JC / Railbird

Saratoga Archive

Biased

From Steve Davidowitz’s DRF+ column on Saratoga stats:

In dry-track dirt routes, closers won at a 24 percent rate.
Interesting … imagine the outcry if the Saratoga main track were synthetic, not dirt, and the stats skewed the other way, towards horses rallying from off the pace.

Posted in Saratoga on July 18, 2008

Then We Came to the End

So another Saratoga season ends. Trainer Bill Mott ran away with the training title (DRF), capping his fine meet with a win in the Hopeful Stakes by Majestic Warrior (Blood-Horse), who went off as the 6-1 third choice in the field of four. The Hopeful was expected to be a match race between trainer Todd Pletcher’s talented Ready’s Image and Bob Baffert’s speedy Maimonides, and it was — at the quarter pole, before Maimonides began to fade under Ready’s Image’s pressure after running the first quarter in :22.60 and the half in :45, and Majestic Warrior ran by both on the outside with seeming ease. It actually wasn’t that shocking an upset in hindsight — by A.P. Indy, out of classy Ballerina and Test Stakes winner Dream Supreme, Majestic Warrior was making only his second start after winning his debut last month, and while the colt might have been third in the win pool, he was tops in the exacta pool. Final time for the race was 1:23.04, Majestic Warrior’s Beyer figure a 95. Ready’s Image was second, Maimonides third.
Neither Pletcher nor Baffert professed any disappointment with their Hopeful runners (NYRA): “The winner had a nice setup,” said Pletcher. “We were involved in the pace and he was way off it. He ran by us and we didn’t have time to regroup.” Of Maimonides, Baffert said: “There is a big jump going to seven furlongs. I was hoping things would be easier on the front end. Once Ready’s Image stayed with us, I knew it would be tough.”
Rider Kent Desormeaux was aboard Maimonides in place of Rafael Bejarano, who was injured when Marital Asset broke through the gate and reared up just before the start of the fourth race (NY Post). Starting the meet’s final day tied at 43 wins with Cornelio Velasquez, Desormeaux was shut out in all 10 races, leaving Velasquez to secure the riding title with a win in the the fourth race (Times Union).
Final impressions: With his record-setting Whitney win and dominating Woodward performance, Lawyer Ron established himself as the leading older horse. Only the top three-year-olds have any hope against him in the Breeders’ Cup Classic … Trainer Bob Baffert won 7-of-9 in his first bicoastal summer, including the Forego with his massive sprinter Midnight Lute. As commenter J.S. points out, Midnight Lute’s 124 Beyer is one of the year’s best … lots of good babies unveiled, right up to the meet’s final day, when Rollers romped in his debut, adding to trainer Barclay Tagg’s fine list of up and coming talents, and 14-1 Big Brown blew away his competition on the turf, coming wide off the turn to win by more than 11 lengths in his first race for trainer Pat Reynolds. He might be one for the new Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf …
Our Friend in Saratoga reports the meet’s closing like so: “Tom Durkin’s voice, explaining that there will be no New York racing until Friday, because they need to pack up and get back to Belmont, then quietly, quietly wishing all of us ‘good night.'”
On to Belmont!

Posted in Saratoga on September 3, 2007

No Bounce for Lawyer Ron

So says the Beyer: Lawyer Ron’s Woodward speed figure came back as 118 119*, two points higher than the figure he earned winning the Whitney in record time five weeks ago.
*Adjusted, and still two points higher than the Whitney, which was upped to 117. Dick Jerardi explains (DRF+).

Posted in Saratoga on September 2, 2007

Monday Evening Notes

– I’d say the glow is off Saratoga: Fans booed the results of a stewards’ inquiry into today’s eighth race (Newsday). The race was won by Karelian, scratched from Saturday’s record-setting Baruch Stakes (Blood-Horse), who bumped Dreadnaught in the stretch after eventual place horse Heat of the Night richocheted off him. For the sake of my exacta, I was rooting for the stewards to take down Heat of the Night; they declined to change the order of finish.
– Nobiz Like Shobiz worked five furlongs handily over the Oklahoma turf course in :58.54. The Tagg trainee is headed to the Kent Breeders’ Cup at Delaware on September 1. Also on the work tab: Curlin, who worked five furlongs in 1:01.65 over the training track. The move was the best of nine at the distance. Discreet Cat posted his first official workout in months, going three furlongs in :37.39 over the main track.
– Remember, it’s all about the stud fee: “He hadn’t won a Grade 1 yet, so this is very good,” said trainer Larry Jones of Hard Spun’s King’s Bishop win on Saturday. “It’s very important for his stallion career to have the Grade 1 under him. This is a very important race for making stallions, and that was one reason we looked at it” (ThoroTimes).

Posted in Saratoga on August 27, 2007