The Oaks

The Kentucky Oaks (broadcast: 5 – 6 PM ET on VERSUS) is shaping up to be one heck of a race.  Unlike their brothers running in the Kentucky Derby on Saturday, The Oaks has had few, although very significant (R Heat Lightning) defections and features plenty of fillies coming in after hitting the board in graded stakes races.

The morning line favorite is Joyful Victory.  The Tapit filly, trained by Larry Jones, comes into the race in great shape after two dominating victories at Oaklawn in the Honeybee and the Fantasy.  As a two year old she broke her maiden first out and then disappointed in the Frizette and then the BC Juvenile Fillies.  She was laid up after that race and moved from Anthony Dutrow’s barn to Jones’ and apparently had quite the makeover.  She came back winning the Honeybee by nearly nine and the Fantasy by seven.  Mike Smith barely asked her in either race.  Her Beyers are in the low 80’s, but it’s hard to tell just how fast she is when she hasn’t been asked.

Another filly coming in after seemingly turning a corner over the winter is Summer Soiree.  Ironically, this filly left the Jones barn after her 10 ¾ length win in the Bourbonette and is now under the care of the red hot Graham Motion.  While earning a 93 in the Bourbonette, it was also over the synthetic at Turfway, though she did earn her career best Beyer on the Oaklawn dirt in non-winners of two allowance prep. 

The Mosses have another “Z” filly this year, this time it’ll be Zazu that will look to carry the pink and green silks to the winner’s circle.  Zazu lost by a shrinking neck in her seasonal debut in the Santa Ynez at Santa Anita but added an additional furlong and a win in the Las Vergennes.  Stretching out to a mile and sixteenth for the Santa Anita Oaks, the filly came up a neck short with her rally but proved she could get the distance.

Then there is Kathmablu.  Trained by Ken McPeek, Kathmanblu has been a monster at times on the race track.  She closed out her two year old campaign with a dominating win in the Grade II Goldenrod, went back on the turf to win the Sweetest Chant at Gulfstream after being as far as 11 lengths back and then topped the Grade III Rachel Alexandra at the Fairgrounds at a mile and a sixteenth.  Her latest effort in the Ashland had her ready to pounce entering the lane and flattening out to finish third. 

Rounding out the top five in the morning line is the Sunland Park Oaks winner Plum Pretty.  She’s only had four career races for Bob Baffert with the first three adequate, though not spectacular.  She reserved spectacular for the Sunland Park Oaks were, as the overwhelming favorite, she absolutely decimated the field by twenty five lengths while earning a career (and field) best 99 Beyer in the process.  Drawing post position 12 and wanting to race near the front end may be a bit problematic and until she can duplicate the Sunland race against sturdier competition, I’m going to have to bet against her in here.

If JJ Castellano, on board Ashland winner Lilacs and Lace, heads to the front and challenges Summer Soiree for the lead, the race is going to set up nicely for either Joyful Victory or Kathmanblu.  In that scenario I would give the edge to Joyful Victory.  Her break before the Ashland wasn’t enough to say she needed a race.  I don’t think we’ve seen the bottom of Joyful Victory yet, however and that Mike Smith would prevail with her in a stretch drive.

However, that’s not how I see this race shaping up.  I think that Summer Soiree has the speed advantage over Lilacs and Lace, especially over the dirt.  Her pedigree says she can get the distance (447 Tomlinson number for the mile and an eighth) and should she shake off the other speed early and can take the field through a half or three quarters uncontested, then the closers are going to have a tough go with her in the lane.  My exacta?  I’m going to box her with Daisy Devine.  The Fairgrounds Oaks winner has Beyers that have improved with each and every race indicating that we may not have seen her top yet.  She doesn’t need the front but should be lying close enough.  Depending on the tote board, she may even be the win bet in this race.

Officially, here are my top 4:

Summer Soiree

Daisy Devine

Kathmanblu

Zazu

Handicapping Breeder's Cup Day 2 - Very Similar to Day 1

The similarity is not good either. As you recall, day one was a train wreck. Day 2 was not much better. Plenty of close, but never the cigar.

Juvenile Turf

I had this one surrounded, but left out Pounced. He certainly lived up to his name and Interactif, while in good position throughout, never had a second gear in the lane. I knew Bridgetown wouldn't get the mile, but missed on who would nail him in the stretch.

Finish: My top 3 finished 3rd, 2nd and 5th.

Turf Sprint

In order for this one to work out for me, Canadian Ballet had to go with California Flag. As I mentioned on the Show, if he's alone down the hill it's all over but the shouting. Canadian Ballet didn't and it was.

Finish: My top 3 finished 4th, 11th and 1st.

Sprint

OK. We ALL missed this one, so I don't feel too badly about it. My only mention of the winner, Dancing in Silks, was that he needed to go wire to wire for the win. Uh...no, no he didn't. Boxcar payouts on this one.

Finish: My top 3 finished 8th, 4th and 5th.

Juvenile

Another one that the world missed. Disregarded 30-1 shot Vale of York out headed hard charging favorite Looking at Lucky. It was another half back to my choice Noble's Promise.

Finish: My top 3 finished 3rd, 2nd and 13th.

Mile

I took a stand against Goldikova on this one strictly on value. My choice, Justenuffhumor (16-1) finished very well, but left too much work for the end. The filly did it again. As I mentioned in the Show, the performance of Zacinto and Delegator would be a bellwether on Rip Van Winkle's chances in the Classic. They folded and he never had a shot.

Finish: My top 3 finished 3rd, 1st and 11th.

Synthetic Mile

My lock of the day, Mastercraftsman, was hardly a master of his craft today. Another boxcar payoff when 21-1 Furthest Land won followed by 24-1 Ready's Echo.

Finish: My top 3 finished 4th, 9th and 3rd.

Turf

I thought I had the tri in this one, but Spanish Moon, trying to rate in 2nd most of the way, displayed no close and was passed by Dar Re Mi heading into the stretch. I gambled on Presious Passion holding on to win and, despite a very gutsy performance in the stretch, was nailed by favored Conduit.

Finish: My top 3 finished 2nd, 4th and 1st.

Classic

I had her wrong. I did not think Zenyatta would hit the board. My reasoning was the field was too large and too talented to give her the opportunity to win unless she was rated closer to the pace. When Quality Road scratched and she showed so much reluctance to load - both times - I figured I was spot on and she was a goner. Hardly. Mike Smith was stellar and the race was one for the ages. Absolutely magnificent.

Finish: My top 3 finished 4th, scratched and 10th.

It was a tough weekend. When I went for value, the chalk won. When I went for chalk, the long shot won. Sometimes you have days like that. Usually you don't have them so public that the world can see, but it is what it is and I'll take the good with the bad.

I'll recap the races in a bit more detail on the radio show Wednesday night, 9PM Central on Blog Talk Radio.

Saturday's Breeder's Cup Selections

Here are my picks for the Saturday edition of the Breeder's Cup. For a more detailed analysis, click on the Blog Talk Radio player to the left after 12:35 PM Central Time and listen to today's preview show.

Juvenile Turf

Interactif appears to be the one to beat in here. While some others have the ability to jump up from their latest starts, I'm going with the chalk here.

1. Interactif
2. Bridgetown
3. Buzzword

Turf Sprint

California Flag will set the early pace. If Canadian Ballet pushes him along, the race opens ups a bit for Diamondrella and Delta Storm.

1. Delta Storm
2. Diamondrella
3. California Flag

Sprint

This race begins with Zensational wanting to wire the field. As in the Turf Sprint, others will need some help hooking the frontrunner. Fatal Bullet and long shot Dancing in Silks fit the bill in here to help set things up for Capt Candyman Can and Gayego.

1. Captain Candyman Can
2. Gayego
3. Zensational

Juvenile

Undefeated Looking at Lucky will be a short priced favorite as he's won around two turns and loves the Pro-Ride. D'Funnybone has been tearing it up back East, but hasn't gone long yet. An option at a price could be Noble's Promise who appears to be peaking at the right time.

1. Noble's Promise
2. Looking at Lucky
3. D'Funnybone

Turf Mile

Goldikova is favored to repeat and is joined by a couple of other Euros, Zacitno and Delegator, that could make for a European sweep. A sleeper at a price: Justenuffhumor who loves the turf firm and should be obliged today.

1. Justenuffhumor
2. Goldikova
3. Zacinto

Synthetic Mile

My best bet of the day appears in this race. Mastercraftsman appears to clearly be the best of this group.

1. Mastercraftsman
2. Bullsbay
3. Midshipman

Turf

I'd really like to pass on this race, but if you're going public, you have to go all out. Conduit will try and defend his title while American Presious Passion will run out to a big lead and try to hold on.

1. Presious Passion
2. Spanish Moon
3. Conduit

Classic

Undefeated Zenyatta really steps it up here in an attempt to wrest Horse of the Year honors from Rachel Alexandra. Throw in the Derby winner, the Belmont winner, the QE2 winner as well as sentimental favorite Einstein and you have a lot of entertaining story lines. But the race is about running, not story lines and I think that Summer Bird will handle this field and Zenyatta, caught in traffic, won't hit the board.

1. Summer Bird
2. Quality Road
3. Rip Van Winkle

There you have it. My choices for Breeder's Cup Saturday 2009. Best of luck everyone!

The Silks

According to horseandhound.com, on October 4, 1762 at Newmarket, the English Jockey Club adopted the following resolution:

“For the greater convenience of distinguishing the horses in running, and also for the prevention of disputes arising from not knowing the colors of each rider, the under-mentioned gentleman have come to the resolution and agreement of having the colors annexed to their names, worn by their respective riders:"

Following this resolution was a list of the who's who of English racing and their respective colors to be memorialized for all time. This tradition spread to the new world and is in practice today. Some are very traditional like the Phipps black and red. Some are colorful and distinctive like the red, white and blue AP of Allen Paulson. Many are made up of solids, checks, stripes, stars. Virtually all are bright and colorful and reflect the distinctive personality of their stables. The one thing they all have in common: there was some method to the madness. Somewhere behind each set of silks is a story. I've heard stories as simple as I liked the pattern and the colors. Some reflect logos and other designs important to the creator. Here is one guy's thought process on the colors you see above (back view - front in these same, but with buttons).

I wanted to be traditional in the sense that I didn't want to be too overly designed. I didn't want some goofy crazy logo and was hoping to retain some class while still being distinctive. The job of logo design fell to my cousin, Christopher Kokinos, Partner and COO of The Halo Project (www.thehaloproject.com), a marketing/public relations/brand positioning company based in NYC. Actually, they are much, much more than that. I would encourage any of you looking for any kind of marketing assistance to visit the website and see what this remarkable team brings to the table.

I told Christopher what I wanted - a 'g' with a halo. Sounds simple enough, but I didn't really have a clear vision, so I asked him for a couple of versions and he sent me a 14 page .pdf document with some great variations on the 'g'. There were different fonts and styles as well as the incorporation of a horse head with the 'g' in several different styles. The creativity was very impressive. All of the folks that have seen all the variations were very impressed. Obviously I settled on the above design, but if any of you want to see all the options, please let me know. All designs are, of course, the property of The Halo Project and cannot be used, but you can see the creativity and thought that was put into the project.

The royal blue, white and gray combined to form the colors of my two alma maters - Peabody Veterans Memorial High School (Peabody, MA) and Colby College (Waterville, ME). The 'g', of course, is for Grevelis. The halo choice was two-fold, though both are related to my wife, Theri: she is a big fan of angels - one room of our house is actually called our 'Angel Room' and she collects angels of all kinds; and, most importantly, she is my angel. Pink is her favorite color and a shout-out to her.

What was left was to combine them as traditionally as possible while still maintaining some distinctiveness. I decided on white sleeves with a royal blue body. Rather than enclose the logo in a circle or something else, I decided to have it sewn on the body sans adornment. I really liked the results. I'm even more excited to see them on our jock, flying down the stretch at Canterbury Park and, hopefully, in the winner's circle.

Why Just My Name?

I look over the long and gloried history of horse racing and the names of farms and stables are legendary - Meadow Farm, Claiborne, Hanover Shoe, etc. So when the time came to form an LLC, I tried to come up with an inventive name. Sadly, I'm just not that creative. My friend David Miller named his bloodstock and racing business Star of the North. How great is that? Seriously, he incorporated his love of his home state in the name and as it turns out we all want our horses to be stars. It works on a lot of levels.

I turned first to my college - Colby College in Waterville, ME. I didn't want to use 'Colby' in the name because of the proliferation as Colby for a first name. Additionally, there are probably trademark infringements that I really didn't want to take the time to research. I could have gone with the nickname, but who wants to join a racing stable named "White Mule" racing? Not exactly the message you want to deliver!

So I go back to high school. Peabody Veterans Memorial High School in Peabody, MA. The Tanners. You probably didn't know that Peabody once held claim to be the largest producer of leather in the world early in the 20th century until labor and land got too expensive and the factories turned to cheaper areas, like rural Maine and then overseas. Proud as we are of being the Leather City - and some of my ancestors toiled in those factories to make it so; I didn't think reveling in tanned animal hides gave off the proper impression either. Sure I could have gone with Peabody, but everyone would pronounce it wrong (it's quickly straight through, not like Mr. Pea-Body of cartoon fame - another strike against it, by the way) and that would have drove me insane.

All the racing related stuff I could think of was taken - Winner's Circle, Down the Stretch, etc. And I'm not particularly creative, either. I can put together a profitable business deal, but coming up with something catchy or drawing...not so much. My cousin Christopher, an outstanding graphic designer in NYC, got that gene. In fact, I will be blogging about the silks soon and the logo that he created for me. Fantastic job. But that's another post.

So what did that leave? It left me to come up with the compelling name of Grevelis Racing Stable. I went that route mainly because I couldn't think of anything else, truth be told. But also, it was a decision that if I was going to do this and do it right, I'd be willing to stake my name and reputation on it. Now it's out there for all to see, to live and die, win or lose. I'm OK with that. It's some added pressure, but that's OK. I am committed to doing things the right way by my partners and my horses and I hope that will lead to success on the track.

The one sad thing? After I filed the LLC papers and started up the website, I realized that Donald Trump did the same thing. THAT was a comparison I would have liked to have avoided...