COUNTRY STAR

Wow, what a great filly!!! Sets a track record in the Hollywood Starlet as a two year old. She is big like Rags to Riches was though for a two year old. She is out of Empire Maker who is out of Unbridled. Empire Maker won the Belmont and was 2nd in the derby. Unbridled, of course, won the derby. Bottomside is the mare Rings a Chime who was second in the Kentucky Oaks. I'd like to see this filly on a conventional dirt track, but she is easily the front runner for the Oaks on May 2nd. Bobby Flay's filly, Grace and Power, looked excellent in the paddock and ran a strong second.

GOOD NEWS-BAD NEWS

Lava Man is not retired. The old guy is still just out to pasture. Hopefully, it refreshes him or one has to hope the connections will truly retire him. I highly recommend the DVD "The Story of Lava Man".
Quickly, two more for the derby watch...Massive Drama and Into Mischief. Massive Drama is out of sire Kafwain who never won anything more than 9 furlongs. Out of an OK(as in the state) mare Peyvon. Yeah, we're reaching a bit to include him, but we should know more in 8 days with the running of the futurity at Hollywood. Into Mischief is out of multi gradaed stakes winner Harlan's Holiday and unraced mare Leslies Lady whom throws a ton of classic points from her pedigree onto him. I think that brings us to around 16 now so we'll watch Shore Do and Old Man Buck before adding them and see who else pops up in the next few weeks.
Country Star looks good for the Starlet tomorrow, but Spritely, Grace Anatomy, and Foxy Danseur should figure into the mix. The Oaks could be a very interesting race with the group of two year old fillies we've seen so far.

TWO RUMORS

What is this? The Us weekly of horse racing? Celebrity sitings, gossip, etc. Next, I'll include horoscopes for horses. Wow, the numerologist could have a field day. OK, here we go. There is a rumor on several web sites that Lava Man has been retired. If he has, I can not wait for the day that all three tracks in soCal honor him and plan on being there to see him one last time. He'll forever be on my phone staring me down @ Santa Anita before winning the Sunshines Millions as one of the ones that got me "hooked".
Here is maybe the funnier of the two...Supposedly, "Smokin' Joe Talamo is dating Ron Ellis' daughter and will see some live mounts out of it. The last time I checked, he wasn't having too much trouble getting live mounts, but I love that this has been "leaked" on other horse racing websites. The fact that he is 18 and a millionaire and I keep repeating the phrase "live mounts" is ridiculous. Be good and bet heavy(but not on Mr.Wolverine, he is my single on thurs.)

10/24-25/2008

THREE MORE RACES ADDED TO BREEDER'S CUP FRIDAY!!!!!!!! Though they are tricky ones, what a great two day in a row Pick 6 will be offered. This year we will see the Dirt Marathon @ one and one half miles, Turf Sprint @ 6.5F and the Juvenile Fillies Turf @ a mile. In addition, friday will include Filly & Mare Sprint, Dirt Mile, and Juvenile Turf. We won't have to watch the skies too much that week to see how the track will play if Santa Anita can get the drainage fixed the next week. The only question, will be horses with little or no experience on synthetic and the different synthetic surfaces that prep races might come from. Let's get through the Triple Crown first, but the Breeder's Cup just gets better and better.

TWO TWO YEAR OLD RACES IN THE BOOKS

We'll add two horses with hesitation to the list because they ran well, fit in pedigree, and we have room on the list. We aren't dropping off any horses yet because the delta Downs race was run at such fast fractions and in such an odd style to result in the dead heat no one can fault the horses involved. Z Humor looked to be in the perfect spot and was, but where and how Turf War got up is a mystery. He is so off camera so much of the race, one can only guess how he looked earlier on, but the finish and ground he made up was oddly familiar to the ride Street Sense got last year under Borel in the derby. So with that, we add him. He is out of an unraced mare named Grass Skirt and lightly raced Dixie Union on top. He comes with a CD of .75 and is 3/5 win with a place. I'm not jumping in his corner, but would include him in the c-d ranks of a superfecta for that closing ability alone. Turf War was bred in Ky. , but trains in Canada as of late. The winner of the Derby has only come from Canada twice and they were both bred in Canada. Northern Dnacer in '64 and Sunny's Halo in '83.
The other horse we'll add is Giant Moon. He also has a CD of .75 and is out of Giants Causeway. He is New York bred and I'm not sure I'm ready to go big thinking he is the next Funny Cide, but might be another to include in c-d ranks of trifectas and superfectas. He looks like he would've finished fourth in the Delta Downs race friday and we'll choose not to include Golden Yank who ran a game third(2nd) on friday. Both of these additions seem to be more boxcar covers in supers than true contenders, but it's early and they have proved they can win at a mile and a 16th against their peers.

CD of DERBY PICKS, SO FAR

To give us an idea of CD index of the last two years we will use two horse that last won the Derby and one that should have... Street Sense(.68), Barbaro(.70), and Curlin(1.05). After friday's race at Delta Downs we should have at least one or two probable starters and then after the 22nd at Hollywoood a couple of more probable starters. By the way, horses with Storm Cat 1st and 2nd back are running well over synthetic in it's early stages. Remembering that the Derby will be run on conventional dirt Smart Strike, Street Cry, Dynaformer, A.P. Indy, Pulpit and Tale of the Cat(whom may be more of a Preakness producer)might be the best sires to look to. With all the non-sense pedigree-capping, here's the list so far:

Denis of Cork (.36)
Kodiak Kowboy (.58)
Colonel John (.64)
Slew's Tiznow (.67)
Cave's Valley (.69)
Tale of Ekati (.71)
Racecar Rhapsody (.73)
Z Humor (.75)
Sequoyah (.78)
Blackberry Road (.83)
Majestic Warrior (.86)
Bet a Tron (.96)
Court Vision (.96)
Pyro (1.06)



If not for a fast trip we hope for all, at least a safe one.

LAST ONE, I PROMISE

Z HUMOR-Sire Distorted Humor has produced Funny Cide, Hystericalady, and Any Given Saturday as of late. Underneath he gets A.P. Indy unraced mare Offtheoldblock. This is the colt they "mention" in her pedigree inquiry.

SERIOUSLY, JUST ONE MORE...

until the third week-end of Dec. after the futurity @ Hollywood. We have to add Cane's Valley to the Derby watch. Buckpasser on top, Secretariat top and bottom, out of the solid A.P. Indy stallion Stephen Got Even. Five months to go and I'm already feeling my self absorption into the Derby and what can follow afterwards. I'm not sure how many this makes the list, but promise to keep it under twenty and then start narrowing down the first week of March right up to May 3rd.
They are trying to fix the drainage problem at Santa Anita before their meet starts in three weeks. Horses will be training on the "sandy" inner training track or shipped over to Hollywood. Either way, works are a bit compromised for the first week or two of the meet with this taking place. Would require a good performance last out on Santa Anita to qualify a horse. The consitency on top will not be changing. Underneath will now have a "larger sand" to allow drainage without blocking itself into the concrete and creating a seal along with the waxes and other synthetic materials. Better to fix all this now than next year when it will all be more in the public eye than ever.

THREE MORE

Bet a Tron who has Buckpasser 4 back underneath. Slew's Tiznow whom qualifies on being out of Tiznow alone. Lastly, Racecar Rhapsody out of A.P. Indy mare Reflect the Music with some Storm Cat influence on top. The list can not be more than twenty. At that point I will take out lesser qualifying candidates. Just a sidenote, I made it on to the DRF website today under Steven Crist's blog responses. He threw out some questions re: Cal racing and synthetic and I threw out my opinion.

THREE TO ADD FOR EARLY DERBY WATCH

Kodiak Kowboy is 6/7 in the money with lifetime earnigs over $540K He is out of Posse who is out of Silver Deputy whom gave us Ky. Derby winner Silver Charm. Blackberry Road has finished 2nd in two Grade III races and is out of Gone West. Denis of Cork has only raced one, but we have seen the lightly raced theory work lately. He is a Florida Bred out of multi stkes winner and 16-22 ITM horse Harlans Holiday.

GREG'S GOLD CONTINUES PLAY AGAINST THEORY

Off as the even money favorite in the Underwood Stakes, Greg's Gold ran a game third. Breeder's Cup races and the travelling might just take a lot out of the horse and they seem to remain a play against at short odds. Lots of value at Hollywood today after the chalkfest saturday. Of course, Nakatani had an objection in the feature race. He claims Talamo hit his horse with his whip around the 16th pole. What a load....(not on the replays I watched).He should spend more time at the golf course teaching Espinoza what the two need to do when they retire. Which can't come soon enough for Victor. Dreadful rides of late. The colony is switching. P.Val is trying to come back, Nakatani and Espinoza can't find their old glory, Solis is solid but looks like the cold is getting to his back. Gomez, Bejarano, both Baze boys, Talamo, Mike Smith, Martin Garcia are much more trustworthy on value horses than the "oldies but goodies" with favorites.

DIXIE CHATTER OUT

Dixie Chatter suffered an ankle injury this week and will have to be given a couple of months off. Richard Mandella was pretty sure this ruled out any chance for the Derby on May 3rd.
Romance is Diane($7.00) ran a great race on saturday(track record) fighting off Tough Tiz Sis. Once again, showing that horses running last out Breeder's Cup races might be a "play against" at too short of a price. Another horse to watch will be the Pletcher trained Talk of a Cat. He ran third in his debut and broke his maiden saturday in emphatic fashion. Only after unseating Garrett Gomez as he came onto the track. Luckily, these two horses were my singles in the Pick 4. With the late scratch of the 1 in the 7th race I automatically got the 8 splitting my two tickets into 4 tickets alive going into the last race with the 1,2,7, covered in all of them. Unfortunately, my horses ran 2nd, 4th, and 6th to M Biarritz(16.40) and my win/place saver bet on him wasn't quite as exciting as cashing four winning pick four tickets. The wife and I had several beers bought for us at Whittingham's though and there were some great people with some great stories. If you go to hollywood Park, you have to stop at Whittingham.s and see the bartender, Naomi. A great character of the track.