JC / Railbird

Belmont Archive

At Least

… man and horse look like no harm came to either:

Photos by Easy Goer, on Raceday 360 Wire via Flickr.
* This latest little blogging hiatus continues for a short time longer while I wrap up a couple projects. Back to regular posting soon.

Posted in Belmont on September 29, 2008

Getaway Day

Heading up to Saratoga this morning, but I didn’t want to leave without mentioning marvelous Music Note, who kept her win streak rolling with another seemingly effortless victory in the Coaching Club American Oaks on Saturday:

Last of five at the half, she moved into contention on the outside going into the stretch, then drew away to an 11-length win, running her final quarter in a very respectable :24.17 for a final time of 2:01.66. “She looked like she was stronger than her last race,” said trainer Saeed bin Suroor, who was in the paddock to saddle her and could be seen beaming in the winner’s circle after (NY Daily News). Along with CCAO runner-up Little Belle, Music Note will be pointed to the Alabama on August 16, a race that could also draw Proud Spell and is shaping up as far more interesting than any of the events on the Spa calendar for 3-year-old males. As I commented to Brooklyn Backstretch yesterday (during an action-packed day at Belmont), all the distaff divisions are overflowing with talent this year, but the 3-year-old fillies are an especially bright bunch.

Posted in Belmont on July 20, 2008

Raw Fandom

From Ernie’s daily Thoroughbred Racing In New York email:

Awww. I’m reminded … racing is all about the horses.
Related: NYRA is offering free admission and parking on Saturday. For those who can’t make it to the track, ESPNews will air the Man o’ War live at 5:15 p.m. ET. Thanks!

Posted in Belmont on July 11, 2008

Royalty-Free Year

No Triple Crown this spring, and no Triple Tiara this summer. When Music Note, a talented filly on the rise, won the Mother Goose last month, I wondered if she might be chasing the historic bauble with starts in the Coaching Club American Oaks and Alabama under consideration. Teresa of Brooklyn Backstretch reports the achievement isn’t possible, though, since the series, which was changed to Mother Goose- Coaching Club- Alabama in 2003, was restored to its original configuration of Acorn- Mother Goose- Coaching Club in 2006 for an unknown reason:

Curious. The bonus for the Tiara, which has been won by such distaff stars as Sky Beauty, Ruffian, and Shuvee, was dropped in 2004, and as Teresa notes, there’s been woefully little marketing around the series in recent years.
Zaftig, the filly who was eligible to take the Tiara this year, is unfortunately sidelined for the summer with a stress fracture. Owner John Moore said last week the Acorn winner could return in time for the Gazelle Stakes in September.

Posted in Belmont on July 7, 2008

In the Second

… at Belmont today, Critical is scratched in favor of stablemate In Fine Fettle, a 2-year-old Lion Heart filly debuting for trainer Rick Dutrow (so hard to avoid that name these days) and Jay Em Ess Stable. First crop sire Lion Heart is proving as precocious a stud as he was a racehorse, getting seven winners out of his first 13 starters (including a minor stakes winner at Lone Star last month, Lyin’ Heart). Morning line on In Fine Fettle is 5-1; the 2-1 projected favorite is Miss Bodine, a Vindication baby starting for Bob Baffert off a string of nothing unusual (for Baffert or Vindication 2-year-olds) speedy works.

Posted in Belmont on July 3, 2008

She’s a Star

Photo by Adam Coglianese/NYRA.

… in the making. Music Note stumbled out of the gate, lost a hind shoe, raced three wide into the stretch tracking a pokey pace (:24.83, :48.66, and 1:13.09), and still the talented and well-bred A.P. Indy filly easily pulled away, with little urging from rider Javier Castellano, to a 3 1/2-length win as the 8-5 second favorite in the G1 Mother Goose (final eighth in :12.23, final time for the 1 1/8 miles 1:49.75). Trainer Saeed bin Suroor, making a rare New York appearance, said Music Note would be pointed to the Alabama on August 16, but didn’t rule out a start in the Coaching Club American Oaks on July 19. Is it too early to start talking Triple Tiara?

Clearly, for me the story of the four-horse Mother Goose was Music Note’s ascension, but the bigger story for most was Proud Spell’s bad luck. The 1-2 favorite also stumbled out of the gate, then was checked in the stretch after getting caught on the rail, finishing second, but was disqualified and placed third after bearing out on Never Retreat in the final sixteenth. “We would have left the order alone and given jockey Gabriel Saez, aboard Proud Spell, some days off to think about his bad ride,” writes Jerry Bossert in the NY Daily News, and while I agree with him that the DQ seems sort of pointless, I say — with all due respect to Proud Spell, a formidable stakes filly certain to return to win again — that even if everything had gone her way, she still would have finished second to the push-button filly on the improve.

Posted in Belmont on June 28, 2008

This Is Not

… something it should be possible to write about the G1 Suburban Handicap:

Grade 1 travesty, indeed.
At least the Suburban drew a field big enough for trifecta wagering, unlike the G1 Mother Goose, which attracted only four starters. Despite the tiny field size, though, this is the race of more interest to me — Kentucky Oaks winner Proud Spell is easily the best 3-year-old running right now and I am very curious to see how Music Note, who I’ve mentioned here a few times before, does in her first stakes start. It’s worth logging into Cal Racing to check out the replay of her May 22 allowance win at Belmont — while the comment line “4 wide, hand ride,” does capture the essentials of her run, the note doesn’t fully convey the easy dominance she displayed, and not for the first time. The A.P. Indy filly won her maiden (in her second start, after debuting in a super key race) very assuredly and also under a hand ride over the Aqueduct inner last November, before disappearing to Dubai for the winter.

Posted in Belmont on June 26, 2008

Early Double

Transit of Venus is 3-1 on the morning line in the first at Belmont this afternoon, making his second start for trainer Gary Contessa after finishing third at the same level on Met Mile day. This was a bad beat for me: I played Transit of Venus at 5-1 in the fifth and had to watch in frustration as the 5-year-old gelding was checked in the stretch, then trapped behind a wall as the field neared the sixteenth. When rider Rajiv Maragh found a hole in the final yards, Transit’ burst through, actually getting a neck in front of ultimate winner Dancing Tin Man — two jumps after the wire. The best, but too late, so disappointing. Transit of Venus is returning among a similar bunch and has a decent work between starts, having breezed five furlongs in 1:01 on June 14, and figures to stay close to the whatever pace there might be in this affair. Also of note is Nkosi Reigns, 7-2 dropping in for a tag for the first time in his career. The 7-year-old gelding trained by Kiaran McLaughlin seems to prefer an unmolested lead to do his best, but does show an ability to rate and win in his past and could end up sitting off Provincetown, who tired in his last, the first off a layoff, or morning line favorite Bon Marie, who makes his third start in four weeks at the $35,000 level for trainer Rick Dutrow.
In the second, it’s hard to get past Sammarco with the eye-catching 102 Beyer he boasts after running second to Mucho Macho (returning in the eighth at Belmont today) on May 17, his first start in more than a year. Morning line says 6-5, but don’t be surprised if post-time odds are more like 4-5. Golden Weekend gets blinkers after a decent showing in a maiden special run over Belmont’s speed-favoring Belmont Stakes day track. That race, the day’s second, was won by Sixthirteen, who made his way to the inside rail and barely outlasted place horse Tiz It after posting fractions of :21.96 and :44.80 in the first half. I’m going to look toward 5-1 first-time starter Lincoln Road for a mild upset here. The 3-year-old colt is by one of my favorite underrated debut sires, Montbrook, and shows excellent recent gate works, including one on June 13, when he went five furlongs in 1:01, the fastest of 21 at the distance that day.
[Results: Well, I’m not going to crow over picking a $5.70 winner or an $11.60 double, but it was delightful to watch the first race unfold pretty much as I imagined it would and catch Transit of Venus this time around, along with the $105 trifecta. As Brooklyn Backstretch alludes to in her comment, my racing luck has not been so fantastic lately, and Saturday’s first was a much needed confidence boost, even if it didn’t exactly lead to a brag-worthy score.]

Posted in Belmont on June 21, 2008

Desormeaux Speaks

Not to the press — “I gave my interview after the race, and I really have nothing more to say,” said the jockey (NYT) — but with trainer Rick Dutrow and the stewards. Dutrow said he and the rider are “back on target” (Blood-Horse) after meeting this morning at Aqueduct to discuss the Belmont. As for the stewards, Demormeaux spoke with them for about 20 minutes early this afternoon. It is uncertain what action, if any, the officials might — or should — take.

Posted in Belmont, Triple Crown on June 11, 2008

Back to the Races

– Finally, a winner (I have not done so well with my TBA picks today). J Be K, pressured through a first half in :44.89, rebuffed dogged longshot True Quality at the top of the stretch, drawing away to take the Woody Stephens with a final time of 1:21.85 and paying $7.20 for the win. Silver Edition got up for second, True Quality finished third. It was second stakes win of the day for rider Garrett Gomez, who will be aboard Macho Again in the Belmont.
– The Manhattan is the deepest, most competitive stakes on today’s card, with the formidable Out of Control, second to Einstein in the Turf Classic last out, and 2007 Manhattan winner Better Talk Now among the starters. Coupled with his rabbit, Shake the Bank, Better Talk Now is 7-1 with 12 minutes to post. I went with Proudinsky, coming off a win in the Muniz Handicap over the yielding turf at Fair Grounds, and Dancing Forever, winner of the Elkhorn at Keeneland at April, in a small pick four I have going. I’m awfully tempted to take a flyer on Stalingrad, making his first graded stakes appearance, and now 12-1 on the board. The 4-year-old gelding has been dominant in his first two local starts this year, but whether he’ll appreciate the added distance or has the class are questions.
– What a terrific finish: five across, then three across, then two heads bobbing for the win, with 4-1 Dancing Forever on the inside beating Out of Control by a nose. Well done!
– Watching the walk from the barns to the paddock on ABC and I’m struck by Big Brown’s appearance — it could be the angle or the light, but he looks ribby and thin in the flank, although his coat is shiny and his haunches well muscled …
– With 20 minutes to post, maiden Guadalcanal is at an inexplicable 23-1 on the board. Big Brown is at 1-4.
– The Belmont field is on the track and Ed checks in with a report: “This crowd is electric … they’re all forgetting about the plumbing, etc. Amazing experience.”
– Kent Desormeaux: “I had no horse.” Big Brown, rank in the first turn, unresponsive to his rider’s urging on the far turn, eased at the top of the stretch. Not how anyone wanted this to end. Fortunately, Big Brown does not appear lame, but he did just become the first Triple Crown hopeful to finish last (that can’t be good for his future stud fee). Congratulations to Nick Zito and rider Alan Garcia, who pulled off a wire-to-wire upset with 38-1 Da’ Tara.
– Zito is all class while being interviewed by Jeanine Edwards in the winner’s circle. Asked whether he would have started a horse with a quarter crack in the Belmont, Zito gracefully refuses to question the decision to run Big Brown or Dutrow’s judgment and turns the conversation back to his winner. Garcia is bubbly and charming thanking owner Robert LaPenta for the chance to ride Da’ Tara. As for the Big Brown connections, here’s a comment from someone on the scene:

Good for Desormeaux. I’m sure the loss was crushing for him, coming so close to a Triple Crown for the second time, as well as for the trainer who called the Belmont “a foregone conclusion.” Dutrow may have fled the press this afternoon, but the questions about Big Brown’s fitness will persist, and he missed a chance to show sportsmanship and humility …
– 8:10 p.m. update: Attendance was 94,476, way off from the crowd that packed Belmont when Smarty Jones went for the Triple Crown. Total handle has been estimated at $99,850,000, about 13% less than 2004.

Posted in Belmont, Triple Crown on June 7, 2008