Wednesday Evening Notes
– Week two at Saratoga got off to a better start than week one, although favorite Rumspringa was declared a non-starter after unseating rider Ramon Dominguez at the break in the first race. Dominguez was uninjured and all wagers refunded on Rumspringa, who was claimed by owner Michael Repole and trainer Bruce Levine. Winning Move Stable owner Steve Sigler is contesting the claim of the horse from his barn, since Rumspringa lost the jock and was ineligible to run for purse money (DRF).
– Trainer Todd Pletcher went 0-for-4 at the Spa today, but both his regular riders scored a stakes win this afternoon: In the Fleet Indian Stakes, Garrett Gomez piloted second favorite Lauren’s Tizzy to a 3 1/2 length win for trainer Mark Henning, while John Velasquez captured the De La Rose Stakes for Kiaran McLaughlin aboard Fantastic Shirl, who lagged far behind the rest of the field for the first five furlongs and then was blocked by traffic, forcing her to split horses in the stretch. She won by one length.
– Del Mar Polytrack trends: Some wild prices and form reversals out west recently, yet favorites have won 32% of Polytrack races since the beginning of the meet and half of the winners finished in the money in their last start, so it’s not total chaos. A few sires have now had multiple offspring win on the surface: In Excess is 3-for-16 (18%); Forest Camp 2-for-3 (67%); Old Topper 2-for-10 (20%); and Tribal Rule 2-for-7 (29%). California stud stalwarts Unusual Heat and Swiss Yodeler have two wins out of 20+ starters each. Interesting: Jockey Corey Nakatani and trainer Rafael Becerra are 4-for-4 with a $2 ROI of $7.75 on both Polytrack and turf.
– This must have been a scene: Owner Ahmed Zayat and Del Mar CEO Joe Harper “got into an animated, and at times profane, discussion” about Polytrack (DRF), which has drawn some complaints for the way it changes consistency throughout the day. Zayat’s horses and trainer Bob Baffert are headed to Saratoga (Union Tribune), which should be more to the speed-loving owner’s liking.
– Preakness winner Curlin arrived at Monmouth this morning for Saturday’s Haskell, where he’ll meet up with a freshed Hard Spun and hometown longshot Cable Boy (Star-Ledger).
– After weeks of advertising imminent revolution, Blood-Horse launched Blood-Horse NOW today. The site is available to subscribers of the print magazine (I assume there’ll be an online-only subscription in the near future). It looks great, very contemporary, with a spare, open aesthetic, and I appreciate being able to sort race results by class. But some features seem incomplete — there’s no way drill down by track into the leader lists, the only entries up are for graded stakes, and so on — and I hit a few missing pages and errors. Also, no sign of “unique and provocative statistics.” It’s all new, though, and very promising.
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