Weekend Warrior

Tweet I'm almost embarrassed to say that I'm making my inaugural visit to Finger Lakes Race Track tomorrow afternoon to catch the $150K New York Derby. Mission Control is just a mere 78.37 miles away from this upstate track (thinking 1 hour 10 minute flight time?) and I've just never made the effort to make it happen. I blew it a few years ago to see Funny Cide and Sweetnorthernsaint ran there last year.

With the NYRA-based jockey trio of Edgar Prado, Mike Luzzi and Jorge Chavez gracing FL tomorrow, I couldn't pass up the opportunity to make the quick jaunt down the thruway to see some quality racing. Ibboyee (2 for 2 over the FL strip) is the marquee name gracing the NY Derby for trainer Todd Pletcher and the main reason Mike Luzzi has made the trip west down the Thruway. The second leg of the Big Apple Triple does not include the winner of the first leg, Friend or Foe, who won the Mike Lee Handicap at Belmont. It does include a Smarty Jones 3 year old named Shrewd One, who has posted some nice works and has a nice resume so far. It should be a nice race.

Also on the card is $50K Arctic Queen, a 6 furlong sprint for F&M 3 and up. All three invading jocks will ride in this race with Prado having the mount on 3/2 favorite La Concerto, who looks to be the class of this race. Chavez boards Meese Rocks (3/1) and Luzzi rides R Betty Graybull (6/1), while I'm leaning towards horse for the course, Gold for the Queen. GFTQ is running second off the layoff and has posted consecutive bullet works and looks to be fit and ready to roll.

Looking forward to hearing racecaller Tony Calo, who I have been informed is quite the showman. Not to mention my pals from Obviously NY Stables also have entered Hook Me Up in the nightcap! Check back Sunday for the latest Space Invasion recap.

And don't forget to send me your Toga Party III contest picks before next Thursday, I've received a few so far and it looks like we have a good chance to have a full field...keep em coming!