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....

The Power of Zen

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When in Los Angeles and you speak of the power of Zen, one usually thinks of super coach Phil Jackson of the Lakers. Not this weekend. There’s not much more that can be said or written about what I and 58,844 of my closest friends witnessed yesterday at Santa Anita Park. It was truly a majestic win in what can be called the Sport of Queens for the racing year 2009. Five year old mare Zenyatta certainly didn’t disappoint the hometown patrons who showed up en masse on a beautiful day at the Great Race Place. I can certainly say I came away a believer and with a lot less dough than I came with, but to witness history in the making was certainly one of the coolest things I’ve seen in my brief sojourn as a racing fanatic and well worth the trip to La La Land. Not only did trainer John Shireffs pull off the Double-Double for the two 2009 Classics (Female and Male) but he became the first trainer to train a filly or mare winner in the Breeders’ Cup Classic. Cheers to the connections as they truly had her ready to roll and she ate up every minute of it. I was aboard Colonel John (son of two time Classic winner Tiznow) and Gio Ponti (thanks JB!) and had Twice Over in my exotics, but just didn’t think she could get the distance, not to mention I’m not Mike Smith’s biggest fan. She sure did prove me and many others wrong. The only downside to it all is we have to go through three months of Horse of the Year blather, I'm going to leave it up to the voters, cuz my opinion matters not. Why can't folks just savor the moment, I know I certainly will?

We had another spectacular day at the track and finally had a couple winners early to ease the damages, but overall I had difficultly trying to figure out the Pro Ride, the Euro invaders and how the East Coast horses would fare. That’s the name of the game on the big race days now with the three surfaces (you could argue more as each synthetic has its own idiosyncrasies). Regardless, we had an absolute blast and I have memories to treasure for a lifetime that will certainly have a place on the shelf in my top ten sporting events Space List.

We frequented the paddock for most of the day, so here’s Breeders' Cup Day Two in pictures:

We were on fire early so they brought in the locals to cool us off…would like to report that it worked.

Juvenile Turf winner Pounced ($6.80) parading in the paddock.

Turf Sprint winner California Flag ($8.80)

EquiSpace favorite Canadian Ballet…whoops Alan you’re on too soon….get off! She ran very respectful race and was in the hunt until the stretch drive. She did the boys from Obviously NY Stables very proud with the 5th place finish.

Dancing in Silks chillin’ in the paddock. Don’t you hate when you have a horse highlighted and starred in your Form and then don’t use her? Ugh. Did have show bets on Crown of Thorns and Cost of Freedom, but a big opportunity was missed here.

25-1 longshot Dancing in Silks ($52.60) making her move in the stretch drive to overtake 15-1 Crown of Thorns.

Garret Gomez on Lookin at Lucky in the post parade, nipped at the wire in the Juvenile by Vale of York. He ran a great race from the 13 post having to overcome a 7 wide clubhouse turn.

Two time BC Mile champ Goldikova making her patented stretch move just beyond the eighth pole.

How happy is Goldi’s connections doing the post race victory lap?

As predicted, Ready’s Echo blew up all my exotics in the Dirt Mile, here’s Calvin Borel up in the post parade.

Presious Passion first time by us – hey where’s everyone else? Still amazed he hung on for the placing after those crazy early fractions.

Mrs. Stronach not lookin’ so happy.......wonder why?

Zenyatta ruling the paddock like royalty.

Gio Ponti looked terrific in the jam packed paddock before the Classic.

They break in the Classic and Regal Ransom grabs the early lead.

Mighty Zenyatta with Mike Smith making his move on the outside on their way to victory

That’s a wrap on a great weekend in the City of Angels, hope you enjoy the pics.

Lastly, big kudos to the Breeders’ Cup for putting on quite a show.

A Blog About Nothing

Tweet Remember those classic Seinfeld shows when Jerry and George were trying to sell the network on a show about nothing. Well that's all I have these days, nothing. I had a roller coaster week, where I was sailing on Lake Erie, bed-ridden with the stomach flu for two days and then playing golf in the Appalachian mountains on Saturday morning with a dude who tells me on the first tee that he's a former college golfer, hey no pressure...


First off, sailing is much tougher than it looks. The owner of the sailing vessel I was fortunate to be on let me tack for a good half hour (Dennis Connor I'm not) and with the lake being fairly rough and traveling at around 7 knots (I have no idea what that means) it was hard to keep a straight course. It was a beautiful night on the lake and the views of the Buffalo skyline were pretty magnificent. It did make me wonder what ever happened to the America's Cup I remember watching as a young boy. Talk about a sport that fell off the map....


The former college golfer ended up being a great guy and easy to play with, currently in politics with an Atlanta branch of a major public affairs firm. The topic of my hobby didn't come up until the back nine, and the token "Did you have Mine that Bird?" question surfaced...but he had been to Dover Downs being a Delawarian (is that right?) and an attendee at an annual Derby party in Indiana, so he was cool with horse racing. Anyways, we had a great time and actually played pretty well on a course best suited for a mountain goat.


About the only racing time I got in was a couple races between golf and the reception (Space Gal was in the wedding and the Space Kid was with the in-laws, so I had some nothing time on my hands). I watched the Long Branch from Monmouth (nice win by Atomic Rain) and the Man 0' War from Belmont (Gio Baby Gio- that would make a nice blog title), but my focus was primarily on my latest obsession, the Survival at the Shore. Amazingly, I have cracked the top 40, sitting in 4oth after a solid weekend, one life preserver in tact. 412 players remain out of the 4,300 or so original entrants. Just trying to hang in there one day at a time (how cliche-ish, I know).


Unfortunately, I didn't get home in time today from Central PA to sneak over to the border oval for the Prince of Wales, so the game plan was to watch the race replay on twinspires TV to see who won the second leg of the Canadian triple crown. I was hoping for the filly, Milwaukee Appeal, and based on the race call at the wire, I was already titling this post "Foto Filly." To everyone's surprise, including Niagara Falls native jockey Corey Fraser, Gallant ($33.40), a longshot won the photo. A tremendous stretch drive and finish. I'm looking forward to reading some of our TBA blog posts tomorrow for those who were fortunate enough to attend.


A bad gate break for closer Keino West, doomed him early. Named after Kip Keino, the great former distance runner from Kenya, Keino West finished fourth, seven lengths behind the winner. I hadn't heard that name in a long time, my childhood friend (now an established writer/editor for Syracuse University Magazine) used to pretend we were in the Olympics (I was Jim Ryun and he was KK) and we would circle the neighborhood backyards racing against each other, using picnic benches as hurdles. Ok, I'm finished about nothing, go back to your regularly scheduled reading activities.....and....


Thanks for stopping by.

Planes, Trains and Automobiles

Tweet "Those aren't pillows!" ~Steve Martin in Planes, Trains and Automobiles

The streak is alive. I'm heading to my fourth consecutive Belmont Stakes and super psyched about it. I won't exactly be taking the same route as last year, which ended up being about a ten hour train ride to Penn Station from the B-Lo, but as usual I will be attempting a circuitous route to the Big Apple via Altoona, Pennsylvania through Allentown PA (to handicap and sleep) onto Elmont Saturday morning. It's a long story, so don't ask. I've never driven to Belmont Park, so I'm sure that will be a treat in itself, and hoping Mr. Tom Tom can guide me safely into the east side parking lot of the third jewel of the Triple Crown. Huge props to the Space Gal for encouraging me to take the journey while she attends graduations and visits with her folks.

The Belmont undercard looks pretty fabulous and I look forward to seeing Hull and Kensei again in the Woody Stephens, they ran 1-2 in the Derby Trial on opening day at Churchill during our Kentucky trip. I'll start my handicapping tonight, but I better have my Belmont pick for the office tomorrow, I think some of my admin staff are now regulars at the Niagara Falls Boulevard OTB (geesh what have I done). Who woulda thunk it that I will be seeing back to back races for Better Talk Now, who last ran at Keeneland during the aforementioned visit to the Bluegrass State. The Manhattan Handicap (G1) looks like a monster race which I'm thinking I'll have to go pretty deep on my Pick Four play. That race will be my first live looks at Court Vision, Gio Ponti and Cowboy Cal.

As someone who's office is off of Audubon Drive, my initial thoughts on the Belmont are focused on Mine That Bird, Summer Bird and Flying Private (the Audubon Triple). I'm actually liking Flying Private to hit the board, his race comments show one nightmare trip after another. But I could be reaching...more analysis required...

A bonus on Saturday will be to see local Saratoga favorite My Man Lars, who scored nicely on a tip from the Puma last 4th of July. He'll be running on the undercard in race 5 for owner Jimmy Olson (no relation to he of Superman lore). People have asked me why I nicknamed my pal the Puma...gotta be the socks...now you know. We'll be checking in late tomorrow night from A-town. Drop me a line if you'd like to meet up in the backyard.

Holiday Walnuts

Tweet - Every time I flip through "A Christmas Story" all I can think of is Plaxico yelling in the nightclub: "I SHOT MY THIGH OUT." Just can't get it out of my head. Now it's in yours. Sorry.

- Ernie left me a response on a facebook status page commenting on the "PAIN" of no racing for the past two days that left me thinking about Santa Anita's opening day card tomorrow. Must. Make. Wager. (well to get the free PP's for the DRF contest).

- Speaking of the king of NY racing, TDH did an excellent piece in Down the Stretch. Looking forward to receiving my copy via post (that's Canadien [sic] for mail). Thanks Keith! You da man. *marking queen's plate down on calendar*

- Been enjoying (a) the milder weather down south in central PA (isn't it scary that to Buffalo, State College is down south)...and (b) that I can access HRTV.

- This lady is my hero and inspiration.

- Coolest Xmas present I received so far: Weston leather cigar holder from Red Envelope. A must for the 'gar-toting golfer or early morning workout watcher.

- Changing up my Spa trips this year, substituting Travers for Alabama weekend, thinking this could be a bang up crop of 2yos (hey we can only hope when we're 128 days away from the big day).

- My dog, Tanner Jones, crushed it for Christmas, he has to be wondering WTF did I do to deserve all of this awesomeness (stocking with name on it, tasty crack bone, mini soft chew bone [man he loves those] and a long stretchy thing w/hoops theme). It's my first Christmas having a dog and he's the best, if only he could handicap.

- The Saratoga Resident called me with holiday wishes yesterday posting a 3:40 from Schenectady which elicited the token "is Schenectady your driveway?" response from yours truly. Much laughter ensued. Oh, the holidays.

- Wondering if Dock Ellis (RIP) ever tripped on cobra venom?

- I haven't twittered in five days, trying to avoid the twitter-azi (just because you're not paranoid doesn't mean someone isn't watching).

- I have a hunch that Bob Black Jack is going to like the distance and might surprise a fully-loaded Malibu field. Get the free PP at the TBA homepage. I also favor Fifteen Love in the Sir Beaufort Stakes for Bobby Frankel who will tackle a tough Gio Ponti (coming off a bad beat) and El Gato Malo trying turf for the first time (i'd stay away from the Bad Cat in this one).

- Have a super Boxing Day tomorrow.