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#1
10-03-2010, 08:11 AM
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10/3: Belmont Park (7th-10th)
Bit of a surreal day of racing at Belmont Saturday when it came to the stakes. I thought I had some clever ideas going in, but came up empty. Was able to recoup a good deal of nabob in the nightcap, but the G1 series produced a sequence of results that had patrons looking around to see whom actually had any winners to cash.
Things started honestly enough in the Vosburgh with Girolamo running a very professional race (105 Beyer) that stamps him as a principal for Churchill's Cup dash. I used him as second choice behind well-priced Wildcat Brief, but Riley Tucker was a tough horse to come up with as a runner up candidate. I keyed Wildcat Brief who ran very well late to be third, but demonstrated why races like the Vos were 7f at this time of year before the Breeders' Cup altered the late season universe. Unhurried early, the Ben Perkins trainee exploded in the final furlong to make up gallons of ground on the top pair before the wire interrupted his rally. Without a frantic early pace to set up the late run ideally, it was going to be hard for Wildcat Brief to win. Garrett Gomez told Perkins the steadily improving 4yo couldn't be motivated in the first half of the race, so he simply waited until the colt began to pick up the bit. The turf races were strangely run on a course whose condition was a curiosity going into the events. The entire Flower Bowl field ran as a pack before rallies commenced around the eighth pole. Ave was likely well down anyone's list of likely winners, and surprised even Javier Castellano who told me 'I couldn't believe how she responded when I asked'. With Red Desire not really running an "A" race, the 1-2 finishers hearkened back to the G2 New York H. in June where Ave and Changing Skies ran 3rd-2nd behind Lady Shakespeare. Roger Attfield, who has had an outstanding summer and early fall, has now won 3 of his last 9 starts in NY with 7 of 9 ITM finishes. Ave earned a 97 Beyer in the win. The Hirsch went to the increasingly impressive Winchester (100 Beyer) who went for what felt like ages after his Secretariat win at 3 before a Keeneland allowance tally in April and subsequent Manhattan surprise on Belmont Day. I cleaned my glasses after yesterday's 'swoop and score' victory, and a closer examination of his record reveals that since his Bowling Green 2nd behind Grand Couturier in September '09, the Theatrical 5yo has built a 10/3-4-2-1 record. Notable too is that 2 of the wins are G1 races turf standards at Belmont where in 2 Bowling Greens, a Manhattan and Joe Hirsch, he is 4/2-2-0. Paddy O'Prado ran a very good second that pleased Dale Romans and Jerry Crawford, and while they will immediately turn their attention to the BC Turf, I'd be trying to convince them to consider the Classic. Paddy ran a troubled trip third at the Downs in the Derby remember, and considering the way both races are shaping up, he is more eligible for board-hitting success in the $5,000,000 Classic than the $3,000,000 Turf. The Beldame went to Life at Ten (100 Beyer), and I'll simply reiterate here that Jess Jackson made as poor a decision as an owner ever has in the sport retiring Rachel Alexandra Tuesday. She would have won this race by half a pole... The Gold Cup will be examined inside out for clues toward the Classic in 5 weeks, but simply put, Harvey Weinstein's wonderfully game NY bred Haynesfield fulfilled predictions as dangerous if left to his own devices on the front end of the fall classic. Ramon Dominguez and the Speightstown 4yo were completely relaxed through the first three quarters (1:13.1) before grabbing a stranglehold on the chasing foes with a 4th quarter in :23.4 that built an insurmountable lead by the stretch. He glided home in 10 panel racehorse time of 2:02.2 which earned a 107 Beyer. Haynefield has been brilliantly handled by Steve Asmussen's year round NY assistant Toby Sheets who reveled in the Empire product's 9th victory in 13 career starts. With the win, he is now a multiple G1 winner and a millionaire as well. Behind him, Blame rallied as well as he could for a humdrum 2nd that doesn't hurt his Cup chances but does take luster of the light campaign Al Stall has fashioned for him. Fly Down hit the board for the third time in three tries in the NY G1 troika which Summer Bird swept a year ago. The big disappointment was Rail Trip who was in a word, dreadful. All in all, an interesting set of performances and results which was witnessed by a nice crowd of 10,000 or so on a gloriously beautiful Long Island day. Another good set of stakes are on tap today and I'll offer late P4 thoughts as I drive north. It seemed like we were on our way to a double carryover in the P6 Saturday, but one punter took down the entire pool with a play that returned $150k! Hope you did well and enjoyed the action... Plenty more ahead today and next week as the Breeders' Cup fields fill up! BELMONT PARK POST-SCRATCHES RACES 4, 5, 10 OFF THE TURF (YIELDING) 7th: 32nd Pilgrim (G3), 2yo, 8.5f-IT (P4, P3, DD, Super) Most Likely: #8 Soldat 9-5 2nd Next Best: #4 Air Support 6-1 WON ($12.00) Exotics Use: #2 Deciphering Dreams 6-1 3rd Super Add: #1 Dual Citizen 6-1 6th 8th: 31st Miss Grillo (G3), 2yo-F, 8.5f-IT (P3, DD) Best Value: #4 Silent Joy 8-1 5th Next Best: #11 Winter Memories 3-1 WON ($4.90) Exotics Use: #2 Pleine Forme 5-1 7th 9th: 30th Kelso H. (G2), 3+, 1m (DD, Super) Best Value: #5 Le Grand Cru 12-1 5th Next Best: #8 Regal Ransom 2-1 6th Exotics Use: #4 Tizway 7-2 WON ($7.50) Super Add: #1 Cool Coal Man 4-1 2nd 10th: NY-OC/N2X, 3+, 6f OFF THE TURF (Super) Most Likely: #14 Good Card 7th Best Value: #2 Slevin 2nd Exotics Use: #12 Citifest 4th Super Add: #6 Six Flings 3rd <$75 P4 Play: 7: 8 8: 2-4-11 9: 1-4-5-8 10: 2-4-6-12-13-14 1x3x4x6 = $72 Good luck! Steve
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All ambitions are lawful except those which climb upward on the miseries or credulities of mankind. ~ Joseph Conrad A long habit of not thinking a thing wrong, gives it a superficial appearance of being right. ~ Thomas Paine Don't let anyone tell you that your dreams can't come true. They are only afraid that theirs won't and yours will. ~ Robert Evans Last edited by Kasept : 10-04-2010 at 05:49 AM. 
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#2
10-03-2010, 11:46 AM
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__________________
All ambitions are lawful except those which climb upward on the miseries or credulities of mankind. ~ Joseph Conrad A long habit of not thinking a thing wrong, gives it a superficial appearance of being right. ~ Thomas Paine Don't let anyone tell you that your dreams can't come true. They are only afraid that theirs won't and yours will. ~ Robert Evans
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#4
10-03-2010, 12:14 PM
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Quote:
Good luck today all!
__________________
All ambitions are lawful except those which climb upward on the miseries or credulities of mankind. ~ Joseph Conrad A long habit of not thinking a thing wrong, gives it a superficial appearance of being right. ~ Thomas Paine Don't let anyone tell you that your dreams can't come true. They are only afraid that theirs won't and yours will. ~ Robert Evans
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