News and Notes - Jan 31

- El Camino winner Cause to Believe (selected here…..I was away and didn’t bet the race, so I might as well brag about the pick) was a $30,000 two-year old in training purchase for Canadian homebuilder Peter Redekop; besides the $280,000 in purse money he’s earned, he now has himself a Derby contender. One can only imagine how much he could get for this colt now if he wanted to. Jockey Russell Baze had to work on the colt to hold off runner-up Objective, but he noted, "When we made the lead…..he started goofing around because he's not used to being in front so early." [Sacramento Bee]

Hollendorfer picked the son of Maria’s Mon out of last year’s OBS March Selected Two-Year-Olds in Training Sale, and I for one would be fascinated to know what exactly it was that enabled him to get him so cheaply. He’s by a $25,000 sire and descends from an excellent female family as noted in this post (though I'd neglected to mention that his dam is by Storm Cat); his under tack show times of 10.4 and 10.4 (hip 226)(with the first one coming against a strong headwind) were solid, if not totally spectacular. Was that not fast enough? Does a few tenths of a second really make that much of a difference? Was there something in his action or conformation that turned bidders off but that Hollendorfer was able to overlook? Well, those are the kinds of questions I’d be asking if I’d been writing an article on the horse; perhaps if Jerry Hollendorfer is reading, he can fill us in.

- Mike Smith told the LA Times that Giacomo will indeed make his return in the Strub Stakes at Santa Anita on Saturday.

- Buzzard’s Bay was a very disappointing 4th in the Millions Classic on Saturday, and his trainer Ron Ellis told the Thoroughbred Daily News, “We just got outrun.…He was in a perfect position. No excuses.”