Half-siblings Beijing House and Eight City Tour are a coupled entry for trainer Tom McCooey in race eight, an AOC going six furlongs on the main track. The elder is a veteran New England champion, the younger 2-for-3 at Suffolk Downs this year; together they’re 7-2 on the morning line. Beijing House is in for a $20,000 tag coming off a starter allowance win on July 10 — that race was the first time he’d found himself in the winner’s circle since June 4, 2012, ending an 10-race losing streak. Eight City Tour’s one loss at the track came going about a mile on the turf on July 15. He cuts back in this spot to the same distance at which he won an allowance on dirt the race before that.
Results: The Brothers Slacks finished out of the money as the 5-2 third favorites. Beijing House was fourth, Eight City Tour sixth.
Posted by JC in Racing on 07/28/2013 @ 8:53 pm / Tagged Beijing House, Eight City Tour, Siblings, Slacks, Suffolk Downs, Tom McCooey / Follow @railbird on Twitter
Our Amazing Rose gets a Beyer speed figure of 91 for winning the fifth race on Thursday at Saratoga by 7 3/4 lengths. She went the five furlongs in :57.68, or .59 seconds faster than stablemate Corfu did winning the second. Both making their career debuts for trainer Todd Pletcher, of course. Watch the replay.
Posted by JC in Racing on 07/26/2013 @ 9:00 am / Tagged Buzz Babies, Corfu, Juveniles, Our Amazing Rose, Saratoga, Todd Pletcher / Follow @railbird on Twitter
Trainer Jackie Thacker talks to Matt Hegarty about Monzante:
“I saw where they said he was salvageable,†Thacker said. “That’s not what we saw. We saw a horse that was in a lot of pain, that was suffering. I’ve got to live with that. It was my call, and I stand by it.â€
6:15 PM Update: More from Esther Marr:
“He was ready to run,” the trainer said of the gelding, who was jogged the morning of the race and pronounced sound…. Thacker said he has successfully retired several past racehorses and given them to people that have re-trained them for second careers. But he had not yet considered retiring Monzante because the horse still showed an interest in racing.
Posted by JC in Racing on 07/24/2013 @ 2:05 pm / Tagged Claiming Races, Evangeline Downs, Jackie Thacker, Monzante / Follow @railbird on Twitter
