Weekend Review (9/10-9/12)

-The result chart for Grade 3 Kentucky Cup Turf at Kentucky Downs doesn't have any fractional times available and that's really too bad because I would love to know how slow the pace was in that mile and a half race to produce a winner that stopped the clock in 2:44.74 (chart). The Beyer figure came back at 95 which has to be a complete projection given the extremely light racing calendar at Kentucky Downs and the obviously screwy pace scenario.

-The two juvenile races at Arlington Park were won in almost identical final times (Futurity - 1:36.36, Lassie - 1:36.65) but I thought Wonderlandbynight in the Lassie was a bit more impressive of the two and could be an interesting play in what could be a wide-open BC Juvenile Fillies, if she were to enter.  No word on yet as to whether either of the winners will head to the Breeders' Cup.

-By winning the Grade 3 Turfway Park Championship at a mile and a half, Eldaafer has secured a spot in the Breeders' Cup Marathon for the second straight year.  Following the race, trainer Dian Alvarado stated that they intend to take him to the Breeders' Cup.

-I'm working on updating all my the Breeders' Cup Prep Race excel files and I'm going to have division-by-division look at where we currently stand with less than two months until the big weekend.  I should have that post up sometime tomorrow morning.

-It's too bad that Noosa Beach won't get to test the competition in the Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile because he is a true miler, as opposed to half the field in the Dirt Mile that will likely be in that race as a fall-back for failing to draw into the Classic.

I don't know that Noosa Beach ran his best race in yesterday's Muckelshoot Tribal Classic but he was easily the best horse in the field.  After pressing the pace through six furlongs in 1:09.80, Noosa Beach  rolled home to win by 2 ¾ lengths over the hard-charging Wasserman. 

For a horse that has had a pretty tough year getting into the winner's circle, Wasserman ran an exceptional race in the Muckleshoot.  Compare the internal fractions of Noosa Beach and Wasserman in yesterday's race:

Noosa Beach ran the opening quarter about a second faster than Wasserman, but Wasserman actually ran the final six furlongs quicker than Noosa Beach (1:11.23 to 1:11.72).  Those six furlongs weren't fast enough for Wasserman to make up the difference between himself and Noosa Beach but it was an impressive run by a horse that hasn't had a ton of success this year.

-Next to Noosa Beach's winning in the Muckleshoot, the two most impressive winners on the day at Emerald for me were Lady Golightly in the Diane Kem for juvenile fillies and Slew the Man in the Chinook Pass for three year old cotls and geldings. 

Lady Golightly simply rolled the field in the Diane Kem, winning by an easy eight and a half lengths.  This Tom Wenzel trained filly has really come into her own in her last two races after struggling a bit in the first two starts of her career.  She broke her maiden by easily winning the Barbara Shinpoch back on Aug. 29^th and on Sunday she added the Kem to her 2010 stakes resume.  Lady Golightly is clearly a filly to watch at Emerald heading into 2011.

In the Chinook Pass, Wheelhouse, a horse I liked at a price in this spot, ran a huge race to finish second at odds of 24/1 and keyed a nice $50.80 $1 Exacta with the winner, Slew the Man. The winner was racing for just the second time for trainer Mike Chambers and could be a big player in the older horse division in 2011.

-Another good day of Daily Doubles at Emerald Downs on Sunday, something I was chasing all over the track and coming up empty until race 8/9.

The Lady Golightly/Noosa Beach/Slew the Man sequence had logically soft payouts but the rest of the card produced some huge Doubles, especially race 3-4 and 4-5 where the Double paid $200.20 and $130.20, respectively.  Overall, the average Double on Sunday paid $73.51 with a median of $57.60.  Below are yesterday's double payouts: