JC / Railbird - And She Didn’t Even Bet

And She Didn’t Even Bet

– Linda Rice accomplished the improbable on Monday, sweeping the superfecta in the Mechanicsville:

“I kind of joked about it, but I thought it was wishful thinking we could be 1-2-3-4,” Rice said. “But it sure feels good.”

There’s a nice little twist to the story, as well, in line with all the other distaff news of late. Three of Rice’s starters were fillies, including the winner, 9-1 Ahvee’s Destiny (PDF).
– Curlin put in his final serious work for the Woodward on Monday (he’ll have a maintenance breeze next week) and will school in the paddock on Thursday. Fans wanting to see the Horse of the Year will be given advance notice:

“Being here it’s just different,” Asmussen said of the paddock, which is close to the fans.”Whenever we are going to school him, we’ll definitely let everybody know that we are, so we’ll simulate actually what happens to him on race day.”

– The riding title race is tight heading into Saratoga’s final act. On Monday, John Velazquez resumed the top spot with two wins, bringing him to a total of 22, followed by Alan Garcia, Edgar Prado, and Cornelio Velasquez, all with 21, and Ramon Dominguez, with 20. Velazquez has won three graded stakes, as has Garcia, while Prado and Velasquez have won one graded stakes apiece, and Dominguez, none. Robby Albarado, in a little slump these days and with nine wins total, does have two graded stakes wins, along with Julien Leparoux, who has a total of 16 wins.
– Trainer Dallas Stewart takes up blogging for the week.
– In one of those odd worlds colliding kind of moments (in this case, tech and racing), I learned yesterday that Gary Vaynerchuk, vlogger and hyperkinetic wine guy, will be in town this week to give a toast Thursday night at the annual Travers Celebration (which benefits the wonderful work of BEST) and to do a champagne tasting on the clubhouse porch Friday morning. Everyone really does pass through Saratoga, especially Travers week …

Posted by JC in Saratoga on 08/19/2008 @ 11:30 am / Follow @railbird on Twitter