Prince Dubai Strikes Turf Gold at the Spa

Tweet Bona Venture Stables, featured here last month, broke its maiden at Saratoga yesterday in a big way. Prince Dubai ($57.50) went off at odds of 27-1 and won the $49K 1 1/16th mile allowance for NY-breds in the seventh race on the Mellon Turf at ye olde Saratoga Race Course yesterday. If you were paying attention to the BVS twitter account you would have seen that this horse was ready to roll. The win by the gelding by E. Dubai out of Princess Caveat (by Caveat) was the inaugural win for Bona Venture Stables at Saratoga. The Prince is trained by Leah Gyarmati, ridden by Norberto Arroyo, Jr. and was bred by that famous Partridge kid, David Cassidy. I hope I get a chance to meet the Prince in two weeks when we visit the backstretch during Travers Day.

Perfectly timed, the victory came during a weekend when BVS' managing partner, Dan Collins was hosting a group of his ownership. He politely had invited me to attend, but I was distracted by the seven kids I was chasing at a water park in Buffalo all day. I was quite excited to read of the win upon settling down at the computer late last night and sent him a congratulatory email. He quickly responded, "We were very high on Prince Dubai today. The pattern was improving. Today was his fourth on the turf and he only lost last time out by 1 3/4 lengths. That pattern said he was prime for a big win. We had 40 people with us at the track today and many went to the IRS window and we heard people yelling among the crowd, "Go Bonnies! This was Bona Venture Stables first ever win at Saratoga, the queen of American race tracks!" Way to go, BVS.

Ironically, the horse finishing fifth (at 50-1) in the same race, Brushed Prince, was the horse the Space Gal wrote a guest blog on last summer. I watched the replay this morning and jockey Arroyo did a nice job getting Prince Dubai past the front running Fortissi More with Leparoux aboard in the stretch drive and held off both the charging Tobruk and Quiet On The Tee at the wire. Quite the exciting race.

Toga Bound

Tweet Pack up the bags we're heading east and bringing with us some beautiful weather (*fingers crossed*). With the Space Gal in foal, there will be no attempt at the sacred 3:59 today as nature will be taking its course with some frequent stops along the great NYS Thruway (note sarcasm in the word great). We'll be passing the folks on their way back to the 'Cuse, after spending the last two days with their Kutztown college pals of over 40 years who they reunion with annually at the Spa.

Alabama Day looks to be absolutely a smorgasbord of racing (five turf races carded) and if you think I'm excited about the two grade one's on tap (Sword Dancer/Alabama) you should have seen the look on my face when I read the entries for Saturday yesterday afternoon.

- My main excitement was for my pirate horse, Arrrrr, winner last time out going in the 6th at 6 1/2 furlongs in a $20K claimer, with Mike Luzzi up. The Space Gal immediately sent an email to the Saratoga Resident and I stating "please get the joke out of your system now. I don't know if I'll be able to handle it being told to all of the surrounding tables after one too many Bloody Marys."

- Next, Shirley Shaw's Brushed Prince is slated to go in the 7th on the turf. The Space Gal wrote a guest blog for me on her chance meeting with Ms. Shaw during last year's Alabama weekend here. She's hoping to meet up with Shirley over at the hat shop next to Siro's (name escapes me, but I have a card somewhere) to see if she has any tips for this year's race.

- In the feature, one of my favorites, the David Cassidy-bred Sweet Vendetta (ML 10-1) runs for the first time since winning the Black Eyed Susan which made me a happy man (handicapper) that day. She'll be facing some really tough competition here, especially if heavy favorite Music Note runs for the Sheikh and bypasses the Travers, but I expect her still to catch a piece of the exotics.

- So three of my favorite horses going on Alabama Day couldn't have worked out better. Not to mention that the move of the Sword Dancer (G1) to Alabama Day makes this one of the best days of racing the Spa will see all summer. The Sword Dancer features three foreign horses including Grand Couturier (last year's winner), 06 BC Turf Champ Red Rocks and Champs Elysees shipping in for Bobby Frankel. Is the foreign triple tribox an option tomorrow, we'll have to see how soft the turf is. Also entered is the talented Dancing Forever, last seen winning the fantastic Manhatten Handicap (G1) on Belmont Day and United Nations (G1) winner Presious Passion. This race is shaping up to be a really really good one. It may even be a "Win and You're In" Breeders Cup race, but I haven't seen any marketing on this yet (shocker).

- Looking forward to some show pools with the gang and some superfecta pooling on race ten (group tradition) and mostly a day of comradery and laughter (with a few cocktails sprinkled in).

- We'll be headed over to the Oklahoma training track on Sunday morning to check out the workouts as the SG has never been to watch, maybe we'll get a glimpse of one of the superstars currently stabled at the Spa.

- Long-sleeve tee shirt giveaway Sunday...nice.

- My reaction to the Big Brown-Curlin sparring. Big shrug. Race will never happen. Life goes on. Thanks for coming.

- Onward to one of my favorite places in the world....

Hats Off to the Brushed Prince

Tweet Today’s blog is guest written by my wife, the Space Gal, without editing (except for the notes at the end) by yours truly. She takes you back to Alabama weekend in Saratoga, August 17-19, 2007:

Alabama Eve – Friday

After a day at the races, we head to Siro’s. I enjoy a few cocktails but start to get restless when the men light their cigars. I decide it’s the perfect time to head to the hat store next door for some shopping.

I instantly fall in love with a $900 hat. Newly married, I begin weighing the risks and benefits of telling my husband I bought a $900 hat. I decide that a $900 hat is too risky and settle on a MUCH better deal… a $300 hat. I decide to buy my hubby a horse tie to distract him from the new hat. The distraction works. Men are so easy. :)

Alabama Stakes Day – Saturday

I wear my new hat to the races. I love it and get lots of compliments on it.

After the races we head to dinner. I ask my husband to hold the hat for 30 seconds while I fix my hair. My husband drops the hat. I consider divorce. I then decide that I need to keep him around to pay for the hat so I brush it off as no big deal. We’ll return to the hat shop the next day to get it fixed.

Day after Alabama (also known as Umbrella Giveaway Day at the Spa) – Sunday

Before we leave town we have things to accomplish: get hat fixed and get an umbrella (for my husband’s increasing horse racing collection). He drives; I fly.

The women at the hat shop are very accommodating when it comes to fixing my hat. As I wait, a very sweet older woman comes into the store to buy a hat. She’s dressed in jeans, and the women at the store seemed to know her well. It turns out that this day is very special for the woman. As she looks around for a new hat, she tells us that the horse she has running today was her late husband’s horse. And today’s race has special significance because her husband (I think) was born on October 10th (10/10). And this horse is running in the 10th race out of gate 10 (he was the #9 horse). (I actually think there was another symbolic 10 in there somewhere, but I’m not sure what it was… and the birthday may have been their anniversary… but I’m pretty sure it was his birthday.) She was such a sweet woman and you could tell how much she missed her husband. As the women finished up my hat, I wished the horse owner well and went on my way.

I told my husband this story when I got in the car, and he said, “When you go in to get the umbrella, you should throw $5 on the horse.”

So then my husband circled the lot while I went in to get one souvenir umbrella. I’ll let him tell that story because it’s a completely different (and insane) story all on its own. I went to the window to put a $5 win bet on the woman’s horse, but the windows weren’t open yet. When I told my husband that when I got back in the car he said, “That’s okay… the odds are 17-1. You probably would have lost anyway.”

Well, when we checked the following day, guess what…the horse came in first! I was so happy for this wonderful woman and the memory of her late husband. Sometimes you meet people who touch your heart in very special ways… and they have no idea that they’ve done it… but she did that day.

Editors Note: Brushed Prince, owned by Shirley Shaw, bred by her late husband Raymond Shaw, broke her maiden and paid $34 on August 19, 2007. He runs today in the 6th race at Belmont Park in a $50K claimer on the Widener Turf Course with morning line odds at 30-1. Update: Brushed Prince scratched today and is entered in the 7th on Friday at Belmont. He finished fifth by a neck at odds of 80-1.

Top Chef Handicapping Notes: Finale tonight, Saratoga Resident sets top honor odds as follows: Richard 1-1, Stephanie 3-1 and Lisa 50-1 (Guadalcanal tribute). The Pick Here: Stephanie. Saratoga Rez: Goes with the Chalk. Update: Stephanie won!!!