- Georgie Boy came flying from dead last and roared down the Polytrack stretch with Garrett Gomez, back on the left coast to ride for trainer Kathy Walsh, with whom he is close freinds, to win the Grade 1 Del Mar Futurity on closing day. The horse ran kinda funny in the stretch, and never changed leads though it looked like he was thinking about it. So it was quite impressive, but in truth, Salute the Sarge probably should have remained undefeated; he was checked sharply off the heels of a crowded group in front of him turning for home, and charged between horses to get second.
Like the Debutante winner Set Play, Georgie Boy is by a moderately priced Storm Cat stallion; Tribal Rule stands in California for $5,000. He won only a maiden special and allowance in four career starts...and those came at age five! The Stallion Register notes that he was California's leading freshman Sire in 2006, and leading 2nd Crop Sire in 2007. And I imagine that was even before what has been an absolutely astounding week for the stud and his owners at River Edge Farm who, some day soon, might be able to afford a website. Foals of Tribal Rule won no less than four stakes races in six days, all in California! Rush With Thunder took the El Cajon at Del Mar on Friday; on Monday, Rule By Force took the Yavapai Downs Futurity, and Rockella won the Palo Alto at Bay Meadows. And then Georgie Boy topped it all off with a Grade 1 win. For a second-year, regional sire with a total of 109 foals, that pretty much rules!
- The final tally of fatalities at the Del Mar meeting was six - two in races, the rest in training accidents; that's as opposed to 14 last meeting, eight during the afternoon.
[Track president Joe] Harper said owners who typically "re-load" their stables during the latter stages of the meet told him they were stunned they didn't need to do so this year. Harper talked about X-ray machines that went virtually unused and the huge increase -- 20 percent or more -- in horses healthy enough to train each morning.Southern California racing will now have a 2 1/2 week respite from the synthetic stuff, as racing shifts to Fairplex.
"One owner said if he brings 20 horses here, he normally brings 12 or so back home with him," Harper said. "This year he is taking 19 home, and the one he doesn't have was claimed." [North County Times]
- Shut down for two weeks by a virulent outbreak of equine flu, racing will resume in New South Wales, Australia with what is being referred to there as "phantom races." There are 835 confirmed cases of equine influenza on 119 properties across NSW and the figure is growing. [The Australian] The program, to be held on Saturday, will be closed to the public. So horsemen there will get an idea of what it's like to race at Belmont Park.
- If you checked out the video of Spectacular Bid's walkover win in the Woodward over in the right sidebar, you might have noticed the distinctive voice of Harvey Pack doing the narration. Harvey's been ubiquitous lately promoting his book May The Horse Be With You, a totally delightful read which hopefully you've already had a chance to check out. I had the pleasure of meeting Harvey briefly up in Saratoga, and am hoping to speak to him more extensively soon for what would be the first interview in the history of LATG. Harvey recently did an interview on Bill Littlefield's 'Only A Game' program on NPR, which you can link to from this page. It's a lot of fun and well worth checking out if, hopefully, you have the right audio download to do so.
5 Comments:
I'm not sure about training hours, but the breakdown rate during racing at the spa:
Main track: 0 (1 for Indian Flare?)
Turf: 1
Del Mar had 4 in race breakdowns on the turf.
More races at Del Mar of course, but the spa dirt compared well with the Del Mar poly.
I recommend a listen to 'Georgie Boy' by Irish songster Jack L (or Jack Lukeman, whichever he's going by these days). It's a good recording.
Win and you're in! Looks like that works for Diabolical. He's headed to Dubai, not Monmouth.
This may have been lost in all of the Travers week hoopla -- Randy Moss reported on his blog that the owner of Hard Spun won an estimated $15 MILLION bonus for the Grade I win in the King's Bishop.
He's another one that has been purchased by the sheihks.
There should be a list of all their post-auction purchases. Let's see Discreet Cat, then the one Kimmel trained in Dubai back in March, Acccountforthegold is headed over to, I guess. Oh, and another horse by the name of Street Sense. SS and HS were purchased for breeding, but there are several which have been bought while in training/racing.
Yes, Harvey Pack's book is definitely on my to read list. I recall seeing Harvey first at Saratoga back in the the mid-late '80's when he had a paddock show at the track and had guests such as Andy Beyer of the Washington Post and Steve Crist when he was the Times beat writer, and later Racing Times editor. Steve had the right idea when he revived these paddock handicapping sessions and moved them to Siro's with Harvey as host. I never miss a Siro's session when in Saratoga and find it a light and humorous way to introduce racetrack novices to the game! Harvey has always been the face (and 'tude) of NY racing for me although I never had the opportunity to see him on the NYRA highlight show which was broadcast in the city. It's Runyonesque racetrack characters like Harvey that keep many of us coming back year after year! /S/Green Mtn Punter
Good to know Mr. Pack is alive and kicking still. I got to meet him when I was 15 and a "guest" for three Aqueduct races on Thoroughbred Action 20 years ago. He proved to be a big help when of the three races I was there to see on TV, the second one was won by an 85-1 shot in a maiden $35k. Naturally he was a NY-bred by Herb Water---I will never forget the name Askherout as long as I live---but he was a most magnanimous guy helping out a young kid who just wanted to be on Sportschannel.
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