Odds and Ends - April 12

- Lone Star opens Thursday, and in addition to the dime superfectas instituted by Sam Houston, they’ll offer 50 cent pick 4 wagers. "Horseplayers are looking for bargains,” said Jeff Greco , Lone Star Park’s Vice-President and General Manager. [Lone Star Press Release] Well, I don’t know if this should be classified as a “bargain.” Lower takeout? That’s a bargain. This is just a lower entry fee. In any event, it continues a popular trend that will likely continue to spread.

- Andrew Caulfield in Thoroughbred Daily News writes of Bellamy Road and his stallion Concerto, and discusses Derby winners with low-priced stallions (at the time), such as At The Treshold ($7500, Lil E. Tee) and Maria’s Mon ($7500, Monarchos). He queries “can a $3500 stallion like Concerto realistically be expected to strike a major blow for the bargain-basement stallions?”

For one thing, a visit to his stud farm's website reveals that his stud fee is already up to $5000. In addition, his popularity had already increased significantly over the last couple of years. According to the article, while Bellamy Road is one of only 25 named foals in his third crop, he covered 100 and 118 in his subsequent crops, possibly due to a foal selling well early in 2002, and a successful first crop on the track.

Bellamy Road is a complete outcross through 5 generations, but if you go back to the 6th, you’ll find a plethora of duplicated names such as Princequillo, Discovery, Bold Ruler, War Relic, and Prince John. To find the real class on his female side, you need to go back a few generations. While his third dam was a moderate producer, his 4th dam is Arabian Dancer, who is the dam of graded winners Out of Place (the sire of Sort it Out) and Lead Kindly Light, who is the dam of MGSW Gold Fever. His 5th dam is Ten Cents a Dance, the dam of millionaire Versailles Treaty, in turn the dam of Saarland.

His 6th dam is Exclusive Dancer, the dam of MGSW’s General Assembly and Expressive Dance, in turn the dam of millionaire and MGSW Chief Honcho. And if you go back one more generation, you have Exclusive, the dam of influential sire Exclusive Native. So Bellamy Road has quite a female family, at least in terms of its progeny if not on the racetrack, even if you have to go back a bit to find it.

- Martin Wygod, in denying the charges being investigated by the CHRB, has now changed his tune from his prior statements that perhaps he shouldn’t have run Sweet Catomine.

"I hid nothing," he said. "Anybody that asked me questions, I responded. When they asked me how I felt, my worries were very clear. I said I was apprehensive and nervous. All they had to do was ask why I was apprehensive.
……
"With everything I know now, I still would have run her. Who knows what caused (her to run badly)? It could have been the medication. Hopefully the horse racing board will bring some sanity to the situation." [Bloodhorse]