Easter Sunday Quick Thoughts

by Matt Gardner on Apr 24, 2011 1:59 PM EDT in Ramble On

I hope everyone is having themselves a nice Easter. I've been traveling around Yorkshire the past couple of days and will be heading back down to London early next week for my final few days in England. I'll be attending Ascot on Wednesday and the Guineas Festival on Saturday and Sunday.

A few thoughts on this Sunday evening...or morning/afternoon...depending on where you are at:

Silver Medallion comes up with a clunker in the Coolmore Lexington, finishing fourth of six and leaving himself short on graded earning for this year's Derby; he'll need some defections to get into the top 20.

I'll update the 2011 Triple Crown file in the next day or so but the results of the Lexington are pretty irrelevant in terms of the Derby.
The Lexington winner, Derby Kitten, is another of those Ken and Sarah Ramsey Kitten's Joy runners that seems to love both turf and synthetic surfaces.
Churchill Downs opens for racing this coming Saturday and will feature the G3-Derby Trial...which really isn't a trial for the Derby.
The Rainbow Six at Gulfstream paid out $3,279.26 on second to last day of the meet and the final day for the carryover that kept carrying over day after day. The final Rainbow Six pool checked in at a hair under $3.6 million. Not bad for a $0.10 minimum bet.
Todd Pletcher's Cal Nation tried stakes company in yesterday's G2-Jerome at Aqueduct and completely bombed, finishing last in a field of eight. I'm not sure what happened to this colt, but after a nice debut win at Gulfstream he's really struggled. Perhaps it's a bit of too much, too fast.

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Speaking of Ramsey's Kittens Joy horses

Kitten’s Dancer will be running in an allowance on Wednesday at Keeneland. I really thought she may end up in the Appalachain last week. Anyway, 1 1/8th mile on Turf. I think her previous 3 races were 1 mile. Maybe she’ll get some pace to run at this time!!!!!

by btalbert29 on Apr 24, 2011 7:19 PM EDT reply actions

Nice tip. I’ll look for that.

by Swale on Apr 25, 2011 7:28 AM EDT up reply actions

I don't know if they'll

actually be on the grass Wednesday or not though. I live about 1 hour north of Keeneland and we’ve had around 5 inches of rain the last 4 days or so. It’s supposed to rain through Wednesday. She has ran 3 races at Turfway on the Poly and looked good in 2 of the 3. The Bourbonette had zeo pace, she was closing but just didn’t have anything to run at. I haven’t looked much at the other entries, so I’m not sure what kind of odds she’ll get, but I wouldn’t shocked if she wins it. I know at Turfway she got bet pretty hard but I think it had more to do with Maker’s success the last meet at Turfway than it did anything else. We’ll see I guess!

by btalbert29 on Apr 25, 2011 9:16 AM EDT up reply actions

One more bit about

Kitten’s Dancer, I love this horse if you’ve ever seen me go on about her lol. I checked the morning lines and she’s 6-1 or the 5th ML pick. If she gets any pace to run at, I really like her chances. Maybe, oh just maybe we’ll see double digit odds on her. The kicker is, I don’t know that I’ll get out and be able to bet her this time around, and I don’t really want to put money online to do so, so she is destined to win now! lol.

by btalbert29 on Apr 25, 2011 1:54 PM EDT up reply actions

Cal Nation

If Uncle Mo has a bad work tomorrow and doesn’t end up in the Derby, we’ll need to do a post-mortem analysis on Pletcher’s 3YO crop because Brethren and Cal Nation are not lighting it up like I thought they would.

by Swale on Apr 25, 2011 7:28 AM EDT reply actions

I've Always Thought

…that “Derby Trial” pretty much meant “trial run” for the Derby gate crew and staff.

I can’t wait to see what the final pool for the Rainbow 6 is.

Now is the time boys to make a big noise.
No matter what the people say,
For there is naught to fear, the gang's all here,
So hail West Virginia, hail.

by JP Fanshawe on Apr 25, 2011 9:09 AM EDT reply actions

I always wondered

if it was a prep back a long time ago where perhaps owners and trainers didn’t worry about running their horses back to back weeks. I know today’s racing climate doesn’t really allow for it as people don’t want their very expensive horses being put under that kind of strain, but decades ago, maybe it wasn’t that big of a deal?

by btalbert29 on Apr 25, 2011 9:19 AM EDT up reply actions

That's what I always thought it was...

that some horses used to come back quickly and run the following weekend, but I’ll admit that’s just speculation on my part.

Anyone every read Tom Anslie’s handicapping book originally published in the late 60s? He writes a lot about horses wheeling back just a week later, something we all know is pretty rare these days.

"A bad day at the track is better than a good day at the office."

And Down The Stretch They Come | @PressThePace

by Matt Gardner on Apr 25, 2011 1:43 PM EDT up reply actions

I know that was probably in

a time where the industry as a whole probably wasn’t very humane, and maybe it’s still not, but I have to wonder, does resting these horses so much make them weaker than a time when they ran them back quickly. I know during those times they didn’t think much about putting a horse down, even if things weren’t that wrong with them, and that they’d perhaps run horses that shouldn’t be running. I know racing can still be scandalous and that not everyone at every track thinks all that much about the actual living breathing animal (looking at you Dutrow) but I think the public as a whole now is quite humane, and seeing things like Barbaro and Eight Belles on TV now is not accepted very well, where perhaps at one time it wouldn’t have been quite that big of a deal.

Being around a track that isn’t so prestigious, I know horses run back on 2 weeks rest a lot at Turfway, so it’s probably more a money issue with a quality horse than it is anything. If you have a Grades Stakes winning colt, he’s worth quite a bit more than the Turfway 5 or 7500 dollar claimer tha runs every 2 weeks. I just wonder, if some of the big time horses ran more often, would they be more likely to get hurt or more likely to be stronger and a star?

by btalbert29 on Apr 25, 2011 2:01 PM EDT up reply actions

Dark Star

I know he ran the Trial (won I believe) and then won the Derby. Granted, that was over 50 years ago.

by LAEagle on Apr 27, 2011 1:19 AM EDT up reply actions

Some interesting history with this race...

I didn’t realize that Citation won the Derby Trial before going on to win the Triple Crown. Different times….different times.

"A bad day at the track is better than a good day at the office."

And Down The Stretch They Come | @PressThePace

by Matt Gardner on Apr 27, 2011 4:39 AM EDT up reply actions

He also

Won a race between the Preakness and Belmont because they felt 3 weeks off would soften him up.

by LAEagle on Apr 27, 2011 10:05 AM EDT up reply actions

So as we talk about the Derby Trial not being

A prep, did I see an article that may suggest Twinspired might take a chance at the Derby Trial so they can get his graded winnings up? I read before the Vinery Spiral Stakes that the owners wanted Twinspired to run in the Derby. It was a shame the Bluegrass worked out the way it did, but perhaps we’ll see Twinspired run back to back? His last 2 races, despite being longer odds he’s hit the board. This could be interesting.

I didn’t actually read the article because my work computer blocks DRF since it’s a “gambling site” . I’m trying to find more info.

by btalbert29 on Apr 25, 2011 3:34 PM EDT reply actions