The Derby party is over for Stardom Bound as her connections decide to point her to the Ashland and then the Oaks. I’m no trainer but doesn’t that seem like a quick decision? I’m also a little sad that they seem to have lost confidence in her. Plenty of folks have pointed out that her colleagues are just now catching up to her, she certainly didn’t take a step backwards but it seems like they’ve interpreted it that way.

Not that I want to turn in to the Gawker of racing but the internets uncovered some interesting speculation this afternoon… “look for Gomez to replace Smith” on Stardom Bound. But if we’re gonna speculate, you would think that any switch would be to Prado as Dutrow’s go to rider, although Iavarone was vague about when the transfer would happen. This just feels a little bit too much like the Hard Spun/Pino knee jerk reaction moment, that is, if it happens!

And because you knew it wouldn’t be long before this argument got trotted out:

Stardom Bound doing right thing staying w/ fillies. After Eight Belles, why would any owner consider taking the boys on? What’s the point?

The tweet-o-sphere immediately responded with:

It worked for Zarkava in the Arc and Goldikova in the BC Mile… both races less than 6 months after Eight Belles

And Ventura just finished a nose behind Gio Ponti in the Kilroe Mile. Sex isn’t a safety issue.

PETA has a worse rep than horse racing. Fs beat colts at ALL levels of the game. A filly won a classic not 2 years ago. There is no argument

R2R beat what people call ‘the greatest horse of this generation’. That’s ‘game over’ right there. Educate the peeps, don’t let PETA do it.

Educate is right + keep pressure on industry re: horse safety, welfare. Pandering to ignorance, anthropomorphism not the answer.

Fingers crossed that we can move on quickly from that argument, and I’m ready for the “Sex is not a Safety Issue” T-shirt!

In light of Einstein’s Big Cap win, Jessica and o_crunk have been trying to come up with a list of horses to win graded stakes on all three surfaces. So far they have Lava Man and Panty Raid. I just noticed Monterey Jazz has also has the 3 surface sweep. That’s a pretty short list, but then again it’s not an easy accomplishment. There have to be at least a few more, no?

Update: yes, there are quite a few more in fact. And doesn’t that sentiment re: “staying with the fillies” seem laughable now.

Posted by dana on Mar 09 2009    
Filed Under: 2009, Impressive, Stardom Bound, Mike Smith, Omnisurface Stars, Twitter, Einstein, Internet, Lava Man, Hard Spun, Derby Trail, Mario Pino, Garrett Gomez, Racing

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John Velazquez, far right, aboard English Channel squeak through the rail to drive home. (Sarah K. Andrew).

On Saturday there were 3 standout rides for me, and as well on Sunday Johnny V and English Channel redefined rail skimming.

Belmont’s 3rd on Saturday saw Eibar Coa aboard Angelic Aura press the pace of the favorite Indian War Dance in the beginning of the race and then pull back at the 1/2 mark. The 7yo gelding was able to take the lead at the 3/4 pole after successfully tiring out the less than even money favorite, who finished 4th about 6 or so lengths behind him.

Mario Pino did almost the opposite with Hard Spun… he slowed the pace to a crawl knowing that his horse would still be able to pour it on but that Street Sense would not be able to catch him going that slow.

Back to Belmont where first time G1 winner Alan Garcia and Lahudood made a bold move on the inside to steal the upset from Rosinka.

All and all, it was was some great riding.

Posted by dana on Oct 01 2007    
Filed Under: Lahudood, Alan Garcia, English Channel, Sarah K. Andrew, Rosinka, John Velazquez, Breeders' Cup, Mario Pino, Eibar Coa, 2007, Racing

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47-1 Fresh Episode pulling an upset at Saratoga (Sarah K. Andrew).

When we first arrived in the hotel room I exclaimed “Ah, the handicapping palace!”. By the second day we were joking that it felt like cramming for exam week. On the third day we were calling it the handicapping torture chamber.

Neither of us had handicapped full cards more than one day in a row so we were a bit surprised by how draining it was. Surprised isn’t exactly right, we were so excited that we just didn’t factor it in. By Saturday night I couldn’t look at a menu and make a decision… I had been making decisions for 2 days straight, just put some food in front of me!

We quickly started to take a pass on some 20K claimers and a few allowance races… those 2 year old races were so much quicker to get through! “Races for horse at least 7 years old who haven’t won a race other than a maiden and run every other week” Swifty joked.

There were points when we got so over tired and giddy that Swifty asked, “when did we smoke a dube?”. Of particular interest was how the trouble lines, when read with the right inflection, could be narration for high school dates. Did I mention we’re in our (early) 40s?

Back to the races. We both really liked Sharp Susan in the Lake George. I had her boxed with Good Mood & Red Birkin in addition to Dashes & Dots & Miss Tizzynow across the board. I also liked Lady Attack (not to mention how much I like her name, insert giddy laughter) and Rutherienne. This is the second time I didn’t incorporate her only to have her run a really strong race. Perhaps next time.

At this point the Saturday Breeder’s Cup challenge races seem like a blur of races where I didn’t cash any tickets. As expected, I liked Papi Chullo in the Whitney. I’m still trying to figure out what happened. The track report of “Papi Chullo saved ground to no avail” seemed particularly spare to me, mind you I think those guys do a great job and I’m extremely grateful for their write-ups. I also had him tri boxed with Flashy Bull & Diamond Stripes in addition to having Wanderin’ Boy across the board (one of the precious few tickets I cashed). I’ve always liked Wanderin’ Boy and was glad to see him step up. Lawyer Ron really kicked it in the end and it was thrilling to see him (now offically) “DEE-MOLISH the track record” (a la Tom Durkin).

Joan made a great point about Lawyer Ron being yet another compelling argument for racing past 3 years old. Compare his 3 year old and 4 year old campaign. He’s maturing very nicely and it seems like the best might be yet to come. More than likely I’ll make an entire post about this but couldn’t wait to point it out.

Did I mention the huge payouts? They made playing trifectas hard to resist. As I mentioned before some folks behind us hit a $2000+ tri playing their hotel room number. I love to play exactas and occasionally play tris but I stepped it up with the tris. Every time I played a tri instead of boxing all of my picks some other horse got in the mix. Ah Saratoga… how you kicked my horses ass.

I also did a lot of WPS bets on long shots, however did not have the pictured long shot of Fresh Episode. I liked the other Freud offspring, Pressing Issue a little better and was gonna do a Freudian box with them because I loved their names, however Pressing Issue scratched. Another good name was Second Marriage by Not for Love out of Impulse Shopper… well done!

As for biases… stalkers crushed on Saturday winning 9 out of 11 races!! The combo of Clemente & Gomez won 2 on Friday, while Gomez had 4 wins total. Saturday saw 2 wins for the combo of Klesaris and Pino, while Mott had two wins as did both Cornelio & John Velasquez & Eddie Castro. Sunday was even for trainers and jocks but still favoring stalkers.

Regardless of our performance at windows (Swifty was doing well for a while, up a couple of hundred bucks), we both gave ourselves points for money management. Neither of us had to do the walk of shame to the ATM and we both literally spent our last buck on the Jim Dandy. In full disclosure I was fully prepared to go the ATM because I wanted to do a $20 exacta of Street Sense over Tiz Wonderful but only had $11. The fates were with me that the ATMs weren’t working (however that seemed a little… I don’t know, unprofessional?) so I did an $10 exacta and tipped the lady in the restroom my final dollar.

Thank you Saratoga, for a long fun weekend that kicked my ass… in a good way! I’ll be back.

Posted by dana on Jul 31 2007    
Filed Under: Exacta, Money Management, Papi Chullo, Bill Mott, Trifecta, Sarah K. Andrew, Wanderin' Boy, Rutherienne, Sharp Susan, Wrap Up, John Velazquez, Flashy Bull, Street Sense, Saratoga, Gambling, That's Why They Call it Gambling, Lawyer Ron, Mario Pino, Tom Durkin, 2007, Cornelio Velazquez, Garrett Gomez, Racing

(1 votes, average: 5 out of 5)

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While I am extremely bummed to have lost all $180 that I bet, I have to say that Curlin ran a monster impressive race!!!

I pretty much had every combination except the winning one and I’m kicking myself because I almost ran to the window in final minute to place a $20 box of Street Sense & Curlin, which would have just covered my bets. To be honest, it was because I was more concerned about Street Sense than Curlin.

I would also like to point out that Curlin took a dump right before the parade… this is something that I look for in horse (and I overlooked it here). McCann’s Mohave took a dump right before going in the gate at the Sunshine Millions and won at 30something-1 odds (and not since!). I also won some money this way with Indian Flare in the Flower Girl, but I digress.

Man, I’m soooo bummed about Hard Spun, it looked like Pino urged him to catch up in the back stretch and Hard Spun hit the gas a bit too heavy. He looked like he was really struggling at the end. Given that, it’s a testament to his talent that he hung on for 3rd.

As for Street Sense & Curlin… I would have thought that Curlin would have sat closer to the pace given his pre-Derby front running style, but he clearly is more of a fantastic dramatic closer! Street Sense got his rail trip and only had to get by CP West (who also ran an impressive race!) to take the lead.

Curlin may have won by a nose but he kicked Street Sense’s ass in my opinion. He came 3 wide to Street Sense’s inside trip and the really poured it on at the end. Fucking Fantastic! He galloped out nicely too. The one thing I did get right was that the Derby was good for him! He really has the killer instinct.

The only win I had all day was Remarkable News in the 10th. I love a South American horse… when I have my hugely successful Giant Bag of Money Stable, it will be filled with South American horses!

Posted by dana on May 19 2007    
Filed Under: 2007, Mario Pino, Preakness, Pimlico, CP West, McCann's Mohave, Handicapping, Triple Crown, Hard Spun, Wagering, Street Sense, Curlin, Indian Flare, That's Why They Call it Gambling

(2 votes, average: 3 out of 5)

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