1/7 (AQU): Count Fleet S., Busanda S.
 

7th (3:09) Busanda S.

1 Mile 70 Yards | Fillies | 3 Year Olds Stakes | Purse: $100,000

1 Sweet Seventeen Dominguez R A 116 L
2 The Winged Venus Montalvo C 118 L
3 Bourbonstreetgirl Cohen D 116 L
4 Lady Clara Velasquez C 116 L
5 Captivating Lass Luzzi M J 116 Blk-On FTL
6 Almost a Valentine Peltroche E 116 L
7 Terralba Alvarado J 116 L



8th (3:37) Count Fleet S.

1 Mile 70 Yards | Open | 3 Year Olds Stakes | Purse: $150,000

1 Il Villano Flores J L 120 L
2 How Do I Win Velasquez C 116 L
3 Whistleblower Smith A E 116 L
4 Stephanoatsee Alvarado J 116 L
5 Alpha Dominguez R A 116 FTL
6 Speightscity Cohen D 118 L
7 Shkspeare Shaliyah Valdivia J Jr 122 L

Interesting that Alpha shows up in the Count Fleet. Don't get me wrong, it's a sensible spot, but it makes you wonder why he doesn't race at Gulfstream where I presume the first string is (Alpha was breezing in FL last month). He's eligible for first condition, too, which should be plentiful down south. Frankly, the way he went off form in the BC, I had anticipated he would start from scratch after more of a break, perhaps even around one turn initially.

On a side note, Alpha will also be adding lasix for the first time. Remember last year, Kiaran McLaughlin said something about racing his 2yos without lasix. I guess that doesn't extend into their 3yo year.

http://www.drf.com/news/aqueduct-she...inter-campaign

This was in the DRF yesterday.

Thanks. Totally missed that one. Forgot that It's Tricky came from Aqueduct, too. Still a question mark is why, having started in Florida, was Alpha sent back north? Captivating Lass has been in NY the whole time. Maybe McLaughlin has another Derby prospect in Florida.

I guess I should just be thankful that Alpha isn't in Dubai.

Consortium.

Little Belle came off the inner too.

So did Flashing.

I was wondering who the other two were. Thought they meant 2011 only.

Of course, the difference between Alpha and those 3 were that the latter didn't debut at Saratoga and have Grade 1 races on their resumes beforehand. In fact, for what it's worth, Alpha is already considered a "Godolphin" colorbearer. The others were second string until they progressed beyond the Darley label.

What's the difference between Darley and Godolphin? Are the Blue Silks significant? Didn't the senior towel head suggest he was done running a Godophin stable in US? What is Rick Metee up to now?

One is first string and one is second string.

I think typically that is the intentions of dividing them up like that, but Godolphin has had plenty of very bad runners while Darley had some top runners, like Invasor (pretty sure he was Darley).

Shadwell.

On second thought, I think Invasor was Shadwell while Bernardini was Darley.

Wow, I corrected myself in less than 30 seconds, but you beat me to it!

The post was meant as a recap for Freddy Mo, which is to say it was purely remedial.

Anything that operation does has to be taken with a grain of salt. There's probably some ridiculous reason why Bernardini was not "promoted" to Godolphin. Maybe they didn't want to make a trainer change, were just being superstitious, or forgot to do the paperwork. I'd put nothing past them.

As far as the respective divisions, in the United States, at least, I don't think any of the horses start their careers as Godolphin, so really, there probably aren't too many instances beyond Bernardini where their labels were skewed (not counting their private purchases).

I am 3rd string on a good day

I agree. You'd be sold to some bullring trainer operating in Western Canada.