- I don't know what the hell happened to Belgravia, who ran last in the Lexington - Bloodhorse.com says that he apparently bled - hopefully he's OK. I have to say that I thought he was a lock. What was really remarkable about the race was not only that 40-1 Slew's Tizzy won, but that he went wire-to-wire after repelling a stiff challenge while going to the half in 48.17. 48.17!! Wow, that's like a real American horse race! Maybe the problem is that the jocks are outwitting themselves, so psyched out by the track that they are slowing down the races so much in the routes that they keep every horse in the field in contact and in contention. Perhaps we'll see others letting the reins out just a bit more in the next couple of racing days.
My picks sucked at Keeneland today; it was the first time that I felt even a little embarrassed about a couple of the picks. I guess it was the Bud Light. I even made a mistake in the 8th race, as I don't even remember seeing the 8-5 winner Travel Team before. She was the nine horse, and must have been alone on a page that I missed in all the mess. Ugh. So, sorry about that, and I hope to do better over the last four days.
But despite what I considered to be a poor performance, I still ran second three times; with American Dreamer, second to 7-1 Rated Fiesty (who I picked for third) in the second, and then with 22-1 (!) Haddie Be Good, second to Pletcher's Forest Code in the Giant's Causeway Stakes. I was home to see the 10th, and I really wanted that one, because the only winner I'd had on top was 4-5 Cosmonaut. My selection was 3-1 second choice Kettle Hill, and when he opened up four in the stretch I looked home free. But he started to labor and got caught in the last lunge by 13-1 Gentleman Chester! Jeez!
- Cowtown Cat worked five in 58 2/5 on the Polytrack. Any Given Saturday, Scat Daddy, and Circular Quay will all work on Sunday.
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Saturday, April 21, 2007
Lexington Pretty for Slew's Tizzy
Posted by Alan Mann at 6:52 PM
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4 Comments:
Alan
I thought there was much more kickback in the track today than last week. I don't think I was imagining it.
I think you are right on about jocks psyching themselves out about the track at Keeneland! After Robby Albarado made a comment in his post-race interview about the track changing over the past couple of days, I went back over the full charts of the past week, and actually a goodly number of horses that finished 1 or 2 either led or were within a length of the lead the entire race. Mostly this was true in sprints, but even in routes there were examples of wire-to-wire winners. I didn't completely examine fractional times, but it does seem likely that once jocks see that early speed can hold, they will let them run more. Are there polytrack experts out there that can weigh in about how temperature, moisture, wear, etc. affects the track surface over a period of sustained usage?
Someone else mentioned the kickback to me after the first couple of races. Perhaps they did something to the track on Lexington Day, after all the flak they received about the Blue Grass?
Let's see, Biancone is so confident that he doesnt race the horse all year and then with his one shot to get the earning needed to run in the Derby he decides not to use lasix.
The horse bleeds, surprise surprise.
If I was lucky enough to be the owner my horses would have been out of his barn before Belgravia cooled out.
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