JC / Railbird

Nobiz Aces Turf Test

– Nobiz Like Shobiz aced his first turf try in today’s G2 Hall of Fame Stakes at Saratoga, stalking pacesetter Sahara Heat through easy early fractions, taking the lead in mid-stretch, and then holding off a late-surging Marcavelly to win by half a length. The 6-5 favorite, Nobiz Like Shobiz paid $5.20. Final time for the 1 1/8 mile race run over very firm ground was 1:49.29.
– Any Given Saturday came out of the Haskell fine, trainer Todd Pletcher reported this morning, and is scheduled to arrive in Saratoga on Tuesday. Curlin was back in trainer Steve Asmussen’s Spa barn this morning. “I’m disappointed in the run; he ran flat,” Asmussen said today. “We’ll evaluate him and have discussions with everyone involved with Curlin. From there, we’ll decide what is best for Curlin” (NYRA). Why so much angst? The horse ran third off a layoff against some tough competition. It can’t be concern about what another loss might mean for a stud fee, could it?
Hard Spun will start next in the King’s Bishop on the Travers Day undercard (Times Union).


3 Comments

So glad to see Nobiz score a win! I thought he looked really good in the stretch.

Posted by dana on August 6, 2007 @ 10:57 pm

Well for one, I want them to get to the bottom of it. I bet $100 to win. Based on his 3 year-old campaign, no way he runs that badly. After the Preakness? the Belmont?

Posted by Scott on August 7, 2007 @ 7:11 pm

I went back and watched the Haskell, thinking maybe I’d missed something in Curlin’s performance, but he really didn’t run that terribly … he responded to Albarado going around the turn and to every request in the stretch. He was coming on late. It was a so-so race, just the sort of effort to be expected off a layoff for a non-superhorse. I’m sympathetic, though … I lost big on Boca Grande in the Forward Gal when she ran second to last, showing no effort at all. I was sure she was injured. But no, it was just a really bad race.

Posted by Jessica on August 8, 2007 @ 7:32 am