9/27 (OSA): Goodwood Day (6 Gr. I stakes)
 

4th (2:00) Clement L. Hirsch Memorial Turf Championship S. (G1)

1 1/4 Miles (Turf) | Open | 3 Year Olds And Up Stakes | Purse: $250,000

1 Ferneley (IRE) Espinoza V 124 L
2 Transduction Gold Court J K 124 L
3 Bonjour (NZ) Garcia M 124 L
4 You Got Me Rocking Rosario J 124 L
5 Out of Control (BRZ) Gomez G K 124 L
6 Red Giant Velazquez J R 124 L
7 Spring House Nakatani C S 124 L



5th (2:30) Lady's Secret S. (G1)

1 1/16 Miles (All Weather Track) | Fillies and Mares | 3 Year Olds And Up Stakes | Purse: $250,000

1 Super Freaky Garcia M 123 L
2 Wake Up Maggie (IRE) Baze T C 123 L
3 Hystericalady Gomez G K 123 L
4 Zenyatta Smith M E 123 L
5 Santa Teresita Baze M C 123 L



6th (3:00) Ancient Title S. (G1)

6 Furlongs (All Weather Track) | Open | 3 Year Olds And Up Stakes | Purse: $250,000

1 Street Boss Flores D R 124 L
2 Delta Storm Gryder A T 124 L
3 Decado (IRE) Solis A 124 L
4 Idiot Proof Gomez G K 124 L
5 Sailors Sunset Pedroza M A 124 L
6 In Summation Nakatani C S 124 L
7 Esperamos Garcia J A 124 L
8 Cost of Freedom Baze T C 124 L



8th (4:00) Oak Leaf S. (G1)

1 1/16 Miles (All Weather Track) | Fillies | 2 Year Olds Stakes | Purse: $250,000

1 Will O Way Rosario J 122 L
2 Stardom Bound Smith M E 122 L
3 Candilejas Garcia M 122 L
4 Palacio de Amor Espinoza V 122 L
5 Montana Fields Velazquez J R 122 L
6 Magic Roberta Nakatani C S 122 L
7 Empressive Lady Baze T C 122 L
8 Oro Blanco Pedroza M A 122 L
9 Toro Bonito Flores D R 122 L
10 Black Magic Mama Gomez G K 122 L
11 Kinesiology Baze M C 122 L
12 Malusita Blanc B 122 L



9th (4:30) Yellow Ribbon S. (G1)

1 1/4 Miles (Turf) | Fillies and Mares | 3 Year Olds And Up Stakes | Purse: $400,000

1 High Heel Sneakers (GB) Espinoza V 123 L
2 Vacare Nakatani C S 123 L
3 I Can See Rosario J 123 L
4 Black Mamba (NZ) Gomez G K 123 L
5 Valbenny (IRE) Solis A 123 L
6 Solva (GB) Gryder A T 123 L
7 Gula Gold Baze M C 123 L
8 Marzelline (IRE) Baze T C 123 L
9 Live Life (FR) Couton J 123 L
10 Wait a While Velazquez J R 123 L



10th (5:00) Goodwood S. (G1)

1 1/8 Miles (All Weather Track) | Open | 3 Year Olds And Up Stakes | Purse: $500,000

1 Zappa Rosario J 124 L
2 Tres Borrachos Baze T C 121 L
3 Informed Garcia M 124 L
4 Surf Cat Flores D R 124 L
5 Slew's Tiznow Quinonez A 121 L
6 Albertus Maximus Gomez G K 124 L
7 Well Armed Gryder A T 124 L
8 Tiago Smith M E 124 L
9 Spirit One (FR) Mendizabal I 124
10 Mostacolli Mort Pedroza M A 124 L
11 Mast Track Velazquez J R 124 L

Zenyatta is a lock.

Hystericalady's dirt form just plain beats Zenyatta at 8.5 furlongs in a small field. Her synthetic form certainly doesn't - and synthetic tracks tend to negate tactical edges in slow paced races and smaller fields.

For people who aren't going to follow the Oak Tree meeting that closely - the result of that race could go quite a way in how people view the new pro-ride surface after opening week of Oak Tree.

Here's hoping Wait a While wins for fun so she takes a ton of $$ at the BC.

What did you think of yesterday's results?

I didn't buy the SA form yesterday so I have no idea how to evaulate it.

I don't think it played to any extreme yesterday.

I've been very upset with Zenyatta's connections in the past for skipping the Hollywood Gold Cup and the Pacific Classic for easier competition. This time I can't be too upset because I think the second best horse on the program is Hystericalady, although her form on the junk is not nearly as good as on real dirt.

Running against colts would have been great and all, but there's something to be said for females going off form after facing colts.

Bayakoa (after the Big Cap), Paseana (after the Pacific Classic), Sharp Cat (after the SA Derby), Eliza (after the SA Derby), and Surfside (after the SA Derby), all lost their next starts at short prices when back in against their own gender.

Maybe, with the division so deep right now, the connections didn't want to risk their tenuous hold on the title.

Bayakoa also ran second in the San Diego Hcp. She went on to do big things though later on. Same with Paseana. Sharp Cat rebounded to have an outstanding year. I don't know that Eliza went off form as much as she just lost to a very good horse in Dispute (Bonnie Miss, Gazelle, Beldame at 3, Spinster at 4). Her going off form could just as easily be attributed to facing Dispute as it is to facing Personal Hope. Surfside later ran a very good second in the BC Distaff and beat older males in the Clark. For every one of these that you mentioned, there's a Winning Colors, a Ouija Board, a Miesque, a Six Perfections, a Serena's Song, a Personal Ensign.....the list goes on and on. I don't think there is any proof whatsoever that says they will go off form after facing males. I think it's more about what competition you face and how hard you may have to run that may influence your immediate form coming back. If racing against the boys means you have to run a harder race, yes, it can be understood that the next one out may be a little flat. But sometimes, you have to run harder to win races in your own division than you do to win races outside of it. If they were worried about her being knocked out by a tough race against boys and suffering in her next start against her own sex, they could have tried it in June and had plenty of time to recover and show her best against the girls later, as each of your examples did.

Well, just to be fair, 3 of the horses you mentioned were Europeans (yes, its a big difference), one was one of only 3 fillies to win the Derby, and the other was the only horse to retire unbeaten in major competition in over 90 years.

Personally, had the BC not been in CA, the only gripe I'd have is that Zenyatta didn't run at either Saratoga or Belmont, the way Azeri didn't and the way Ribboletta did. Your suggestion she should have run in the Hollywood Gold Cup is a bit outlandish, seeing how that race is 10f and at that point she had yet to run further than 8.5f. The Pacific Classic would have been fine, I suppose, if a little late in the season, but we all know what John Shireffs thinks about the Polytrack there. He wouldn't even start Tiago on it last year.

If Zenyatta is impressive in the Lady's Secret - what next ?

Rematch with Ginger Punch so she can have her rightful coronation before everyone jumps the gun (she's only run 7 times), wanting her to run outside her division before she's even earned a championship.

She can run against colts next year. Or in the Clark.

Rightful coronation? Ok so what if Ginger Punch wins the race? If Ginger Punch wins, she's the champion. Even though they would be tied and Zenyatta kicked her ass on dirt. So in order for Zenyatta to win the title, she's got to beat her twice but for GP to win it, she's only got to win once. Yeah, that's fair.

I think that making the point that she's only run seven times so far is not looking at the state of today's game. If this were the 80's or early 90's, that would be different. But in today's game, seven races is a lot. Consider how many Ghostzapper had. Smarty Jones. Bernardini and Invasor. Candy Ride. Afleet Alex. Barbaro. Curlin. Big Brown. You can't compare today's standards to those of the past.

Also, what's so wrong with running outside of your division before you've won a championship? Many great fillies have done that.

Rightful coronation? Ok so what if Ginger Punch wins the race? If Ginger Punch wins, she's the champion. Even though they would be tied and Zenyatta kicked her ass on dirt. So in order for Zenyatta to win the title, she's got to beat her twice but for GP to win it, she's only got to win once. Yeah, that's fair.

So...if Summer Colony didn't bother running in the 2002 BC Distaff, she could have won the Eclipse, since she beat Azeri in their only meeting at Santa Anita? Good thinking.

I think that making the point that she's only run seven times so far is not looking at the state of today's game. If this were the 80's or early 90's, that would be different. But in today's game, seven races is a lot. Consider how many Ghostzapper had. Smarty Jones. Bernardini and Invasor. Candy Ride. Afleet Alex. Barbaro. Curlin. Big Brown. You can't compare today's standards to those of the past.

That wasn't my point. All those horses you mentioned (two or three of which broke down) were males that weren't asked to run outside their division (aside from Curlin--maybe Candy Ride if you want to get picky). Zenyatta having to face males after just a handful of starts during her first full season of racing is brazen at best, reckless at worst.

Also, what's so wrong with running outside of your division before you've won a championship? Many great fillies have done that.

Name one that wasn't trained by D. Wayne Lukas.

According to another thread here, Pro Ride is 87% dirt, which makes it a lot more plausible that HL can beat Zenyatta here.

Personal Ensign is one. Excellent Meeting. Royal Heroine. A lot of Europeans. Safely Kept. Very Subtle. Xtra Heat. Honest Lady. Eight Belles.

The Summer Colony argument is not even close to the same thing. You might as well have said Lorenzoni should have gotten it over Easy Goer since he beat him. That's not what I'm saying at all. We are talking about comparable records in top class races between two talented mares. I'm not saying that Zenyatta's one win should give her the automatic advantage. It could have been an off day for Ginger Punch. But why should GP beating her to even the score, on a synthetic track at that, mean that she's the champion? It's sort of like when Ohio St and Michigan were both at the top of the polls in football. Ohio St. had played and beaten Michigan yet people were saying that Michigan deserved a spot in the title game to play them again. If that would have happened and Michigan had won, they'd be the champs even though the score was 1-1. Ohio St would have had to beat Michigan twice to be the champion. Same here. Zenyatta shouldn't have to beat GP twice to win a title when it would only take one win for GP to be the champ.

My point about the number of starts thing is that in years past, even those males wouldn't have been asked to do as much as they did so soon in their careers. But it's a different game now. The same things that horses used to be asked to do 8-10 races into a career, they are now being asked to do 3-5 in. In years past, horses raced 30+ times over multiple seasons so there was no rush to do things. Now, when you're looking at a 10-15 race career max, the timetables are pushed way up.

Personal Ensign is one. Excellent Meeting. Royal Heroine. A lot of Europeans. Safely Kept. Very Subtle. Xtra Heat. Honest Lady. Eight Belles.

Figures you'd name sprinters and more Europeans. And for the record, Excellent Meeting and Eight Belles are not strong examples, given their careers after facing colts. Same goes for Rags To Riches.

Yes, Personal Ensign was one-in-a-million. I don't have Zenyatta in that category just yet.

The Summer Colony argument is not even close to the same thing. You might as well have said Lorenzoni should have gotten it over Easy Goer since he beat him.

That's BS. Summer Colony had all the credentials to be a champion that year. In addition to the La Canada, she also took down the Personal Ensign (not to be confused with the Zenyatta) and the Delaware Handicap. She also placed in the Beldame.

That's not what I'm saying at all. We are talking about comparable records in top class races between two talented mares. I'm not saying that Zenyatta's one win should give her the automatic advantage. It could have been an off day for Ginger Punch. But why should GP beating her to even the score, on a synthetic track at that, mean that she's the champion? Same here. Zenyatta shouldn't have to beat GP twice to win a title when it would only take one win for GP to be the champ.

I don't watch college football.

And I never mentioned Ginger Punch specifically. What about Hystericalady? Has she lost to Zenyatta? All 3 have the necessary credentials to win the Eclipse should any of them win the Distaff. If Zenyatta goes in the Classic and loses, while one of the other 2 wins the Distaff, who do you think is winning the Eclipse?

My point about the number of starts thing is that in years past, even those males wouldn't have been asked to do as much as they did so soon in their careers. But it's a different game now. The same things that horses used to be asked to do 8-10 races into a career, they are now being asked to do 3-5 in. In years past, horses raced 30+ times over multiple seasons so there was no rush to do things. Now, when you're looking at a 10-15 race career max, the timetables are pushed way up.

Not with this filly obviously. You realize they didn't bring her out for her first career start till late in her 3yo year, right? If it took this long to get her to the races, why would they try to fry her in just a few starts? If anyone's not in a rush, its Zenyatta's connections.

I just don't see running against males as being more difficult than running against females simply because of the fact that they are males. I mentioned Personal Ensign earlier but I always thought she was given way too much credit for beating the boys. It was Gulch and King's Swan at 9f. Facing boys in and of itself is not tough if you are better than them. Proud Spell probably had a tougher race in the Alabama than she would have had she gone in the Jim Dandy or Travers because the horse she faced in Music Spell is better than anything in those two male races, IMO. If you want to talk about a race frying a horse, look no further than that effort and her subsequent run in the Cotillion.

I have a carefull eye on the meet, what I love is people who dont handicap the races and look at the charts and say "bias". It might be, but yesterday for example all the pace horses were really bad form/talent. Today a horse with good form went wire to wire in the second. I suspect it players closer to HP then to Del Mar. To me HP was a fair track for the most part, when people say it does not play like dirt I think alot of them are saying "its not nearly as speed biased".

Ginger Punch is not as good as HL or Zenyatta and would lose to both on a dry dirt track, and even likely on a synthetic track.

Speaking of that horse, Details R Sketchy, I didn't think he looked nearly as good as he did at Del Mar, although he did show some grit when challenged to pull clear late. Looked like he was under a lot of pressure through the stretch though, and I'd imagine he won't go much further than 6 or 7f (he's by King's Bishop runner-up Great Notion).

The Hollywood Prevue is probably next, but I don't think he's the next Afternoon Deelites.

Watch for a horse that came out of his maiden race. Can't remember the name, but its a Distorted Humor owned by George Strawbridge and trained by Neil Drysdale. Was a good 12 lengths off the leader early and was the only horse from the back markers to rally, coming on in the far turn to be a decent 4th about 5 back.