D-Fence

Tweet Nice work by Channing Hill yesterday (I am officially on the band wagon) and congrats for posting his first Grade I victory in First Defence's ($17.80) victory over heavily-favored Lucky Island who stumbled at the gate and couldn't recover, per the Puma's text notes (and confirmed in the DRF charts). I was a shut-out viewer when I discovered in the early afternoon that the HRTV channel was hawking some kind of vacuum cleaner and doesn't show live racing until the evening here in Central PA. Why the Woodward and Forego (both excellent Grade I races) wouldn't be on the national TV schedule is beyond me. A visit to the Self-Appointed Fan Committee is definitely in order (the SpaceGal, collector of foam hands, loves the site's foam hand logo btw). Scheduled to be at an in-law dinner at exactly the time of the Woodward, I was relegated to the Puma supplying me text messages from our usual table to see if my Pick-3 survived (it did, thanks to Channing and Curlin!).

3:59 update: The Saratoga Resident failed in a Toga-Bflo attempt yesterday posting a 4:10, failing to remember the bladder rule and holiday weekend avoidance noted in a past post here. After a tremendous two hour fraction to the Cuse, he flattened out in the stretch, ala Lucky Island.

La Chica Rica ran into her arch nemesis All Giving, yesterday at Timonium, finishing second in the $50K Alda North Stakes. All Giving's impressive gate to wire finish stopped Chica's win streak at five. She picked up a cool $10K for the finish. She made a charge around the top of the stretch, but All Giving was just too much for her yesterday. I missed it live as the DRF entries said it was going off at 4:27pm, when actually it went off at 4:12pm (wtf?) so I watched it on twinspires race replays before heading out to dinner?! How does that happen? We'll keep you posted on Chica's next race to start her next streak.

With three winner yesterday, Edgar Prado is craftily edging his way into the race with a strong close for the jockey title. He currently sits in third, one behind Johnny V and four behind leader Alan Garcia who reneged on his commitment to Zayat Stables' Alaazo in the Pennsylvania Derby in his attempt to stave off JV and Edgar in the Toga jockey race. Two days remain at the meet and my Toga contest, it looks like it might come down to the tie-breaker (who will have the best jockey earnings of those tied). Here's rooting for some late charges by the Toddster and Prado.

Today's feature, the Grade 3 Saranac, has some interesting entries. Pletcher's Ready's Echo, last seen dead-heating for third in the Belmont is the morning line favorite trying turf for the first time. Former Bella Cavello trainer Debbie England ships in Marlang from Woodbine with regular rider Dos Ramos, the winner of the Breeders' Turf (third leg of Canadian Triple Crown) and the red-hot George Weaver enters Thou Swell, second place finisher in the G2 Hall of Fame. Lastly, the ever present Nistle's Crunch, who has faced some really tough competition this year, ships in for his first try at the Spa. I like a Swell/Crunch exacta box here, as I don't like the first time on turf for Echo and I think Marlang will face tougher competition than he's seen to date.