Bellamy Road: 120

- Mike Watchmaker in the Form has an answer to those who would attribute Bellamy Road’s performance to the fast track at the Big A.

Yes, Aqueduct's main track was extremely fast Saturday. Ridiculously so.... In any case, there have been a lot of very fast tracks at Aqueduct in the last 32 years, but no horse ran 1 1/8 miles faster than Bellamy Road did. Moreover, one of the great things about Beyer Speed Figures is that they take into account the relative speed of the racing surface, and even accounting for the extreme quickness of Saturday's track, Bellamy Road earned a sensational Beyer of 120. [Daily Racing Form]

- The Thoroughbred Daily News reported today that Forest Danger will head to the Met Mile, where he could meet Ghostzapper, who is prepping for the same.

- Blue Grass hopefuls had 5 furlong workouts, Bandini in 1:00.40 at Keeneland; and at Churchill, Consolidator in 59.60 and High Limit 59.40 respectively. "[High Limit] went a little quick, but I think the track was a little quick this morning," said trainer Bobby Frankel. [DRF]

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When Singletary, the 2004 Breeders' Cup Mile winner, arrived in the paddock for the Frank Kilroe Mile on March 5, trainer Don Chatlos was stunned by what he saw.

As he looked through the saddling area, Chatlos observed that Singletary, making his first start of the year, looked out of shape compared to several others in the race.
......
The results reflected Chatlos's concern. Singletary finished seventh, five lengths behind the winner, Leroidesanimaux. [Daily Racing Form]

Does this compare at all to the Sweet Catomine affair? The horse was making his first start since the Breeders Cup and had missed training due to the weather, and Chatlos said "I was counting on everyone missing as much training as I had." It’s understood and accepted, at least by us regulars, that not every single horse is entered to run its fastest and win. I consider it my job as a handicapper to factor that in to my decisions. If I see a turf horse returning after an absence in a 6 furlong race on the dirt, I know that it’s just a tuneup.

But this was a stakes race, you’d figure the horse would at least be trained to be competitive. Should Chatlos have said something in “public forum,” indicating his horse wasn’t in top shape? One could argue that a paddock inspection would have told the tale, but again, most bettors are off-track. Is that just a disadvantage of betting off-location that you assume as risk? How do you determine what things need and needn’t be disclosed? Do more important races deserve more disclosure, or does a $5000 claimer warrant the same? It’s inpractical to expect that bettors can know everything about every horse, but somewhere there’s a line far in front of the intentional deception that Wygod is accused of.

- Greeley's Galaxy had a nice race himself, having earned a Beyer of 106. He'll have a tough time getting in though, since original nominees have priority over supplementals, so he'll have to hope that less than 20 enter. Buzzard's Bay got a 98.