Familiar Path For Borel

- Pletcher won the 11th race at Churchill, but I guess that wasn't much consolation; none of his five entries finished in the top five. Circular Quay was 6th, Any Given Saturday 8th, Sam P 9th, Scat Daddy a horrible 18th at 7-1, and Cowtown Cat, who received unanimously negative reviews for his appearance on the track, was dead last. None of them seemed to have any major excuse that I saw. Garrett Gomez said that the winner "knocked [Any Given Saturday] out from under me and knocked him off his feet again." But the race chart notes no significant problems for him or anyone else, other than noting horses that were wide.

Not Street Sense. It's kinda bizarre the way Borel always gets through on the inside, isn't it? Remember that Bailey said he'd have a target on his back, but I guess that doesn't do much good when he's already past. Gary Stevens said afterwards that Borel is known for not saying a word during the race, lest he alert rival riders who may move to deny him room. The overhead replay showed him loping along up the inside while everyone else was wide; at one point he seemed to nearly scrape the paint. I don't know how Borel does it; he won five races in the last two days; four of them rallying up the rail around the turn; and the other a front-running win on the inside. When asked if Borel was good or lucky, Stevens said both. But he's certainly been very lucky with this horse on this track.

We'll wait to hear all of the excuses, but it would seem as if the race fell apart in a pretty disappointing way. After Curlin, who ran a pretty nice race closing for third, you had the plodding longshot Imawildandcrazyguy, and turf/Poly specialist Sedgefield, the longest shot on the board. Not a pretty picture for those behind that pair - the Pletcher horses, Nobiz Like Shobiz, Great Hunter and Dominican were amongst the major disappointments. After the first six furlongs in 1:11, Hard Spun slowed to a 26 second quarter, yet nobody but the ground saving favorite could gain any ground. The last quarter went in 25.13, and Street Sense gained 3 1/2 lengths, so we can surmise that his closing fraction will be respectably under 25, though likely not as fast as Barbaro's 24.34. Last year's winning time was 2:01.36 as opposed to Street Sense's 2:02.17.

But again, he had a perfect trip, and that will lead some to continue to doubt whether he's rally as dominant as he may appear to be. I mean, one of these days, he is going to get shut off, or have to go wide, right?

- The Sheikh is a big winner here, as Darley owns Street Cry, the sire of the winner. I'd guess that his $50,000 fee is already history.