JC / Railbird

Races/Results Archive

Mud Frolic

When the rain poured down 90 minutes before post time turning Hawthorne’s track into a muddy mess, trainer Vladimir Cerin worried that Super Frolic wouldn’t like the going. He was wrong: Super Frolic dug into the slop and won Saturday’s Hawthorne Gold Cup by a head over Lord of the Game (Los Angeles Times). “I thought this horse might run big,” said jockey Victor Espinoza. “He ran huge against better horses in the Pacific Classic.” Favorite Perfect Drift finished fourth.

Posted in Races/Results on September 25, 2005

Weekend Racing Recap

“The king lives up to his name” (Globe and Mail). Bobby Frankel’s Leroidesanimaux stretched his winning streak to eight when he won the Atto Mile at Woodbine on Sunday. Frankel was pleased with the way Leroi handled the soft turf and felt certain the colt was headed to the Breeders’ Cup Mile despite not being nominated. “I’m sure the owner wants to supplement [to the Breeders’ Cup] and if he’s doing really well, we’ll probably go. The only concern today, which will be in the Breeders’ Cup, too, at Belmont, was the soft ground. At least that’s one good thing we got out of the way, that he can handle soft ground,” said Frankel (Blood-Horse).
Folklore marked herself the early favorite for the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies with a sharp 14 length win in Saturday’s Matron Stakes at Belmont. “She was jumping out of her skin in the post parade; she was ready to run today,” said jockey Edgar Prado after the race (Daily Racing Form).
The Matron didn’t get off to a very good start — Along the Sea, who finished third behind Miss Norman, spooked in the gate, bursting through the door before the start. India tried to follow, striking her head against the gate and knocking one side of her door open. Along the Sea was caught and reloaded; India was backed out, and despite bleeding from her mouth, also reloaded. “India got all shook up there,” said rider John Velazquez. “I knew we should have scratched right then. She was all nervous, and she has never been like that” (Blood-Horse). The field favorite, India broke slowly when the gate opened for real and “threw in the towel early,” finishing last.
The Futurity wasn’t without trouble either. Disco’s Son stumbled breaking from the gate, throwing rider Javier Castellano. The riderless horse then ran along the rail in front of the field for the rest of the race, complicating things. Jerry Bailey, aboard winner Private Vow, found a silver lining in the incident (Daily Racing Form):

Castellano was uninjured. Trainer Steve Asmussen said that Private Vow may start in the Champagne and is likely for the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile. “He came here to Belmont because if he belonged in the Breeders’ Cup I didn’t want him going anywhere else first, and that’s what we’re trying to get to,” said Asmussen.
Even money favorite Shaniko earned his first stakes win with a four and a half length victory in Saturday’s Kentucky Cup Classic at Turfway. Trainer Todd Pletcher, while thrilled by Shaniko’s performance, was decidedly noncommittal when it came to saying whether or not the four-year-old colt’s next race might be the Breeders’ Cup Classic. “Today certainly makes you feel more confident. At some point he will deserve to step up to bigger leagues than today off that performance. But we just have to see where that will be” (Courier-Journal).

Posted in Races/Results on September 19, 2005

Weekend Results

Island Sand paid $13.20 to win in the Delaware Handicap, despite having Jerry Bailey aboard (Blood-Horse). I’m not usually an advocate of betting jockeys, but Bailey has been unquestionably hot in filly and mare stakes races this month. On Saturday, he won the Virginia Oaks with My Typhoon (Daily Press). A week ago, it was the Princess Rooney with Madcap Escapade. And before that, it was Splendid Blended in the Vanity Handicap, Wend in the New York Handicap, and Stellar Jayne in the (ungraded) Misty Galore Stakes. That’s quite a record.
The Delaware Handicap was Bailey’s first ride on Island Sand. He picked up the mount only 10 days ago, when his agent Ron Anderson called trainer Larry Jones after hearing that regular jockey Terry Thompson was off with a pelvic injury. Bailey said that Jones told him the filly was a “grinder,” but “She was really in hand and tugging on me all the way … I caught up to Pat [Day] in a hurry” (Phila. Daily News).
The big disappointment in the Delaware Handicap was 6-5 favorite Isola Piu Bella, who reared up in the gate and was slow breaking. “She just left her race in the gate,” said jockey John Velazquez. “That was it. She just left her race in the gate” (News Journal).
The only one of trainer Nick Zito’s 11 Triple Crown starters to run in the money in any of those races this spring, Sun King went wire-to-wire in the Leonard Richard Stakes. “You saw the real Sun King again,” said a happy Zito after the race, who credited an equipment change with the victory (News Journal). “The blinkers were a minor thing that made a big difference. He was on his game today. Did you see him gallop out after the wire? If the race was longer he would have won by a pole.”
Richards runner-up Golden Man accomplished the unusual feat of placing in two graded stakes races on back-to-back days. The day before the Richards, Golden Man finished third in the Long Branch Stakes at Monmouth (Washington Post). His accomplishment is not unprecedented: Rushaway won the 1936 Illinois Derby and Latonia Derby on back-to-back days (Thoroughbred Times).
Smokume won the Tom Fool Handicap at Belmont (New York Post). “This feels pretty cool,” said jockey Chantal Sutherland, who earned her first US graded stakes win on the horse.
And on Saturday …
R Lady Joy held off Round Pond to win the Delaware Oaks (Phila. Inquirer). The longshot’s win stunned the crowd, but not trainer Kirk Ziadie. “I told my owners after her last race that if you give me two months to get her ready, we’ll go to the Delaware Oaks and I don’t care who is in it, we’ll win,” he said. Trainer John Servis made no excuses for Round Pond, the overwhelming favorite, but said that the sloppy track and the filly’s performance reminded him of another disappointing loss earlier this spring:

Owner Rick Porter said Round Pond “came out of the race great” and may run in the Alabama on August 20.
English Channel is now halfway to the Grand Slam (Washington Post).

Posted in Races/Results on July 18, 2005

Desert Boom Wins Jewel

Second choice Desert Boom won the Claiming Crown Jewel Stakes over favorite Lord of the Game (Daily Racing Form). “It was a great race,” said trainer Art Sherman. “When our horse gets on the lead, he’s double-tough … That was a good horse that he outran” (San Francisco Chronicle).
There’s a rumor on at least one racing forum that the NTRA Claiming Crown Contest was hacked. One poster explains how he was able to change his picks post-race, another confirms. Hm … nothing about this on the Claiming Crown Contest site, except for an odd message on the Leaderboard: “Currently, results are being audited for the leaderboard.” This is all speculation, it must be noted. There’s been nothing announced or confirmed. The winner is to be named Monday.

Posted in Races/Results on July 17, 2005