Thursday Night Notes - June 2

- Cash is King continues to roll, as their late developing 3 yo Kelsey’s Treasure won his second try in two starts at Delaware yesterday. He took his maiden race by 12 1/2 lengths, and yesterday won an entry allowance race by 3 at 1-5. Like his more famous stablemate, he’s also a son of Northern Afleet.

- Bobby Frankel confirmed what he hinted at the other day - Ghostzapper will not run in the July 4 Suburban Handicap. "He looks good and he's eating good, but I want to give him a little more time because he ran so hard.....The Suburban would be coming back soon after he just had a long layoff. [Bloodhorse] He also had an explanation for the fact that top horses run less often than in the past. "It's not the weakening of the breed," he said. "Horses are running faster now than they were 20 years ago." He also told Thoroughbred Daily News: “They’re running so fast, their legs can’t handle it. The faster they go, the better chance they have of getting hurt.” Frankel also lamented the lack of national television coverage of the Met Mile and pointed out that neither of his remaining races prior to the Breeders Cup will be on live national TV. The Suburban, however, will be telecast on ESPN2.

Dick Jerardi in the Form touches on the same topic:

The shame of it is that it happened in a vacuum. Did anybody beyond the hardcore fans even know Ghostzapper was running on Monday? Only 15,066 people were at Belmont Park to see a performance that was reminiscent of some of those by the great horses in American history.

Shouldn't somebody be promoting Ghostzapper? After all, he was the 2004 Horse of the Year. He has now won 9 of 11 starts and earned $3,446,120.
......
Ghostzapper is putting on a Beyer Speed Figure show to remember. Not since Formal Gold earned four Beyers above 120 in 1997 (and lost two of the races) has a horse done what Ghostzapper is doing.

Ghostzapper got a 122 Beyer in the Met. Last year, he got a 120 in the Tom Fool, a 128 in the Iselin, and a 124 in the Breeders' Cup Classic. [Daily Racing Form]

- Scrappy T had a quick workout - a bit too quick for his trainer Robert Bailes.

Bailes said a five-furlong work Thursday morning in "58 and change" was "a little quicker than we wanted, but he did it within himself. He ate his lunch up, and we'll give it a day or two to see how he is." [Bloodhorse]

According to the Form, he is “agonizing” over whether to run him.

"The main thing I'm concerned about is whether my horse is at the top of his game. If I don't believe we can win the race and the distance suits him, we'll look for something else. If he's physically ready to go, and we're sure the mile and a half won't hurt him down the road, we'll give it a shot." [Daily Racing Form]

It’s good to see that he’s thinking this over so carefully with the horse’s future in mind, and I think he’ll truly be ready if he runs. On the other hand....

D. Wayne Lukas, who trains A.P. Arrow, indicated he is almost certain to run in the Belmont. [DRF]