Sunday Morning Notes - June 5

- Round Pond (Awesome Again) won her 4th in a row and her first effort outside of Oaklawn Park to take the G1 Acorn and move to the upper ranks of the 3 yo filly division. I thought that Stewart Elliot did an excellent job, sitting patiently as Smuggler and John Velasquez moved to challenge the leaders setting a too-fast pace, remaining so as In the Gold and Bejarano flew by making their too-early rally from the back of the pack, and picking up all the pieces in deep stretch in a final quarter of :25 3/5. I was sitting with a nice win bet on 6-1 Smuggler, as well as an exacta box with he and In the Gold, so it was a disappointing development for me, but a nice win for John Servis.

"Turning for home, it looked like Stew was sitting still on her," said Servis. "But I couldn't really tell because there were horses in front of her. When he eased her out, I knew he had horse. She's a good filly..”
......
He said the Alabama (gr. I) at Saratoga in August is the next main goal for Round Pond. [Bloodhorse]

The Form reported that she would run in the Mother Goose. Still, it was an excellent effort for Smuggler in her first stakes race; perhaps her dam Inside Information finally has a really good one. Oh well; at least I had some action, having started a win parlay with Bayou Breeze down at Monmouth. Aaron Gryder explained to the Asbury Park Press how he placed a call to Richard Migliore, who’d ridden her in her two wins.

"I talked to Richard Migliore and it's a good thing I did...He told me, "When you get to the turn, start driving on her. She'll take a long drive and she's just kind of steady.'
.....
Gryder remembered Migliore's advice and chose to wait.

"Sense of Style went past us and I chose not to go with her," he said.....I started getting into (Bayou Breeze) at the three-eighths pole and the more I did, the more she responded."

I don’t recall reading many accounts of jockeys calling each other for advice like this, and I wonder how often, it occurs, if at all? Sense of Style ran well and is headed for the Mother Goose in three weeks, where she may or may not find Round Pond.

- For Nick Zito, it will (again) be quantity if not quality for the Belmont Stakes, as he added allowance winner Indy Storm to the mix.

"With strangles, with herpes and Iraq, what's the big deal if I run three horses in this race?," joked Zito this morning. [Bloodhorse]

Well, that’s a pretty dumb quote to read here on a sunny and peaceful Sunday morning in Queens. If you throw Iraq into the equation, it’s no big deal if he enters a 3-legged camel with a heart condition and particularly bad breath. Perhaps I’m too sensitive, but I don’t find that to be funny, especially as a war that didn’t have to be drags on with no end in sight. Nonetheless, it’s another Belmont runner with modest qualifications, and Zito said “I think he's a mile and a half horse. Right now the horse is telling me to take a shot." He also told him to name Edgar Prado to ride. If you listen to these trainers, there will be more “mile and a half” horses gathered at Barn 14 in Belmont than there really are in all of the country.