Poor Life At Ten. After last year’s disastrous Breeders’ Cup, she gets off to a slow start with two lackluster performances and just when it looks like she’s ready to make some noise Cornelio Velasquez pulls a Garrett Gomez and strangles the daylights out of her down the backstretch.

In the replay you’ll see that she gets off to a great start and then at 29 seconds he gets her in a hammer lock until about 56 seconds. One has to wonder what the stretch would have looked like if she would have been allowed to run more freely.

You may remember about Life At Ten that she does her best running when not restrained. Say for example in last year’s Ogden Phipps.

I think Cornelio is an underrated rider in general but admittedly I haven’t been paying close attention recently. Even if he is off his usual good form (and I’m not saying he is, I’m saying I don’t know if he is or not), I’ve never noticed him to be one to fight a front-runner. This had to be instructions from the barn, right? Right.

Pletcher from the NYRA post-race quotes press release:

She didn’t break well but she was able to recover and find a spot there pretty quickly. After that, she was in pretty good shape. The strategy, on paper we felt that Absinthe Minded and Awesome Maria would be laying one-two and Life At Ten would assume the garden spot. The way it broke, Cornelio [Velasquez] had to grab her [Life At Ten] a little bit to get that spot, and in retrospect it would have been better to go on, but he tried to execute the original game plan.

Well, it’s somewhat reassuring that they’re aware the plan didn’t work, but it must speak to their lack in confidence in Life At Ten as she’s shown the ability to rate behind speed and still win, such as last year’s Beldame.

At least they’re committed to running the rest of the year but if I were Candy DeBartolo, I would have moved her to another barn right after the Breeders’ Cup. On the bright side, we may catch a good price on her if/when things fall into place!

Posted by dana on Jun 20 2011    
Filed Under: 2011, Todd Pletcher, Cornelio Velazquez, Racing

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While perusing the Saturday Santa Anita card I cracked myself up over a few of the names in the 6th race. Funky Soup immediately jumped out as did Mo Cheese. In addition to the fun with food hunch bet angle, there seemed to be some other options.

So, in the spirit of the Fun Derby Names post from years gone by, I offer the field of 6th at SA this Saturday: 6 Furlongs for 4yo & up F&M, claiming ($10,500) purse: $16,000:

Happyhoofertoo
Billssecondchance
Pivotal Queen (IRE)
Chase the Fever
Sign In
Emba U. T. K.
L’Enchanteresse (IRE)
Morning Frost
Mo Cheese
Funky Soup
Imperatriz
Lutess

Off the top my head I see:

Stoner Box:
Funky Soup / Mo Cheese

Dancing Queen Box:
Happyhoofertoo / Pivotal Queen

Online Pron Box (intentional misspelling!):
Sign In / Chase the Fever

Gay Caberet Box:
Pivotal Queen / L’Enchanteresse

Royal Snack Box:
Mo Cheese / Imperaritz

Anything else? Perhaps I’ll bring this format back to this year’s Derby.

And speaking of the Derby, if I didn’t have some stuff to write for the Derby Prep Alert tonight I’d be inclined to blog about how crazy the two 7F prep approach is for a (clearly talented) son of Pomeroy is, not that it’s not crazy in general. I’d probably also mention that it’s even more crazy is that it makes Uncle Mo’s Timely Writer/Wood prep path look solid. No doubt I would have even mentioned something about Pletcher’s astonishing THIRTEEN entries in the Timely Writer, but I’ve gotta preview the Santa Anita Oaks. Good thing it’s a small field!

Posted by dana on Mar 02 2011    
Filed Under: 2011, Derby Trail, Racing

(2 votes, average: 3.5 out of 5)

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I love you Las Virgenes!* (Charles Pravata)

Sure, we all have a horse crush (or two!), but do we also have race crushes? I’m pretty sure we do, or at least I do. I validated this concept with a friend who said:

Interesting, I think I have a similar thing for the Alabama. If I’m not already a fan of the winner, I become one. If I am a fan, I become a super fan.

My race crushes? The Las Virgenes and Risen Star. These races sealed my super fandom of Stardom Bound, Blind Luck and Pyro and made me a fan of Friesan Fire and Ron the Greek. So far things are validating this theory as I’m now a big fan of Zazu and should Machen win the Risen Star I’m sure to be a super fan.

And speaking of the Las Virgenes, here’s what I had to say about it in the Derby Prep Alert mailing for Hello Race Fans:

There’s plenty of speed in this race as May Day Rose, California Nectar, Plum Pretty and Tiz the Route all have wire-to-wire wins to their credit. Of these, California Nectar has proven she can sit off the pace and still win, but with this many front-runners, there could very well be a speed duel. This would set the race up well for Turbulent Descent, and it’s certainly her race to lose, but it also sets the race up for Zazu, Bluegrass Chatter and possibly California Nectar if she doesn’t throw down with May Day Rose. On the other hand, Santa Anita has been more than kind to speed horses, so perhaps the advantage goes to whoever gets and keeps the lead.

Zazu or California Nectar looks the most likely to pull the upset if Turbulent Descent doesn’t get the job done. Like favored Dancinginherdreams in the Forward Gal, she might need a race. If Zazu can improve upon her last effort and stay focused in the stretch, I think she can score her first graded win.

And here’s how it unfolded:

The Derby Prep Alert is mailed every Friday.

But back to the question at hand, which are your races crushes?

* Super fan note: I own Stardom Bound’s saddle towel from the Las Virgenes!

Posted by dana on Feb 06 2011    
Filed Under: 2011, Hello Race Fans, Racing

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(Jamie Newell)

If I had done much blogging this year I might be inclined to let you know which posts I thought were my best. Or, if I were feeling clever, I could list the posts I *almost* did, such as a turnabout is fair play post about how I dropped the ball at HRF by not promoting the Derby Prep Alert during our fantastic Breeders’ Cup traffic (thanks to Breeders’ Cup 360!) or the post about Santa Anita not being able to post their own replays on YouTube (not to worry, I’ve lined up someone better than me to address that issue over here!).

But truth be told, 2010 was a whirlwind with the launch of Hello Race Fans! and the acquisition of Raceday 360. And I’m very grateful to all involved!

So here’s hoping 2011 brings the kind of year we’ll all look back on fondly…

Posted by dana on Dec 31 2010    
Filed Under: 2010, Hello Race Fans, Farewell, Racing

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Paddy o’Prado, Breeders’ Cup Classic bound (creepy_coyote)

Just a quickie here to gauge the news of Paddy o’Prado in Breeders’ Cup Classic… crazy or genius? My initial reaction was crazy but it might be genius, especially if it’s raining!

And because there’s nothing going on here, you should:

–> Follow along with all the excellent Breeders’ Cup posts here

–> Read one “one of the most courageous and spot on posts” possibly ever, here

–> Make your way to Hello Race Fans! tomorrow when we publish a nice data mining piece on the BC Turf races (that Paddy won’t be running in) by Kevin at Colin’s Ghost.

–> Oh yes, and spend Two Minutes with Jacinto Vasquez and Ron Turcotte

Carry on…

Posted by dana on Oct 21 2010    
Filed Under: 2010, BC Classic, Breeders' Cup, Racing

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