excuse for why I had let things get a little out of hand in the health maintenance department). He did respond with an enthusiastic “nice” but no follow-up mention of anything Derby or horse related…. not even the tragedy of the polo ponies.

The whole appointment was a little devoid of “small talk” so perhaps the fact that he didn’t bring up anything is not really a good indicator that racing’s current awareness level in the mainstream. My next appointment is the Monday after the Derby, let’s see if the canary is still singing then.

Posted by dana on Apr 23 2009    
Filed Under: 2009, Big Brown, Iavarone, Dunkirk, I Want Revenge, Mainstream Media, 3yo, Derby Trail, Triple Crown, Kentucky Derby, Media, Racing

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Channing Hill at Santa Anita (yausser)

Since I was smart enough to DVR the Florida Derby this week I have now have added a screen capture of the DRF Formulator ad showing two women with the text overlay “for every skill level”, you know, in case you didn’t believe me or thought I might be exaggerating (who, me?).

I’m finding it a touch odd that folks have waited until now to make the many & valid points being raised re: the new British automatic berth. All of these issues were apparent when it was announced, right? As a friend pointed out, “no one complained last week when it knocked Beethoven off the list”. Indeed.

Reminder, the first HANA Pool Party is tomorrow, WRD R6. Check out the HANA blog for free PPs and more. I’ll be playing a $1 exacta box of 1,2,3,6,10,11 with a couple of bucks of on 2 & 6 to win.

After this weekend Quality Road has moved on to my “like like” list, and how! Over at PDI I rated him #2 behind Freisan Fire but in all reality I can’t make a strong case of why one should be over the other so I’m just leaving Freisan Fire in #1 for now. I’m not really buying the LA Derby as non-legit path to winning the Derby. Sure the numbers are daunting but that didn’t stop Street Sense from proving the numbers wrong about Juvenile winners.

Guess I really oughta come up with a new poll now that it’s official that IEAH bought 50% of I Want Revenge. Way to go, those who voted for “Buy Another Derby Prospect”, perhaps you should apply to work at IEAH!

And speaking of that poll, as much as I’d love to see Stardom Bound in the Derby, the more I see the depth in the 3yo filly division the more I want them all to run in the Oaks against each other. Rachel Alexandra vs. Stardom Bound could be the rivalry of the year. And when War Echo comes back later in the year, look out! Check out this eyewitness account of Stardom Bound working at Keeneland.

It should also be noted that several fillies ran with colts this weekend on dirt and they didn’t break down! Please people, let’s move on from fear-based assumption that fillies and colts don’t mix. Just ask Indian Blessing, who picked a very nice check for solid effort against her male colleagues!

Posted by dana on Mar 30 2009    
Filed Under: Stardom Bound, 2009, Indian Blessing, Iavarone, Quality Road, I Want Revenge, Rachel Alexandra, Kentucky Oaks, Channing Hill, Kentucky Derby, Derby Trail, You Can Help, 3yo, Santa Anita, Exacta, Racing

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Stardom Bound and Mike Smith in the parade prior to the SA Oaks (Charles Pravata)

During the conversation last week regarding Stardom Bound, I asked “I wonder if Patena turns out to be a stinker if they’ll get reinvested in SB in the Derby?”…. Val wonders the same thing.

Moments after the LA Derby I asked the tweet-o-sphere:

Who thinks IEAH will start making noise about SB on the Derby trail now that Patena doesn’t look like a contender? I do.

The results were mixed…

I thought they should have kept up the SB noise in the first place. That last race impressed, rather than disappointed, me.

either that or they’ll buy their way in with some other horse.

I don’t

Regardless of whether you think Stardom Bound should be on the Kentucky Derby trail or not (I do), what do you think IEAH will do? Will they lay low and then announce that Stardom Bound is back on the Derby Trail if she performs well in the Ashland? Will they give Patena another shot given the slop or will they just buy another Derby hopeful (Win Willy?? Musket Man?)?

Apologies to the 8 of you who voted in my Bravo poll, it wasn’t the most well crafted poll… if the person who thinks there’s not a single good about the Oaks being on Bravo concedes that any coverage is better than no coverage then I suppose there really isn’t much use in asking!

Posted by dana on Mar 15 2009    
Filed Under: Stardom Bound, Richard Dutrow, Iavarone, Twitter, 2009, Kentucky Oaks, Derby Trail, Bobby Frankel, Kentucky Derby, Charles Pravata, Racing

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I’m a little perturbed with all the spin about Stardom Bound being “barely best” beating an “unheralded” field and that her connections should face the “sobering reality”.

I couldn’t sum it up any better than Alan at LATG when he says:

Expecting to read the praises of the gritty win by Stardom Bound in the SA Oaks, I was surprised, and rather disappointed, to instead see it being framed in disappointment.

As Frankel put it, “She only ran 10 lengths farther than anybody else in the race”. Call me crazy, but I think having to overcome a wide, hideous, bumpy trip and still gutting it out to win is a plus, not a minus. But when one gets away on an easy lead with no challenge and wins by several lengths, well that’s impressive.

She’s staying put in my top 10 list for the PDI Index, I liked what I saw. (update: I removed her from my list after they announced she was off the trail. If she were still on the trail she would have remained at #2). Would I rather she had an effortless 6 length win? Sure, but what would she get out of that? The Oaks was probably the kind of race she needed if she wants to step up in to open company, and I hope she does!

But what do you think? Do you agree with Iavarone’s oversimplified (whoops, sorry!) assessment that she could “barely beat the girls” or do think she’s shown she can still get the job done even under adverse circumstances?

As for the last poll, it should come as no surprise that Chantal Sutherland was your favorite jock on Jockeys, Win or Die Trying. But, just like Stardom Bound in the Oaks, it wasn’t a runaway and she had to gut it out for the win! In the beginning it was a battle between Talamo & Gryder, but it didn’t take long for Sutherland & Smith to take over and battle for the lead. All the while Kayla Stra was in the mix and for several days she was on top!

There were a whopping 191 votes, that’s almost double the last most voted on poll (your biggest issue with the Breeders’ Cup) and I didn’t even promote this one! The final tally was 45 for Sutherland, 43 for Smith, 42 for Stra, 27 for Talamo, 26 for Gryder and 8 for Court.

As always, thanks for voting, even if you did you show up from a Google search for “pictures of Chantal Sutherland”!

Posted by dana on Mar 08 2009    
Filed Under: Kayla Stra, Jockeys TV Show, Iavarone, Aaron Gryder, Joe Talamo, I Want Revenge, Jon Court, Mike Smith, Stardom Bound, Chantal Sutherland, Derby Trail, Grrrr, Bobby Frankel, Poll, 2009, Impressive, Racing

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Stardom Bound & Mike Smith waltz home in the Las Virgenes (Charles Pravata)

Or are things looking up? “Jockeys, Win or Die Trying”, much to the relief of this viewer, turned out to be more substantive than the breakdown packed promotion. This year’s 3yo crop is looking deeper and more consistent than last years and, at least for the moment, there doesn’t seem to be much of anything to bitch about (I know, give it time).

Not that I’m a traffic whore (total lie) but Chantal Sutherland and Zenyatta have been the two most frequent searches to make their way to GbG post-”Jockeys”. Sutherland was already my biggest traffic driver from search results but I’m happy to see that the show not only gave Zenyatta decent coverage, but that it’s resulting in people wanting to know more. The racing camera work is downright stunning and does a lot to promote the game… it’s already exciting enough from the grandstand, but seeing like that should certainly peak some interest.

I do have a few small gripes. I thought they did a touch too much cutting back and forth during the Lady’s Secret stretch drive. The drama of the stretch drive could have stood more on it’s own with just a few cut away shots. I also didn’t like the music at all. For example, I would have preferred the Daft Punk original version of the theme song as opposed to that faux hip hop business (which is Stronger by Kanye West for all you googlers, but check out Daft Punk’s Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger too).

I’m still waiting to hear from one of my non-racing friends to find out what she thought. My mom had this to say in an email “I went past and saw someone get hurt, so I didn’t linger long.” Swifty had the same gripe about the music and, in addition to the theme song, specifically mentioned the music while Sutherland was crying (which I don’t remember). But he and I both agreed that overall the show seems likely to get people interested in racing, which is great! Maybe they’ll shoot the second season at Saratoga?

I’m not sure when Derby preps start to air but I hope media buyers for ESPN, NBC, etc. think to place some ads during the show. Seems like the perfect opportunity to generate some new fans. Perhaps the NTRA has already of thought of this and is on the case, I hope so!

Ask and you shall be given, it was a good day of racing indeed! I only handicapped the Risen Star and managed to hit the exacta. I boxed Friesan Fire, Flying Pegasus and Indygo Mountain. I wasn’t entirely sure how the pace scenario was going to play out as there was no clear speed but I thought it might have ended up a little faster.

Friesan Fire and Flying Pegasus are both on my list but I’m interested to see what Indygo Mountain will do in a faster pace scenario. He definitely improved from the Lecomte and got caught in a bit a traffic just when he had some run so I’m not discounting him just yet. Uno Mas also improved from the Lecomte and had I watched the replay a little more closely I might have caught that he was closing at the end and was probably likely to improve. And, needless to say, Giant Oak’s trip was pretty rough, again! I’ll be keeping an eye on both of them as well.

War Echo looked great in the Silverbulletday. I threw a little money away in that race combining her with Just Jenda and Southern Yankee based on the parade. War Echo was the visual stand out in the parade and I can’t wait to see her again.

On the west coast I don’t really need to wax poetic about Stardom Bound too much. Although, does this mean I’ll end up liking Iavarone and Babe this year? I thought Pioneerof the Nile’s stretch drive was pretty eye popping and can’t believe that I’m interested in California horses this year. I guess anything is possible!

Crist has a good post about the “brave new world” of synthetic racing particularly as it pertains to Beyer Speed Figures. I don’t really use BSFs because they don’t take pace into account, and as Crist points out, Stardom Bound’s low BSF doesn’t tell the whole tale. I noticed last week the top two finishers of the Holy Bull had the lowest BSFs of the field, both at 76.

One similarity to last year’s crop is that, with the exception of the Spectacular Bid, the pace has been pretty moderate in almost every race. Is Notonthesamepage the only front running speed horse in the group or am I forgetting someone? I’d love to see what Indygo Mountain, and Flying Pegasus for that matter, would do in that kind of pace scenario!

And finally, Sarah and Charles were both in action yesterday at Aqueduct and Santa Anita respectively. Apparently Charles was in a couple of shots of the second episode of Jockeys, I think Sarah’s on to something with the drinking game idea. Cheers!

Posted by dana on Feb 08 2009    
Filed Under: Giant Oak, Notonthesamepage, War Echo, Friesan Fire, 2009, Stardom Bound, Flying Pegasus, Just Jenda, Jockeys TV Show, Risen Star, Iavarone, Richard Dutrow, Mike Smith, Zenyatta, Fairgrounds, TV, NTRA, Marketing, Kentucky Derby, Derby Trail, Chantal Sutherland, 3yo, Exacta, Mainstream Media, Wrap Up, Sarah K. Andrew, Charles Pravata, Santa Anita, Racing

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