Suddenly, rambled

- There was a horse in the 5th at Belmont on Saturday named Prime Diamond. This NY-bred had won his last race, his turf debut, at 35-1 (are you listening, Highland Cat?). The comment line in the Form past performances for that race reads “Suddenly, rambled.” That’s a new one for me. So new, in fact, that I had to go to the race replay center to see exactly what it means. And apparently, it means being second to last and going nowhere at the top of the stretch and then - suddenly - loping by the field. It could have said “Abruptly, sauntered.” Or, “Startingly, strolled.”

In any event, the fans were not impressed, and sent him off at 6-1. Perhaps when they were trying to figure out what the comment line meant, they overlooked the simple fact that he had the best last-out Beyer in the field. The bettors instead opted for Meet My Buddy; 6-1 morning line off of a couple of mediocre efforts for trainer Mike Miceli, but 7-2 at post time. He proved to be best of everyone except for Prime Diamond, who this time came from dead last of 12, commencing his rally while five wide on the turn, and overpowering the field in the stretch to win by 3 ½. The High-Beyer overlay. This time I think that a simple “Circled 5w” will do.

I’d mentioned in a past post that I know Miceli; he trained a filly I used to be a partner in. I saw him after the race, and he told me that he'd thought that they would win on this day. I already knew that from watching the board. “But there was one that was faster,” he said, with a shrug. Now that’s something about which we can really shrug and say “that’s horse racing.”

- Highland Cat worked a pretty snappy five furlongs in 1:01.09 (3/6). He’ll be entered for a race on Friday – a 45-50K maiden claimer on the turf. This is it, man, do or die. It’s the desperate “try him on grass” race for horses with dismal form on the dirt. It seems especially crucial now that I’ve officially received my first cash call for this partnership. Not to mention the fact that Christening was reported to have “tied up” after her last workout, so there's no progress right now on either selling or racing her.

The thing that is really galling to me about the cash call, other than the cash called, is the fact that the statement from Castle Village lists all of their partnerships, along with the cash balance for each. I’m thrilled to report that my partnership is by far and away the worst one on the list. Five out of the eleven partnerships that had a balance had distributions, three of them fairly substantial; I think that’s a really good percentage. And remember, these are relatively cheap horses that were picked out at sale; as well as mid-level claimers. The other losing partnerships showed, at most, half as much of a deficit as mine. I’m in the right outfit, but definitely the wrong partnership. So far. But perhaps the comment line on Highland Cat's race on Friday will read "Suddenly, rambled." (I think I'd settle for "just missed.")