Push 1 for Slots, Push 2 for Drug Bans..

Tweet I read the Prescription for Racing, a 37 page full color report, this past weekend. It is quite the document, I just can't figure out why they hid it in the Thoroughbred Daily News and make you sign up for a free 2 week subscription to obtain it. This is a document that should be front and center, if they are serious about it, not buried like it is now. I'm surprised it's getting very little mention other than in a few blog sites. The doc talks about a commissioner's office, takeout, number of tracks in use, illegal drugs, the effect of slots, etc. etc. It's interesting reading and contains some well-known names in the racing business like NTRA prexy Waldrop, NYRA prez Hayward, DRF's Crist, and Keeneland's Nicholson to name a few. I encourage you to check it out and read it cover to cover.

Not much racing on my calendar this past weekend due to being on the party circuit. Dinner party Friday night with the Space Gal's crew (the Space Smo's) where I did my best Eli Kirshstein impression with a shrimp remoulade appetizer to kill for (so I'm told). Saturday included blogging for the NTRA with my latest post on the BC Dirt Mile, topped off with a black tie gala in the Falls. Sunday included a lax tourney that my nephew from the 'Cuse was in town showing off his solid bloodlines and leaving it all on the field. We won't mention the Bills game which ended a very long weekend on a dour note.

The one race I did catch was that of Prince Dubai (who drifted up to 50-1) before donning the monkey suit, who was in a turf race at Belmont. While he finished fifth in the race, he had a troubled early trip, as he was checked sharply at the start, his jock lost the irons, but finished very (and I mean very) strong in the stretch only 2 lengths out ahead of last time out winner Tobruk. The Prince won his last out for Bona Venture Stables, and we'll keep an eye on this one who should get a better trip next time out.

Don't forget to check out the Rx for Racing transcript, you can dial up whatever topic you like....

One of My Favorites

Tweet Today's Kentucky Cup Classic had me remembering one of my favorite horses, Hard Spun, who won this race in 2007. While he did get his grade I in the King's Bishop at Saratoga that summer, he was typically the bridesmaid in all of the big races such as the Derby (2nd), the Breeders' Cup Classic (2nd), the Haskell (2nd), the Preakness (3rd) and the Belmont (4th) where he received a god-awful ride from GoGo. This was before I started this blog, but I was a huge backer of this horse, both at the windows and as a fan. The Ky Cup Classic, which Ryan of Graded Stakes astutely points out in his NTRA blog, has been a home for several runners-up in the BC Classic and Hard Spun is part of that list of recent runners. It was basically a match race between HS and Derby winner Street Sense in the 2007 edition, with a great stretch drive won by one of my all time favorites. I hope he is doing well in the shed and look forward to seeing his offspring soon. Here's the video of the 2007 Cup Classic and race call by Mike Battaglia:

Space Links

Tweet Not much to report from the Space Station this week, other than my golf game has taken a sudden turn for the worse and the Space Kid is eating more food than we can store....growin' boy (linebacker?) ya know. So we only have a few links to share mid-week as we are 44 days out from the Breeders' Cup at the Oak Tree meet at Santa Anita.

- Interesting story about the Oregon football coach sending a refund check to a disgruntled fan who made the trip to Boise State. Come to think of it, the connections of Friesan Fire owe me a refund for a couple races back in May....

- I feel sorry for Michael Blowen at Old Friends, when I spoke with him in the Saratoga paddock this summer when he was up to see the Sword Dancer he was soooo excited about Lava Man joining the wonderful retirement community in Kentucky. The Thoroughbred Times reports that he wasn't even aware that he was not coming in October and was back in training....

- Thinking of taking in a Laker game while in Cali for the Breeders' Cup, they happen to be home against the Grizz on Friday night after the Ladies' Classic....that would be one to check off the list...

- I've been quiet on the Top Chef front, we have 9 people in our $25/person elimination pool, so there's some decent scratch at stake, and three folks have been eliminated through the first five weeks. I had the 5th draft choice and had to settle with my alter ego, Eli Kirshstein. The Space Gal has a stronger entry selecting Bryan Voltaggio with the fourth pick. We both will try to survive another night this evening. Eli has to pick it up, he's been a middle-of-the-packer so far. The Saratoga Resident is also sitting pretty with Kevin G. Vegas even puts out odds on the contestants...good stuff.

- Has Sean Salisbury lost his mind? Why yes, yes he has.

- I've posted a new entry on the Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile and some betting strategies and interesting statistics to ponder over at my NTRA blog, check it out as well as all of the NTRA blogs posted by members of the Thoroughbred Bloggers Alliance.

Race for the Cup Starts Today

Tweet Someday I hope to write this same post title and have it refer to horse racing. Of course, the race for the cup that starts today is that of, NASCAR, whose Sprint Cup series has been narrowed down to the Top Twelve drivers. Formally known as the Winston Cup and and Nextel Cup, the catchy "Chase for the Sprint Cup" has 10 races remaining to determine the overall driving champion for 2009.

Pro Golf's "chase" is also underway and is down to its final event the Tour Championship, with the final 30 qualifying golfers attempting to claim the FedEx Cup. The Cup series, which incidentally has four major tournaments (grand slam events) that take place before the fall FedEx series of four tournaments, has a much more complicated points system which is explained here. You need to be a statistics professor or an actuary to figure out if your favorite player has a chance to win. An explanation of the overall cup is provided here for the chance at the $10M bonus that comes with the title. I noticed a greater emphasis on the standings during last weekend's telecast of the BMW (third leg) Championship, but I'm guessing because Tiger is involved, it carried a bigger stick. This series has not had the traction that NASCAR has achieved, is it due to the fact that it's secondary to the grand slam (see any corollaries to the triple crown)? I'm not sure if the popularity wanes here due to the complexity of the standings (not easy to understand) or that it's not the main event as it is in NASCAR.

Regardless, both sports have some buzz around them and their Chase series. On the horse racing front we are seven weeks away from our "world championships," the Breeders' Cup, and we don't even have a clue who will be in what race come November 6th and 7th. I'm trying to write about the Dirt Mile for the NTRA, and am struggling to figure out who will be in the gate on BC Saturday for that race. If those who passionately follow the sport have no idea who will be running in which races, how does that go for the casual fan? Confusing to say the least. I thought about a series for the jockeys, which could be compared to the drivers above, but I just don't see how it could work? What distance? Would they have a choice of horses to ride to win the EquiSpace Jockey Cup, if there was a Cup race every month? I was dead-ended by the fact that the sport is about the horses and not the jockeys. Interestingly though, the jockeys ride on every year and the horses mainly retire (mostly after their 3yo season) and fade away in the breeding shed.

Bruce Millington of the Racing Post has an interesting NCAA bracketed concept for horse racing, that intrigued me wherein 64 horses attempt to qualify for the final race (one mile) to determine the Cup winner (in this case, the London Cup). As each heat of eight progresses, the top four move forward to the next race culminating in the final eight racing for the championship. Interesting concept.

So what do you think we should do? I put up a poll on this very topic....

1) Breeders Cup/W&YI - Keep the current format
2) Cup Series (Points/Standings) - BC counts as another race (with greater weight)
3) Standings (Determine PP in BC) - Year long standings determine post position draw for BC
4) NCAA Tourney Format - Racing Post idea by division

Thanks for reading. (Go Bills!)

My Favorite Holiday

Tweet

Today is my favorite holiday of the year, International Talk Like a Pirate Day. It's only fitting that the Tampa Bay Buccaneers are in town to face the Bills this weekend. If only if Arrrrr was running at Belmont, we'd have the trifecta.

My top five pirate jokes:

Q: What is a pirate's favorite national monument?
A: The Gateway ARRRrrrch

Q: Why couldn't the pirate get into the movie?
A: Because it was Arrrrr rated.

Q: Why did the pirate buy a couch for his ship?
A: So he could be at his leisAAARRRRR

Q: What is a pirate's favorite planet?
A: Marrrrrs

And finally.......
A man walks into a bar and orders a drink. While he is waiting for it he spots a pirate sitting in the corner of the bar. The pirate has two wooden arms and two wooden legs. Naturally curious, the man gets his drink, walks over to the pirate and asks, "Excuse me sir, I hope you don't mind but I couldn't help noticing that you have two wooden arms and two wooden legs. You must have been involved in some fierce sea battles?" The pirate looked up, paused and said, "Arrrr no... me father was a tree!"

One of my favorite twitter follows is Somali_Pirate, a good natured pirate with a sense of humor.

Have a great day, matey.

If This Had Been An Actual Emergency....

Tweet The only thing that could have saved the Bills on Monday Night around 9:45pm EST was the President recognizing what was about to happen to our beloved Bills and invoke the Emergency Broadcast System, so we wouldn't have to watch what was about to unfold. Living in Buffalo has hardened most of us here. We can pretty much take anything after Wide Right, No Goal, Home Run Throwback, the White Bronco, Thurman's missing helmet, the Dallas MNF meltdown, the Blizzard of '77 and the October Storm. We barely flinch when bad things happen. Actually, we know it's going to happen and brace for the worse. The Space Gal texted me from Vegas with the following "We knew it was going to happen." After going up 11 points with 5 minutes left I tweeted this. After the debacle, some friends and relatives sent their condolensces as if someone in the family just passed. But we march on here in the B-Lo and stick together no matter what. You won't find nicer people anywhere else in the world. They call it the City of Good Neighbors for a reason. We will show up 73,000 strong on Sunday and cheer the heck out of them. But, dang, it sure would be great to catch a break one of these days.....

On the racing front, we have a new TBA advertiser, the Meadowlands Survival Challenge, who will be sponsoring our Filly & Mare Turf division standings. As you know, I am a big fan of the Survivor challenges and had some fun with the Monmouth challenge this summer. The contest starts on October 1st, so be sure to enter and give it a shot and/or follow along as we try and improve on our top 100 finish.

The chief hizzoner of the NTRA has a welcome post up for the 15 TBA bloggers, including yours truly, on the NTRA homepage, 14 who will be covering each of the Breeders' Cup races and one covering the international invasion. Be sure to support the group by reading and commenting on the NTRA blogs, as we all will be stepping our game up as we head into the first weekend in November.

This is a test. This blog site is conducting a test of the Emergency Broadcast System. This is only a test.

ACRS: Who knew?

Tweet I was perusing a post on television coverage (or lack thereof) of the Woodward by Evan Hammonds of the Bloodhorse and came across a comment on his post discussing something called ACRS. Now us nerdy accountant types would first think of the Accelerated Cost Recovery System, a depreciation method made famous (note sarcasm) by the Tax Reform Act of 1986 (year two of my bean counting career...oh the memories). What the commenter was referring to was the American Championship Racing Series, a brainchild of Thoroughbred Daily News' Barry Weisbord that ran for three years in the early nineties. Now, please remember that I was building a business, makin' babies and absorbed by the Bills' wonder years during this time frame so I had no idea that this ACRS racing series even existed. After further review, I found an interesting post on ESPN by Mr. Paulick just this past July that included the following excerpts:


"Stop me if you've heard this one before: racing needs to put together a series of races that serves as a prelude to the year-end championship events, something that will increase interest in the sport among serious and casual fans, especially during the time between the Triple Crown in spring and Breeders' Cup in fall."

"Enter Barry Weisbord and the American Championship Racing Series. The ACRS was designed to showcase the Breeders' Cup Classic division horses, using point standings and bonuses to encourage the horses to run in a series of races that began at Gulfstream Park in winter and ended at Del Mar in August. Concessions from horsemen and tracks from simulcast revenue helped pay for the televised series and the marketing that accompanied it.


But the ACRS only lasted three years, from 1991-93, a victim of internal industry squabbling, the type that has plagued horse racing for years. Weisbord had hoped to expand the series into additional divisions but never had the chance."


Does it shock anyone that the words "internal industry squabbling" that sent this idea to its grave? Why can't all the groups get to the same table and hash out a plan that works for the common good, with each group making a sacrifice? Personally, I'd rather have a smaller piece of a larger pie, but most people can't see to understand that concept and our sport is threatening to go into a death spiral. Fellow TBA'er Pull the Pocket, in this post, talks about getting the horsemen, the tracks, the alphabet groups and the regulators together, if you add in the horseplayers and ADW's and you've got everyone who has a dog in this hunt represented. Lock 'em in a room for a week and tell them not to come out without a deal. It'll never happen, but really if one thinks about it, sitting down (without preconceived agendas) and coming up with a common themed plan where everyone wins, doesn't require a highly paid consultant to figure out.


What gets me is that it appears that the ACRS built some serious rivalries that kept some of the senior (4yo+) horses racing for some lucrative purses, and all on national televison. Some serious handicap division races like the Donn, the Hollywood Gold Cup, the Whitney, the Woodward and the Big Cap all were highlighted races as part of the ACRS. It surely doesn't surprise me that D. Wayne Lukas was a proponent, and a vocal one, at that. He gets it. But we're Plaxico Burress with a loose holster and a hole in our leg. Maybe Greg Avioli can get it done, he needs to come up with a plan by the end of the year. Here's hoping he comes through.


I have a post up over at NTRA.com, as I will be covering the BC Dirt Mile over the next six weeks, so be sure to stop over and check it out.

Notes, Nuggets and Frog Legs

Tweet Watched a total of two (count 'em, two) races over the weekend, the Ruffian and Garden City on Saturday. How's that for Saratoga detox? The lovely thing about watching racing during football season, is you know the post times and can flip over to watch the couple fall races of any importance and not miss any gridiron action.

Gozzip Girl had an awful trip (chart notes: steadied sharply along the inside then clipped heels and stumbled on the first turn) in the Garden City at soggy Belmont Park on Saturday and is one to file away for the next time she runs. Congrats to those who hooked their wagons to Miss World ($29.00).

There was a juicy negative show pool payoff at Emerald Downs (Race 6) yesterday. With kid duty all weekend, I wasn't paying close attention and missed a tweet. The payoffs were pretty big as all three show payoffs were triple digit. Sa-weet.

Nice workout by Bona Venture Stables Prince Dubai, who scored an impressive turf win at Saratoga on Aug. 8th who is set to return to a 1 1/16 mile on the turf at Belmont Park on Sept. 26th. He blazed 4 furlongs in 47.2 seconds, the second fastest in 72 works on Belmont's training track. The race on the 26th is an allowance optional claiming event for NY breds (purse: $46K) which have never won 2 races other than maiden, claiming or starter or which have never won 3 races or optional claiming price of $30,000.

With the Space Gal invading the Mirage for the weekend, we slipped her a few bucks to play some BC futures. My four wagers: Milwaukee Appeal (currently 40-1) in the Ladies Classic, Mine That Bird and Macho Again (both 15-1) in the BC Classic and Vineyard Haven (10-1) in the Dirt Mile. It's only money. Speaking of the BC, we're locked and loaded for our inaugural trip to Santa Anita, can't say I'm not giddy about it.

Don't forget to check out the new TBAblogs home page or the page where ALL BLOGS (140++) related to racing can be found. You can also find free past performances, videos or international news at the one stop source for all things racing.

My new favorite cocktail is the John Daly. It's an Arnold Palmer Lite (new Arizona drink: 1/2 iced tea, 1/2 lemonade), triple sec with a shot (or two) of Absolut Citron. Amusing and refreshing at the same time.

While some aren't that bemused with Twitter, I find it quite fascinating at certain times. While watching the SNF game last night and the 1,001 Jay Cutler jokes, a swarm of tweets came in about some Lady named GaGa and her outfit. I didn't even know what program they were talking about (but figured out the VMAs were on...Sherlock Holmes I'm not). Anyways, I learned that a lot of people spell Kanye, "Kayne" and that she wore some crazy dress. The funniest postscript was from her pal Kermit the Frog who escorted her to the podium. “I’m just happy that it’s not made out of someone I know,” said the famous green one. Twitter....high comedy indeed.

Speaking of twitterers, who knew the Sheikh has an account, astutely picked up by the Bug Boys.

The Bills open tonight against the mighty Pats. I've been praying for days that they don't get blown out on National TV....

Vegas Baby...Wait I'm Not Going??

Tweet The Space Gal is abandoning me for Sin City, this time I won't be in tow at the Mirage like last year. She'll be there for a Toy Fair (not the kind some of my readers may be thinking of...that show is next week) and her timing couldn't be worse. Our two beloved football teams square off in Happy Valley (or State Penn depending on what side you fall on) on Saturday, Pitt invades UB Stadium tomorrow, the NFL season revs up in full gear this weekend and the Bills take on the Pats on Monday night. And I was going to make a special trip to paint the Nittany Lion orange too. Ugh.

However, maybe her timing isn't all that bad after all, with the Breeders Cup (self proclaimed) World Championships coming up in two months and the Wynn has put out its future odds on eight of the races. I think I'll be slipping her a few dollars to wager on a few horses here and there. Take a look and let me know what looks like a good future (sucker) bet right now?

Some interesting current odds noted in my initial review were as follows.

Classic:
Sea of Stars 2-1
Zenyatta 12-1
Einstein 10-1
Macho Again 15-1
Colonel John 15-1
Mine That Bird 15-1

Ladies Classic (Distaff):
Zenyatta 2-3
Milwaukee Appeal 40-1 (hmm...Woodbine poly, may be worth some coin)
Gozzip Girl 25-1
Life is Sweet 3-1
Seventh Street 14-1
Stardom Bound 11-1

Dirt Mile:
No horse is less than Pyro & Capt Candyman Can at 10-1 - Wow!
Kodiak Kowboy 14-1
Cowboy Cal 15-1

Sprint:
Zensational 8-5
Fabulous Strike 5-1
Benny the Bull 18-1
Fatal Bullet 12-1

Filly & Mare Turf:
Forever Together 7-2
Magical Fantasy 8-1
Backseat Rhythm 100-1

Mile (Turf):
Rip Van Winkle 5-1
Justenuffhumor 6-1
Gio Ponti 8-1
Delegator 9-1
Cowboy Cal 15-1
Colonel John 20-1
Affirmatif 75-1 (oh how he's fallen)

Turf:
Conduit 4-1 (last year's winner)
Gio Ponti 5-1 (probably will run here?)
Spring House 8-1 (dropping from opening odds of 18-1)
Better Talk Now 30-1

Juvenile:
Sidney's Candy 3-1
Lookin at Lucky 4-1
Dublin 8-1
Bulldogger 12-1

Anyways, I'm sure you can get better value on BC day, but to throw a few bucks out there....let me know what you think?? Have a great weekend!

DeTogafication

Tweet We're in full Toga Detox here in the Space Station. What a meet it was. I had my some of my most memorable trips this summer, since making the four hour plus jaunt up the Thruway from headquarters for the first time five years ago. The 3:59 eluded me for another year, but on the bright side, I was on the right side of the wagering ledger for a change. Good times. Well, now we should get down to some official business. The winner of the 2009 Toga Party is none other than fellow TBA'er Robert from They're in the Gate. The contest finished in a four-way tie decided by the tiebreaker of most jockey earnings as follows:

Win: They're in the Gate 3 pts (Dominguez)
Place: Triple Dead Heat 3 pts (Leparoux)
Show: Green But Game 3 pts (Garcia)
Completing the superfecta was Dollar Bill (Prado)

Amazingly, all four selected a different jockey for the tie-breaker as Robert's selection of Ramon ended up carrying the day. Dana from GbG hit the board for the second straight year with the show. Keith from TDH made a late close, scoring with the Woodward exacta, and almost dead heated Robert at the wire. Unfortunately for our friend from the North, Leparoux fell $367K short of Dominguez in jockey bucks. The book "Graveyard of Champions" by Bill Heller has been sent special delivery to the winner from Saratoga County. Congrats and thanks to everyone who participated, I hope you all had fun with it this year. Any suggestions for next year will be welcomed, filed and taken under consideration.

So another Spa meet concludes, but there is still a lot of quality racing left in the fourth quarter with the Belmont fall meet, Keeneland's boutique October meet, and the "world" championships at the Oak Tree meet to cap it off. I'll be making a special guest appearance and my first ever trip to Santa Anita for the BC. Any suggestions on what area to stay would be much appreciated...

I finished the Monmouth contest in 88th place after going out in the 72nd day, via "go big or go home." I waited until the last two weeks to play longshots and I went for it versus trying to make it all the way through the contest. I got as low at 18th, but needed to make up too much ground in the long run. It was a fun contest and very savvy for the folks that run Monmouth, as now I know the horses, jocks and trainers running at a track I never really followed. Kudos to the marketing guys at MTH. I'll be giving it another go again next year.

I'm taking a few weeks off from the ponies to recharge the batteries and detox from the Spa, but unfortunately I'll still be posting fairly regularly, so you're stuck with me. Big college football weekend with my beloved hometown Orangemen travel to State Penn to take on the Space Gal's alma mater. Good thing she's headed to Vegas as we'll have the Space Kid dressed in his best orange attire for the big game on Saturday, and some brainwashing while she's away. Locally, the Pitt Panthers will be in town to take on the 1-0 UB Bulls and the Kid may take in his first ever live pigskin game, grandfather in tow.

My favorite line of the summer came from the Saratoga Resident after spending the opening two days of the meet with him: "Thanks for the vodka. Thanks for the golf balls. And thanks for leaving." Indeed.

The Other Big Race Yesterday

Tweet While most of the racing fans in New York State were watching a certain filly hold off a West Point Thoroughbred, my boys and I were on hand to watch Sonia "the Black Widow" Thomas defend her title in the Wing Eating Championship at Coca-cola Field in Buffalo, NY at the eighth annual National Wing Festival. Thomas won the twelve minute eating frenzy downing 169 chicken wings (3.38 pounds) holding off several national level challengers. Good times and high drama, indeed.

Of course, we timed our visit so we could make it home in time to watch the Woodward on TVG. Our living room was rocking during the stretch drive as my nine year old was jumping up and down rooting her to the finish line. The SpaceBro was in town and it was cool to watch history with your sibling and the rest of the family cheering her on. The only horse that I thought could beat her (before the race) was Macho Again, and the early pace scenario dictated he would be right there to challenge at the wire. He has really developed in to one fine race horse. One thing I noticed more than usual is the whipping that Borel was doing to her to get her to the wire. That was definitely her most strenuous race of the year. I can't imagine her bouncing back too quickly from that one. Nice to see history though.

Lost as a minor footnote and afterthought in Rachel's shadow yesterday (see last line of ESPN's article) was Pyro winning his first Grade I, with a win in the seven furlong Forego over the uber-consistent Kodiak Kowboy. It's really a shame that the Breeders' Cup is at Santa Anita, as I would love to see him try the Dirt Mile. But his assistant trainer Rick Mettee stated after the race, “The Breeders’ Cup being on synthetic changes the game completely. I wouldn’t completely rule it out, but I’m not sure.”

The only other race I watched yesterday was the stretch run of Mother Russia's win in the Peerless Springs Stakes for Obviously NY Stable. These guys, as previously mentioned here, are totally on fire. They go for 3 for 3 on the weekend at Finger Lakes tomorrow with Hook Me Up in $150K Lady Finger Stakes (race 7). While my first thoughts were to go to Fort Erie tomorrow, maybe a trip east up the thruway is in order...

Unless, of course, I'm in the mood for a few more wings.....

Old Spa v. Rachel

Tweet It's almost more about the old racecourse versus the champion than the other horses in the Woodward today. As everyone knows, the place is nicknamed "the Graveyard of Champions", and one filly champion takes to the gate today to try and put that nickname aside and become the first filly to win the Woodward since its inaugural race in 1954.

Here's the one list, the Jess Jackson filly wants to stay off of:

Hamburg

Gallant Fox

Man o' War

Stymie

Cigar

Lonesome Glory

Skip Away

Secretariat

Affirmed

Forego

Inside Information

Tom Fool

I could list twenty more. Some races, such as the Jim Dandy, were named after the horses who pulled giant upsets at Saratoga. Allen Jerkens, the Giant Killer who trained horses that beat Kelso three times, and Forego, Buckpasser, Skip Away and Gentlemen once, tried to explain it in the foreward of Bill Heller's novel Graveyard of Champion: Saratoga's Fallen Favorites:

"It's kind of hard to explain the upsets at Saratoga. It's the middle fo the year when some of the horses are tailing off slightly, like the 3yos that have been running hard in the spring. That could be one of the reasons. The track, the feed, and the altitude are a tiny bit different. And there are so many horses from different parts of the country racing at Saratoga. Some of them coming in are better than we thought. I think some horses just take to the climate. It's been hot at Belmont; then it kind of gets nice up there. The evenings are cooler. Some of the horses like the track. I always liked it."

Today, the filly who has captured the fancy of America's racing public, takes on her biggest challenge and it's not just the older males, it's the legend of Saratoga that beckons.

And Down the Stretch They Come...

Tweet .... in the EquiSpace Toga Party Contest.

The post title reminds me of the 2006 Derby when one of our crew for the entire weekend would blurt out "and down the stretch they come" in his best Durkin imitation. Problem is, he did it for every single race during the weekend to the point we were sick of hearing it. You know "that guy" don't you?

The contest has heated up and it's still pretty wide open with 6 valuable points still up for grabs, although a couple points could be pretty much sewn up before Monday.

Here's a recap of the leaderboard (reaching over, patting self on back) and prognosis of what could transpire....

Leaderboard
1) EquiSpace - 4 points
2) Green But Game - 3 points
4) Saratoga Spa - 2 points
4) The Saratoga Resident - 2 points
10) 6 others tied - 1 point
15) 5 others - Goose eggs

Synopsis
EquiSpace: Yours truly had a monster day on Travers Day vaulting into the lead by capturing the two feature races (thank you stewards) and the closest $2 trifecta payout. Long range outlook: with Pletcher and Dominguez as their respective category leaders and a fairly low $2 exacta payout guess, I may win my own contest. Boy, that would suck, huh?

Green But Game: Last year's runnerup is having another strong showing in the TP contest. However with McPeek and Maragh she looks doomed. Basically, she needs bomb/bomb to come in for the Woodward and has to nail the trainer (18) and jockey (42) wins on the number to finish strong. Needs a lot of things to happen.

Saratoga Spa: He's a real gamer and has been auditing my scorecard for weeks cause he's in the ballpark and is sniffing a potential victory. His $2 exacta projection of $15.00 for the Woodward could be solid with Rachel Alexandra in the mix. He also has Dominguez on the jockey ladder. He could sneak into the place spot with just the right turn of events.

The Saratoga Resident: I can already hear the whining about Vineyard Haven that would have us tied with GbG for the lead. He came out blazing at the start of the contest, but cooled off significantly on Travers Day and he has slid back into a tie for fourth. His only hopes are that the Toddster gets hot and wins 5 more races and his exacta pick of $46.00 is close. Not out of the realm of possibility.

SpaceBro: A relative newcomer to the sport has the # of turf races point locked up which will bring him up to 2 pts and his Pletcher, and 22 trainer wins selections could land him in the top tier. His obvious Syracuse-laden selection of $44.44 for the $2 exacta payout could even vault him into the top spot. He's the potential late closer of the group.

Enjoy this weekend's races and good luck!

Gentlemen...Gentlemen...Put Your Hands Together...

Tweet ....for the beautiful Canadian Ballet!!

The boys from Obviously NY Stables (ONY), who obviously have a good sense of humor and superb naming skills, are still red hot with a victory today in the Lena Spencer Stakes. Canadian Ballet ($7.20) went a half in 44.2 and finished the 5.5f turf sprint in 1:01.57 holding off the late charging efforts of Sly Storm and the favorite Smart and Fancy. The Linda Rice (she's on fire!) trained filly won her connections $44,700, with Alan Garcia in the irons. The City Zip filly was coming out of a second place finish in the Grade 3 Royal North Stakes at Woodbine last month, the day after Mother Russia's big victory at the Spa.

ONY sends Mother Russia back out on Saturday in the Peerless Springs S. for 3yo going a mile over the inner turf course, looking for back to back non-graded stakes wins at venerable Saratoga Race Course. One of the ONY partners sent me a note today encouraging me to sneak down the great NYS Thruway an hour to Finger Lakes Race Track to see Hook Me Up run on Labor Day in the $150K Lady Finger Stakes. I may not be able to sneak down the Thruway, but I may find some time to make a wager on these guys. They're as hot as you can get.

To expand on Canadian Ballet's name...here's a little funny (warning: rated NC-17) from whence the name surfaced (this video was approved by the Space Gal)...

Has the Travers Jumped the Shark?

Tweet The Saratoga Resident and I were walking through the backyard on Saturday afternoon when he turned to me and asked "Do you think the Travers has jumped the shark?" What he really meant to ask was, "Has the Haskell overtaken the Travers as the premier 3yo race of the summer?"

Now I am a relative newbie to these types of things so don't crucify me for bringing it up, but if you look at the past few years of races, you can make an argument that the top notch horses have entered the Haskell, as opposed to the Travers. Case in point, Rachel Alexandra, Big Brown and Curlin are three that come to mind in the last three years. The Travers seems to always fall on the odd weekend, wherein the Haskell seems to fit perfectly four weeks after the Belmont and seven weeks after the Preakness. The attendance this year at the Travers was 34,000 under rainy conditions, wherein the Haskell drew 38,000 under monsoon conditions. To say the least, 34,000 had to be a major disappointment for NYRA on its biggest racing day of the summer. I'm not sure why the big name horses have skipped the Travers, or maybe Monmouth just does a better job luring them to the Shore. I don't know, but I sure hope NYRA does a better job in the future recruiting the premier horses to the Travers.

They missed a golden opportunity to showcase the three triple crown race winners last Saturday on national television, which would have been truly special. Of course, Mine That Bird's situation was out of their control, but I just can't get all that excited about Rachel running against older males in the Woodward, history or not. College football takes over on Saturday in the mainstream, opportunity lost if you ask me. Anyways, I just throw it out there as food for thought.