Zardana

[The Indomitable DrugS]

Riboletta was a beast - very few female horses I've ever seen had a chance with her on her good day. I was a big fan of hers.

Like Zardana - she came up at Gavea in Brazil.

Riboletta was friggen terrible when they'd run her on turf in America. But both Baffert and Inda insisted on racing her on it here and there.

Zardana has won a turf stakes in America - and won a Gr 2 on Syn at Hollywood two starts back. But, she's been underwhelming since arriving from Gavea with a perfect 3-for-3 record .. winning her 3 dirt races by a combined 39 lengths.

People might no believe it - but making speed figures for that track Bambera last raced at is probably easier than making them for Presque Isle Downs (<- home of the almost daily variant split) Equibase does full charts for that track, video of most races are available, and plenty of very recent American runners compete there.

Gavea, on the other hand, forget about it. But I was able find out some interesting things about the April 21st 2007 card from Gavea that Zardana competed on in Brazil for the final time.

She won a 50K stake over a field of 11 by 16+ lengths getting 7 furlongs in 1:26.90

On that same day, fellow 2yo filly Olympic Glory won a 5.5 furlong maiden race in 1:07.90 (the equivlent of 15.5 Beyer points slower)

It's the same Olympic Glory that once raced competitively with Cocoa Beach and Argentian champion Fiesta Lady at 7fs in Dubai ...



In the two other dirt races at Gavea - conditional older alw males went 7fs in 1:27.60 (8 points slower than Zardana) and open alw older males went 5.5f in 1:06.90 (1 point slower than Zardana)

Running slightly faster than older alw males may not sound that impressive .. but keep in mind that we are talking about what was a 2yo filly at the time. A figure in the 85 range wins a Grade 1 like the 7f Spinaway at Saratoga many years.

Older alw males at Beulah Park run in the mid 60's. Older alw males at Penn National run in the 80's. I'd conservatively assume that Gavea's older alw males are somewhere between that range.

I certainly don't think Zardana's going to beat RA .. but there's a chance she might be better on dirt than a lot of people think. We might get a competitive race if Shireffs has her all geared up and she actually is a true dirt horse. I'm looking forward to it.

[10 pnt move up]

One of your bettor efforts...and it came before the race!

[VOL JACK]

Wouldn't Sheriffs just use her as a rabbit to bother RA on the front end, if he ran her in the Apple Blossom?

[RolloTomasi]

Originally Posted by VOL JACK

Wouldn't Sheriffs just use her as a rabbit to bother RA on the front end, if he ran her in the Apple Blossom?

From what's been reported, Shireffs says that the push has come from owner Arnold Zetcher (who is hoping to run in the Apple Blossom also).

In that regard, I don't think she's necessarily going to be used up to benefit Zenyatta. If she doesn't run a big race Saturday I would guess she doesn't go on to Oaklawn.

[mbahadur]

Originally Posted by VOL JACK

Wouldn't Sheriffs just use her as a rabbit to bother RA on the front end, if he ran her in the Apple Blossom?

If Baffert brings back the horse that won the Azeri (Freedom Star) to run in the Apple Blossom, that should provide Zenyatta with plenty of pace. I cannot imagine Baffert not running the horse back with the purse structure of the Apple Blossom.

[VOL JACK]

Originally Posted by mbahadur

If Baffert brings back the horse that won the Azeri (Freedom Star) to run in the Apple Blossom, that should provide Zenyatta with plenty of pace. I cannot imagine Baffert not running the horse back with the purse structure of the Apple Blossom.

This is true.

[The Indomitable DrugS]

If the real Rachel Alexandra comes back ... the amount of other speed in the race absolutely will not matter to her.

She's run clearly her 3 best races on my final numbers rating kindly just off of horses like Munnings, Gabby's Golden Girl, and Malibu Prayer.

The only question though is how RA comes back. If she comes back as good or better than last year - Zenyatta has no chance.

[The Indomitable DrugS]

Originally Posted by 10 pnt move up

One of your bettor efforts...and it came before the race!

I've always been at my best before the race... or else I'd probably be in college now stacking up some debt.

It wasn't much of a gambling post - I still think RA should win even if she's short and Zardana moves way up on dirt ... but it could be a fun race if that happens.

Here was the best find I had when I put her name in Google with translations ... some South American guy wanting Congress to get involved to save their best horses from 'American greed' ...

I think Cannon Shell's foreign cousin wrote it.

The filly called Zardan gaucho, a daughter of Irish Crimson Tide, Dear Filly in Argentina, that a descendant of American Southern Halo, ran three times in Gavea and won all, very easily, showing that at least one ace project. Thus, the Creole of Haras Campestre wearing the silks of Haras Arroyo Butia, aroused the greed of the American turf. And the dollars came in profusion. It has to resist and Zardan is being shipped to the States, the care of the victorious trainer Ron McAnally. New owner is called Arnold Zetcher, a California millionaire.

As you see, after all, the national creation is a success abroad. However, only the export is profitable in the Brazilian turf. The activity in the country must respond to re-grow, improve substantially the awards to at least give more hope to the selfless toil in it, especially the owners, the biggest victims of the crisis that befalls us. The solution is for Congress.

If approved the Timemania to help the football, why discriminate against the turf until it generates more jobs than football? We know that this support will only happen if there is a concerted effort to motivate Brasilia. We will not stop hitting this button: Get a move on you leaders!