Saturday Notes - Feb 23

- Just quickly, if anyone's out there today, on the Grade 1 Gulfstream Park Turf later today - I don't really get Shamdinan as the 4-1 second choice in the morning line. Sure, he won the G1 Secretariat in his first N.A. start. But that was against three-year olds, and he hasn't followed up that effort with a comparable one, including, in my opinion, his second place finish in the BC Turf. Given the circumstances of the turf condition and the pace, it could be better than it looks.

Stream of Gold, the morning line favorite, certainly looks tough on figs, class, and consistency. But I'm interested in Zann (6-1), stretching out, and coming off a layoff for McLaughlin. Zann stepped it up big time last fall, progressing to two excellent seconds, most recently a neck defeat in the G1 Citation at Hollywood. Those races, however, were much shorter; and his one try over a mile and a sixteenth was a wide an even fifth in the 2006 Hollywood Derby.

But Zann has some interesting distance pedigree. He's by Dynaformer, out of Moments of Magic, a Danzig mare who ran second in the mile and a half Long Island Handicap at the Big A. His second dam is a half sister to Ten Below, winner of the Lawrence Realization at Belmont, which, if I recall correctly, was run at a mile and five eighths. The race was eliminated in 2005 by the New York Racing Association (NYRA) in an effort to remain financially viable. [Wikipedia] At least a mile and a half anyway. And Ten Below is a half to Fortnightly, who won the Secretariat and ran second in the Manhattan. (Ten Below and Fortnightly are by Avatar and Dance Spell respectively; two of my all-time favorites.)

One more thing, Elvis Trujillo rides lights out for the barn; albeit in a modest sample of 26 races, he's won at 46%.

So I'll take a shot with Zann, use him with Stream of Gold and throw Notable Guest and Dancing Forever somewhere into the exotics mix too. Good luck everyone and have a great day.