JC / Railbird - Wednesday Evening Notes

Wednesday Evening Notes

– Travis Stone points out that Tiznow, sire of Santa Anita Derby winner Colonel John, is the leading sire of runners on synthetic surfaces. What he doesn’t mention is that Tiznow is second on the overall leading sires list, behind Smart Strike, whose offspring include turf and dirt stars, and that three of the five top sires overall also appear on the synthetic list. Good sires are versatile.
– Colonel John was easily the most impressive Kentucky Derby prep winner on Saturday, rallying late and running the final eighth of the nine-furlong race in an even :12 after overcoming a tough pace scenario, but he wasn’t finished at the wire, as Steve Haskin noticed while watching the colt gallop out:

Nakatani, apparently sensing that Colonel John had done his only serious running in the final sixteenth, wanted him to keep going and gallop out strong. He waved the whip at him crossing the wire, and then gave him a tap on the shoulder with the handle of the whip before pulling on his left rein and snapping the right rein against the colt’s shoulder. As a result, Colonel John was able to run through the wire and continue on at a decent clip without easing to the outside, as many horses will do when galloping out. It was a clever move by Nakatani, who has to make sure the colt doesn’t put himself in that position again in the Derby. He’ll have to quicken earlier, and can’t afford to let horses whiz by him at the three-eighths pole.

– Giant Moon is possible for the Preakness after finishing fourth in the Wood. “We accomplished a lot and showed that he belongs in that company,” said trainer Richard Schosberg of the effort on Monday.
– Trainer Todd Pletcher acknowledges what I figured out a couple weeks into this year’s Road to the Roses contest and everyone knew after Saturday: He has no Kentucky Derby horses. “We are struggling right now” (Times Union).
– Fran of Hoofcare goes to Florida and gets the story on Big Brown’s bad feet straight from trainer Rick Dutrow.

Posted by JC in Racing on 04/09/2008 @ 7:30 pm / Tagged Kentucky Derby / Follow @railbird on Twitter