Eagle-eyed photo Jason Moran spotted something interesting during Sunday morning workouts at Belmont.
Some insight from the morning work outs. On the inside is the very capable Munnings. On the outside, with I believe Johnny V., is a horse that was listed as completing the 5 Furlong work in 1:00.46 Breezing. Munnings was caught in the same time but was classified as doing it Handily, (note this photo is 30 or so yards after the finish line). Here is the kicker, the outside horse is an unnamed 2 year old (AP Indy-Madcap Escapade) that was bought for a million bucks in last year’s September Keeneland Sale. Think they were trying to figure out what they have here? Look out for this one.
Hmmm, very interesting indeed. And good work Jason!
“Is blogging dead?” was a question posed by my esteemed colleague John of The Race is not to the Swift. He rightfully points out that other options such as Twitter and Facebook are easier outlets than blogging. Indeed.
I commented that as an example, I had posted severaltweetsof stuff I encountered while twirling around the web last night and had I not been on Twitter that they would have probably ended up as a blog post. As an experiment, of sorts, here’s what I probably would have written had I not had twitter:
Since I didn’t really know much about Charismatic or racing in 1999 in general, I looked a little further. I watched the 1999 Belmont to see if any of Watchmaker’s predictions were right (they were not).
And as if all this wasn’t exciting and interesting enough, Haskin also has a compelling post about trainers who are still working that “once ruled the sport“. A true and proven talent not being able to sell themselves and ending up in relative obscurity is not a new phenomenon and certainly not limited to horse racing. History is littered with examples of artists, writers, musicians, etc who suffered the same fate, but as Jessica put it:
I still look at Turner and marvel, that trainer knows what it is to win the Triple Crown.
Here’s a recent trainee of his, Reforestation, hitting the board at 48-1 in the 2009 Grade 1 Prioress at Belmont.
Turner trains for Castle Village Farms, if money bags owners won’t work with the last trainer to win a Triple Crown there’s no reason why you can’t!
I won’t be making it out to Belmont today for “Super Saturday” but wanted to share this gem from Jockey Club Gold Cups past. It’s Exceller’s 1978 win, but what I found compelling about it was Seattle Slew’s performance. The race is run so crazily and fast and Slew holds for a photo finish, fighting back down the whole way down the lane. Truly impressive.
Slew is Ernie Munick’s favorite horse and he posted the link at Facebook along with this first hand account and thought about jinxes:
Marlboro, Woodward, Seattle Slew - the finest autumn of my lifetime. Best supporting actor to Exceller, classy, ambitious and brave. Dad stood behind me near the rail as I screamed, all Fall, Stick, Slew! Stick! He broke thru the gate before the JCGC; the ultimate hoodoo. Yet Six Perfections made us wait, and wait, and wait; Green Girl went happy-haywire at the Gulf; Rachel tossed Calvin. Jinxes’re getting soft on us.
Best of luck today and let’s hope that rain holds out!
Pyro and Kodiak Kowboy in the Forego (Adam Mooshian)
Yours truly has been under the weather the past few days, and is now playing a little catch up. What did I miss? Stuff you already know and possibly even forgot about such as the fabulous come backs of Ventura, Regal Ransom and Theregoesjojo(?). There was also a timely reminder about not getting carried away plus the return of one of my favorite tweeters!
Filed under “not more of the same”, Breeders’ Cup 360 launched late last week, a site designed and developed by Jessica of Raceday 360. Congrats to the BC and Jessica on the launch and be sure to check out the stats section!
While no doubt folks can still find things to grouse about re: the Breeders’ Cup, they’ve been making a nice effort this year to not only include fans and players in the feedback process, but to cater to them with things like evening out the two days a bit and creating two all BC Pick 6s, creating a site specifically for players and announcing a Friday TweetUp (or Tweeters Cup as Ernie calls it). While I still hold out hope that by this time next year the Ladies Classic will be renamed the Filly & Mare Classic, I’ll also give them props for listening and starting to make changes.
The R2 Collective, brain child of Dean from Pull the Pocket, quietly launched last week. Dean’s idea is to have a specific place to discuss marketing, technology and new media as it pertains (or doesn’t yet!) to racing. I have a few ideas for posts kicking around but Dean is on fire, check him out!
And finally, War Echoreturns! The stunning 3yo 3/4 sib to my beloved Pyro (a.k.a. the new Kodiak Kowboy) made a triumphant debut as a 3yo in the Silverbulletday (who was inducted in the Hall of Fame this year). Shortly after she was sidelined with an injury. She jumped out at me in the parade and looked a lot like Pyro in that long Fairground stretch.
Back before Rachel Alexandra unleashed her torrent of kick ass on the racing world War Echo seemed like a promising up and comer. Will she be able to put it together in time to get to the 2009 Breeders’ Cup? Check her out in the 3rd at Belmont tomorrow and then stay tuned!
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