Saturday Night Notes - Oct 22

- Thanks to those who commented about Lost in the Fog, especially for not mentioning that I also made a case for Bellamy Road as lone speed in the Derby. That didn’t quite work out, did it? I must admit that when I think about basing the whole day of work on singling him, I don’t have the same feeling of security that I did on Travers Day. So I’ll spend a little time in the bathroom and take a closer look. Regarding Walter’s suggestion of Roman Ruler, he reminds me a bit of Precisionist, the 1985 Sprint winner who I mentioned before as having won off a layoff; he also had been routing if I recall correctly, though not as many consecutive times as Roman Ruler has.

- The Louisville Courier-Journal reports that Tuesday’ congressional hearing has encouraged jockeys that may have been hesitant to criticize the guild's aggressive management to speak out.

"Obviously we made some mistakes in the guild with leadership," said jockey Robby Albarado, a guild senator. "But I'm sure we'll get together as a whole -- as one -- and make some decisions in the future."

"The next step is try to, you know, maybe get (Gertmenian) out of the guild and look for some other proper representation," said longtime guild member Bill Troilo.
.......
"If it's all legitimate, we're definitely going to have to make some changes," said veteran jockey Mark Guidry, a guild senator. "We've got to do what we've got to do as an organization."

- Better Talk Now’s rabbit Shake the Bank is in the Turf, with Motivator’s withdrawal due to an injury that will signal the end of his career. High Fly is out of the Sprint with a non-career threatening injury; Jerry Bailey will move to Roman Ruler, which should make reader Walter happy I think.

- The Form’s Mike Welsch’s work of the day -

First Samurai, five furlongs in 1:00.16: With Jerry Bailey up, First Samurai went along willingly to the stretch, at which point he cocked his head to the outside and tried to lug in slightly while angled inside the outer set of dogs. He finished aggressively and galloped out relatively well into a moderate headwind, pulling up six furlongs in 1:14.19 after posting internal fractions of 12.22 seconds, 24.13, 35.64, and 47.60. As good a work as one could expect without company and with the dogs set so far out in the course.

- It’s a good thing that the Breeders’ Cup wasn’t today, as the weather was rainy, cold and miserable and I don’t even want to look at what the crowd there was. It didn’t include me. There was an interesting winner on Friday in the 4th, a two-year old maiden race on the turf. Barclay Tagg sent out Nice Nelly, a filly from the last crop of Seattle Slew out of a multiple stakes winning Storm Cat mare, Pleasant Temper. 8-1 in the morning line off an awful dirt debut, she was sent off as the 5-2 second choice and was multiple lengths in front all the way. No turf racing with the rain today, and I doubt we’ll see much on the grass all week.

With that in mind, Billy Turner has entered Highland Cat in Wednesday’s 9th race, a maiden special at a mile and a sixteenth on the turf, as a Main Track Only entrant, figuring the race will come off the grass. He’s 4th on the list, so we would need at least that many to scratch out if the race comes off. If not, Turner is looking at a 7 furlong race scheduled for the main track on Friday.