Monday Night Notes

- I'm not going to complain about bad luck for the next few days because I had All Is Vanity in the Beautiful Pleasure Stakes on Sunday at Belmont. Looked like Paris Winds had the edge right before the wire, but the head bob was a fortunate one to be sure; the triple was worth $255. Another winner for Clement, coming on after a slow start to the meet. Nice four year old filly is now two-for-three since coming over from France, and showed that she could rate and rally here too.

Third place finisher Chestoria was moving up from state-bred company. She was 9-1 for trainer Bill Badgett, who I've been mentioning here as one of those under the radar guys with sharp horses. In the following race, the trainer's Ommadon's Frenzy rallied for second at 44-1, splitting what would have been a second consecutive trifecta score for yours truly. He also was moving up in class. Badgett is already having a productive meeting at 17-4-3-2, and he seems poised for another winner or two.

Rudy Rednose closed for second in the $500,000 Anthony Abbatiello Standardbred Breeders & Owners Association New Jersey Classic. And the reason I bring that up (other than outdoing Valerie's long-winded stakes name) is because I saw this three-year old colt's first race and wrote about it here. He actually went on to win his first four in a row, but hadn't found the winner's circle in three races since a brief layoff. I bet him anyway, and he was flying home. Tough break when he bore in behind the winner briefly, forcing Sears to straighten him out before missing by a half length. (I know I said I wouldn't complain, but this race was before the one on Sunday.)

Somebeachsomewhere is the three-year old pacer being mentioned as harness racing's Big Brown. This son of Meadowlands Pace winner Mach Three was unbeaten in six starts at two, including a mile in 1:49 3/5, the first sub-1:50 race by a two-year old. He made his 2008 debut at Mohawk on Saturday, and here's another really nice three year old with a bad foot: