Saturday in the Park

Tweet It's Saturday in the Park (Belmont Park) and though it's not the fourth of July, we are getting there (and in four weeks we'll be there for the big day). It's Peter Pan Day and there is a lot being made of the North American debut of Casino Drive. I've decided to play against the morning line favorite (other than underneath in exotics) as he's coming off only one maiden race and being shipped in from Japan. I feel he'll be more of a factor on Belmont Day at the longer distance and after his first race over Big Sandy. Instead I'm going with the Pletcher/Velasquez duo and Ready's Echo, as there should be enough speed in the race for him to pick up the pieces. Mint Lane should be out front early with Golden Spikes right behind. Golden Spikes ran a second to fifth-place Derby finisher Recapturetheglory in the Illinois Derby and I will couple him with Ready's Echo on top of my trifecta play. I also am intrigued by Cosmic with Javier up, who had a good work this week and has shown improvement. I'm still not sold on Tomcito, other than for him to maybe catch a piece of the tri or super, like Casino Drive, the extra distance on Belmont Day may help.

So here's my $1 trifecta Peter Pan play: 5,6/5,6,7/1,2,5,7 cost: $11 and a $1 exacta box: 5,6.

Also, of note today is the 19th running of the Jim Murray Handicap at Hollywood Park in memory of the late sportswriter. Murray was the acclaimed Pullitizer prize winning sportswriter who became blind during the later stages of his writing career. I remember as a child reading his syndicated columns in the Syracuse Post-Standard and enjoying his wit and savvy sportswriting ability, and seeing that race being run today had me reflecting on those high school breakfast mornings with Jim.

On to Neverland

Tweet The big race this weekend is the G2 Peter Pan Stakes, to be run Saturday at venerable Belmont Park. It's shaping up to be quite the race and a prep for the final jewel of the Triple Crown, the Belmont Stakes in early June. Tomcito, the Peruvian wonderhorse, will be running from post 2 for the first time back on dirt since he finished 3rd behind Big Brown in the Florida Derby and after failing to qualify for the Kentucky Derby with his showing in the Coolmore Lexington. I've said in previous posts that he is more suited for the longer races and his connections now have him heavily pointed towards the Belmont. Also pointed in that direction is the Japanese horse, Casino Drive. One of the threats to steal Big Brown's Crown away from him in four weeks (with an extra week's rest). The Drive was shipped over last month from Japan all eyes pointed to June 7th. He is a three-quarter brother to Rags to Riches and half brother to Jazil, the past two winners of the Belmont. His sire is Mineshaft, also the sire to Derby starter Cool Coal Man and his dam is Better than Honour. Other interesting starters on Saturday are Deputyville, a Contessa trainee, who comes out of the Federico Tesio stakes, third to Ichabad Crane and behind Mint Lane (who is in post 3) and Todd Pletcher's Ready's Echo, who lost his first two year old race at the Spa last summer to Derby starter Z Humor and then broke his maiden at Gulfstream in March. The other major horse who I like a lot is Golden Spikes, who ran second to Recapturetheglory in the Illinois Derby after finishing fifth in the Fountain of Youth. This race is loaded with talent and the top contenders should be looking at being the spoilers come June.

ESPN is reporting today that the Jockey Club announced the formation of a new safety committee to study equine health, including track safety and the rules of racing. Dr. Larry Bramlage, the vet on the scene at the Derby, will be one of the committee members. Here's another interesting article from, of all places, the Winnepeg Sun, with some special quotes from the illustrious Dick Dutrow. Geez, Dick if he wins the Triple Crown, are you saying you won't be running him at Santa Anita on Breeder's Cup Day? Really?

The Incurable Optimist

Tweet What started as an innocent question to my pal over at the NYS Thoroughbred Breeding & Development Fund Corporation, became an all-out research project, when he told me that a New York-bred is the leading sire in Argentina. Indeed after checking the Argentinian Studbook, Incurable Optimist (by Cure the Blues out of Miss Turlington) is indeed the 2008 stallion leader down south. Argentina, as my pal quotes, has a "robust equine industry" and with the Peruvian invader Tomcito in the States as a possible Derby entry, South America appears to be thriving.

Incurable Optimist was bred by Dr. William Wilmot and Dr. Joan Taylor of NY and won four of six starts in 1998, most notably the 1st Generous Stakes (G3) and the Pilgrim Stakes (G3) on closing day at Belmont in 1998. His sire, Cure the Blues won six of ten starts and placed 15th in the 1981 Kentucky Derby won by Pleasant Colony. Cure the Blues won the Laurel Futurity and Marlboro Nursery Stakes and took a second in the Gotham and a third in the Wodd in his Derby prep races.

After using a little freetranslation.com, I figured out that Incurable Optimist was fifth in the 2007 stallion rankings with 143 starters, 61 winners and 99 total runners that hit the board. He is currently leading the 2008 rankings with 90 starters, including 26 winners and 29 that have hit the board and has the top earned amount (1,116,840).

If you'd like to see Incurable Optimist, here is a link to a youtube entry. It's nice to see a NY bred doing so well in the breeding game!

Weekend Notes

Tweet It was an interesting weekend of racing and I am happy to report that Bella Cavello's star mare La Chica Rica won her second straight race, this time in a 4 1/2 furlong sprint at Charles Town on Saturday night. She paid $4.60 for the win and held off a challenge down the stretch from post-time favorite Monster Image, pulling away for a 4 length victory under Travis L. Dunkelberger, who rode his fourth winner of the evening. The victory adds another $20K to the lifetime earnings of Chica, who has $298K of lifetime earnings. We'll keep you abreast as to her next race. The stable sends M.E.'s Smile off at Atlantic City on Thursday. Interesting to note that Atlantic City Racecourse runs turf races for two weeks a year, six races a day through May 2nd. Unfortunately, as outlined in the Bloodhorse, this could be the last meet staged there.

The big Derby prep over the weekend yielded yet another weekend victory for Todd Pletcher, where Behindatthebar had a sterling run to catch the frontrunning Samba Rooster. David Flores jockeyed a tremendous final furlong catching three horses in the final stretch run. It appears that Behindathebar will probably point at the Preakness even though he has the graded stakes to qualify for the Derby. I liked his numbers and thought he would place behind Atoned, another Pletcher entry that failed to qualify for the Derby in his last attempt. Tomcito, didn't take to the poly and appears to be looking at the Preakness or better yet, the Belmont, which would make more sense given his running style.

The other big Derby news coming out of the Zito camp, is that War Pass was sidelined with a fractured bone in his ankle, detected on Friday via X-rays. This shakes up the predicted early hot pace and will lead to great speculation as to how the race will unfold without him in it. Unfortunately it also kills my Futures #3 ticket at 14-1. Damn.

Saw "Forgetting Sarah Marshall" yesterday and wondering what was with all the frontal male nudity? Wish First Saturday in May was shown locally, made some pitches to the local indie theatres here in Bflo, but to no avail, guess I'll have to grab the DVD.

Photo credit: The Bloodhorse

Last Dance

Tweet It's the Last Dance for a last chance at the Derby and it's the Lexington Stakes (G2) from Keeneland on Saturday. After a big day last Saturday, Pletcher sends Atoned back to work to try and capture enough graded earnings to make the Derby cut. Atoned (by Repent out of Amidst) was the second choice to Denis of Cork (also could be on the outside looking in) in the Illinois Derby chart notes. With Prado on board again for Todd, he'll try to win back to back Saturday stakes for the trainer whose horse he jumped off of for the Derby, trading Monba in for Adriano as Dick Powell points out today. We'll see how he handles the poly, but he had a decent work on Sunday over the synthetics. A couple of other interesting quirks to this race include the entry of Salute the Sarge by Eric Guillot (an interesting chap) who goes two turns for the first time. The Sarge earned most of his graded dollars as a two year old, another bone of contention with many with respect to who qualifies to run in the Derby. The Peruvian horse, Tomcito, whose connections appear to be desparately trying to get into the Derby, is also entered. He, too, needs this race badly to qualify, but based on viewing his last race, the Florida Derby, in my humble opinion he seems more likely to be a Preakness or Belmont horse going the extra distance. A couple of horses I am liking at a price in this race are Behindatthebar (and not for the reasons you might be thinking), another Pletcher horse with David Flores up, who has raced fairly consistently over the synthetics and has won at this distance, Big Glen and Riley Tucker. Big Glen won the Rushaway at Turfway Park over Miner's Claim in late March and has faced formidable competition over his career. Riley Tucker, with Johnny V up, placed at Keeneland two weeks ago on an off the turf stakes and also has faced decent competition.

With all that being said, I'm sticking with Pletcher this week and looking elsewhere regarding Tomcito and the Sarge:

1 - Atoned, 2 - Behindatthebar, 3 - Riley Tucker, 4 - Big Glen

Then again, I picked Daisy over Ambre in Rock of Love 2, so what do I know?

Bella Cavello Update: The star of the stable, La Chica Rica, winner at Mountaineer last month with a BSF of 96, will ratchet it back to 4 1/2 furlongs at Charles Town on Saturday in a $33K allowance (Race 8) and will most likely be the post time favorite. A big showing here could push her closer to the $300K lifetime earnings mark.