Mayan King ... The HOTY March Begins

Mayan King's inevitable march to the 2006 Horse-Of-The-Year Eclipse Award ... takes its first serious step on Saturday ... as New York invades Iowa for the 9f G2 Cornhusker "Handicap."

Gary Contessa decided not to stay home for the 10f Suburban ... which may have been a mistake given how soft the field for that race is ... but instead packed a bag full of sfogliatelle ... and headed west.

I don't want to recommend that you sell your house ... your car ... your furniture ... your dog ... and your gun ... and bet the proceeds on Mayan King ... because that'd only drive down his odds.

But ... mark-ye-well what you've read here.

He left NY because Rathor smoked him in his last race. You can't lose allowance races and be HOY.

After thinking about it, HOY will go to Bernardini, Barbaro, Lava Man or Flower Alley. Can't see anyone else with a shot.

[tycharles01]

Wonder how much tractors go for now a days??

You are gonna have some hillbilles putting down there farms on him!! Hope he wins or might not make it out of the state

Does not help that the field looks terrible even though there are 14 horses in it

Good Luck to Mayan King on that quest because he'll need it.....unless he grows quite a bit of talent in the next few months, he'll never be good enough to be a HOTY type....

[Ruffian2]

Bold, you're nothing if not consistant.

[my miss storm cat]

Shouldn't you be getting ready for your flight, Bold?
http://www.budapesttimes.hu/index.php?art=1851

[tycharles01]

ML 15/1!! Looks like IRS race

Originally Posted by my miss storm cat

Shouldn't you be getting ready for your flight, Bold?

Been there ... done that.

Mrs. Brooklynite and I were in Hungary in September 2004 in conjunction with a spectacularly successful secret mission. Wonderful place ... Budapest, Lake Balaton, Sopran, Tokay, Dunabogdany ... yeah, really nice.

[randallscott35]

Does Mayan King even hit the board is a better question?

[Betsy]

This isn't exactly a top-class field and Mayan King is a talented, improving colt. I see no reason why he couldn't win.........not saying he will, but he is definitely a contender.

[horseofcourse]

Hey Bold Brooklynite. I saw earlier your predictions. How sure are you of this race? I see on the morning line that Mayan King is the 10 choice at 15-1 and is only carrying 112, pretty much the light weight. If he is as good as you say, this would appear to be stealing money. This is an ok field but certainly not a great one. Should we go for the gusto and bet a lot of money to win on Mayan King?

[miraja2]

Ooops I didn't see this thread and I started a new one about this race which is about......2 more threads than this race deserves.
Anyway I like the #1 horse Gouldings Green.

[Ruffian2]

Bold, I've got a deal for you. I'll put $2 on this horse. If he wins, I'll add a signature line that says I worship you. If he doesn't, you add a line where you say you worship me. Deal??

Originally Posted by horseofcourse

Hey Bold Brooklynite. I saw earlier your predictions. How sure are you of this race? I see on the morning line that Mayan King is the 10 choice at 15-1 and is only carrying 112, pretty much the light weight. If he is as good as you say, this would appear to be stealing money. This is an ok field but certainly not a great one. Should we go for the gusto and bet a lot of money to win on Mayan King?

There are always the unknown factors of a different track ... shipping ... first stakes race of the year ... etc. etc. etc. ... but ...

... if this race were run at Belmont ... I guarantee you he'd win it.

Take that for what it's worth.

Originally Posted by Ruffian

Bold, I've got a deal for you. I'll put $2 on this horse. If he wins, I'll add a signature line that says I worship you. If he doesn't, you add a line where you say you worship me. Deal??

You express this as if my being worshipped were some sort of novelty ... but ...

... I've been so widely worshipped for such a long time ... that one worshipper more or less amounts to nothing more than chump change.

I've never claimed to be a handicapper ... but I know that Mayan King has far more quality than any horse in this field ... and he seems to be coming to peak form.

Whether or not this translates into a victory ... after being shipped with Contessa's sfogliatelle all the way to god-knows-where Iowa ... I really can't tell.

[Ruffian2]

So do we have a bet, or no, Mr. Dance Around the Question?

[Pedigree Ann]

Originally Posted by Betsy

This isn't exactly a top-class field and Mayan King is a talented, improving colt. I see no reason why he couldn't win.........not saying he will, but he is definitely a contender.

Except that he is a front-running type in a race with several other front-running types. And he is breaking from the 12 hole - gonna he hung out 4,5 wide in the first turn. There are G2 and G3 winners in here, and horses who have placed in such races. What is Mayan King's stakes experience? Finishing far back in the Lane's End. He may be a talented horse, or merely an unexposed horse. After all, his win last out was a n3x; who'd he beat? Noble Causeway? Who was beaten the same distance by Alumni Hall the time before? And I don't think AH is a likely winner.

[Betsy]

Originally Posted by Pedigree Ann

Except that he is a front-running type in a race with several other front-running types. And he is breaking from the 12 hole - gonna he hung out 4,5 wide in the first turn. There are G2 and G3 winners in here, and horses who have placed in such races. What is Mayan King's stakes experience? Finishing far back in the Lane's End. He may be a talented horse, or merely an unexposed horse. After all, his win last out was a n3x; who'd he beat? Noble Causeway? Who was beaten the same distance by Alumni Hall the time before? And I don't think AH is a likely winner.

Well, we'll have to agree to disagree. It's not fair, IMO, to count the Lane's End against him; MK got hurt in that race and it was a long time ago. I never said he was a lock to win, but I definitely think he's a contender. We'll know soon enough.

[1st_Saturday_in_May]

Doesnt have a chance in hell

I'm amazed that supposedly sophisticated racing fans are unable to properly interpret Mayan King's past performances. So please allow me to 'splain things to you.

1. He didn't race as a 2YO because of minor physical setbacks.

2. When he finally came out as a 3YO ... he won his first two times out.

3. Contessa ... always high on this horse ... put him on the Triple Crown trail ... but after shipping to Kentucky for his first stakes try ... he shattered a bone in his hind leg ... and had to sit out for 11 months.

4. Coming back with a steel bolt in his leg ... he won first time out.

5. Second start off the long layoff ... he ran into a very good horse in Rathor ... and put on a good show even though a one-turn 8f is short of his best distance of 10f.

6. Third start off the layoff ... he runs a mile on Friday just as fast as Silver Train runs the Met Mile on Saturday ... and he still had another 1/16 to go. He was so sharp that he ran on the front end ... after stalking in his previous three wins. He has now won four of the five races which he finished on four legs.

7. So Contessa takes the trouble to ship him ... plus Keith Partridge and a dufflebag full of biscotte ... all the way to Iowa ... to catch a softer field than the Suburban ... which may be a mistake ... but Belmont's leading trainer doesn't ship 1,000 miles just to see how corn grows.

There are a million ways that the best horse can lose a race ... especially when shipping and coming back from a serious injury ... but Mayan King is the clear quality in this race ... and if he runs back to his last win at Belmont ... he crushes this field.