Monday Morning Notes

- Old Hat winner Gemswick Park is the first graded stakes winner for Speightstown. Great three horse finish, you can check it out via Bloodhorse.com among other places. Nice weekend for the stallion with Haynesfield winning the Count Fleet on Saturday. (And what exactly that horse winning that race has to do with the Kentucky Derby I can't really say....do you think it's good for the sport that people become so completely obsessed four months prior to the race?)

- Looked as if King Mobay would be the first winner of 2009 for Kasey K when they turned for home in Sunday's 4th at Aqueduct. Ramon Dominguez apparently reads the Form - he commented to trainer Bruce Brown before the race that there seemed to be speed inside of him, and indeed, he got the garden trip behind the two favorites, saving ground on the turn too. Right on cue, he moved up to assume the lead after turning for home, and I thought we had a winner. But Stealth Missile, who'd been saving ground behind King Mobay, came along and drew away at the end. So we settled for being clearly second best; a solid run, earning $6,000. [UPDATE: And a Beyer of 85 too!] Only complaint/excuse was that the horse was hard to settle down on the first turn....but nobody was beating the winner on this particular day.

I wrote yesterday about trainers trying to slip their horses by for a tag in order to get eligible for starters handicaps such as this one, and the winner is the opposite scenario. He'd been dropped in for a 10K tag by Michael Maker for owner Ken Ramsey in his last race, but he was nabbed by trainer Enrique Arroyo. He promptly placed him in this race for horses who had started for that price or less. Thus, he earned the winner's share of 18K (one of two winners on the day for the barn), nearly doubling the claim price. And he can come back and run in the same race again, albeit no doubt with a couple more pounds to carry, perhaps on January 29, when it comes up in the condition book again. King Mobay will be aiming for that date too.

The crowd at the track seemed rather stunned at the takedown of Believeinmenow in the 7th. "I've seen worse than that with no DQ," was the general reaction. Sure, there was some bumping, but.....I've certainly seen worse than that!

Another weekend stakes winner for West Point, as Justwhistledixie took the ho-hum Ruthless for McLaughlin. This three-year old is a daughter of Dixie Union out of an Honour and Glory mare, and she's a half-sister to the ill-fated Chace City.

- Two winners for the Toddster down at Gulfstream, including first-time starter Checklist (Gone West) ($13.40) on Saturday - three-year old colt is the first foal out of the multiple graded winner Yearly Report (General Meeting). Light Green won the 4th on Sunday for Pletcher in her first start since Saratoga. She's a three-year old by Pleasantly Perfect, who had a quiet first year at stud (#22 on the rookie sire list with one -non-graded - stakes winner); not surprising, considering that he didn't win his first race until he was four. Light Green is out of a mare by Sheikh Albadou; her second dam is a full sister to the two-time G1 winner Jade Hunter.

An odd Barclay Tagg exacta in 5th at GP on Sunday, with money burner extraordinaire Pastel Gal making all those who lost on her, consecutively, at 2-5, 1-2, and 7-5, quite happy I'm sure with a payoff of $16.60. Even that seemed like another underlay, considering that stablemate and runner-up Kristy With a K seemed to have a distinct class advantage, competing in open company as opposed to NY-breds. Oh well.

Two horses at GP over the weekend came off races at Kentucky Downs, and both won - Skip Away Belle ($11) and National Kid ($6.80).