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Friday, May 19, 2006

Notes - May 19

- Patrick at Pulling Hair gripes about all the writers coming out against Barbaro. But Paul Moran of Newsday certainly ain’t one of them.

[The Derby] established him as genuinely top class and perhaps the best 3-year-old to race in this country the last quarter century.[Editor's Note - !!] Has trained since the Derby as though he will run through a wall. This race may look a good deal like the Derby. Value at 4-5, but that may be wishful thinking. On to Belmont. [Newsday]
- Ed Fountaine of the NY Post has some economical suggestions for trying to make some money even if you like the favorite...and though he specifically fancies Bernardini, you can substitute the longshot of your choice.
A $1 trifecta wheel using Barbaro on top, with Bernardini second, and hitting the "all" button in third costs $7. For another $7, you can key Barbaro, with all for second, with Bernardini third.

A $1 superfecta wheel keying Barbaro on top and Bernardini second, with all third, with all fourth, will set you back $42. Not much to risk for a boxcar payoff, and if Brother Derek or Sweetnorthernsaint, or both, finishes out of the money, the tote board will explode. [NY Post]
- I can’t believe this story coming out of the Meadowlands. First it was leading trainer Seldon Ledford and his son Eric who were banned for over 10 years for use of the performance-enhancing drug arasnerp. Now, the current leading trainer, Ken Rucker, has been notified that his entries will no longer be accepted as of May 24 due to a positive test for erythropoietin, a similar medication, in one of his horses. The Meadowlands had made Rucker sign a specific agreement regarding the substance due to some prior violations.
"In November of 2005, Mr. Rucker had a series of positive tests - five or six in a one-week time frame - in Chicago, for a class four medication (a less potent form of performance-enhancing drug.....We at the Meadowlands expressed concern to him about these positives and we indicated to him that we would feel more comfortable with him racing here if he signed an agreement." [NY Daily News]
Rucker denied any knowledge of the drug and stated the obvious when he said "This is not a time to start experimenting with [erythropoietin]."

I'll tell you man, nothing will drive bettors away faster than the notion that the participants are cheating. Thinking back to the demise of harness racing in the NYC area, the accepted explanations were the advent of OTB and the Meadowlands. But around the same time and possibly prior to that, I recall that it was a much-publicized scandal involving top drivers that started the ball rolling the wrong way. That scandal involved race-fixing, as the drivers allegedly conspired to keep two specific horses out of the top four in superfecta races. (And indeed, the wager was discontinued and it was many years before the superfecta resurfaced in New York State.) These incidents at the Big M may not be a conspiracy, but to see two different trainers both suspended for the same violation within a couple of months, and while each led the trainer standings, can certainly make it seem like one. And how long before the first similar positive pops up in a thoroughbred?

5 Comments:

Anonymous said...

...i can't believe people have such short memories...Barbaro may be the best 3yo to run in this country in the last quarter-century?...off what, one race???...surely no one would make that claim off his Holy Bull or Fla Derby victories...and while he obviously ran very well in the Derby, 2:01 1/5 isn't gonna break any stopwatches...the track was running reasonably fast that day, just check the times of the other races...i'm not saying 2:01 1/5 is slow, far from it, but it's closer to "slow" than it is to "lightning-fast"...immediately after the Derby, i heard one og=f the guys on ESPN (Jerry Bailey?) say that Barbaro is "MUCH better than Smarty Jones"...what???...how can anyone say that?...i guess it could turn out to be true, but it's only supposition right now...Barbaro hasn't done anything to suggest that he's better than Smarty Jones, or Medaglia d'Oro, or Rock Hard Ten, or any other very-good 3yo you wanna name...hell, i'm not convinced he's the best 3yo THIS year...that could easily be Discreet Cat, or possibly even Brother Derek for all we know...also, i thought i saw a quote from Gary Stevens where he said that Barbaro might be "the best horse of ANY age to run in this country in the last 20 years"...oh yeah, Barbaro is better than Ghostzapper...and Holy Bull...and Cigar...and Mazel Trick...and Candy Ride...and so on and so forth...gimme a freakin' break...

Anonymous said...

...sorry for the rant, but just one more point about "best horses"...why are route horses considered better than sprinters?...they just do different things, that's all...if you put Barbaro in against Too Much Bling going 6 furlongs, who do you think would win?...my guess is that the "best 3yo in the last quarter-century" would get his ass kicked...it just bothers me that sprinters are considered inferior...incidentally, Steppenwolfer and Jazil are each on Watchmakers "Top 10 3yo males" list...Jazil, in particular, hasn't won a race as a 3yo (and is a head away from still being a maiden)...meanwhile, Too Much Bling, who has won every start this year (and been super-impressive in the process) is not on the list...there's absolutely no way that Too Much Bling isn't one of the 10 best 3yo's in training...but when the last time you heard ANYTHING about him?...crazy world we live in...

Anonymous said...

Rock Hard Ten? Barbaro has already surpassed the horse that couldnt win anywhere but California. Every time they shipped him, he got beat.

Alan Mann said...

I guess we refer to sprinters as the "fastest" horses rather than the "best horses." I think it's fair to equate "greatness" to distance ability. I know what you're saying; and with humans, for example, the sprinters probably get more attention. But I think that there's something more noble about horses that get a distance of ground, and of course, all the classic races are routes.

I totally agree with you about those comments on Barbaro...I'd be surprised if Bailey would say that. I mean, it is true that he's only really run one great race on the dirt.

Hey Walter, just watched Invasor win the Special; how good does that make Discreet Cat??? And Testimony runs in the Peter Pan tomorrow.

Anonymous said...

...Invasor wasn't even the second-best horse in the UAE Derby, or so it was assumed...Simpatico Bribon and his stablemate (who's name i forget) were supposedly two of the Top 3 animals in there...but of course, there's speculation they were doped...in any case, Discreet Cat made a mockery of that race...for those of you who didn't see it, it was about as one-sided as it gets...in fact, i'd say that Discreet Cat looked every bit as good in the UAE Derby as Barbaro looked in the Kentucky Derby...probably even better, although there weren't as many horses in the race, and Barbaro was almost certainly facing better competition...