Wednesday Night Notes - Sept 20

- Christophe Clement sent out first-timer March to Victory to do just that in the second at Belmont, a two-year old maiden turf race. According to Formulator, that's his 4th such winner out of his last nine starters over the past 12 months. March to Victory paid $9.50, and that's the longest win price of the four. It's always impressive to see a first-timer be able to rate and make his way through traffic like this son of Dixieland Band did. It reminded me a little of the way Clement's most impressive Admiral Bird won his debut at Saratoga...though not nearly as powerfully. Pletcher's entry of debut runners went off as the 3-2 favorite, and ran a respectable 3-4.

Jimmy Jerkins took the sixth, a baby turf race for fillies, with Christmas Kid, winning in her second start. She's a daughter of Lemon Drop Kid out of Christmas Gift, a stakes winning half-sister to Bright Candles, the dam of Grand Slam. Her third dam is Sugar Plum Time, a popular Calumet-bred stakes winner here in New York in the 70's.

- Last week, a commenter asked my opinion of NYRA's new website. It seems like the changes are mostly cosmetic. The content is similar, but everything is easier to access than before from the left-hand column. But as the reader pointed out, the matrix board for exactas and doubles (and yes, QQ, the quinellas too) are backwards. Whereas the rest of the industry has the winner numbers listed on the left, NYRA has the winners spread across the top. And in general, I don't particularly like the look of the tote board they're using.

- Please feel free to email me with questions, comments, suggestions, or whatever (please be nice).