Azeri winning the 2004 Go For Wand at Saratoga (Walter Kobbe)
When times are tough there are bargains to be had. Tomorrow is no different at the January Keenland sale! Let’s say you have a few million sitting around, you might want to snap up the 2002 Horse of Year, Azeri.
She had a stellar careerthat included winning the Apple Blossom 3 consecutive years, winning the Distaff in the 2002, winning the Milady, the Vanity and Clement L. Hirsch in both 2002 and 2003, 2002 HOY and Champion Older Female 2002-2004.
She’s only the third female to win HOY since voting began in 1971 and the only to to not win against males. Perhaps she’s about to have company, but let’s not change the subject!
Still not convinced? See for yourself. Vic Stauffer summed it up best in his stretch call for the 2003 Milady. Happy bargain hunting!
The speed of Ruffian, the class of Lady’s Secret, the heart of Personal Ensign, one of the greats of all time… this is AZERI.
Note: this picture is not of the authoress of this site. (birdnest1384)
You’ve probably just walked in from doing all of your holiday shopping, making this list a mute point. But if you’re like me, you’re gonna wait till the last damn minute. Also, if you’re like me, you’re not gonna leave your house to shop. I think Amazon should use the following clip as advertising for why one should stay home to shop:
Here at GbG, we like to support our industry’s independent content creators. And with the recent spate of trade and mainstream media lay-offs, we’re expecting more independent content to support (and enjoy).
Let’s start with independent films. There’s a lot to choose from in this category and at the price point there’s no reason not to get all three! The First Saturday in May, Lost in the Fog and Women in American Racing are perfect stocking stuffers. I’ve seen the first two and both are great. Mother GbG ordered Women in American Racing for me and I’m using all my restraint to not unwrap and watch it (no doubt I will have watched by this time next week).
The First Saturday in May
Lost in the Fog:
Women in American Racing
You have may have noticed that there are a LOT of great photographers shooting racing. GbG would just be a bunch of boring words without their help. While I don’t know that all of them sell prints, you can always ask! I believe Charles Pravata and Sarah K. Andrew sell prints, but there’s also Raymond Haddad, Jason Moran, Bud Morton and new comer/old timer Walter Kobbe. Now that’s a classy present!
Looking to get more involved in racing? Why not give yourself the gift of ownership and join a partnership! There are several small, affordable, independent stables that just happen to be members of the TBA, which means you can read their thoughts and insights on racing and determine if they’re the type of people you want to do business with. My guess is that they are.
Moving from the independent to the unique, I’m a big fan of eBay present getting and giving. A quick twirl around eBay this morning uncovered the following.
Wanna spend the big bucks on that Sunday Silence fan? You’re in luck, the 1990 Hollywood Gold Cup saddle cloth worn by Sunday Silence is up for auction, currently at a mere $4,999. The good news is no one has bid on it, so perhaps it will be relisted. I have no idea if that price is reasonable for memorabilia of this caliber, but here’s the race. Sunday Silence gives 1990 horse of the year Criminal Type a run for his money and places by what looks like a nose, very exciting. Imagine the price if he had won!
From one of the highlights of this summer, Little Belle’s saddle cloth from the Alabama is available, starting bid $.99… and no one has bid on it! The auction ends on Thursday so I doubt it will stay low for that long, but I’m watching it just in case. Little Belle was one of the many talented distaffers this year. Here she is showing to Proud Spell and Music Note after setting a very “deliberate” pace, as Durkin puts it.
With only 2 hours and change left to this auction, you might have a chance to own alleged Derby history with Whirlaway’s supposed horse shoe up for auction. The inability to authenticate it is no doubt keeping the price low, currently at $82, but an additional bid has come in since I spotted it this morning, so it might climb up a bit more. It would be very cool if it were in fact the real deal but one could probably never prove it. Fun item nonetheless. Update: it ended up going for $262, an absolute steal if the new owner could manage to authenticate.
From the price is right department (no E, I’m not talking about your beloved Bob Barker), there’s a groovy 70’s Preakness patch currently at $4.99 with no bids. It ends in 4 hours but I would imagine it would be relisted if there are no bids.
I’m sure all of you Alysheba fans are glad he’s returned safely to the States. Why not celebrate that with a copy of the 1988 Monmouth program for the Iselin Handicap? He beat one of his rivals, Bet Twice, by less than a length (sorry, no replay but the link points to a fab Alysheba information page).
I know at least oneSpectacular Bid fan, perhaps he might like this 1979 Marlboro Cup Program, which ends tomorrow. Here’s the Bid crushing his competition in the race.
Thanks to Equidaily, Paulick Report, Pull the Pocket and Raceday 360 for sending so many holiday shoppers over here to the GbG eBay shopping bonanza! Since several of the listed items have ended, I’ve added some new ones for your potential shopping enjoyment.
To avoid anymore Spectacular Bidding wars, this Spectacular Bid item is a first come, first serve with Buy it Now at $32. It’s a lovely vintage (read possibly slightly dingy) Spectacular Bid / Bill Shoemaker 1980 T Shirt size large. If you buy it, please send a photo sporting it! I was going to tell you all about the Spectacular Bid / Bud Delp / Meadowlands (Awesome!) Belt Buckle, but I bought it instead (sorry!). Sidebar, Bud Delp and I share the same eye wear.
Why not bundle this next item with Lost in the Fog? It’s a Russel Baze “I was there #9351″ Pin currently listed at $.99. It was given away on the day Russell Baze broke the record for most wins by a North American jockey. Russell Baze was Lost in the Fog’s jockey.
Speaking of Northern California, here’s something for your favorite Northern California racing fan that happens to be an aficionado of late 70’s design. It’s a lovely 1979 Pin from the recently closed Bay Meadows.
History buffs should prepare to freak out… 1773 Sporting Calendar described as “The Sporting Calendar: Containing an Account of the Plates, Matches, and Sweepstakes, That Have Been Run for in Great-Britain, Ireland and North-America in the Year 1773. (Volume 5) by Thomas Fawconer” currently $200(ish, it’s in GBP).
And how about a couple of items for our harness racing friends? There’s the 1931 American Sportsman featuring 1930 Hambletonian winner Hanover’s Bertha currently at $14.99 and a First Edition 1949 “Horses of Destiny” by Fairfax Downey and Paul Brown currently at $25.29 to name a few.
STILL not inspired? As mentioned before Geno has a nice list and for the more bookish MaryJean Wall has an excellent vintage reading list complete with original covers. Raceday360 is also handily keeping track of all gift suggestion posts! Best of luck with your shopping, and here’s ho ho hoping you get some rockin’ gifts too!
It’s amazing what a little digging can uncover. As it turns out trainer John Shirreffs has a YouTube account and has been posting clips of training!
Here’s Zenyatta, “Back at Hollywood”. She walks the shed row, munches on some grass and breezes on the track. Presumably it Shirreffs talking with a pal who confesses a white pony ran off with him. There’s also a non sequitur about rhythmic breathing while the stunning filly jogs around the track.
Here’s October 16th featuring Life is Sweet’s first day on the main track, a small bit of Zenyatta galloping and some very odd schooling that consists of standing around while Trevor Denman’s race call is played. She definitely reacts as his call gets more excited, trying to bite her groom at one point… it’s pretty funny. The soon to be retiredTiago does the same schooling but they work on putting the saddle on him.
And finally this past Saturday morning, some footage of the track and then some shots in barn where he mentions “the movie”. Could John Shirreffs be the next Hennegan Brothers? And finally, back to some walking with Zenyatta, or Zenya as he sweetly calls her, and company.
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.
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!
Lava Man returns to form in the Charles Whittingham at Hollywood Park (qtfeather2000)
Looking beyond the triple crown for a moment, I was happy to see Lava Man’s performance in the Whittingham… he’s back!
I think the turf suits him and he responded well to his new jock, Tyler Baze as they set an aggressive pace and held on gamely as Artiste Royal and Monzante came on strong to win and place. Now THAT was a race!
Sorry about the quality, this was the only clip on YouTube. You can also watch it here at NTRA. I really like both Artiste Royal and Monzante and it looked to me like Monzante would have liked even more distance than the 1 1/4 mile Whittingham. Well done to all!
News has also surfaced that our old friend and member of the “almost but not quite Triple Crown club”, War Emblem is actually covering mares again!
You may remember that he had basically been refusing to cover mares for several years which fueled (silly) speculation that he might be gay or at least in my estimation bored.
When it became apparent that he has some talent as a sire there was a renewed interest in renewing his interest. Apparently at least part of the problem was that he’s just picky. I’m picky too, but then again it doesn’t impact how I perform my job!
His therapy program, which commenced in early spring, consists of a combination of changes in housing and management to naturally build maturity and breeding confidence, changes in breeding-shed handling techniques to maximize response, and carefully managed hormone supplementation as needed to boost libido to reduce his mare choosiness while his confidence builds.
Hmmmm, Spanish fly perhaps? Dr. Sue McDonnell, a specialist in stallion behavior and breeding management at Penn Vet’s New Bolton Center summed it up perfectly…
I sure don’t know how horses think about these matters, but observations of his behavior indicate that War Emblem appears to be quite enthused about his new direction.
Well then, welcome back to both Lava Man and War Emblem!
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