Bluegrass Day

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With all of the bad stuff going on this past week, it will be nice to get back to the sport at hand this weekend.

Keeneland has a spectacular racing day covered with several great stakes races (and a guaranteed all stakes Pick 4) on the card. You can catch all the live racing from KEE, including the Bluegrass Stakes live on TVG today, which means I will not be shut out like I was last week. A rebroadcast will occur on ESPN2 with a live showing of the Arkansas Derby at 6pm EST.

The Bluegrass Stakes (free PPs here) looks like a wide-open affair with any of four or five horses that has the ability to win this one. I'm alive in the Maker's Mark/Bluegrass double to Join in the Dance, Terrain, Charitable Man and Lane's End winner Hold Me Back, so I don't have to tell you who I like. Speaking of yesterday's Maker's Mark, I thought Kent Desormeaux's stretch ride on Keeneland's yielding turf course on Mr. Sidney was fantastic in holding off a game Passager and Edgar Prado, watch it if you get the opportunity. Back to the Bluegrass, I think JitD (Pletcher going for his third BG in five years and second in a row) will have some nice value and both Terrain (can handle the synth) and CM (long layoff, love the jock-trainer combo) intrigue me. Who scares me the most in the is one? Theregoesjojo has the biggest speed figure, is desparate for graded stakes winnings and has faced Quality competition over his last three races (yuk yuk). I'm not playing him as he is coming back after a hard ride two weeks ago at Gulfstream.


Notable winners of the Bluegrass include Spectacular Bid, Strike the Gold, Peace Rules and record holder Skip Away (1:47.20).


The Arkansas Derby (free PP's here) will be a redeeming one for Old Fashioned. I think an exacta box with fashionable pick Papa Clem could be in order for this one. I don't think OF will get caught in a speed duel in this one (lessons learned - see Ramon Dominguez in NY today) and should have enough in the tank this week to win outright. I'm not sold on Win Willy, the Rebel set up perfectly for his late running style and don't think he'll get that scenario later today.
A follow-up to Thursday's post on Churchill's fast-tracked accreditation, the CEO of the NTRA was interviewed on TVG yesterday afternoon by Jill Byrne (wish she would have asked him how they could pass muster with a one day on-site visit during a dark period). Again, I think the Code itself is great, but what happens to those tracks that aren't accredited, what's the downside? If it's not a rigorously-tested requirement, then what does it prove? Can you really verify all of the conditions that were in the "48 page application" with a one or two day visit? I'm sure we'll be hearing that Keeneland will be accredited in the next week or two (certainly before the Derby). I don't think I'm the only one scratching his/her head. Just trying to put things in perspective...

This week's "buycott" race is at Mountaineer (a track I follow occasionally) where a perfecta (exacta) is in order.

I'll also be keeping my eye on Laurel Park, where a good friend has a filly named Imalexus running in the 9th. Best of luck!