Insomnia 2.0

Tweet I can't sleep. My dog, Tanner Jones, is keeping me company tonight on the couch, so that I don't wake up the rest of the Space Clan. At least the squirrels aren't spinning, so no brilliant ideas to pass on early this morning, just some opinionated blather.

Tried pulling down the Pick Six on Thursday with a monstrous $8 ticket. You can imagine how that worked out. Amazingly, I hit 4 of 6 and I won't even write about what I did to talk myself off the other two horses that won, it's just too painful. One of these days I will learn to trust my own instincts.

On the Space Kid front, it's officially in the books that his first words were dah-dah. (Although the Turk swears it could have been spa-spa). Let's just say the Space Gal is beside herself and in total denial. Next step, reading the DRF.

Having happy thoughts for Edgar Prado. He quietly has won back to back feature stakes at the Spa with D'funnybone in the Saratoga Special and Shared Account yesterday in the Lake Placid. Who's he aboard in the Alabama? Umm....that would be a negative, as in no mount.

Watched Jockeys 2.0 season premiere with the Space Gal last night (at least I think her eyes were open). How many times are we going to see a shot of a jockey falling off a horse and hear how dangerous an occupation it is? This just in...we get it. Really. We do. I did enjoy the claiming process portion of the program. A nice way to educate new fans and understand the game within the game that occurs leading up to and during a claiming race. Boy, they made Nakatani look like a poster child for an angry man. Next up on the who can we hate list is Garret Gomez.

Alabama thoughts: I have a feeling this race might fall apart. I'm going with the Canadian filly Milwaukee Appeal (who picks up Johnny V), followed by Don't Forget Gil (beaten a neck in the CCAO by Funny Moon) and Casanova Move (don't overlook her PP's). All three also look like they could handle an off track (which is a distinct possibility). I think it will be an awesome race to watch and there are four or five horses that can win.

Lastly, I totally take back all those times I didn't want to nap when I was younger.

Between Clubs...

Tweet Anyone who has played golf has endured the dreaded "between clubs" dilemma. For me it's 120 yards out where I'm between my pitching wedge and nine iron and it usually drives me crazy trying to decide which club to hit (the hard wedge or the easy nine). Gayego, the 2008 Derby hopeful, returned to the races Monday at Saratoga on Monday, winning an $61K allowance optional claiming race going six furlongs.

Richard Mettee, Godolphin's North American racing manager said his ideal distance sprinting is seven furlongs, so the Vosburgh (G1) on October 3 at Belmont Park would likely pit him in against Fabulous Strike at six furlongs, and a trip to California to run in the Ancient Title (G1) on October 11 at the Oak Tree meet at Santa Anita would mean facing Zensational on a synthetic surface. “Which one would you rather do?,” Mettee asked. “You pick your poison. Against the good horses, he’s going to need seven (furlongs). He’s kind of a tricky horse to place. He’s won on synthetic. There are races at Keeneland.” One possible long-term goal that has been mentioned is the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile, which will be run on the Pro-Ride synthetic surface at Santa Anita. Gayego is clearly between clubs. Let's hope he tries what should shape up to be a very competitive BC Dirt Mile.

I'm definitely having Saratoga withdrawal after a fun couple of days last week. Today was bombs away with some big payouts creating a $178K Pick Six carryover into Thursday's card. Another point in the Toga Party contest becomes available on Saturday for the 129th running of the Alabama Stakes (G1), which has attracted a couple of talented fillies from the Great White North in Careless Jewel, winner of the Delaware Oaks (G2) and Milwaukee Appeal, runnerup of the Prince of Wales in a photo at Fort Erie. Woodbine regular jockey Rob Landry will make a rare appearance at the Spa to ride the Jewel. It will be the first Alabama I'll miss in four years, as I will be watching from the Nittany mountains this weekend. It's shaping up to be a very good race, remember last year Music Note and Proud Spell scared off all comers and it was a four horse race by post time.

Mettee quote source: NYRA Communications

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....


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