Like most sports fan in this county, I'll be watching the Super Bowl today and not following much horse racing action. If you are looking for great coverage of the Colts or the Saints today, I highly suggest checking out either Canal Street Chronicles (Saints) or Stampede Blue (Colts), which are the two kick ass SB Nation communities that will be covering all of the action from the perspective of their teams. SB Nation also has a bunch of great coverage on the main page.
As for what happened in the world of horse racing yesterday, here's a quick re-cap:
- Santa Anita had to once again cancel a day of racing due to excessive rain in Souther California and because their "All Weather Track" apparently can't handle any type of weather other than "sunny and dry".
- Prior to the race, the G1-Donn appeared to be a complete mismatch with Quality Road towering over the competition. On the track, the Donn was a complete mismatch with Quality Road running all the other horses off the track. Quality Road won exactly like you think a 2/5 favorite should. In the process, Quality Road earned a Beyer of 122. Yes, you read that right - a 122. Big, big fig in the Donn.
- The other heavy longshot of the day, Eightyfiveinafifty, didn't have it so easy. In yet another example of why there is no sure think in horse racing, the 1/5 favorite in the Whirlaway (a key prep towards the G1-Wood Memorial) broke very quickly from the gate, blew the first turn, crashed through the rail separating the inner track from the main track, dumped jockey Jorge Chavez in the process, and had to be reeled in the by the outriders on the backstretch. Both the horse and the rider avoided suffering any major injuries.
According to the agent for Jorge Chavez, the bit broke on Eightyfiveinafifty, which rendered the rider without any control over the horse and reduced him to a mere spectator. - Court Vision took the G1-Gulfstream Park Turf Handicap after Take The Points was DQ'd for drifing in the stretch and cutting off Yeat's Black Cat, who clipped heels and almost went down.
- In the G3-Suwannee River, Totti stalked a light pace and pulled away in the stretch to win by 3/4 lengths after being bet down from a morning line of 8/1 to the post favorite at 9/5.