Starship Zenyatta crushes her tiny competition (Charles Pravata)

Zenyatta stays undefeated by sitting fairly far behind the pack, going wide around the turn and blowing by field in a hand ride. I consider Mike Smith to be somewhat of an over whipper so the fact that he was all hands in the stretch speaks volumes about her performance.

Long shot Model looked game for second but Tough Tiz’s Sis couldn’t give Zenyatta a run for it today. I reiterate my point about Zenyatta in the Classic.

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Posted by dana on Aug 02 2008    
Filed Under: 2008, Zenyatta, Impressive, Charles Pravata, BC Classic, Wooo!, Race Replay, YouTube, 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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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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Notional w/Jersey Joe Bravo up celebrating a win in the Salvatore Mile at Monmouth (Sarah K. Andrew)

I had no intention of blogging tonight but I just saw this item at NTRA.

Notional, a multiple graded stakes winner, has been retired from racing after breaking the coffin bone in his left front foot when he finished fourth in last weekend’s Grade 1 Whitney Handicap at Saratoga.

First my beloved Lava Man is retired and now Notional, just when he was coming back into his own.

Valerie couldn’t have said it better last weekend when she opined “When will they accept that Notional is just a miler?” (except I would have omitted the “just”, ain’t no shame in being a miler).

The worst part was he looked GREAT in the parade for the Whitney, so great in fact that I almost thought about betting on him even though he was a clear bet against for me at the distance. All and all he ran well at the distance and I was looking forward to seeing him back a mile where he could dominate. Damn it!

2008 Salvatore Mile:

2007 Risen Star (Perhaps I will love all winners of the Risen Star):

2007 San Rafeal (the audio is really weak):

2007 Florida Derby:

Best of luck to Notional for a speedy recovery!

Posted by dana on Jul 31 2008    
Filed Under: Get Well Soon, Sarah K. Andrew, Farewell, 2008, 4yo, YouTube, Notional, Fans, Retirement, Race Replay, Injury, 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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