Sunday Night Notes

- Barclay Tagg seemed pretty confident before the Hollywood Derby, telling Christina Olivares on TVG that Nobiz Like Shobiz had the best numbers in the BC Mile; I presume he was referring to one or the other of the sheets. His running line from the BC looks very good on paper, especially being accompanied by the 5 wide middle move comment; thus he was sent to the post as the solid even money favorite. The second choices were both 5.60 to 1. With Castellano back on board, Nobiz was caught three wide around the first turn. But that wasn't nearly enough of an excuse to explain his fade to 8th after attaining perfect striking position turning for home. "I was very surprised he didn't run better," trainer Barclay Tagg said. "I plan to take him to Florida and freshen him up." [AP] Well, at least there's one top three-year old who is coming back, and who's to say he still can't be a factor on dirt as he matures.

Mike Smith, on Daytona (Indian Ridge), set what was basically a steady 24 second per quarter pace, before holding off Medici Code through a final quarter of 23.64. He was one of those 5-1 shots, and you can make a pretty good redboard case for this one. Daytona showed an excellent pattern of improvement, moving up from allowance ranks to a G2 win in his last, and earning a career best 100 Beyer.

Four horses that competed in the BC Mile have now run back, and the results have been a mixed bag. Silent Name and Cosmonaut ran well in defeat, and Purim was strangely placed when finishing 8th in the Clark on the dirt.

The Filly and Mare Turf has fared somewhat better with Precious Kitten's win in the Matriarch (Argentina ran a fine second last week in the Cardinal). Frankel's four-year old daughter of Catienus was wiped out in the BC when Simply Perfect bore out on the second of three turns. This time, Rafael Bejarano allowed 42-1 (in a six horse field!) Live Life to take the lead, and Vic Stauffer noted with some alarm that "Precious Kitten will have to sit second early." She's rated before though, and Bejarano sat chilly until Naissance Royale ranged up around the turn. At that point, Precious Kitten took off and collared Live Life, and it's not that the frontrunner was particularly tired; the third quarter went in 23.45.

From there, Precious Kitten bounded home in 22.94, and every once in awhile, you'll see a top horse such as she hitting on all cylinders in the stretch, just loving the game and strutting its stuff for all to see. Wait A While, the 6-5 favorite for the Toddster, ran a great race for second, but no way she was catching this filly today. It's a race well worth checking out.