La Chica Attempts to Fend Off Seconditis

Tweet Bella Cavello Stables' La Chica Rica (9-5 ML favorite) will try for the repeat tomorrow night at the Mountain in the $75K Hancock County Stakes in a 5 furlong sprint in Race 9. The Western New York based stable sends her out for her third start off the layoff, after two straight placings, one at Mountaineer in her 2008 debut and then at Charles Town, both under the lights. Mike Farrell has a nice piece up at DRF.com, so she's starting to garner the respect she deserves in her 6yo season. She'll face some tough foes as Michael Trombetta (23% w/shippers) ships in What Time It Is (2-1) and Daniel Smithwick ships in Hadavision (8-1) after two strong showings on the poly at Keeneland with Julien Leparoux and Shaun Bridgmohan aboard. Chica looks to top the half million mark in career earnings, currently sitting on $482,682. The race is scheduled to go off at 10:20pm. Good luck Chica.

When I wrote on Derby Night that "I have to believe Garret Gomez was completely shocked when Borel breezed by his inside in the stretch..." I didn't know he would use almost the same description in his well-written and must-read blog entry On to Pimlico at NTRA.com. Gomez wrote:

"Yeah, I got a little butterfly in my stomach on that one, but then I took a peek to the inside just to kind of check and see what was going on around me and I caught a glimpse of a horse to the inside of me and went to riding. I knew by the body position that it was Calvin and the first thing that flashed through my mind was, "Who's he on again?" and then I was like, "Mine That Bird or whatever his name was… how is that horse coming by me?!" It just didn't make sense. He went by me so fast that it was unbelievable, almost unexplainable. It was just a shock."

Maybe lost in all this hyperbole and collusion stuff surrounding the filly, is the fact that Pioneerof the Nile handled the dirt pretty well (much better than I expected) and he could be very difficult to beat come Saturday. On Derby day, I singled him in second in the exotics and underneath in third on several tri tickets, but come this weekend, I'm thinking he has what it takes after that showing. Gomez is hungry for a Classic win, this may be his best chance yet.

Horse Racing Nation, a site I happened upon last month and frequent often, has some early Preakness morning line odds posted here. Check it out.

The Luv Gov

Tweet I had to laugh out loud (LOL for my uber-savvy tech readers) when I received this comment from my pal JB on the gray skies/gray horse post from opening day:

"The potential Travers fields connections are a who's who of racing; Farish/Howard, Stronach/Pletcher, IEAH/Dutrow, LaPenta/Zito and potentially Zayat/Mott if Z-Fortune makes the trip. No doubt Saratoga brings out racing's royalty. Speaking of which, that Mary Lou Whitney sure has a great sense of humor. Her Lukas-trained colt in tomorrow's second race at the Spa is named, "Luv Gov." Go figure. Could she be a little disappointed that the racing interest that she lent her name to as Chairwoman was put aside by NY's former chief executive? I don't know but Luv Gov was the NY Post headline the day after the story broke."

Luv Gov goes off as the longest morning line price on the board at 20-1 for Lukas tomorrow. Purchased at the Keeneland September 2007 sale for $85K. The colt is by Ten Most Wanted (out of City of Silver). I think an Eliot tribox of Luv Gov with Nowhere to Hide and Blank Check would be appropriate. If only Luv Gov was coming out of the #9 hole, we'd have a sure thing.

Following up on yesterday's 007 post, Prominent, the $120K filly running in a $25K claimer ran second to Isn't That Special. Steve Zorn of The Business of Racing was quick to point out the difficulty in today's game:

"Bond's horse illustrates just how tough this game can be. The horse was purchased for $120,000 at the 2005 Keeneland September sale, and here she is on sale for $25,000, probably with no takers, as it's pretty rare for anyone to claim out of this bottom maiden claiming level. The owner, I'm sure, has more than $200,000 in her, including training, van and vet costs."

Michael Trombetta had one winner of his three entries on Wednesday, with Into the Wind, making the Space Man a little scratch for a $109 exacta with Roman Emperor. He had a couple winners the day I was at Presque Isle and he one to keep an eye out for....

Here's some Luv Gov humor to start off the weekend....

Master of the Grand Slam

Tweet The Iron Man, Lou Gehrig is the all-time career leader in grand slams at 23, with Man-Ram of the Bosox close behind (21 by my lousy research skills). Gehrig has held this record since 1939, all hit over the course of his 17-year career with the New York Yankees. Gehrig hit 493 career home runs, including 49 with four grand slams in 1934. Gehrig also had a career .340 batting average.

The Grand Slam in NY Racing is a wager, typically made with the feature being the fourth leg of the wager. The first three legs only require the bettor's selection to hit the board (win, place or show), with the final leg in the day's feature requiring the winnner. So far after one week of the Saratoga meet, the average daily grand slam payout has been $63.75 for a $2 wager. It can be an inexpensive bet should you choose to single the first three legs and play a larger number of horses in the anchor race. The biggest payout so far was this past longshot Monday's at $139.00, and the lowest being on day two at $28.80. It's an interesting bet for the smaller bankroll players to keep an eye on.

The Synthetics Symposium was held yesterday in Saratoga's Fasig-Tipton Sales Arena, as discussed in yesterday's post, check out two excellent entries by symposium attendees Brooklyn Backstretch and Railbird highlighting the day's panel discussions.

Michael Trombetta, who is very good at picking his spots, has three horses entered today at the Spa. I like Sagamoon at 6-1 or higher in the Fleet Indian Stakes (ninth race) going from turf to dirt and based on the route to sprint angle. Glory Gold (3-1 ML) goes in the second and Into the Wind (3-1 ML, blinkers off) goes in the seventh for Trombetta, who has only raced two horses during the meeting so far.