JC / Railbird

News Archive

Noted: April 7

– Keeneland opens its three-week spring meet today, and the TBA’s own Quinella Queen will be there. This meet will be the last with a dirt course, as the track plans to install Polytrack before the fall, which means it’s also your last chance to capitalize on Keeneland’s notorious speed bias. The opening weekend’s highlight race is Saturday’s Ashland, which will feature leading Kentucky Oaks favorite Balance, as well as Santa Ysabel winner Itty Bitty Pretty. The two are predicted to dead heat, at least by one source.
– Round Pond is out of the Apple Blossom, but that doesn’t mean Happy Ticket will get a free ride in the race.
– Brad Free suggests a way to revive Wild Fit’s career: “This is crazy, but she should run against colts April 29 in the one-turn, one-mile Derby Trial. A bold, reputation-salvaging move is just what the one-turn specialist needs, because she has nothing to lose other than a start six days later in the two-turn Kentucky Oaks.”
– “The Justice Department is conducting a civil investigation of the horse racing industry’s practice of interstate transmission of wagers, which the department considers to be illegal.”
– Mr. Sekiguchi, the $8 million colt, makes his second start in race five at Santa Anita on Saturday. The colt finished second by half a length in his February career debut.

Posted in News on April 7, 2006

Noted: April 4

– The Apple Blossom rematch between Round Pond and Happy Ticket, the pair who slugged it out in the Azeri Breeders’ Cup last month in the most exciting race at Oaklawn this year, may not happen. Trainer John Servis is unhappy with the weight assignments for the race and contemplating not running Round Pond. “I told Mr. Porter I’m not happy at all with the weights,” he said. “We’re discussing it and we’re going to have to decide.” Round Pond and Happy Ticket are the co-highweights at 119, while Star Parade, the next-highest weight, was given 117. Katrina at Athlone indulges in a little cynicism and wonders if Servis is not so much worried about weights, “but rather … unhappy with the way Round Pond is approaching the race. Her workout Sunday was below par …”
– With three weeks remaining in the Gulfstream meet, Todd Pletcher leads the trainer standings with 56 winners, 30 more than runner-up Bill Mott. Pletcher extended his lead considerably on Saturday, when he won five on the Florida Derby undercard, including the Skip Away Handicap with the magnificent Bandini.
– In Derby Watch: Why the five-week layoff won’t hurt Barbaro’s chances in the Derby.

Posted in News on April 4, 2006

Noted: March 30

– The Skip Away could be a two-horse race between 2005 Kentucky Derby veterans Bandini and Noble Causeway. Both are returning to graded stakes competition for the first time this year off of good (and in Bandini’s case, record-setting) allowance wins earlier in the winter.
– The kid can ride: Apprentice Julien Leparoux broke the Turfway record for most wins in a single meet on Wednesday. The record-breaking win was Leparoux’s 151st out of 481 since January 1.
– Bill Christine remembers the “so-called golden age of horse racing” and can’t help comparing it to the sad state of racing today.
– Paul Moran pokes holes in NYRA’s new cash rewards program. “This is a case of much ado about very little in terms of real money.”

Posted in News on March 30, 2006