Monmouth Park
Weekend Notes
– Racing has a new Omnisurface Star: Colonel John, winner of the 2008 Santa Anita Derby (Pro-Ride) and Travers Stakes (dirt), made his 2009 debut a winning one, taking the ungraded Wickerr Stakes (turf) at Del Mar by two lengths in a fast 1:32.77 (just missing the track record). Trainer Eoin Harty now has some options for the 4-year-old Tiznow colt: “He can do anything.”
– The lack of TV coverage for this weekend’s fantastic racing “amounts to a blackout,” says Steve Crist. Count it also as a lost opportunity.
– Maybe part of the problem with getting coverage is that apparently even the NTRA doesn’t follow the sport that closely. “The Haskell Invitation is today at 6:15PM … http://bit.ly/grQoo,” reads an official tweet. Dear NTRA tweeter, note: The Haskell Invitational is scheduled for tomorrow, Sunday, August 2.
– Bill Finley sees into the future: “Munnings is going to beat her.” [Oops!]
– Monmouth photos: There’s something in the air, and check out that filly.
– Jess Jackson may have the best 3-year-old running, and his wife, Barbara Banke, the best 2-year-old: Hot Dixie Chick was given a Beyer speed figure of 103 for her visually impressive Schuylerville Stakes win on Wednesday. Backtalk, an undefeated son of Smarty Jones attracting some attention, received a BSF of 82 for his hard-fought Sanford win on Thursday.
– Discreetly Mine, a half-brother to Discreet Cat who made an impression on me in his debut, returns in the sixth at Saratoga this afternoon. The 3-1 morning line favorite in a field of 13, he gets blinkers on and boasts a bullet work for trainer Stanley Hough. Also entered is Krypton, a first-time starter by freshman sire Rock Hard Ten (one of my old favorites) out of Kiaran McLaughlin’s barn. Rock Hard Ten is off to a decent start with his offspring: Of the seven that have run so far, two have won, both in their debuts.
Clarifying
Take care, race promoters, Steve Crist has a peeve:
The word “champion” has a very specific meaning in Thoroughbred racing: The winner of a year-end divisional championship. The Breeders’ Cup has done its best to devalue the word by referring to any winner of a Breeders’ Cup race as a “Breeders’ Cup champion” whether or not that horse also wins a championship. Now Monmouth Park is also misusing the word in promoting the principals in the Aug. 2 Haskell as “Preakness Champion Rachel Alexandra” and “Belmont Stakes Champion Summer Bird.”
Rachel Alexandra is 1-to-100 to be the champion 3-year-old filly of 2009, and Summer Bird is a possible contender for the male version of that award, but until the Eclipse Awards are announced next January, neither should be called a champion.
While on the topic of language usage, how about banishing the phrase “taking on the boys” (and its variations, “running against the boys,” “battling the boys,” “facing the boys,” etc.) from turf writing? It was a hoary phrase before the “Year Era of the Chick” began, but with Rachel Alexandra making a habit of stepping outside her division, and a number of other distaffers doing the same recently, its use has tipped from colloquial cutesiness into egregious abuse. I know it can be tough to write about a subject repeatedly without resorting to cliché — how many ways are there, really, to talk about a female horse racing in open company? — but this is one that needs a rest.
Related (if you’re into such things): A bracing excerpt from Kingsley Amis’ “The King’s English.”
About that Record
Not to take anything away from Presious Passion, who was a most visually impressive repeat winner of the United Nations Handicap at Monmouth on Saturday, but I suspect it’s wrong to chalk up his final time of 2:10.97 as a new course record. Let’s go to the fractions …
In 2008, Presious Passion sprang an upset in the United Nations going wire to wire. On that day, he went :24.44, :49.16, 1:14.31, 1:38.76, and 2:02, finishing in 2:13.88, yielding splits of :24.72, :25.25, :24.45, :23.24, and :11.8.
On Saturday, Presious Passion again went wire to wire (opening up lengths early), going — according to official time — :19.80, :45.20, 1:09.81, 1:34.67, and 1:59.07, finishing in 2:10.97, a time that, if it stands, knocks nearly two seconds off the course record set by Balto Star in 2003. Those fractions yield splits of :25.4, :24.61, :24.86, :24.4, and :11.9. Presious Passion ran almost the same race as he did in 2008, but for that freaky fast first quarter.
Could there have been a timer error?
Curious, I timed the first quarter of the United Nations repeatedly this morning (using this video and a stopwatch), coming up with :22.8, :22.6, :22.5, and :22.6. Still fast, but not record-defying, and more in line with both earlier turf races on the card and Presious Passion’s splits for the rest of the race. Assuming :22.6 or so is correct and that the following fractions are similarly off, that means Presious Passion finished the United Nations in a time more like 2:13.7 — respectable, but no record.
Addendum: Wondering about records on the turf, I looked up the current North American record holder for 1 3/8 miles, With Approval, who set not only a stakes record, but a world record, of 2:10.26 for the distance in the Bowling Green Handicap at Belmont Park on June 17, 1990. While impressive, the New York Times did report, “[the time] deserves a footnote: Belmont’s are the only turf courses in the country where 11-furlong races are run around two, rather than three, turns. Cougar’s record of 2:11 in the 1972 Century Handicap at Hollywood was around three turns.”
Following up on a couple tweets: o_crunk points out a new turf course was installed in 2006. Since, several records have fallen, the clocks may be suspect, and credit must be given to English Channel, who set the 11-furlong turf record in the new era after running the 2007 United Nations in 2:12.89. Also of interest: Over on PaceAdvantage, a poster says the run-up is 64 feet. That’s all helpful info, especially regarding where the timer starts.
Mystery solved? And the record holds: Steve Crist posts tonight that Presious Passion’s first quarter was :22.20 and lists the rest of the fractions unchanged. So, he was flying early and late. Monmouth expert o_crunk wasn’t kidding about the turf course being speed favoring.
One last thing: BSF for the United Nations, 106 (Form Blog).
Wednesday Notes
– Congratulations to Dana of Green but Game and her pal Swifty on the launch of the Hello Race Fans Network. Neither Railbird nor Raceday 360 is currently part of the racing ad group, but I do support their goals and wish HRF, member sites, and their charter advertisers much success.
– John Pricci reblogs without links reaction to trainer John Shirreff’s announcement of a conservative campaign for Zenyatta. (Original post and comments here.) I suspect Ed at Big Event Blog is onto something: “[M]aybe Shirreffs is just playing coy with the media.” It is early in the year …
– Brooklyn Backstretch recounts our Saturday trip to Monmouth. I can’t say enough good about spending a day at the New Jersey track — the visit was my first since the 2007 Breeders’ Cup, and I left raving about what a jewel of a place it is to enjoy the races. Another visit this summer is certain.
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Jessica Chapel writes and edits in Massachusetts. Railbird is a Thoroughbred horse racing blog published from June 2004 to July 2019. More / Contact
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