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Saturday, June 10, 2006

Have a Great Belmont Day!!!

- A sharp workout for Highland Cat this morning; a half in 48.23, second best out of 11 at the distance today. He’s aiming for a mile and a quarter maiden special at Belmont on June 24.

- Keyed Entry is scratched from the Woody Stephens.

- Well, it looks like a gorgeous day here in New York. The sun is shining, and, as promised, there’s a nice cool, dry breeze. The main track is fast, and the turf has been labeled ‘yielding,’ but perhaps the wind will dry it out a bit more by the time we get to the two grass stakes. Still, Wend has been scratched from the Just a Game, perhaps because of the soft going. Gorella looks like a bit of a cinch there..

And if you’re not sick of all this by the time the Belmont has been run, check out the Grade 1 Charles Whittingham on the grass at Hollywood. Lava Man could be one of the more intriguing stories to be written this year; the former claimer has already proven his worth on dirt, and tries to do so on the grass today. He won a Cal-bred stakes on the green in his last effort, but meets some of the big boys today, including Frankel’s King’s Drama, coming off a win in the G2 San Luis Rey. TH Approval ran second that day, but subsequently took the G2 San Juan Capistrano. And Neil Drysdale has Red Fort making his first start of the year; his prior had been a head loss in this race last year to Sweet Return, who also runs here, but who has been off form.

Good luck everybody, and have a fantastic day!!!

8 Comments:

Anonymous said...

Derby Barbaro #8
Prekness Bernardini #8
Belmont Jazil #8



Bank Check

Anonymous said...

...what a performance by Afrashad today...check out the fractional times from the Woody Stephens, the True North, and Afrashad...of course, the Woody Stephens was a 7 furlong race, but still, have a look...

WOODY STEPHENS

22.31 44.96 108.88

TRUE NORTH

22.12 44.46 108.10

AFRASHAD

21.86 44.12 108.38

...he compares very favorably with the stakes horses, wouldn't you say?...not too shabby coming off a two-year layoff, in career start #2...

Anonymous said...

After the 3 big races, we all know that Barbaro is much the best. Bernadini may win a few more stakes, however, the son of Dynaformer is the real deal. He's proven it on turf and dirt, with multi Grade I's earned.

Jazil is the Commendable of the early 21st Century. A turd that could not touch Barbaro on his worst day. Through attrition, this crop of 3yo's turned out to be poor.

Are any of you junkies seriously looking forward to the Haskell or Jim Dandy with this group of mediocre horses?

The older horses look like shite as well.

Anonymous said...

Yes actually. Bernardini vs. Corinthian and Jazil will be an awesome race in the jim Dandy.It is almost sacriligious to say but Bernardini may actually be better than Barbaro. And Jazil is a much better horse than Commendable, as is Step and Bluegrass Cat. Believe this was a stong crop, expecially considering the best, STevie Wonderboy, never got to show his true talent.

Anonymous said...

...i disagree that Barbaro is much the best...Bernardini looked pretty damn sharp in the Preakness, i think he probably would've won that race regardless...btw, keep in mind that 2 of the better 3yo's in this crop still haven't raced in this country in 2006...Discreet Cat, of course, and Your Tent Or Mine, who should be hitting the racetrack before too long...

Anonymous said...

...we've been over this type of thing before, but here's some more Beyer stuff for ya...i was looking over the latest charts, and two races caught my eye...they were run on the same day over the track, one race at a mile and the other @ 1 1/16 miles...it was on June 2nd, Belmont races 3 and 8, won by Rathor and Notre Dame respectively...rathor hit the mile mark in 136.11, then finished the last sixteenth in a very nice 6.46 seconds for a final time of 142.57...meanwhile, Notre Dame hit the finish line in 136.85 seconds...that's .74 seconds slower (roughly 4 lengths), in a shorter race no less...so i would expect Rathor to get a much better Beyer fig, obviously...well, here are the figs...

RATHOR 95

NOTRE DAME 93

...almost identical, and that's messed up...Rathor ran a much faster race, no doubt about it...also, i'm interested as to what kind of figure Afrashad will get compared to the Woody Stephens and True North winners...Beyer has a history of giving better figures for stakes races, just because they're stakes races and the horses are "supposed" to run faster...Afrashad ran in a $75k optional claimer...in my opinion, he should receive a number very close to Anew, the True North winner, and a bigger number than Songster, the Woody Stephens winner...but i won't be surprised if he receives a mark 10 points lower than both those horses...Beyers are messed up, man...

Anonymous said...

Agree, Beyers suck, that's why Ragozin and other sheets make so much money selling real figs to the pro's.

Anonymous said...

...as for the Manhattan, what a horse race!...great effort by all of the top 4 finishers, who were seperated by no more than a neck at the wire...i believe that Relaxed Gesture and Grey Swallow ran the best races, though it was Cacique who sqeaked out the victory...Cacique and English Channel were right up on the lead through slow fractions, whle RElaxed Gesture and Grey Swallow each came from the back of the pack and were forced to run down two very talented animals who were given several lengths head-start and had lots of gas left in the tank for the stretch drive...and yet, RG/GS were cutting into that gap noticeably and damn near got up for the win...as for Cacique, Prado was quoted after race as saying he could "feel Cacique getting weary under him" in the late stages...of course, the ground was yielding, but i believe this means we can rule out the BC Turf for Cacique...looks like he's headed for the BC Mile, where he'll no doubt be a very strong contender...Frankel mentioned the Arlington Million as Cacique's next stop, btw...