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

(No Ratings Yet)

 Loading ...

6 Comments »

(Jason Moran)

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!

Posted by dana on Jun 21 2010    
Filed Under: Jason Moran, 2010, Workouts, 2yo, Belmont, Todd Pletcher, Racing

(No Ratings Yet)

 Loading ...

3 Comments »

Super Saver and Calvin Borel winning at Churchill in the Kentucky Jockey Club (ChurchillDowns)

There aren’t too many shots of 2010 Kentucky Derby winner Super Saver over at flickr at the moment (unless you count images of yarn)… I suppose that will all change soon enough!

It was another stellar ride by Borel, and yes, Super Saver was my pick!

Congrats to the connections, and see you in two weeks!

LOL at the guy who yells “briiiing it!!” right before the race starts. Could have been one of the owners of Homeboykris?

Posted by dana on May 01 2010    
Filed Under: Churchill Downs, 2010, Super Saver, Kentucky Derby, Todd Pletcher, Derby Trail, Calvin Borel, Racing

(No Ratings Yet)

 Loading ...

4 Comments »

Just like the holiday lights that went up in my neighborhood a week and a half before Halloween, it seems as though the Derby hype has gotten under way, thus far this year in the form of American Lion. Almost all of the coverage of Hollywood Prevue has been focused almost exclusively on the winner, American Lion, while noticeably overlooking the second the place finisher Get My Fix. Was I watching the same race?

Sure, American Lion handled the class jump, but did he really tame his foes? All of the articles do a good job of mentioning that he was a bit green/unfocused and that there’s time (before the Derby!) to get those issues ironed out, but isn’t it a little early to put all your eggs in one basket? I thought Get My Fix ran a much better race.

Get My Fix didn’t look green at all biding his time at the back of the back and then closing aggressively at the end. Why not ask Joe Talamo what he thought of the effort? I did! Although I doubt he’ll answer me… but if he does I’ll let you know!

But back to my point, I don’t mind the beginning of some Derby coverage at this time of the year. In fact, I think this is the first year where I’ve really started to pay attention to the Juvies with an eye towards next year. Along the same lines Davidowitz has a good DRF+ post on his end of the year observations about the current crop of 2yos. But if you read the news coverage of the Hollywood Prevue without watching race, you might get the impression that American Lion’s effort was more impressive than it really was… or at least than it seemed to me. Solid? Yes. Promising? Sure. Best in the race? Not in my opinion.

It could also be that American Lion is by Tiznow and Get My Fix is by Posse, even I know that means that Get My Fix is less likely to get the classic distance, or depending on how you look at it, be a “failed router” (aka sprinter/miler). And let’s not overlook American Lion’s maiden race at Keeneland, which was impressive, but how have the rest of them come out of that race? Oh, and Eoin Harty does seem to do well with a Tiznow from Winstar. But does the coverage have read like a Winstar press release?

In the end American Lion could turn out be the better horse, only time will tell. And only time will tell if Get My Fix can stretch out or not. If he doesn’t it wouldn’t be so horrible to have another Kodiak Kowboy to look forward to! Regardless of whether he’s “distance challenged” or not, and regardless of whether he ends up on the Derby trail, I’m looking forward to Get My Fix’s next out. If nothing else he’ll certainly be a better value than American Lion!

Posted by dana on Nov 23 2009    
Filed Under: Hype, YouTube, 2009, Joe Talamo, Eoin Harty, Steve Davidowitz, 2yo, Derby Trail, Race Replay, Hollywood Park, Media, Racing

(No Ratings Yet)

 Loading ...

8 Comments »

Bobby Frankel and Stardom Bound (Marcie Heacox)

Just a quick note to pay respects and mention the passing of Hall of Famer Bobby Frankel. Condolences to his family, friends and colleagues. Even when you know it’s coming, it doesn’t make it any easier.

I’ll resume semi-regular posting soon(ish!).

Posted by dana on Nov 16 2009    
Filed Under: 2009, Farewell, :(, Bobby Frankel, Racing

(No Ratings Yet)

 Loading ...

1 Comment »