All Aboard the Afleet Express

Tweet I was disappointed when Afleet Alex was retired before the 2005 Travers (my first one) and never being able to see one of my favorite horses in person. So when his progeny, Afleet Express ($16.00) held off a game Fly Down by a nostril (see win photo at the Crist Blog), I felt somewhat redeemed for missing his daddy on my first Travers Day. It was also apropos that I was able to share this year's Travers Day with my father at a table with the Saratoga Resident (many thanks!), the Puma, Jazzy Jeff and friends up in the Turf Terrace. I even sported a horse tie the Space Gal bought me at the NYRA Store for effect. Unfortunately for my pops, that nostril cost him a $500 Pick-4 on a $24 ticket.

I was high on the Express all week, who carried me to victory in the Knight Sky's contest and I wrote over at ThoroFan the following: "Fourth in the Dandy, he was bumped at the start and was caught four wide on the second turn, so his late effort to finish third while closing ground, is better than it may seem on paper. He has the red hot Javier Castellano aboard and I think he's sitting on a big one. Another solid A choice." Of course, in typical fashion, my Travers/Ensign doubled flamed out along with Rachel Alexandra and Life at Ten.

Just as A Little Warm saved my betting day a month ago, Afleet Express did me right and ensured I'll be in the black for the second Spa meet in a row (something I never thought I could ever do). As far as how I fared in other contests...finished 88th (out of 2,100) in the Equibase contest with winnings of $62.30 on $32 wagered (not bad) and out of the Top 50 this time in the GradeOneRacing.com tourney with $422 on $400 wagered, but in the black. All in all a fun weekend, and always great to be at a packed house Spa for the big weekend.

As far as the rest of the day, the only other decent wagers I made were on Rightly So ($11.40)in the Ballerina (G1) and hitting the ten cent super in the finale (after speed capping it in about 2 minutes..go figure).

My Toga Party contest is really heating up with a current 8 way tie for first (all with 3 points) as the landscape changed tremendously (see sidebar link for standings), as Saturday was moving up day for a number of Toga partiers. It's gonna be a photo.....

As far as for today's results, they are not all that unexpected in this camp. I was rousted that I was underestimating Rachel in my Z's Weak Sauce Campaign post, but stand by my commentary that Zenyatta was targeting bigger and better competition and Rachel was no longer the target. I think today reaffirmed that. If we even see Rachel again, I believe it'll be against Blind Luck in the Ladies Classic (as projected), or possibly the Beldame. Can NYRA be any more unlucky? She goes to Monmouth and wins....fans go home happy. She comes to the Spa and well...you know....it's a long ride home for many, with long faces to boot. She's just not the same horse she was last year, and that's ok. No one will take away her tremendous 3yo accomplishments. It'll be a fun matchup with Blind Luck if it happens, fingers are crossed here.

Anyways my camera was pretty dormant yesterday, but here's a few shots...

The meeting's two top jockeys (Johnny V and Javier) yukking it up before Race 6.












Race 6 winner, first time starter Headingtothecity ($22.40) ridden by Ramon Dominguez.











Rajeev Maragh and Shaun Bridgmohan getting ready to take their mounts before the sixth.












A patriotic Hulkster prowling the backyard. Nice biceps, Hogan.












Johnny V jumping aboard Just a Dab in the paddock.












Coming by us the first time in the Travers....note Afleet Express (#7, mid pack) and the trailing Fly Down (#8).









Add the Travers to the list of events I've been able to attend with my father along with the World Series, the NLCS, the Final Four, the Big East Tournament, the Stanley Cup Finals and the US Open at Oak Hill.

Speeding Along...

Tweet Sorry to blog and dash...but there's too much to be done, now that we know Trappe Shot has opted for the mile and a quarter Travers over the 7 furlong King's Bishop. We've got a few capping contests to get down and dirty with over the next two days, log a few Toga Party III contest selections, head down the Thruway for some horse racing (with my pops!) and back home in time to catch the Personal Ensign on Sunday evening on TVG.

In the meantime, I speed-capped the Travers and put together a Daily Double play and bet construction post over at ThoroFan's Handicapper's Corner (sponsored by the TBA), so you'll have an idea who I like on Saturday (and Sunday for that matter). Since they don't have a comment page, if you have something to say....feel free to comment here.

Arriba, arriba, heppa heppa, andalay, andalay.

Saturday's Best Race Isn't the Travers

Tweet Tell me that you're not excited for the King's Bishop on Saturday at Saratoga? C'mon man, tell me. This race is one that is going to be a doozy. We're talking D'Funnybone (who doesn't love Babe in a race like this), Bulldogger (Baffert taking a shot with one time TC hopeful), Discreetly Mine (looking to avenge the Woody Stephens-G2 loss to D'Funny on Belmont Day), and possibly Trappe Shot (Kiaran McLaughlin's ace in the hole) and/or Comedero. This baby is what we're talk about the best racing the best. The sprint division will definitely get a whole lot more interesting if Trappe Shot does show up and wins his first graded stake. It's a big dollar swing between the Travers (G1) at $1M purse versus the $250K King's Bishop (run at 7 furlongs).

Personally I think he has a better shot (no pun intended) at hitting the board in the Travers than against the monsters running in the Bishop and the money difference has to come into play for the connections also. Tough decision....we'll find out on Wednesday.

Regardless if Trappe Shot shows up, an excellent race is in the cards that should rival last year's classic contest between Vineyard Haven, Capt. Candyman Can, Munnings and Big Drama. The Candyman prevailed via DQ when Vineyard Haven veered into him severely in the stretch in an epic muddy finish.

Let's just say this is the race I'm most excited to see on Saturday and the odds should be decent based on the caliber of horses running. So who do ya like?

Back in the Saddle

Tweet After a refreshing week at the Shore, we're back home in the Space Station catching up on what we missed last week in the racing world...

I was relegated to social media via Twitter on the last leg home from Syracuse following the Alabama and Arlington Million results. Thanks to those tweeting the results. A solid win by Blind Luck, which catapulted Tony Bada Bing, my boy Wack and the SpaceBro into a three-way tie for first place in a hotly contested Toga Party III with 3 points each. Next week's Travers Day may hold the key to breaking out on top with four points at play (Travers and Kings Bishop winners, attendance and the Travers trifecta). Kudos so far to Tony Bada Bing who has nailed the winner in the Jim Dandy, Whitney and Alabama consecutively....can he pull off a sweep?

In other news close to home, ThoroFan was awarded their 501(c)(3) status, no easy task in today's highly regulated non-for-profit environment. I appreciate the mention they gave me in their press release on Tuesday, but the kudos belongs to the leaders over there for keeping at a very difficult process and not giving up. As you know, the Thoroughbred Bloggers Alliance, sponsors the Handicappers' Corner and provides a handicap and educational view of the race of the week on the Corner.

While following on Twitter in the Space Shuttle, I heard a ton of criticism on Ramon Dominguez' ride on Gio Ponti, losing at the wire (caught by surprise?) by a rail skimming Debussy. I was amused when someone tweeted that Ramon was one of America's best jocks.....maybe he or she meant one of New York's best jocks. Ba dum bum.

I made it through the week without making a wager as a mandatory refresh period before Travers week. And I'm not counting the $2 show bet I made in my new XpressBet account (thanks GradeOneRacing.com!) to test it out. I'll be back again this week for their second free contest. This week we'll be bearing down on Travers Day, where we'll be heading for the Saturday card.

A hearty welcome to new TBA member Giving My Ten Cents (aka @tencentcielo) a fine addition to the wide array of bloggers in the TBA. If you haven't met him on Twitter or heard him as a guest caller on TVG, you need to get with the program.

Ok, we're back in the groove with 13 days left at the Spa to grind out some black ink....

Surgical Strike

Tweet So here’s the situation. I’m on my way to the Jersey Shore and this most likely will be the last blog of the week, unless I find a way to weasel my way to Monmouth Park or Delaware Park (still need to mapquest that one) during the annual family vacation. I’ve logged a total of 17 hours of driving since making my annual mid-week surgical strike and visit to the Spa.

The trip started out Wednesday morning with a full blown effort and attempt to break the 3:59 mark set by the Saratoga Resident roundtrip from Buffalo to a certain address on Nelson Avenue. My split times were very good, going Syracuse/81 (1:54), Utica (2:32) and Amsterdam (3:20) in decent times. The wild card is always Rt. 67 and the one lane road on Geyser Road and finally navigating the traffic in and around downtown (especially around the 11am to noon timeframe) on a race day. My downfall was probably I needed to be 3 minutes faster, averaging another mile per hour to make up the difference. I pulled in at 4:02, my best time ever, but thinking this was a huge opportunity lost. Oh well, as the Cubs say annually, there’s always next year, as my final trip of the year will require a stop in the Cuse to pick up my father on Travers Day.

We met up with The Beer Man next, our resident A-B distributor client and good friend, who hosted us at the Sackatoga Stables luncheon, where we were fortunate to meet Jack Knowlton, he of Funny Cide fame, and eat half a chicken at the Siro’s buffet and start the day off with a nice bloody mary. The buffet was to celebrate the filly Seattle Mission’s stakes debut in the Cab Calloway. After breaking her maiden in her first race, she’s had two seconds and a third in her last three efforts and looking to get back into the winner’s circle.

We had a table on the Porch and had a nice day at the windows, sticking to our new strategy of playing an exotic bet in the first race and Pick 3’s the rest of the day. My parents were also in town with their college friends from Kutztown State, so we visited with them and wished them luck. The day concluded with us visiting with GG (who was in town for the $1K handicapping challenge), the Puma and the Saratoga Resident hanging out at the new paddock bar, The Post, watching (and note to NYRA, betting on) Del Mar and enjoying some $4 Happy Hour cocktails and sharing the usual woulda coulda shoulda track stories.

Thursday, G-Money showed up from Buffalo (5:20, whoa) and we bagged the backyard and scored another table on the porch. The day’s wagering highlights were playing the Sheppard exacta in the early jump race and hitting the P3 into the feature, the Statue of Liberty, with 10-1 Surfing Ian completing the middle leg. It was a grind it out weekend, if only Javier had gotten Bretton Woods up (he was charging late at odds on favorite In Te Domine) in the feature we would have hit a home run, instead of a number of singles. But we’ll take walking out a winner at the Spa on two consecutive days anytime you can. We also met fellow bloggers The Turf Queen and Saratoga Spa during the day (thanks again to Robert for covering this week’s Sword Dancer post over at ThoroFan for me).

As always….here are some pictures of Wednesday’s festivities…

Trainer Barclay Tagg getting ready to saddle Seattle Mission in the paddock.












Principal Sackatoga Stables owner Jack Knowlton (of Funny Cide fame) awaiting the arrival of jockey Ramon Dominguez, riding Seattle Mission for the first time.
















Ramon.


















Cab Calloway winner Lubash with Kent Desourmeaux in the irons.












The Paddock Painter did a nice pose for me...













A very casual Kieran McLaughlin prior to the competitive 8th a $75K Allowance 3x. Typically the no suit look would tell me he wasn't thinking he would be getting into the winners circle today, but our table loved his horse, Tranquil Manner and pounded it for a few bucks.

NYRA's big huzzah Charlie Heyward holding court in the paddock.

2009 Queen's Plate champion Eye of the Leopard wasn't a factor on Wednesday, but it was nice to see the Canadian champ in person.

Gate break in the 8th, won by #1 Tranquil Manner.













That's a wrap...enjoy your week....and I'll say hi to the Sitch for ya....

Little Bit o' This, Little Bit o' That

Tweet They say bad things happen in threes and it hasn't been a real good week for the horsey set. First, Tuscan Evening collapses on Sunday and then Odysseus was euthanized yesterday after a bout with laminitis. Let's hope the next shoe doesn't drop tomorrow.

I don't remember reading anything about Odysseus suffering, so that one caught me by surprise...

We all know it's part of the game, but man, it sure sucks when a promising horse's health starts to fail or encounters a sudden or unexpected death. It's never easy and I can't imagine how the connections of these horses must feel....

Let's try and change the topic to a more positive one, such as my second Spa visit of the meet! We're heading down 90 tomorrow and gunning for a sub 4:00 trip to the Saratoga Resident's residence. The only issues I've encountered is the nasty construction around Exits 39 and 40 and the track traffic once you get on Rt. 50 in the Springs. We'll see if we can do it tomorrow, with G-Money as my co-pilot. We'll be on the Porch tomorrow and in the backyard with the masses on Thursday (really looking forward to that).

Salvaged a weekend betting disaster by nailing a few Pick 3's at the Spa on Sunday, but really blew it when I left off Pletcher firster Summer Laugh off a backup ticket that included the 25-1 Too Big to Fail in the middle leg. Talk about a major blunder....luckily I rallied later in the card. Speaking of Pletcher firsters, I was also impressed by Hysterical Cat who broke his maiden winning by 3 1/2 lengths going away in the 5 furlong sprint in Sunday's 2nd.

Zenyatta is rolling right down the course I expected, pointing directly at the BC Classic and making sure nothing too difficult gets in her way.

I'm still a little bewildered by Quality Road's performance on Saturday, but am willing to give him a pass. He's earned it with some of his past efforts. Something tells me he'll be back and Pletcher will have him ready when it counts. Look for him to rebound in the Woodward.

Not sure I'm sold on the handicap system in racing. In golf, it is made to even the playing field between competitors, but it's based on past scores and statistical analysis. I don't know enough on how they determine how much of a weight break each horse gets (which is my ignorance), but it just doesn't seem right in horse racing. If my horse is faster, he's faster and I get to take home the bacon. I'm going to dig a little deeper here and try and understand it better. People forget that Rachel had a pretty decent weight break in the Preakness last year and didn't exactly win that one going away....and there's been lots of talk that the 5 lb advantage that Blame had on Saturday was the difference. Jury's out on this one for me.

After 10 years playing in the Buffalo accountants softball league (no, we don't wear pocket protectors), and losing in the championship game the last three years going in with an undefeated record, I decided to retire this summer. I promised not to pull a Favre on my staff during the season, and showed up to the game at Canisius College last night as a spectator/fan to see my firm's squad win our first title in league history, pulling off an undefeated season. Guess I should retire more often.

Off to look at Thursday's card....have a great couple days.

Whitney Memories

Tweet My last Whitney Handicap visit at the Spa was in 2006, when the Saratoga Resident and I pulled the Whitney-Haskell double over a boys weekend. My good fortunes had me working in Albany and New Jersey on the bookends of the trip and worked into the perfect racing weekend voyage. I took this picture of the famous Spa jockeys fountain of the 2005 winner Commentator's statue that beautiful summer day in August 2006.

We saw soon to be BC Classic champ Invasor hold off Sun King by a nose, with West Virginia (at 16-1) coming in third. I mention WV only because I was three deep on a big Grand Slam ticket that day and sure would've loved to see West Virginia win it (not that I didn't cash on Invasor). But I digress. The big question is will we be seeing another foreshadowing today of this year's BC Classic champion in Quality Road or Blame (or even the ever present Musket Man) like we did in 2006?

I can't see QR getting beat today, although they don't run the races on paper and the late running style of Blame (and the weight break) is enough cause for concern. My plays for today's Whitney:

$5 Tri: Quality Road over Blame and Musket Man (3/2,6) = $10
$2 Tri: Quality Road over Blame, Musket Man over Haynesfield (3/2,6/4) = $4

Good luck to all.

The Toga Party has two points in play this weekend....the Whitney (where most contestants have selected either QR or Blame) and the Crazy Eights day....Sunday 8/8's number of winners for the 8 horse. This is where we separate the laundry and see who will be taking the lead at the half mile marker.....

Just for old times sake...here's the 2006 Whitney with it's exciting head bob finish....

Is Z's Campaign Weak Sauce?

Tweet The picture to the left was taken last fall in the packed paddock at Santa Anita Park moments before the historic Breeders' Cup Classic wherein the great Zenyatta became the first female horse to win the year end "championship" race. This week's Thoroughbred Bloggers Alliance WTF topic is "Can Zenyatta gain anything by running on the West Coast again?"

While the last two years' campaigns could be considered "weak sauce" by some (sans last year's Classic - deemed by some as a home game), I'm going to defend the big mare and list my reasons why....And this coming from the author of a tongue-in-cheek entry named The Top 10 Reasons Why Big Z Won't Come East. This is why I don't disagree with the way she is being handled....

1. There's only one race that counts remaining this year. The Big Z's next two races don't really matter to anyone except a historian or two. Her connections are just trying to get her ready for The Big One on Saturday, November 6th. Basically she doesn't need to gain anything at this point. She needs to be ready for BC Classic Day, period. That will be when she'll face her stiffest competition to date (see this weekend's Whitney), so she needs to be in top condition on that day.

2. She's proven on dirt. There's no reason to ship her across the country and have her run in the heat and humidity of Saratoga, she's already won on dirt at Oaklawn and should handle it at Churchill Downs. I'd be shocked if they run her at Belmont in the Beldame next, also.

3. Rachel is no longer the target. She showed up in April for the Apple Blossom at Oaklawn, and Rachel didn't (which probably was a good thing as she obviously wasn't ready). Chances are they'll never meet (except in the Hall of Fame). I imagine Jess Jackson will run her in the Ladies Classic/Distaff and call it a day. Z's connections are focused on bigger and better targets.

4. Back to back Classics would cement her legacy. It would also dispel the notion that she beat a weak field in 2009, which is complete poppycock (I knew I could work that word into a post someday).

5. 20-0 would be pretty cool. Staying out west gives her the best chance to retire with a pretty remarkable record. And winning her last west coast appearance in a race named after her would also add to the legend.

I know my thoughts are probably in the minority, but I still think focusing on #1 above is the key -- there's only one race to get ready for, if she loses the Hirsch or her next start and wins the Classic at Churchill, who's going to remember that she lost the Hirsch, or for that matter, give a damn about it.

Not me. And certainly there are 3 million reasons why Mr. Moss won't.

What Can I Say....It Was So Money

Tweet It's Danny Bonaduce Day here at the Space Station....not to be confused with Black Eyed Susan Dey. Yep, you guessed it, it's shameless self promotion time (plus I know my cousin secretly loves Danny so I was trying to get his attention).
So you may remember I plugged that new racing website last Friday on my way out the door to Saratoga called GradeOneRacing.com? Well I entered their initial (free) handicapping contest (with $5,000 in prizes) making 10 mythical $20 Win/Place bets on 5 races from Saratoga (Saturday) and 5 races from Del Mar (Sunday).

I spent Thursday night handicapping both cards and submitted my selections before leaving for the Spa. Saturday's Spa selections pretty much flattened out and I had $134 in winnings with one win (Jim's Appletini) and one place (Volcker) and was nowhere near the Top 50 leaderboard. Then a funny thing happened on Sunday.....I got red hot. En Fuego hot. Smokin' Joe hot. Burned your hand on the stove cuz you thought it was off, hot.

Due to a six car pileup on the NYS Thruway (where we sat still for an hour somewhere around Batavia) I was freaking out that I would miss the Haskell national telecast (which I missed 70% of). We finally got through and home in time to watch them loading in the gate. So after the race I started writing my Spa entry and had half an eye on Del Mar to see how my selections fared. Of course I wasn't betting (like an idiot).

So Race 5 comes on and the TVG guys aren't even mentioning my selection, Ranger Heartley, who is moving between 7-1 and 8-1, going off at the latter. Don'tcha know he wires the field at 8-1 and pays $18.60 and $7.40 adding $260 to the coffers. At this point, I hadn't checked what happened in the first race, wherein I selected Avid, a promising filly. A quick check at the DRF site and wah-lah, she won ($4.20 $2.60), another $68. Not bad. At least I'll have a positive ROI I'm thinking, being at $462. Next up is a horse who is a chronic place finisher, Royal F J (9-2), who I make a token $2 show bet on to ensure my free BRIS PP's (cheap, I know). Royal F J dead heats for second in a wild finish paying $3.00 (another $30 in the coffers = $492). Ironically the show bet paid more ($3.90) than the DH place amount. Next up, I have Subsidized, the favorite at 2-1...wins paying $5.80 and $3.60 (up to $586). We're not at the final and bonus race, the G1 Bing Crosby ($100 bonus if you select the winner) and I have Smiling Tiger, whose hovering around 8-1. Cost of Freedom, the heavy favorite at 4-5 stumbles out of the gate and Smiling Tiger wires the field (in what could be called a truly speed favoring day) and pays $17.80 and $7.20, taking my total up to $936 including the bonus $$. I'm rubbing my eyes not believing what just happened. Later that evening I check the Top 50 page and find I finished 9th overall, winning a $75 voucher into my newly created XpressBet account and a free signed copy of one of G-1R CEO Steve Davidowitz' books. Shazam. Maybe I should spend a little more time looking at Del Mar, eh? Final stats (10 5-2-1, $4.68), only Economic Swoon and Phola missed the board. OK, enough shameless self promotion.

Congrats to this week's Toga Party III point getters, Tony Bada Bing, Green But Game (looming large with Castellano in the irons), Kennedy's Corridor and the SpaceBro by selecting A Little Warm in the Jim Dandy. With 10 days (a quarter of the meet) in the books at the Spa we've had 42 turf races, projecting to 168, close to the prognostications of yours truly (175), Kennedy (166) and Foolish Pleasure (165). Johnny V has 14 wins, projecting to a monster 56, and his sidekick Todd Pletcher surged ahead of Chad Brown with 2 wins on Monday to reach 8. Stay tuned, this year's Party Contest looks to be a barn burner.

Nice post by our friend to the north, Triple Dead Heat on the Royal North Stakes, where one of Obviously NY Stables best and EquiSpace favorite, Mother Russia, took second behind Unzip Me, ridden by Joe Talamo, who made a rare appearance at Woodbine. Check out Keith's photo essay, it's superb.

As Vince Vaughn would say in Swingers, "It's So Money, Baby."

A Dandy of a Weekend

Tweet My first Jim Dandy weekend at the Spa was a huge success and a relief that we got through it with our 18 month old son completing his track superfecta on his 1/2 birthday. Thanks to A Little Warm and Miner's Reserve we salvaged what could have been a Belmont day-type bloodbath at the windows. Luckily we rallied in the Saturday feature and me and my little good luck charm survived the weekend.

We were fortunate enough to score some box seats (hat tip to the Saratoga Resident) just off the finish line on Friday and we had perfect seats on the Porch on Saturday with a great view of the horses at the rail and coming out onto the track.

We had our fair share of sightings (if you count trainers) on Friday. Nick Zito was sitting behind us and Rick Dutrow in the box next to us, not to mention Bo Derek being a couple boxes below us. We also ended up sitting at a table next to hers at Max London's later that evening where the Space Gal and Kid had an encounter with her at the door. Of course, the Space Kid was making a poopy-face which caused some light pleasantries. Gotta love that kid. Dutrow was cheering on Believe in A.P. in a Mdn Sp Wt on the turf who came hard at the end to grab the show. We went into the paddock for the Fleet Indian Stakes and the Space Kid garnered a wink and a nod from Zito (whose one of the Space Gal's favorites - must be a paison thing) who was saddling Eager Emma who grabbed third. Of course there was an Ernie Munick sighting (and another 2005 stump of the guitarist/videoagrapher) as well as sharing a few races with our good friend, the Puma.

Saturday brought a number of meetings of old and new friends. The BeerMan (who was leader in the Toga Party III clubhouse until yesterday) joined us for the first three races. We met up with former Buffalonian and reader Dan D and his fiancee before the third (Dan also gave me my new shortcut into the Spa - more on this in another post). Finally we said hello to Michael and Niki who run the ThoroFan group outside of the jockeys room, who we've been running the Handicappers' Corner for as well as helping them with some corporate work.

As usual we captured a few amateur photos over the weekend....

Our weekend gets underway in the 3rd, won by Persistently.












The meet's leading jockey, the red hot Javier Castellano!


















Is this kid a natural or what? Hold all tickets.



















Fleet Indian Stakes winner My Dinah, in the paddock.










Jockey David Cohen has had a nice start to the Spa meet.


















Nick Zito in the paddock before the Fleet Indian.



















The close of day one.....














The Fasig-Tipton Festival of Racing is off.....













Jockey?

or Farrier?

From a child's eyes.....













Mike Smith in from the left coast to ride Proviso (GB), winner of the Diana (G1)












Edgar Prado on Diana (G1) place finisher Shared Account.











Julien Leparoux atop the grey and long time favorite Forever Together.












Heading to the clubhouse turn in the Diana (G1), former BC champ Maram (#7) putting the early heat on Dynaslew (#5), the early leader.








Calvin Borel up on Jim Dandy place finisher Miner's Reserve, completing a nice $96 exacta!










Javier up on Afleet Express, who finished third in the Jim Dandy.







They're off in the Jim Dandy!

Heading to the clubhouse turn......









A Little Warm, crosses the line in front of longshot Miner's Reserve to win the 2010 Jim Dandy Stakes (G1).