Tough Week

Yeah, rough week.


You can’t say I didn’t exercise; here you see me sitting up....


....And here I'm practically jogging (notice that I'm carrying weights too!).


This is the only picture of the Head Chef she wouldn’t get pissed at me for posting.


This is the only “clothing optional” beach on the island. It wasn’t a pretty picture for the most part, but it sure was at 7:30 in the morning.

OK, you get the point, Antigua is a pretty nice place....

I didn’t think much about horse racing. I read the Saturday Form on the plane ride down, took a look at all the stakes, and that was it for a week. I watched a few of the races when I got back this weekend, so for me it’s like they were just run. But since it’s all old news to you, I won’t rehash....except for one thing. Walter commented on a column that Haskin wrote last week in which he was dismissive of both of last Saturday’s preps in favor of a maiden winner and Strong Contender’s latest fabulous workout, what else is new for the latter. I gotta tell you that I don’t really read this guy’s Derby columns anymore; I skim through them for any useful information. But I find that if I read the whole thing, I come away with acute sensory overload. This horse won his maiden race impressively and that horse had a great workout and another horse rallied nicely for 4th despite being wide and galloped out nicely and how about the horses that came back nicely at the end but that really usually sometimes means that the leader came back to them and maybe this other horse bounced and maybe he didn’t like the track and he deserves another shot and wow, check out the fluid stride on this one.

I gotta agree with Walter’s incredulous reaction to Haskin's dissing of Brother Derek’s perfectly professional win in the Santa Catalina. His 102 Beyer, down from a 108 in his prior effort, is perfect - no need for more than that here - and the colt seems to be gaining confidence as Dan Hendricks seeks to hold the form on a horse who has been in training pretty much straight through since last September. And I also want to mention Corinthian. Haskin correctly predicted that the speed guys would be critical (he got a 96). But man, you gotta be excited about this colt - he has just a universe of talent. He obviously is very immature and has a lot to learn, and there’s not much time left now for education. But he fires every single time despite acting up before his races, as he did again last week; that 96 fig continues a pattern of improvement every race; and the final three furlongs were run in :36 4/5, which is nothing to sneeze at, especially since he pulled himself up after striking the front, and zig-zagged more than the Bush Administration explaining the reasons for war. It’s hard to believe that he could compose himself to run before 140,000 people on Derby day, but the possibilities are just endless for this classically-bred colt.

- John Servis had to be thrilled after Round Pond’s exciting win over Happy Ticket in the Azeri Breeders Cup, but it’s been all downhill from there. Jolted and Jostled ran 6th in Saturday’s finale, and Rockport Harbor was very disappointing in Sunday’s Razorback, running 5th at 2-5. ouch. It was a fast pace he set, but it was an 80-1 shot in Chippewa Trail who softened him up; when you saw Stewart Elliot whipping and driving on the turn, it certainly wasn’t encouraging. The handicap division is wide open with this race as well as the disappointing efforts of Giacomo and High Limit last week. Nice to read that Bellamy Road is back in training (which I know is old news for you).

And as far as Balance goes, I think that Walter seriously understated her performance in winning the Santa Anita Oaks in his comments. She was a freaking monster! The race chart says she was four wide around the first turn, but I think she was closer to Walter’s estimate of six deep – Trevor Denman’s remark that she was “forced a bit wide” also vastly minimized her plight. She was five wide around the second turn and drew off to win with a final sixteenth of 6.32. If Haskin writes this week that the most impressive three-year old this weekend was a filly, I certainly wouldn’t argue. I wonder what her Derby futures odds look like?