8/20 (SAR): Alabama S. (G1); Lake Placid S. (G2)
 

10th (5:45) TVG Alabama S. (G1)

1 1/4 Miles | Fillies | 3 Year Olds Stakes | Purse: $500,000

1 Royal Delta Lezcano J 121 L
2 Pinch Pie Velazquez J R 121 L
3 Plum Pretty Garcia M 121 L
4 It's Tricky Castro E 121 L
5 St. John's River Albarado R J 121 L
6 Inglorious Contreras L 121 L

Royal Delta free cash

Also 5 Maiden races on the Saurday's card.
I know they can only run races that fill & there are only so many horses on the grounds.
Last Saturday also had 5 Maiden races and the condition book for Travers Day has 5 also.
However, the condition book for Friday 8/26 looks awesome.
Making the trip up on the morning of the 26'th.

Worrying about the Travers Day card is useless.

It is pretty much guaranteed to be a great card.

You're right.

I'm not trying to be a smartass or anything, but why the maiden hate? There's been a 20k maiden claimer on every Saturday card, and while they're hardly great races, they are generally decent from a wagering perspective. Three of the other four maiden races are for 2YOs and three are on turf. I think they look pretty good.

I'm simply not confident handicapping them.

I understand, the turf races can get particularly frustrating. I guess my excitement to see the races narrowly exceeds that of betting them too.

SUNDAY 4th (2:39) Woodford Reserve Lake Placid S. (G2)

1 1/8 Miles (Turf) | Fillies | 3 Year Olds Stakes | Purse: $150,000

1 Bellamy Star Velazquez J R 118 L
2 Trac N Jam Bridgmohan J V 118 L
3 Wyomia Lenclud F 116 L
4 Winter Memories Lezcano J 122 L
5 Kathmanblu Castellano J J 118 L
6 Hungry Island Solis A 118 L
7 Dynamic Holiday Dominguez R A 120 L
MTO Believe in A. P. Lezcano J 116 L
MTO Indian Tale Lezcano J 116 L
MTO Tiz the Argument Lezcano J 116 L

A-Coupled: Believe in A. P. and Tiz the Argument

Not so sure Indian Tale would be able to go if this race were rained off. . . Dutrow's handling of her was a litttle ridiculous.

Speaking of ridiculous, I read somewhere Shug is pretty confident with Hungry Island against The Queen. I think is was something to the effect of "She will know we are there"

Ok, Shug:rolleyes:

Inglorious. :tro:

:) :tro:

Yup, behind her.

Going with Its Tricky in a tight one over St. Johns. Don't like Royal Delta or Inglorious much. Plum Pretty scares me but not a lot. She gave no indication against either of the top two that results would be different with more distance.

Dear Kingie...

She said to tell you you need to watch these again..


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Mrsh...eature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zIm3MDEW7vY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RmcV72B0eYg :D

Tell her I liked her more before watching them again.

I think deep down Royal Delta is just as talented as the others.... probably needed her last, and should offer value. She should be a-okay with the 10f distance too. Great race.

I hope you unloaded like I did, best day ive had since last years Breeders Cup, and im alive to all in the last leg of the pk4 at the spa. LIFE IS GOOD!

Do you mind if I wait till she croses the finish line? :wf

Cheers to all who had the winner. I sure as hell didn't.

Wow! Congrats on your big score! almost 600 on the .50 cent pick 4 payout.

What else did you play?

No. . . $599. (He said $5K before)

Nor did I. :zz:

What the heck happened to Inglorious? She didn't fire at all.

Perhaps she is a synthetic horse. 5 for 5 at Woodbine. 0 for 3 anywhere else.

Since we're redboarding, $13 was absolutely insane for Royal Delta.

You have no idea how much I agree with you.Crazy.

It seems that whenever a big deal is made about a horse getting hot in the post parade on national t.v. the horse goes on and wins or runs incredibly well. :D

How a horse looks prerace will never bother me again after DaTara looked like walking death pre 2008-Belmont, washier than any horse I'd ever seen...

Was in races in Singapore last year where the humidity is ludicrously high and almost every horse out there has a good lather going. I'm beginning to think now that it is just more natural than anything, and only becomes an issue if its quite cool out and horse is still lathered.

One thing I've always liked to believe is that it helps to know the history of the horse in question. What you might see as a question mark, something like being washy or antsy or balking going into the gate, might be quite normal for that horse and no need for concern. To me, it's no different than knowing trainer patterns. A horse working a 58 4/5 for one trainer might cause you to really open your eyes but if you see a Baffert horse do it, it's kinda ho-hum.

then there's when they go on and on about how good a horse looks, and they run up the track.

Agree which is why it boogles my mind that tracks actually pay people to tell you how a horse looks and is behaving. That money could be better used on some track improvements or something worthwhile like TB retirement or helping backstretch workers.

Winter Memories didnt fire today, and couple that with a bad ride.

Plus the tri paid more than the super, that was a bit unusual. But I guess you have to imagine most tickets had Winter on top

What was so bad about it? I don't think the ride made much of a difference. She was kept inside for much of the way by the others riding against her well. She didn't have the punch on the last part of the turn to go outside and have the clear run. She was simply beat and is another victim of the reputation induced phenomenon.

This is extremely harsh. She barely had any room to run and the turf course was a bog. I'd still take her against any turf filly/mare in the country. Watch the race again. Dynamic Holiday completely shut her out and by the time she had space, Hungry Island had the jump on her.

She wasn't winning either way. . . I don't think she liked the turf condition.

I understand she was boxed much of the race but I honestly don't think it would have mattered. I would attribute her loss to a combination of the boggy going, better field (which was not talked about enough) and the trip, which wasn't perfect, but ultimately I don't feel the key variable.

I'm also not saying it was a career breaker. People were handing out the trophy and $2 win tickets when the field was drawn on Thursday. She is certainly capable of bouncing back and doing great things, and I hope she does... the connections are very easy to root for.

Of course it's not a career breaker. She's been brilliant in just about every race she's run and is still the top three-year-old turf filly in the country.

I might be wrong, but yes the horse really never looked comfortable and it seemed like Lezcano was unsure on what to do with her, and it looked like when it came time to ask her to run he panicked and just dropped her down to the inside hoping for something out of her. But all in all, the ride really didnt matter I suppose she just wasnt good today. I just wish we had any kind of turfer that the Euros would be scared of, I thought she would of been it.