Mine That Bird, pulling away from the stallions (Jamie Newell)

I’m not a big believer in the “racing gods”. However, if there are racing gods, I have to think they had something special in mind for the likes of the Dolphus Morrisons of the game when a gelding who fetched a mere $9,500 at Keeneland’s yearling auction won the Stallion Derby.

To make it even better, one of Mine That Bird’s owners Mark Allen, was quoted on the purchase of their unlikely winner:

We wanted a racehorse, not a stallion.

Take that, Stallion Derby!

Posted by dana on May 03 2009    
Filed Under: :), Geldings, 2009, Mine That Bird, Sweet Revenge, Kentucky Derby, Breeding, Let Horses Race, Derby Trail, Racing

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Happy First Saturday in May! To be honest, I’m a having a little trouble getting jazzed about today with the late scratch of I Want Revenge after all the other defections and breathtaking splendor of Rachel Alexandra being wasted on connections that see the Triple Crown only as a function of showcasing stallions. Talk about a bring down, at least they’re out and proud about it and not trying to pretend that it determines the best 3yo in training… I’ll give them that.

Moving on, another reason why I’m having a hard time getting jazzed is that I felt there was more value apparent in the Oaks card, such as my picks of Miss Isella and Bullsbay, than I can find today. That doesn’t mean I’m not going to try!

Kodiak Kowboy looks tough to beat in the Churchill Down, this is his distance and if the track is still sloppy or off I might single him in any multi-race wagers. An acception to that would be Accredit who should benefit from the added distance… leave him off at your own risk. The Roundhouse is an interesting long shot to me as he’s improving and has placed to Kodiak Kowboy in the past (although he was the fav in the race).

Update: Accredit for the win! Still alive in the Pick 6 and Pick 3. The Roundhouse got up for the 3rd, was really hoping he could get place as I had a little exacta box of the two. Kodiak Kowboy was hard ridden half way through, not his day.

The Eight Belles (nee La Troienne) is a little tough. I’ll go with Just Jenda here but will throw in Warrior Maid and Lady’s Laughter for some fun. Warrior Maid is cutting back to a distance that suits her and has done well on the second off and Lady’s Laughter is more of hunch play than anything. She’s won at a mile on the dirt and placed by a neck to Stone Legacy, who was only 20 or so lengths behind the 2009 Triple Crown winner yesterday. I’m having trouble getting jazzed about Four Gifts as the favorite but the distance should suit her and she’s reunited with her winning jockey, Shaun Bridgmohan, which is always something to take note of.

Update: Ugh, Four Gifts beats Just Jenda and leaves me playing for 5 of 6 in the Pick 6. Warrior Maid gets third. Oh, I’m also out of the Pick 3 now too, damn. Time to order pizza!

I really liked Ballymore Lady in the Distaff Turf Mile (look, a race that’s still called Distaff!! ok, maybe my mood is lifting) but I’ll use Elusive Lady, Visit and Lemon Chiffon. I do like Tizaquenna but wonder if she needs to sets the slow pace to win on the turf? I’m not sure that’s going to happen with Rasierra in the race so I’ll stick with my other 3.

Update: Guess that answers that question about Tizaqueena, she can sit off the pace and win! Dawn After Dawn, who looked ready to rock in the parade, hung tough for second while Lemon Chiffon was third. It looked to me like Smith struck Elusive Lady with his whip in the stretch when as he passed with Lemon Chiffon. Elusive Lady, my pick, definitely stopped.

I’m looking forward to betting against Informed Decision in the Humana Distaff, but will not leave her off any multi-race tickets. She hasn’t fared as well switching from synthetic to dirt and Secret Gypsy and Game Face look tough.

Update: I only played a small exacta of Royal Michelle over a few horses because she looked really good in the parade but Informed Decision blew by the rest of the field in the stretch. Naturally I left her off my desperation Pick 3. I think my frat boy neighbors are having a Derby party, maybe I should ask them who they like, ugh!

Before I handicapped the Woodford Reserve I thought I might single Einstein, but regardless of the fact that that Einstein loves the distance and surface combo, Proudinsky and Zambezi Sun are interesting and should do well on the softer turf. Proudinsky is on a roll and training well for Bobby Frankel while Zambezi Sun should finally show what European turf class is about after running on concrete turf and then poly out in Cali. This one should be interesting. After just watching the first turf race of the day, the outside post should also be helpful to Zambezi Sun and Einstein.

Update: As it turns out, I could have singled Einstein. What a race! Very thrilling stretch battle with Einstein getting up in time to beat a very game Cowboy Cal. At least I’m alive in the double. It’s now confirmed that my neighbors are having a Derby party, they’re all dressed up and when their door opened I heard someone explaining what Quinella is.

And now for the big one, the breeding showcase, the Stallion Derby! Like many a player my pick to win is Friesan Fire. I took me until now to really settle on that as my official pick. I almost, ALMOST went with Desert Party.

My A-Team, top 3 are: Friesan Fire / Desert Party / Papa Clem. I would not be surprised to see any of those three win. I will definitely have tri and exact boxes of those three + win bets on Desert Party and Papa Clem (Friesan Fire’s odds will probably be too low for me for a win bet… but if he looks good, who knows!).

I’ll also use Musket Man and Summer Bird. I may do a $1 3/5/all ticket ($204) but am not entirely sure yet. I also ready have some interesting live futuracta tickets with Friesan Fire on top so I’ll wait to see the parade and spend the rest of the afternoon trying to figure out how to construct my tickets.

Good luck, let’s get them all home safe and may the best stallion win!

Update: I had a brutal day at the windows but as it turns out, the only gelding in the field won… take that “Stallion Derby”!

Posted by dana on May 02 2009    
Filed Under: 2009, Einstein, Picks, Shaun Bridgmohan, Friesan Fire, Desert Party, Pick 3, I Want Revenge, Rachel Alexandra, Churchill Downs, Trifecta, Bobby Frankel, Handicapping, Derby Trail, That's Why They Call it Gambling, Larry Jones, Kentucky Derby, Exacta, Pick 6, Pick 4, Racing

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Rachel Alexandra, thoughtfully not screwing it up for the stallions (Sarah K. Andrew)

Just a few short days ago there was an excellent discussion going on here at GbG regarding the Oaks, the Derby and ultimately the biases that exist here in the good ole U S of A that generally preclude talented fillies from running in open company.

I believe all in attendance were somewhat in agreement that yes, Americans do have their biases about running fillies with colts, but just in case anyone is still in denial that fillies don’t get the chance because of the beliefs of their connections vs. their ability, I offer Exhibit A.

Dolphus Morrison, Rachel Alexandra’s breeder and co-owner, had this to say about running her in the Derby:

I think the Derby is a colts’ race and it’s there to showcase the horses that are the top potential stallions. It’s kind of stupid for some jerk with a filly to screw that up.

I guess this answers the question posed in the aforementioned discussion “Which guy stopped her from entering the Derby?” One Mr. Dolphus Morrison, who politely doesn’t want to “screw it up” for the potential stallions. How thoughtful!

Do you think you’d ever, EVER hear that kind of attitude in Europe if an owner had a filly as talented at Rachel Alexandra? No, you’d see them at the l’Arc collecting their whopping check and smiling for the cameras. Can we please stop pretending that it’s a matter of talent that keeps top notch fillies in restricted company and acknowledge that these types of attitudes exist?

Stay tuned for Oaks card picks either tonight or tomorrow morning and Stallion Kentucky Derby picks probably Saturday morning. But since I have a decent amount of handicapping to do, no doubt I’ll be doing some procrastination posting!

Posted by dana on Apr 30 2009    
Filed Under: Sarah K. Andrew, Kentucky Oaks, 2009, Rachel Alexandra, 3yo, Kentucky Derby, Breeding, Let Horses Race, Grrrr, Derby Trail, Racing

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As Jessica points out, the Oaks is always overshadowed by the Derby and this year is no exception. I make a bit of a joke about in my Oaks Dating post (the opening paragraph) but the disparity between the Derby and Oaks coverage is SO great, it’s as if the Oaks just any other graded race for 3yo fillies. Is it?

I had the pleasure of having just this discussion, via the Horseplayers Teen Party Chat Line (twitter), with Ed DeRosa (who now blogs!). I sort of stupidly took his bait about why there was no outrage re: filly races on Friday compared to the Breeders’ Cup and the party began there. The point I was trying to make is that it’s frustrating to see such a huge disparity between how the races are covered. He freely admits that, in his opinion, not only is the Oaks just another G1 race but that it gets a “tremendous amount of publicity for what it is“.

In trying to make my point, a quick twirl around the mainstream media racing sites at approximately 11am-ish this morning showed the following:

BH.com, all derby above the fold, TT.com, no Oaks above the fold, DRF (from phone), no Oaks headlines.

As of now (roughly 8pm-ish Monday night of Derby week), Bloodhorse is (and will continue to be) all Derby above the fold as their prime section is Triple Crown Mania), Thoroughbred Times is all Derby above the fold (no special Derby layout) and DRF has a new Derby homepage that actually has no news above the fold but 1 of 12 news items are on the Oaks and 10 of 12 are on the Derby (the other was on the tragic accident at Churchill). So, out of the top 3 media outlets, nothing on the Oaks above the fold.

There are currently 50 headlines about racing news, 35 of them are on the Derby while 4 of them are on the Oaks. That’s 70% of all racing coverage devoted to the Derby with 8% of all racing coverage being devoted to the Oaks.

Put aside for the moment the very valid point made by Val that this year’s Oaks is not all that interesting given how much Rachel Alexandra is overshadowing her entry mates. Did that situation slow down the Derby coverage last year when Big Brown was perceived to be a few cuts above the rest? Was last year’s deeper Oaks field covered at a reasonably higher percentage than this year’s? Without having taken the same sample at this time last year I can’t say for sure, but what are the odds that the coverage was noticeably different… 15-1, 30-1, 50-1?.

Publicity and news coverage are (sometimes) different. Just because the Oaks isn’t being well covered (har har) from a racing perspective doesn’t mean it’s not being promoted, as DeRosa points out. Not too long ago when I first started following racing I thought the Oaks was the filly equivalent of the Derby. Churchill, for the most part, promotes it as such. The Derby and Oaks both have a site with similar structure and content. The Oaks is also well attended but as one GbG commenter points out, the stellar attendance and handle might be more of a function of how Churchill structures it’s tickets and perhaps that the locals love their Oaks.

A quick visit to the Oaks Wikipedia page uncovers this:

The Oaks and the Derby are the oldest continuously contested sporting events in history and the only horse races to be held at its original site since its conception.

[…]

The Kentucky Oaks is considered by some to be the second most popular horse race in the American horse racing society due to its attendance. It attracts about 100,000 people in attendance a year since 2001’s 127th running of the Kentucky Oaks.[3] In 1980 it was about 50,000 people and by 1989 it had reached about 67,000 people.[1] The attendance at the Kentucky Oaks usually surpassed the attendance at the Preakness Stakes, the Belmont Stakes, as well as the Breeders’ Cup.

It’s worth noting that the cites are from books on the history of Louisville. I think it might be fair to say that the Oaks is the second most popular horse race in Louisville, but by using the yardstick of news coverage it doesn’t seem to ring true elsewhere.

So, Churchill promotes the Oaks as if it’s the filly equivalent of the Derby but the media either doesn’t treat it as such because it does agree OR thinks the filly equivalent of the Derby only merits 8% of coverage vs. 70% for the Derby. Either way, I stand by my original point… annoying!

Posted by dana on Apr 27 2009    
Filed Under: Big Brown, 2009, Twitter, Rachel Alexandra, Industry, Kentucky Oaks, Triple Crown, Kentucky Derby, Marketing, Media, Racing

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(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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