Also Ran

- Nothing doing for Highland Cat in a disappointing performance. He broke well but dropped back to sixth on the backstretch. As they approached the turn, it looked like he may make a move but he was very wide and on the road to nowhere, finishing 7th, a dismal 23 1/2 lenghts behing runaway winner Flashy Bull. He did, however, earn $176, which should cover his expenses for a few hours. We brought the girls again and went to the paddock before the race. I had a brief chat with Jerry Bailey. It was very cold. Normally, we’d already be basking in the warmth of Aqueduct, but the meet is extended a week for the Breeders’ Cup.

We went up to the owners’ boxes to watch the race. It was even colder there, and the Head Chef probed warily for more details as to exactly where we’re going to be sitting on Saturday. Todd Pletcher was with a group, I assume from the Michael Tabor group, to watch their colt Ivanonsky (Saint Ballado). They looked very, very serious. And the horse took some very, very serious money. He was 5-2 against Discreet Cat and Superfly at Saratoga, and here he got slammed on the nose from 3-1 to 9-5 in the last few minutes. But he would tire after chasing a fairly quick pace, setting up an easy win for Flashy Bull (Holy Bull), owned by the West Point Stable. It’s a big partnership, and I think they accounted for about 10% of the remnants from the crowd of 2960.

As for Highland Cat, there was no real excuse, except that he was in against too tough of a tough field. It was said that both trainer and jockey expressed optimism over racing around two turns against easier at the Big A. We’ve been told not to panic, so I’ll keep that in mind as I think about how he's going to make up those 23 1/2 lengths.

- McLaughlin scratched Foreign Minister, the Saint Ballado half brother to Vindication and Scipion. The latter makes his return on Saturday in the Discovery Handicap, the second race on the Breeders’ Cup pre-card. He suffered a fracture in his right hand leg while working out on the turf for the Santa Anita Derby. Following such a long layoff for such a significant injury, you’d think he’d return in a soft spot, but remember that he’s trained by Patrick Biancone, so this spot is anything but soft. It's a really cool race with Buzzards Bay making his return as well, along with Scrappy T, Allan Jerkins’ impressive War Front, Watchmon, and Magna Graduate.