Big Country

Days like today make it tough to stick with this thing about concentrating on the inner track as opposed to Gulfstream. No less than four maiden claiming events at the Big A; one of them was a state-bred $15,000 affair, quite possibly the cheapest race I've ever seen in New York. Meanwhile, it was fast and firm at Gulfstream, with full fields and some nice wide-open races.

Contessa had three winners up here; Precisely That ($9.80) and Chief Operator ($7.20) were dropping in claiming tag; while Not Now ($9) was moving up off the claim from Jacobson. So the trainer did a good job placing his stock where they could win on this day (two seconds and two thirds as well).

We're still not quite sure whether or not Seventh Street is merely a mud lark. The track didn't look bad at all, but was labeled muddy, so all three of her wins have come over off tracks, and her Tomlinson is 412. It was her first try around two turns, and she galloped around more or less at a steady 24 second clip (24.84 for the final quarter as she was cruising home with no competition around). But the field was one of dubious quality, so questions remain in my mind. What they are, I'm not exactly sure, but I'd bet against her in a more competitive race.

Judge Margaret ($6.70) was the third winner in a row for trainer John Parisella; each one was dropping in class.

At Gulfstream, Graham Motion had two winners and is off to a 6-3-1-1 start. Ken McPeek now has four winners from ten starters after taking both divisions of the three-year old allowance races. Free Country (well-supported at 2.40-to-1) is by Big Country, a son of AP Indy who, according to Pedigree Query, won two races and $74,000 in 13 starts, and is, or was, "retired & standing at Bona Terra Farms, LLC in Georgetown, KY." However, once again, a search at the Stallion Register yielded no result, and I fear for his well-being.

Big Country was also a band from Scotland, whose 1983 debut, The Crossing, was a big alternative hit. It was also the high point of their career, though I thought that their followup, Steeltown, was underrated (while acknowledging the consensus criticism that it offered nothing new). In concert though, these guys kicked ass; my second favorite live band of the 80's. I saw two them play triumphant shows; at Roseland in 1983, and a few years later outdoors on a west side pier facing the UPS building, I forget the name. The band's founder and singer, Stuart Adamson, died in 2001, the fate I fear his band's equine namesake has met. Anyway, without further adieu.... [UPDATE: Thanks to reader apajax6, we've thankfully tracked down Big Country, living the easy life, we hope, in Trinidad and Tobago.