Aqueduct Notes

- KING MOBAY tracked the leader for a half before fading from view. That's the chart comment on King Mobay's sixth place finish at the Big A on Saturday. Seems kinda like a harsh way of putting it. After the race, John Velazquez animatedly second-guessed himself, telling Bob and trainer Bruce Brown that perhaps he should have let the horse run on early instead of taking back off the lead. At that point, trapped down on the rail, Johnny V. said that the horse shied from the mud and dropped back. He actually finished OK, though he beat just one horse. Fact is this was too tough a spot; he belongs more in the 20-25 range I'd guess, and I think he prefers two turns. On the radar screen is a starters allowance written for early December for horses who have started for $10,000 or less; King Mobay did so in 2006, and it's pretty cool that he's therefore eligible for such a race, which carries a purse of $30,000.

Rap Tale is entered in the 4th at Philly Park today. She's listed at 3-1, and honestly I think that would be a bit of an underlay. Notacharlie'sangel looks pretty tough for Lake, and has a seven length win over the muddy main track two races back. Rap Tale's last was an OK third at the Big M, and she'll have to step it up here, perhaps on a drying out surface whose condition at post time is up in the air.

Two winners each for Jimmy Jerkens and McLaughlin. The latter took the 4th with first-timer Monk's Creek, a first-timer by Friends Lake with a Tomlinson mud number of 420. This colt sold for $270,000 at the Barrett's two-year old sale in March; far in excess of his stallion's $15,000 fee. The Florida Derby winner has 13 winners, and stands at #11 on the rookie sire list.

The barn took the 6th with Accredit. Some horses just don't care what kind of surface they run on. This three-year old colt from the first crop of E Dubai, standing at Darley for $15,000 and currently ninth on the second-year sire list, has also won on the Keeneland Poly, Saratoga slop, and has been right there on the inner track. He's now two-for-two on the Big A main, both of those on off tracks. Look for this Darley B team type in inner track stakes this winter.

Congrats to Just Zip It trainer Bill Turner, who got a graded stakes win with Dry Martini in the Stuyvesant; last to first with Channing Hill. The trainer also took Friday's feature with Cloud Nine.

- Rangers!



Out of what I consider to be the four major team sports, hockey is the one in which persistence and hard work are most often not necessarily rewarded. But the Broadway Blueshirts shrugged off an inept power play and a late 0-2 deficit, and kept coming at the stingy Bruins. The 3-2 shootout win puts them on top of the East at 13-5-2.