Monday Evening Quarterback

Tweet Since I couldn't get to the blogometer this morning, I'm submitting a brief Monday Evening QB post, before heading off to the Big Apple for a quick three-day getaway aplumb with a little Broadway, Yankees-Bosox via the Yankee Clipper and hangin out around Columbus Circle, so I'll be away from the horses for a few days decompressing.

- Congrats to Saratoga Spa from They're in the Gate for his closest selection for the attendance question in my Toga contest, guessing 42,500, closest to the sun-drenched (it looked sunny on my slingbox) 40,723 fans. It's going to come down to leading trainer and jock and after today, Kieran McLaughlin has tied Pletcher at 13 wins. Alan Garcia leads Johnny V by one win in the jockey race. It's still anyone's contest to win.

- Thoroughly enjoyed watching the Travers card, certainly much more than I did betting on it. I played a bunch of doubles only to falter on the back end in a number of races including the Travers where I was alive to four horses (Macho, Rocker, Pyro and Tres Borrachos) after successfully selecting Visionaire in the King's Bishop. Oh well, that's why they call it gambling. Need to refresh, regroup before heading to Vegas in two weeks to try my hand at the NHC qualifier.

- Colonel John answered a lot of questions on Saturday, mostly that he has a bigger snout than Mambo in Seattle. :) Seriously, though I looked back at my Derby selections and I had him second based on his pedigree, dosage and post position back in May. He seemed to handle the dirt just fine and answered when he went toe to toe with Mambo. I'm betting that Gomez stays aboard for the Breeders Cup and passes on Go Between, yesterday's Pacific Classic winner. Should be interesting to see who he chooses.

- Watched the ESPN telecast of the Del Mar "WaYi" races, in between channel flipping to the Bills game on NFL Network. I can tell you all I am less enthused about the Breeders Cup after watching the Pacific Classic and the Del Mar Mile. While they were ok races to watch, it was nothing like the big stakes at Saratoga and the thrilling finishes we've seen over the last nine days. I've totally changed my mind about wanting to trip out to Oak Tree. I, similar to a bunch of trainers out their, am going to take a pass. It's hard enough to handicap the dirt. Sorry, but no thanks. I'll just watch as a fan this year (and probably only Saturday).

- Speaking of GoGo, did anyone have a better weekend than that guy? He crushed three graded stakes over the weekend, are you freakin' kidding me? I guess he's over his pre-meet slump, eh?
- It will be interesting to see what size crowd king Curlin commands this weekend at the Spa. I know he's getting the key to the city and all, but hopefully he'll draw more than the ten or twelve thousand that the Big Apple could muster for him. Maybe even more than three other horses will show up to face him. Hopefully Zito will at least throw something at him, he's not afraid of anyone.

- Looking forward to my first ever trip to the House that Ruth Built. It's on that list of places everyone has that you check off once you've attended. Others on my list still include: Wrigley, Fenway, Keeneland, Del Mar, the LA Coliseum, the Rose Bowl and Pebble Beach. I'd love to add Hialeah to that list, you go Halsey.

- Back on Friday...