- I bet a saver double using Majestic Warrior in the Hopeful, but the meet ended in typical fashion with my key horse in the 10th, Biggerbadderbetter, checking in second to Kettle Hill, who, upon further review and with the benefit of hindsight, I couldawouldhshoulda...
Majestic Warrior was Bill Mott's 27th winner of the meeting. The son of AP Indy out of Dream Supreme (Seeking the Gold), twice a Grade 1 winner over the same track, made up 11 lengths in the last three furlongs, which were run in 38 seconds flat. I'm not sure of the exact mathematics, but I'd surmise he closed pretty well. Still, he had a perfect setup and a clear trip against just three others. So personally, I'm not running off to bet any of these in the Derby futures. Pletcher said of his runner-up, the favored Ready's Image:
"Today, when he got there [to the lead] and the other horse fell off, I think he got to wandering around a little bit. The winner had a nice setup. We were involved in the pace and he was way off it. He ran by us and we didn’t have time to regroup.” [NYRA]What the Toddster didn't mention here was that Johnny V was working hard just to keep close to Maimonides, which obviously took its toll in the final sixteenth.
- Timber Reserve won the Pennsylvania Derby at 5-1 for John Kimmel, who had himself a pretty nice meet at Saratoga too. Tough one to come up with as far as I'm concerned; his only prior two-turn effort was a weakening 4th in the Remsen last fall. But having said that, I guess he wasn't too tough as he was the 4th choice at 5.70-to-1, and held gamely over surprising 22-1 Xchanger in a fine time of 1:47.73; final 1/8th in 12.63 seconds. In the reverse of the one-two sweep by an 18-1 entry that took place at Saratoga earlier in the day, the coupling of Cable Boy and Get Serious, 3rd choice at 5.40-to-1, ran second-to-last and last, ugh.
The comment on Timber Reserve in the result chart notes that he split rivals entering the stretch, Castellano changed his hold of the reins leaving the three sixteenths pole and .... And I have to say that in all the many years I've been reading charts, I don't ever recall reading such a description. In fact, I don't know if I've even ever seen a jockey referred to by name in those charts. I watched the replay on the NTRA site, but the screen is much too small for me to discern any sleight of hand on the part of the jockey. I guess in this case, the hand was quicker than the eye (though not that of this sharp chartcaller!)
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ran across this Flickr group and thought you might have some interest...
http://www.flickr.com/groups/saratogany/pool/
Majestic Warrior appeared to be flying, but maybe Ready's Image just stopped. Had Majestic Warrior on the bottom of a cold exacta. I was urging him on at the eigth pole and trying to stop him inside the 16th.
The crowd really reacted to Majestic Warrior at the wire and returning to the winners circle. There were even waves of applause as he passed the grandstand walking back to the barn. I'm thinking folks were pretty happy to see the kind of meet Mott had after years of the Toddster dominating.
I needed Biggerbadderbetter to get out of the meet with a tiny profit. I figured it'd be a "Cinderella Story" with Desormeaux winning the last race to tie. No such luck.
An unbelievable final week of weather. Really the whole meet (except Travers Day).
Thinking yesterday's Hopeful looked familiar, I went back and watched last years race as Gomez came from 15 lengths behind on Circular Quay. They looked very similar really. Maybe Majestic Warrior will show more later this year and at three than CQ did.
The Hopeful is the first true test of stamina for two year olds. I always bet the distance bred closer and am rarely disappointed, except when I too miss out on the DD (biggerbadderbettor must be a blog favorite, everyone seems to have needed him).
I had a heck of day. I had Kettle Hill, not to rub it in. I had the wisdom to throw Makdarah (sp?) off my exacta ticket at 3/5 and go with the 5 who Jeremy Rose came all the up for closing day to ride. With the 7 underneath NYRA gave me $177 on $2. I also got real lucky with Big Brown at 14-1. In fact, had I not been an idiot and realized that there's no pick 6 carryover at the end of the meet, I could have picked up the 5 of 6 price. I bet Mimoinadog heavily.
A fun Hopeful even with four horses. It was billed as an epic battle (if such a thing exists for 2yos) and the underdog won, and The Boss at least had something to be happy about. That kind of closing day is why I love horseracing.
See you all at Belmont.
Further Getaway Day Post-Mortems: It was a great meet underwritten by almost perfect weather, as pointed out by the previous commenter. I also want to commend the many restaurants, hotels, retail and service businesses for the way they extend the most genuine, top quality hospitality to that diverse crowd known as "horseplayers". I think those engaged in the tourist industry everywhere could learn a good lesson from the way things are run at the Spa and in Saratoga Springs. The entire Saratoga community understands the business they are in and they are hands down the best I've ever seen anywhere. It's a very big part of the reason why the Saratoga Meeting is America's # 1 race meet. /S/ Green Mtn Punter
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