Underdog and One Classy Jock

Tweet I haven't been all that kind to Garret Gomez in this blog over the past two years and I'm feeling kinda sheepish about it today. I've gave him the business when he was 0 for Del Mar early in the 2008 meet last and I piled on his non-Triple Crown winning ways before last year's Derby, with the old "can't get the monkey off his back" cliche. Now don't get me wrong, I respect the hell outta one Garret Gomez and when a Form is in my hand I always take a look at his horse as being a factor (just cuz GG is aboard). He's currently the Dan Marino/Best player never to win a major/LeBron James of horse racing, who's never won the big one.

I read his post-Preakness blog yesterday and I immediately have newfound respect for him. He handled the blog with such grace and dignity that you just have to give it to the guy. He's had his problems over the years with substance abuse and whatnot, but he manned up and didn't bash anyone over his losing the Lucky mount, he praised fellow jock Martin Garcia and spoke about how he's taken him under his wing on the west coast and showed him the way financially and emotionally. Kudos Garret Gomez. You are one of the reasons I love this sport.

His luck in the big races reared its ugly head once again when his mount Dublin went all awry at the break. Part-time comedian Blonde Champagne continued her TC coverage happened to describe his Preakness gate break this way:

"Dublin breaks from Gate 12, sees a shiny object somewhere to the right of the Atlantic Ocean, and decides to check it out."

So Gomez' last few TC races have been ruined by a 50-1 shot (PioneeroftheNile), a filly with a purpose in last year's Preak (Rachel), drawing the #1 post with the Derby post time favorite (Lucky), and a bad break in the Preak (Dublin). So the jockey who is the top three every year on Eclipse Award night has an underdog in Dublin heading into the Belmont. Dublin is a horse I've liked, whose daddy (Afleet Alex) won the Belmont going away, and will probably be an underdog as the buzz grows for Zito's Ice Box and Romans' Dude. He was in my top four (I liked his stamina pedigree) in my Derby selections and is a big strapping horse. Can he be the one that gets Gomez off the schneid? I just may be betting on it. As we found out with Peyton Manning, John Elway and Michael Jordan even, the cream usually will rise to the top.

I like the underdog status he'll most likely earn over the next few weeks....

Mt. Rushmore of Trainers?

Tweet If there was a Mt. Rushmore for current trainers, I think this is what it would look like (other than the lousy photoshop job). These four trainers, Baffert (2), Lukas (1), Zito (2) and Pletcher (4) have a combined 9 entries in the starting gates on Saturday....pretty scary.

In other blog related news, the final Wireplayers.com Derby Dozen has been posted along with selections for the projected caboose of the race. Check them out over here.

Pat Patten of the Handride blog is the TBA's featured handicapper this week over at ThoroFan and he takes a look at the Pick 3 into the Derby, be sure to check it out over at Handicapper's Corner.

You can check out the TBA and other bloggers' selections for the weekend races in a little contest we have going over at the TBA homepage.

A couple of my pals jumped the gun and gave me some picks for the Oaks so I'll post them here also....the first is from GG, hailing from Amherst, NY (he of the winning $133K 2005 Derby trifecta = so pay attention).....here's who he likes tomorrow:

Geno, I am just going to do what I love the most and that is to handicap the races and post my plays. I am going to start with the Friday card and see how it ends. If I embarrass myself I will hide on Saturday. I am going to play the pick 4's from the 2nd and 4th. The one from the 2nd for 50 cents goes 1 7 9 11/3 6 10 12/6 8 11/4 11. This costs $48 and could pay pretty well. The one from the 4th - 7th looks a little chalky, but I really like it and have a play-down ticket to slam into. Pick 4 starting with Race 4 goes 6 8 11/4 11/4(Rachel)/6 7 9. My play down goes 8 11/4 11/4/9. This begins at 12:05pm so don't forget the early post. If I am on and Churchill has a carryover in the pick 6, I will then play this. It starts at 1:26pm in the 6th race and I love the fact that it starts with Rachel in the 6th, and ends with Blind Luck in the Oaks. To me this becomes a pick 4 with 2 singles on a big ticket and 3 singles on a smaller ticket. I will post both. SMALL 4/ 9/ 3 6 7/ 3 6 7/ 2 4 5 10/ 5. This is $72. A bigger play that I wouldnt play without partners would go 4/ 6 7 9/3 6 7/ 2 3 4 6 7/ 1 2 3 4 5 10/ 5. This is $540. Remember that on Derby day, there is way too much info, and I try to block it all out and go with my own opinion. It is an enjoyable day but there are far easier ways to make money doing this than betting a 20 horse field that almost anyone can win. Trust me, it is far more fun when you can play and make money. Geno's friend from Buffalo that you will hear more from if Oaks day goes well, GG.

GG's right hand man, Dr. No (long time blog follower) chimes in with his Oaks selection, tedious as it may be....

Here goes, in the Oaks, I like Tidal Pool, Amen Hallelujah and Blind Luck. T his race is harder for me than the Derby. I will use all three, probably more.

Next up, is Crazy Joe Davoli from ONY Stables in the Capital District......short and sweet:

Kentucky Oaks looks (no pun intended) like Blind Luck's race to lose at 6/5 and at those odds i'm getting lucky with Crisp from the always dangerous John Sadler barn at 7 to 1 and will root for Amen Hallelujah at 8 to 1 to grace the winner's circle.

Finally, JB, who wrote a few blog entries during Derby season last year keeps it short and sweet (his Derby selection is a tad longer).....

Oaks pick: Go to the window with the Dutrow horse.

We'll have some Derby thoughts from JB, Wack, the Puma, the Saratoga Resident, Jazzy Jeff, Dr. No, yours truly and of course, The Space Gal, before the weekend is over....so stay tuned.

Ice Ice Baby

Tweet One man's defining moment can be another man's icing on the cake.

2009 Belmont Stakes champion trainer Tim Ice who described the feeling as "unexplainable" went on to say "If my career goes nowhere from here, I've got a Belmont win. They can't take it away from me." Yesterday's terrific come from behind win by Summer Bird topped off quite a day for the former assistant trainer at beautiful Belmont Park. Making an equipment change (blinkers on) for a major race like this can be a turn-off for a lot of handicappers, this trainer knew it was the right thing for the "other" Bird, "I think adding the blinkers let him focus. I think Kent Desormeaux helped a lot. With the blinkers and Kent, they put it together and won the third leg of the Triple Crown."

For HOF jockey Kent Dersormeaux, the victory solidified the completion of his personal triple crown, the icing on the cake. Eluded twice under Triple Crown threatening colts Real Quiet and Big Brown, KD completed his personal crown with a resounding fourth victory of the day. The media made sure they reminded Kent of his past Belmont disappointments in the post race press conference, particularly last year's race. Kent coolly answered all of the questions, but you could sense the relief in his voice, "I can't tell you how much I'm going inside, how well it feels to have that contentment and to be able to go home and rest at ease knowing I've won the three American classics."

For me, it was a special treat, bouncing around the vast expanse of Belmont Park yesterday. It made the over 20 hours or so of driving this weekend all worthwhile. My day started off on the right foot with a chance meeting of TRNY founder Ernie Munick and NYRA Director of Communications Dan Silver, where we chatted about the big race and exchanged pleasantries. After that, the highlight of my day was meeting Edgar Prado who was signing his book "My Guy Barbaro" outside of the NYRA store (I asked him if he read our blogs, he said he's not so good with the computer, so I gave him a pass). I met up with Robert at They're in the Gate and Alan of The Bug Boys, hopefully we'll catch up again at the Spa this summer. I spent a few races with my pal JB and his boys and the last three races by myself just taking the experience in. The roar of the crowd when they turn for home in the Belmont, is the best sound in all of sports.

The rest of the racing day has been covered elsewhere, but I'll leave you with the Day in Pictures for me (with my usual commentary)....

When you get to the track two hours before first post, why not get a quick trim for $10?

2006 Kentucky Derby winning jockey Edgar Prado (needs help with computer, can anyone help a brother out?)

Plenty of media folk on site, first HRTV's Laffit Pincay (chugged at least two Red Bulls while I was watching) with another guy I was too lazy to look up (cuz I don't get HRTV!!!!) (Update: It's Jeff Siegel...hat tip to Elizabeth)

ESPN's Jeannine Edwards in the paddock.

The other Toddster, from TVG, mouthing a few words of the National Anthem.

A little fly-by after the Anthem, I don't know about you, but it got me a bit unnerved, as I wasn't expecting it and it seemed a tad close...for NYC.

The always dapper Todd Pletcher. Do you think he was getting a text from Mrs. P? Honey, bring home two milks, toilet paper.....

Zito: "And get this, my horse, Da'Tara, no one goes with him and he wins the freakin' thing!"

2008 Belmont Stakes winning jock Alan Garcia.

Kieran was a very charitable man to give his time to pose with JB and the boys. I hung out with the handicapping crew under their Belmont tree in the backyard and got them off their two year Belmont Day show pool schneid with My Princess Jess.

Gio Ponti cruising home in the Manhattan.

And they're off in the Belmont!

Happy Connections: Champagne on Ice!

Note: special thanks to Dan Silver and Ashley Herriman of NYRA for making it a great day.

Under the Twin Spires

Tweet Our Kentucky trip concluded with a visit to the Twin Spires to complete the Keeneland-Churchill exacta (hat tip to Saratoga Spa) and enjoy the opening day of Churchill Downs' spring meet with the big days six and seven days away, respectively. There's nothing like Opening Day, whether it's baseball season, the first day of the Masters, the first NFL Sunday in September or the first day of a track's meet. I'll get to pull the opening day Churchill-Toga double this year, a proud accomplishment and a new notch in the belt.

It was a glorious day, a nice breeze blowing through the park all day long. We arrived a tad early from Lexington, so we decided to spend some time in the Kentucky Derby museum. Unfortunately we missed the Barbaro statue unveiling by a day. This was all we could see of the 1,500 lb statue:


Pretty sweet picture, huh? The museum (see building in background of awesome statue photo) had a very cool 15 minute movie in surround sound, with a ribbon-like screen that you could stand up and watch the different panels circling the room. We enjoyed our time spent in the museum which is jam packed with Derby artifacts, trivia and mementos. A special section on the current standing Derby champion, Big Brown was on display as well as a nice Barbaro tribute section. I enjoyed the jockey section the most and the whole experience was very educational and worth the $11.

I hadn't been to Churchill since Barbaro's Derby win in 2006, but the place is ginormous and brought back wonderful memories of a terrific weekend with the Saratoga Resident and crew. It was the Space Gal's first journey to Louisville and she was pretty overwhelmed with the size of the joint. We had awesome seats in Section 317H, right off the finish line in a box ($15!). You can imagine how much these will go for next week at the same time (A quick look at stubhub.com has them somewhere between $2-$4K). Mark Johnson was behind the mike and sounded great all day long (a little loud for the Space Kid's ears), I'm looking forward to his Derby call next Saturday.

We had a real nice view of the winner's circle and what I would give to be here next week at this time! The place was abuzz all day. Lots of talk of the morning workouts and the status of Quality Road and what will happen in the next few days.
The ushers and door folk were so nice and everyone in this part of the country just exudes hospitality and friendliness. I could get used to this someday. Don't believe what people tell you about the South, we actually were served faster in the restaurants we ate in down here versus New York. It won't ever replace Saratoga, but man, it wouldn't be a bad place to retire to.

I really didn't invest too much during the trip, I spent most of the time taking in the sights and sounds of the racetrack and loved watching the people come and go. I got down to the paddock a few times to listen to Jill Byrne's picks and watch them parade around the paddock. I hit one Pick 3 early in the day and other than that my day went into the red after losing on the anchor leg of a Pick 3 to my single, a 2/5 favorite Keep the Peace who tired in the stretch to second in the 9th race, after having a 5-1 and 2-1 in the first two legs.

Here's Cash Refund, a nice gelding who won his second straight career race facing winners for the first time. He faced some tough ones in the 8th, including Unbrided Express, who looked great in the paddock. He last won at Churchill in 2006 as a 2yo beating a horse named Street Sense when breaking his maiden. It was his second back after a 3 year layoff (?) and had finished 3rd in the Hopeful (G1) back in '06 behind Circular Quay and Scat Daddy. After being bet down to the favorite, he unfortunately finished eighth of nine.

The feature race of the day, the Derby Trial Stakes (G3) was won by the undefeated Hull and I'll leave you with some pictures from the paddock and at the finish line:

Dale Romans (trainer of Hull) and son in the paddock before the big race.

"Dad, can I have an ice cream?"


"After we win the race, son, you can have all the ice cream you want."


Nick Zito getting ready to check the feet of Santana Six before the post parade of the feature. Something didn't seem right about Santana Six in the paddock, they didn't go to the pre-set stall like the others for much time at all and Zito took him to the side. Didn't stop me from betting on him though. D'oh. Finished seventh of eight.

Hull ($8.80) is definitely a horse to be reckoned with. He's now won at the Fair Grounds, Turfway Park and Churchill Downs in three consecutive races. I'm hoping they give him a shot at the Preakness in three weeks, he was sired by Holy Bull (out of Band Queen) and he won easily yesterday by 4 lengths over a quality field. Second place finisher and lightly raced Kensei also looks like he could be a factor later this summer for Steve Asmussen.

Your 2009 Derby Trial Stakes winner, Hull striding to the finish line, no other horses in sight. (Also, note pole on left holding up speaker for effect).

Well, it was a nice way to end our spring Kentucky trip and time to head back north to the Space Station and get ready for Derby week and formulate some wagers for next Friday and Saturday. A return to bluegrass country can not come soon enough.

Looking For Some Preakness Drama?

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One of the horses I have been keeping an eye on (and foolishly made a pool #1 future wager on at 48-1) is Big Drama. He unfortunately went off the Derby trail right as Pool #2 was released (he was scratched before the pool opened i believe) due to a bone bruise that required minor surgery that occurred prior to the Holy Bull Stakes. Well, he's back already returning in the 7 furlong Swale Stakes (G2) this weekend on the Florida Derby undercard. That's good news.

The Thoroughbred Times reports that trainer David Fawkes said Drama could start in “possibly one of the Triple Crown races” which is even better news. The Swale will feature Dutrow speedball This One's for Phil and Nick Zito's Brave Victory, both of whom should be solid tests for Drama. The layoff certainly won't make Drama the favorite here, but he's 5 for 6 and the Montbrook colt has won at both sprint and route distances during his 2yo campaign. I look forward to seeing how he does in this one and hoping he can get to the third Saturday in May.

On the Not Paying Attention to Details front, I totally missed the R2R contest supplemental draft and I'll be paying for it this weekend without some of the main horses going in the Florida Derby. Oh well, that gives me 5 horses to go with in the next draft slated for early April. I thought I had a throw away in my stable in Square Eddie, but there seems to be a glimmer of hope that he may be in the gate on 02May at CD, regardless if he preps in the Coolmore Lexington Stakes on April 18th.

I'm off to the Joisey shore for a big family reunion/wedding tomorrow...so the Gone Fishin' sign is up for the next few days. Enjoy the Fla Derby and Dubai races this weekend....

Gimme Five!

Tweet La Chica Rica ($5.80) won her fifth in a row last night at Charles Town for Western New York-based Bella Cavello Stables! With TL Dunkelberger up, the star mare made her move at the sixteenth pole where she took over from top of the stretch leader Casanova Killer and held off Story of a Lion at the finish winning by 1 1/2 lengths in $100K Charles Town Distant Sprint Stakes. She was featured in Saturday's print version of the DRF and that story can also be found here. The win takes her lifetime earnings to over $429K. Terrific.

Had a wonderful day at the Spa yesterday, where the weather was absolutely beautiful. It was nice meeting fellow CPA and TBA'er Alan H. from The Bug Boys after the second race, who was pretty excited about the Brett Favre signing and his pending debut. It was an icy day at the windows only hitting the exacta cold in the fourth (Fiona Freud/Sweet Bama Breeze) paying $79.60, otherwise it was a pretty ho-hum day betting-wise. I gave the Puma the #1 (Miss Delicious) in the tenth race when he asked me my one pick of the day with value, citing the crazy meet that George Weaver is having, giving him the exacta. He sends Solvent out today in the 8th at 8-1 on the morning line. Was sniffing it all day, today we're looking for the rebound.

We spent this morning (Sunday) at the Oklahoma training track watching some gate schooling, walked past Mike Luzzi and overheard him joking about his winning ride yesterday on Arrrrr in the 6th saying..."and i just broke his maiden two weeks ago!" It was cool seeing Nick Zito, Todd Pletcher and several jocks (Garcia, Luzzi and Dominguez) tooling around. Full report on Monday with some nice pics from inside the paddock for the Alabama, which had a terrific finish.

Cap Day

Tweet It's Cap Day at Belmont Park today and more importantly today's big race features Commentator, Nick Zito's 7yo chestnut gelding (6-5 ML), in the Metropolitan Handicap [aka the Met Mile (G1)]. I was fortunate enough to see his rousing 14 length win going a mile in January in an allowance race at Gulfstream where he set the track record and looked terrific doing so. He faces some formidable competition today in Kieran McLaughlin's Divine Park (5-2) coming off two straight wins. The Met Mile was first run in 1891 at Morris Park until 1904 when it was first run at Belmont. It has been there since (other than four runnings at the Big A) and is the first leg of the New York Handicap Triple (Suburban and Brooklyn round out the latter legs). Only four horses have captured the NY Triple, the last being Fit to Fight (1984). The others are notable horses, Whisk Brook II, Tom Fool and Kelso (the latter two both having races named after them at NY tracks).

The other speed horse in the race is First Defence, who finished second after pressuring Hard Spun in last summer's King's Bishop on Travers Day. He could end up in a duel with Commentator in the early stages of this race and that could benefit Tony Dutrow's Premium Wine, should the speed burn out the two front-runners. Also entered and last seen on the first Saturday in May is Z Humor (coupled with Premium Wine - Zayat entries), trying a shorter distance after his 14th place finish at Churchill. Another horse to keep an eye on is Kiss the Kid (15-1), who finished a strong third in the Donn (G1) at Gulfstream and the same in the Godolphin (G2).

Is he good enough to single on top? I think so.

Tri (1x3x5):
1st: Commentator
2nd: First Defence, Divine Park, Kiss the Kid
3rd: add Premium Wine, Z Humor

Let's hope that NYRA selected New York State-based New Era Cap to manufacture their cap day hats! The Buffalo-based company had been around since 1920 and is a fourth generation company dedicated to Western New York and manufacturing in the USA.

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