Saturday Morning BC Notes

- Friday's BC races were inconclusive in my mind as to how the horses who were making the dirt-to-synth transition for the first time fared. I think that's the big question that needs to be answered in terms of how valid this, and next year's Breeders' Cup will prove to be in terms of their legitimacy to determine championships. However, three races is not enough of a sample, and Zenyatta and Stardom Bound are true monsters who nobody honestly expected to get beat, even if some of us may have taken a little shot against. (And that 8-5 on Stardom Bound looks pretty generous in retrospect.)

The win by Ventura was, to be honest, not a great start in this respect. She's a turf horse by trade, and one who is now three-for-three on synthetics as well. It's posible that Indian Blessing, by virtue of her three dominant sprint wins prior, has done enough to earn the filly sprint honors and avoid a synthetic controversy here. But this will present the voters with a classic example of what the sport wanted to avoid - should Ventura get the honors without ever having run on a conventional track?

Indian Blessing, who'd raced once before on synthetic, ran her usual fine race in defeat, and Zaftig, making her first synth start, ran on well for third.

In the Juvie Fillies, it was a synthetic exacta with Dream Express getting second to Stardom Bound; but Sky Diva was third in her first synthetic start (and her first around two turns). Two fillies who'd run only on dirt - Persistently and Doremifasollatido - were not considered prime contenders. And in the, er, feature, Cocoa Beach and Music Note, both first-time synth, each ran great behind Zenyatta in that order. So a mixed bag on the day I'd say. Ultimately, Curlin will be the barometer as to whether the dirt form held up.

- The New York Times' coverage of this so-called "championship day" consisted of a single box summary of no more than 350 words I'd approximate. A far cry from the days of their The Rail blog leading up to the Triple Crown.

- In the F&M Turf, Forever Together flew home the last quarter in 22.90 according to Formulator. Halfway to Heaven was a disappointing 7th as the 5-2 favorite (!), and Aidan O'Brien spoke about the mile and the quarter distance and added: "It's been a long season, too." Look for a similar quote from O'Brien after his two Classic entries get beat by Curlin today.

The incredible Zenyatta ran her last three furlongs in 34.48 seconds. Certainly don't disagree with the notion that she deserves the strongest consideration for Horse of the Year honors should Curlin get beat today.

- Juvie Fillies Turf winner Maram is by the sire Sahm, and I wrote more about her interesting pedigree in this post, down near the bottom. One might think I could have followed that up with a small wager at 11-1...

- I'm sure that ESPN will go racing off to its college football scoreboard show at 7 PM this evening. But check out TVG for the 10th at Santa Anita, in which multiple graded stakes winner Georgie Boy makes his first start since going off the Derby Trail after taking the San Felipe in March. Also scheduled to start in that race is Gayego, making his first start since getting thrashed in the Derby and Preakness.

- Not enthralled with the US entries in the Turf, and I like Conduit instead. This three-year old son of Dalakhani has seen his speed figures improve with every race, and that has to mean he's improving whether they're Beyers, Racing Post numbers, Obama's poll numbers or anything. Unlike some of his others, Soldier of Fortune has been campaigned lightly thus far this year by Aidan O'Brien. However, I just don't care for these horses running here less than three weeks after the Arc. Conduit last raced Sept 12, and has won at this distance and beyond. And as a three-year old, I could see him just exploding here. Eagle Mountain and Winchester are also sharp Euros, but are a combined 0 for 5 at the distance.

And I might have taken a shot with the improving Whatsthescript in the Mile had he not drawn so poorly in the outside 11 gate. Goldikova is an imposing favorite here, and the Euros' most likely winner in my view.