Notes - Jan 23

- Were you watching the State of the Union address, or handicapping for the big Pick Six carryover ($723,744) at Santa Anita? It may (or may not) be worth noting, as pointed out in BRIS' Santa Anita Notebook: Not a single horse won in wire-to-wire fashion from 34 events over the previous four days, which has to be a record of some sort for Santa Anita.

- Mum's the Word makes her debut at the Big A in the second race on Wednesday. She's a four-year old Real Quiet filly who our pinhooking partnership sold privately in 2005. She was working up a storm last spring and Bill Turner, who retained training duties with the new owners, was pretty hepped up about her. However, she got hurt and missed a few months of training. She's been back working since November, and shows a steady string of improving workouts.

Now, Turner rarely strikes with first timers; he's 2 for 28 over the last two years, though he did strike this past Nov 5 with 55-1 Play It True. Real Quiet hits with only 4 or 5% of his first-timers, depending on if you're using the Form's Closer Look or BRIS.

But I'll have a few bucks on her. She's bred to be fast, fast, fast, at least on her distaff side. Her dam is a daughter of the two time sprint champion Housebuster; and her third dam is Gold Beauty, a sprint champion herself, and the dam of the almost sprint champion Dayjur. This is also the family of Sky Beauty, Pleasant Home, and the late Pine Island.