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Thursday, November 06, 2008

Notes - Nov 6

- DiscreetCat has a free pick today from Hollywood:

Hollywood - Race 7

#1 Banner Lodge (5/1 ml)

Talented Sadler colt regained top form when trying a turf sprint last time, and now gets turf again while facing a speed-laden field that figures to produce a fast, contested pace. Always thought this colt was stakes-caliber, and i believe he can handle the class jump if he runs a representative race. Conditions seem made to order, and the price will be right. Also worth mentioning the Sadler/Gomez combo have done quite well over this course the last couple of years.
I've managed to get the TBA widget installed over on the left, though you may need a magnifying glass to read the text at this point. Gotta get Patrick to help me out. If you've been uninterested in the election, plenty of pure horse racing stuff to read over there, where it seems as if many of the bloggers have proceeded with their subject material without regard to the more profound "horse races" just completed (as well as those with the 'inquiry' sign flashing). No disrespect meant to them, nor to our friends down in Australia (which, in case you plan to run for vice-president, is a country AND a continent), but personally, I haven't been able to generate much enthusiasm this week for the Melbourne Oaks. But if you have, you can read all about it here; and, of course, you can access all the TBA blogs from here.

Trainer Seth Benzel took Wednesday's Rare Blend Stakes at the Big A with Never Retreat....and I told you about that barn getting hot! Well, perhaps someone listened, because this three-year old daughter of Smart Strike, 12-1 morning line for her first career grass start, paid a mere $13 to win. Out of a mare by the deceased Steady Growth, a champion in Canada (a country), this filly is from the distaff family of prominent sire Distorted Humor (the second dam of Never Retreat is the third dam of that stallion).

Another daughter of Smart Strike took Wednesday's finale; Smart Engagement is a two-year old, winning in her debut for trainer James Bond. Out of a mare by Canadian champion Sky Classic, here's a filly with some highly unusual breeding. She's closely inbred, 3x3, to the broodmare No Class, dam of the aforementioned Sky Classic, as well as Regal Classic, Classy N Smart, and Grey Classic, champs north of the border all.

3 Comments:

Anonymous said...

No idea why the DRF / Blood Horse / TB Times aren't picking up on it but Tin Cup Chalice will be shipping to Japan (all expenses paid) to race in the Japan Cup Dirt mile. The TCC connections said it's a go after testing him running "the wrong way" and he was fine with it.

Rochester Dem/Chron 11-6-08 "Finger Lakes' Tin Cup Chalice to race in Japan"

That is great news and he's a tough runner made of pure grit.

TCC has more talent then Casino Drive. Who aside from bombing in the BCC was to be shipped back to Japan this week and his connections (who must be on crack) said they'll bring him back to Calif next year. Wasted talent in the hands of humans ...

Anonymous said...

I realize this is first and foremost a horseracing thread, but I just want to say this is a great week for America! Congratulations to Obama and to sensible Americans who realized that this guy will make intelligent levelheaded decisions to complex problems and be less beholden to special interest groups than any president in a long time.

These are extremely scary times, but America has elected the right man for the job. Good luck, Mr. President-elect, and good luck to the secret service who need to do whatever it takes to protect him from evil, angry people.

Anonymous said...

After the fact, I wish I had not read this free Discreet Picks selection at Hollywood yesterday in the 7th race. What a bad beat to have had an exacta wheel with a 32 to 1 shot winning the race and Gomez can't hold second!!!! In the category of what have you done for me lately, it was a fine two days for Gomez at the Breeders Cup but he couldn't hold second in an exacta payoff that surely would have been between $350 and $400!!