Breeder's Cup Day Two - In the Books

The day didn’t start much better than yesterday and, for some, ended in extreme heartbreak. Let’s recap.

Betting overview

Six Races (one choice was a late scratch)
Two wins

That's it! Go big or go home. I like to think of myself as picking winners at a 33% rate rather than failing miserably!! Thankfully I did have the exacta in the Classic keying Zenyatta under my choice (Haynesfield) and Blame. Helped save the day.

Juvenile Turf

Apparently we couldn’t start the day without SOME kind of drama. In the 1st Cup race of the day, Rosie Napravnik’s mount, the aptly named Rough Sailing, slid heading into the first turn dumping Rosie and taking him out of the race. Horse and rider bounced right up, but Rough Sailing was vanned off. Reportedly he had some swelling in the right front and was taken back to the barn for a radiograph where it was discovered he fractured his shoulder in the fall. He was later euthanized. A terrible start to Breeder’s Cup Day Two.

As far as the racing goes, underdog Pluck, in a rerun of the Summer Stakes, tracked the pace and, again, “swept by furlong out” in what looked like a really easy win. Soldat and Willcox Inn rounded out the tri. I ignored the home team at my own peril with my choice, European Master of Hounds, well placed heading into the stretch had no real run through the lane finishing 6th.

Pluck
Soldat
Willcox Inn

Sprint

No drama with Big Drama. As I mentioned in the show and in the preview, Big Drama could have been four for four in 2010 with better starts in his last two. A clean start and a rough one from the other speed in the race, Pashito the Che, all added up to a wire to wire win in the Sprint. Long shot Hamazing Destiny, who prepped for this race in a $65,000 Optional Claiming race, was up for place while Synthetic specialist Smiling Tiger finished third.

Once again the equine ambulance was out as Atta Boy Roy pulled up after the finish line. Calvin Borel bolted off the horse and got the ambulance over in a hurry where he was vanned off for radiographs. Early indications were a suspensory ligament issue but turned out to be just a superficial cut. Thank goodness, we could not handle two breakdowns in a row on national television.

Big Drama (Choice)
Hamazing Destiny
Smiling Tiger

Turf Sprint

Thankfully there were no incidents in the running of the Turf Sprint. There was also no win for me, either. Favored Silver Timber (my choice) was well placed but had no oomph at all in the lane finishing out of the money. Chamberlain Bridge was much the best as he was placed well and made a very strong move in the stretch to take all the marbles. My second choice, Center City, was second best while the filly, Unzip Me, finished third.

After this race we were to be switched to ESPN. However the Breeder’s Cup coverage was in limbo for a while waiting for the fabulous OT battle between crappy has-been Michigan and never-was Illinois to be decided. Great day for racing. Thankfully we all got to see Michigan rise to 2-3 in the Big 10.

Chamberlain Bridge
Center City
Unzip Me

Juvenile

Let the Derby hype begin! An absolute ass-kicking by Uncle Mo. I had said it was his to lose and it was all Uncle Mo at Churchill today. Johnny Velasquez confidently rode him the entire way looking very much like he knew he had it from the break. It wasn’t s huge exacta, but I’ll take it as Boys at Tuscanova finished second with pacesetter Rogue Romance holding on for 3rd. The question, as asked by the ESPN staff, is can the Indian Charlie colt get a mile and a quarter. Until then, wow, what a performance.

Uncle Mo (Choice)
Boys at Tuscanova
Rogue Romance

Mile

The Goldikova Breeder’s Cup Mile. Fabulous race by a fabulous mare. She was sitting sixth heading into the stretch and then Goldikova exploded through the stretch to draw off to an easy win. My choice, Sidney’s Candy, led most of the way around but faded in deep stretch to finish out of the money. He just couldn’t ration his speed throughout the race and had nothing left in the tank. Goldikova's jockey Olivier Plesier was asked if he was concerned at any point in the race and matter-of-factly said no, which was obvious by the confident way he rode her. Hats off to a wonderful champion. Gotta feel for Gio Ponti, meeting once in a lifetime mares two years in a row. Helluva job all the way around.

Goldikova
Gio Ponti
The Usual Q.T.

Dirt Mile

The closest finish of the weekend and 36-1 shot Dakota Phone prevails over Morning Line with old warrior Gayego picking up the third. Favorite and my choice Here Comes Ben was well positioned throughout and just had nothing in the tank in the stretch. I never saw this one coming, but then judging by the payouts, no one else did either!

Sad footnote: Mine That Bird finishes 10th and will be thankfully retired. Reaching around to pat myself on the back, here is a quote from my day after the Derby blog:

“It's my opinion that other than going back to Sunland and winning some local stakes races, Mine That Bird will not take the racing world by storm.”

Obviously I was wrong – he didn’t even do that!

Dakota Phone (36-1!!)
Morning Line
Gayego

Turf

I hardly know how to break this one down. I’d like to think that I didn’t care much about this one because Workforce (my choice) scratched and it was the race before the Classic. The pace was boring, the stretch run was less than stirring, all the talking heads were all over Behkabad and he was a major disappointment. He could not have asked for a better trip and he was less than impressive. Let’s just leave it at that and move on.

Dangerous Midge
Champ Pegasus
Behkabad

Classic

She didn’t do it. Maybe with a better break. Maybe if Mike Smith had hustled her a bit more. Maybe if Blame weakened just a bit in the stretch. A lot of maybes in this one, but of one thing there is no maybe: Blame is one tough racehorse. He took the lead and never relinquished it, even when the big mare was eating into his lead. When Zenyatta came up to his sights, he dug down for more and would not let he pass. As an aside, my choice, Haynesfield, ran with the lead pack and folded. Thankfully I had a boxed exacta including Blame and Zenyatta to save me a couple of shekels.

Blame
Zenyatta
Fly Down

More on the Horse of the Year debate later.

A Visit, A Fade & A Change

Three of the five of us in Fizzy Pop's (Slew Gin Fizz-Pop Pop BB Gun-Red Ryder) ownership group took a ride down to Canterbury yesterday to check up on how our boy is doing. Sure, we could have just called our trainer, Bernell Rhone, and asked, but what fun is that? Besides, Laura needed to get her license anyhow in case our race filled this weekend and none of the rest of us that picked up our badges were around. So we worked hard in the office for an hour or two to get a bit ahead of the game and took an early lunch to go see our boy.

A trip to the backside when you only have one horse in training can be a bit anticlimactic. It ends up being a grand total of an hour and a half of drive time back and forth and you spend maybe 10 minutes with your horse. It's still 10 minutes very well spent, in my opinion. I'm sure Fizzy was disappointed as well because the last couple of times I've been by I brought peppermints and this time I had my wife's car so I didn't have any with me. I know he enjoys them, but better yet, I knew that Laura and Josh would have enjoyed feeding him a couple. A definite opportunity missed there.

The dogs were still up on the back side when we got there so we parked just inside the security gate and started to walk over to the Rhone barn. On the way we ran into Lianne Rhone (maybe Butler? I'm not sure if she uses Butler or not, mental note to ask next time) who rides Fiz from time to time in the morning and is basically an assistant trainer in the barn. She remarked at how well Fizzy worked Tuesday and how strong he is. She mentioned that Dean (jockey Butler) said he was striding great. Then the bad-ish news. When Bernell pulled up he said it didn't look like the race we were targeting was going to fill. He was right. It didn't and so we wait. In the interim we had a nice visit with Fizzy. I promised Laura I wouldn't put her picture up, but I made no such promise to Josh, so there he and Fiz are up on the the top of the page.

I Am Woman Fades to Fifth

I Am Woman tried to get off the snide at Pocono last night and all did not go well. It actually was hauntingly familiar. She came off the gate really well but got beat to the turn by Allamerican Excel who was dropping in from $7000. It was a change in tactic for Andrew McCarthy driving Allamerican Excel as she's been trying to come off the pace from the outside posts she's been saddled with. The change in tactics worked as once she got the lead from our gal, she wired the field and won drawing off by 7 3/4 lengths in 1:53.3. Fifth, where I Am Woman finished, was clocked at 1:55.2, or .1 out of second. If you were a glass half empty person, she was also only .2 out of 8th.

The positive here is that she paced faster then she ever has and her last quarter was :30 flat, better than her previous efforts. A few big negatives: she once again was passed in the stretch, which is disheartening; and while it may have been her fastest mile to date, it was only by a tenth of a second. I don't call the shots with her, so I'm not sure what's next. While the purse money in PA is great, it's not that great if you never win any of it. That said, shipping her all over creation is expensive and counter-productive as well. Her pedigree is nice enough (Blissful Hall-Wild Proposition-Laag) but without much of anything distinguishing her on the racetrack, it's tough to make a case for breeding her.

Borel Off of Mine That Bird. Period.

After learning that Clavin Borel may opt off Kentucky Derby winner Mine That Bird in the West Virginia Derby (Gr. II) for a ride in the Jim Dandy (Gr. II) on the same day, trainer Chip Woolley asked Calvin to commit to his horse for the season. Borel apparently could not do that and that sent Woolley looking for a new rider. I can understand Woolley's point. I have a Derby winner and Triple Crown contender and you only want to ride him when you have nothing better going on? You'd think the Kentucky Derby winner - and the only horse to hit the board in all three Triple Crown races - would get a little more respect than that.

I kind of look at it this way: I understand the Rachel Alexandra deal. She is a special, once in a lifetime kind of horse. Mine That Bird is not. That said, I don't believe he is the flash in the pan that I thought he was after the Derby either. The fact that he is a gelding and could race in the major handicap races over the next two to three years should be a factor in Borel's decision. Sure, one bad step and that's that, but I'm not sure if he has to "live for the moment" in this spot. Again, I can understand taking the ride on Rachel, but to leave the Derby winner for Warrior's Reward? I don't see it.

Derby Streak Remains Intact; Fizzy Pop Runs a Solid Second

Apparently I'm nothing if not consistent. That and my Derby jinx is even more powerful than imagined.

Plenty of analysis of the race can be found with my fellow TBA Bloggers. Just go to the home page via that hyperlink and clink on any article that strikes your fancy. I'm not going to break down Mine That Bird's win here. Suffice to say: HUGE upset; never would have bet him in a million years; best Beyer (until yesterday) is the same as Fizzy Pop's; don't know if we'll hear from this one ever again.

My jinx has reached a new low this year. I Want Revenge (probably what the connections think about me - if they had a clue who I was or what I did to them) comes up with heat in the ankle the morning of the race and scratches. The jinx then devolves on poor Friesan Fire who not only loses, but finishes second to last! Maybe next year I find myself a 50-1 shot and let a favorite win?

Some of my final thoughts from Derby Day 2009:

I commend the connections of I Want Revenge for deciding to scratch the horse. Heat is never a good sign in the legs and joints of a racehorse and they absolutely did the right thing disregarding any pressure they may have felt by scratching the morning line favorite the morning of the Derby.

It's my opinion that other than going back to Sunland and winning some local stakes races, Mine That Bird will not take the racing world by storm. Please give me your thoughts with the poll above left.

Gerry Bailey had a good point on the ESPN radio telecast I was listening to after the race. There were wonders aloud how the rail could have opened up for Borel and Mine That Bird. Gerry mentioned: the slower horses that knew they were out of it were not focused on cutting off the rail for Borel. The four of five horses in front were so focused on winning the race and the "contenders" they were racing with, they never gave a thought to him. Bob Baffert was less forgiving in an interview after the race when he stated that, and I'm paraphrasing, They knew the rail was gold and they just left it open for him.

FIZZY RALLIES FOR SECOND

In other Derby Day news - I just like saying that, of course we raced in Florida...still Derby Day, though - Fizzy Pop finished strongly for second place in a $16,000 Claiming race at Tampa Bay Downs. Grato Recuerdo, a Chilean bred, ran just off the pace and tried pulled clear in the stretch. Fizzy broke well, worked his way up the pack, found some clear sailing on the outside but came up just a neck short. A very nice ride by Dean Butler had Fizzy well positioned to make his run, but he ended up just short.

We're won our share of close ones, so I guess it was only a matte of time before we lost one. Still, it was a strong effort to build on and Fizzy finishes his comeback meet at Tampa with two seconds in three starts. He'll move to Canterbury on Monday and get ready to make his debut in front of his partners (most of them anyway) later in the month of May.