JC / Railbird

Saratoga Archive

Funny Cide Party Plans Set

Funny Cide’s retirement party is all set for next Friday at Saratoga: The Kentucky Derby winner turned stable pony will parade for fans on the racetrack one last time, an oversized card will be available for signing, and NYRA will give away copies of a limited edition PEB poster commemorating the occasion, which will be autographed by members of Sackatoga Stable and jockey Jose Santos (who announced his retirement earlier this week) outside the silks room. “It’s going to be a blast,” said Jack Knowlton, managing partner for Sackatoga (Times Union).

Posted in Horses, Saratoga on August 3, 2007

Thunder Chicken

– Rags to Riches settles in at the Spa, makes a new friend, deals with paparazzi (NTRA).
– Teuflesberg makes his turf debut in the Glow Stakes, Saturday’s third race at Saratoga. “He’s just doing so well and feeling so good that we wanted to find something to keep him on the level,” said trainer Jamie Sanders of the move (ThoroTimes). Nobiz Like Shobiz will try the same on Monday, when he starts in the G2 Hall of Fame Stakes for trainer Barclay Tagg.
– After nearly two years off, the bard made a triumphant return to the races on Thursday. Shakespeare’s one-mile allowance win was so easy, trainer Kiaran McLaughlin is confidently looking ahead to a graded stakes start for the six-year-old horse. “He’s a grade one horse. Where we go from this we’ll have to see, but the Bernard Baruch is the first thing that jumps out August 25” (Blood-Horse).

Posted in Saratoga on August 3, 2007

Wednesday Evening Notes

– Week two at Saratoga got off to a better start than week one, although favorite Rumspringa was declared a non-starter after unseating rider Ramon Dominguez at the break in the first race. Dominguez was uninjured and all wagers refunded on Rumspringa, who was claimed by owner Michael Repole and trainer Bruce Levine. Winning Move Stable owner Steve Sigler is contesting the claim of the horse from his barn, since Rumspringa lost the jock and was ineligible to run for purse money (DRF).
– Trainer Todd Pletcher went 0-for-4 at the Spa today, but both his regular riders scored a stakes win this afternoon: In the Fleet Indian Stakes, Garrett Gomez piloted second favorite Lauren’s Tizzy to a 3 1/2 length win for trainer Mark Henning, while John Velasquez captured the De La Rose Stakes for Kiaran McLaughlin aboard Fantastic Shirl, who lagged far behind the rest of the field for the first five furlongs and then was blocked by traffic, forcing her to split horses in the stretch. She won by one length.
– Del Mar Polytrack trends: Some wild prices and form reversals out west recently, yet favorites have won 32% of Polytrack races since the beginning of the meet and half of the winners finished in the money in their last start, so it’s not total chaos. A few sires have now had multiple offspring win on the surface: In Excess is 3-for-16 (18%); Forest Camp 2-for-3 (67%); Old Topper 2-for-10 (20%); and Tribal Rule 2-for-7 (29%). California stud stalwarts Unusual Heat and Swiss Yodeler have two wins out of 20+ starters each. Interesting: Jockey Corey Nakatani and trainer Rafael Becerra are 4-for-4 with a $2 ROI of $7.75 on both Polytrack and turf.
– This must have been a scene: Owner Ahmed Zayat and Del Mar CEO Joe Harper “got into an animated, and at times profane, discussion” about Polytrack (DRF), which has drawn some complaints for the way it changes consistency throughout the day. Zayat’s horses and trainer Bob Baffert are headed to Saratoga (Union Tribune), which should be more to the speed-loving owner’s liking.
– Preakness winner Curlin arrived at Monmouth this morning for Saturday’s Haskell, where he’ll meet up with a freshed Hard Spun and hometown longshot Cable Boy (Star-Ledger).
– After weeks of advertising imminent revolution, Blood-Horse launched Blood-Horse NOW today. The site is available to subscribers of the print magazine (I assume there’ll be an online-only subscription in the near future). It looks great, very contemporary, with a spare, open aesthetic, and I appreciate being able to sort race results by class. But some features seem incomplete — there’s no way drill down by track into the leader lists, the only entries up are for graded stakes, and so on — and I hit a few missing pages and errors. Also, no sign of “unique and provocative statistics.” It’s all new, though, and very promising.

Posted in Del Mar, Saratoga on August 1, 2007

They Won, They’re In

– Did anyone else find Saturday’s first Breeders’ Cup Challenge day as much a yawn as I did? Three of the four horses who won at Saratoga were probably headed to the Breeders’ Cup anyway, although Lawyer Ron was being considered for the Mile, a race perhaps more suited to his running style, and now has a berth in the Classic, a race he finished ninth in last year. Go For Wand winner Ginger Punch will have to be supplemented $180,000 to claim her guaranteed Distaff spot. It was great to see My Typhoon score a well-earned G1 victory following two G2 wins and Diabolical is a fine sprinter, but neither could be considered a “Cinderella” horse capable of whipping up casual fan interest as BC president Greg Avioli talked about happening in an interview before the Diana. The thing is, without standings, a better distribution of graded stakes among the divisions, and incentives for trainers to seek competition rather than duck it, Lawyer Ron’s record-setting Whitney and the other three stakes on Saturday remain just as unconnected and one-off as they did when there was no Challenge. “Win and You’re In” is a good concept, but it needs work.
– Todd Pletcher’s Saratoga slump extends to more than two-year-olds: The supertrainer has won just four of 25 starts in the meet’s first week. Admittedly, two of those wins were the Sanford and Whitney, but Pletcher is disappointed with his record so far anyway (Times Union).
– He wasn’t fully cranked, he got trapped on the inside, but Kentucky Derby winner Street Sense prevailed in Sunday’s Jim Dandy Stakes just the same. “It was a good, solid prep to get him ready for the Travers,” said trainer Carl Nafzger after (Blood-Horse).
– Rags to Riches is back in training (DRF).

Posted in Breeders' Cup, Saratoga on July 30, 2007