Travers Weekend Selections

re: Travers Weekend Selections

Mike Relva — Sun, 11 Sep 2011 02:30:05 GMT

AND....... guess everyone likes you,right? Please.

re: Travers Weekend Selections

Mike Relva — Sun, 11 Sep 2011 02:28:44 GMT

BILLY'S EMPIRE

You don't post on NTRA? Right.

Here's something you don't get,there's no pass or fail. My income isn't derived from if I know anything about beyer figures,published workouts,racing forms,etc. As for getting a life,I'm not on here everyday. Be great if you have your facts in order before making accusations. Tell you what,I'll leave this blog when you do.

re: Travers Weekend Selections

Weekend — Fri, 09 Sep 2011 13:59:04 GMT

First of all, I do not post on NTRA. Do I read and laugh at you, YES. You are a complete follower with no knowledge of racing. It is comical. Second, who am I trying to convince of anything? Who on these blogs, at bloodhorse, at NTRA, at any of these sites, is a force in racing? You are so misguided I almost feel bad for you. I am just a guy with a passion for horse racing, and you are just a guy with passion for being negative, instigating confrontation, and repeating yourself.

Last, what is amusing is how much time you actually spend on horse racing blogs. Get a life man! Stop trying to convince yourself that the same people post with different names. That is not the case. That is just all of the different people on blogs that do not like you. I wonder why??

re: Travers Weekend Selections

Mike Relva — Wed, 07 Sep 2011 22:52:05 GMT

BILLY'S EMPIRE

Since you post on NTRA with a few alias strange you didn't notice my comment. Stated congrats to Grace and Jones.

Amusing how much time you spend trying to convince others your a force in racing. Wonder what that says?

re: Travers Weekend Selections

Weekend — Tue, 06 Sep 2011 13:20:32 GMT

MIke, I could care less if you are impressed or not. You don't know jack son. You were wrong again this weekend. So, what is going to be your spin now that Grace won? HUH Mike? Are you going to follow your boys and just say that is was a weak field. Oh wait, that would mean you post more more than 1 sentence.

NFL starts thursday! Let's go!!

Jason, let's take down a 4 teamer opening week!

re: Travers Weekend Selections

Mike Relva — Sat, 03 Sep 2011 20:53:15 GMT

BILLY'S EMPIRE

You should check your ego, not impressed by how much you pretend to know.

re: Travers Weekend Selections

LAZMANNICK — Thu, 01 Sep 2011 18:47:25 GMT

Billy

You have a good one too.

re: Travers Weekend Selections

Weekend — Thu, 01 Sep 2011 17:59:02 GMT

Laz, have a good day. you always have something worthwhile to say, and I respect that. Good luck to all this weekend. I am off to watch the U of L cards baby! Football is BACK!!!

re: Travers Weekend Selections

LAZMANNICK — Thu, 01 Sep 2011 16:54:03 GMT

Billy.

You give The Factor a ton of credit, but do you give him any respect? Caleb’s Posse got a 106 Beyer and The Factor 104. Two points on the Beyer 7 furlong scale is approximately ¾’s of a length so given the way they both ran, The Factor winning rather easily after setting and pushing fast early fractions against a salty older sprinter and the jock taking his foot off the pedal at the end, and Caleb’s Posse only running the last quarter mile, I would think that the race was about even. I also wouldn’t forget the fact that The Factor defeated Caleb’s Posse very handily when winning the Rebel last spring.

I don’t believe that Coil necessarily left his race on the track when he worked the 46 second work. Coil was always a pace type before the Haskell and the work would have at least prompted the horse to want to get up on the pace early on. The truth is, Coil showed absolutely nothing and when a horse comes off a win like he did and shows nothing in its next, the race is a complete throw out.

Regarding those faster 10F races out west, all I can say is that of course the tracks are faster out there. It seems to me that they’ve always been. Spectacular Bid’s world record was set out there. Alysheba’s fastest 10F races have been out west. Here’s something to consider. How many 10F dirt races have there been in he east compared to the west?

re: Travers Weekend Selections

LAZMANNICK — Thu, 01 Sep 2011 15:45:26 GMT

Billy

LMAO.

re: Travers Weekend Selections

Weekend — Thu, 01 Sep 2011 14:28:10 GMT

Mike, please tell me why then I hit the P4, a tri, 4 exacta's, and 2 pick 3's on Saturday at the SPA? It is all on twitter for you to see. You would know something about polishing nails, wouldn't you???? HA You couldn't pick a winner if it was gift from god

re: Travers Weekend Selections

JerseyBoy — Thu, 01 Sep 2011 04:14:57 GMT

Ranagulzion:

Here is a little secret.

When you say a particular sire (e.g AP Indy) will never sire a Kentucky Derby winner, you are making a statement that reflects on you and not on the horse. It is worse when you say you have studied this.

This is the reason.

Let us say that the typical sire produces 100 foals per year. Let us also say that the annual foal crop is around 25,000. The chance of any sire producing a Kentucky Derby winner in a given year becomes 100/25000. That is 0.4%.

So anyone can declare, sire X will never produce a Kentucky Derby winner because the sire has less than a 1% chance of doing so in any given year.

In fact, I ask you to name any 3 sires and I will make the statement that none of them will ever produce a Kentucky Derby winner. I will have a 98% chance of being right.

It is simple arithmetic. No study is required. You are not making a profound statement.

re: Travers Weekend Selections

Mike Relva — Wed, 31 Aug 2011 21:49:32 GMT

BILLY'S EMPIRE

How many winners do you pick? Not exactly like you're on a roll. If I ever need a dunce hat will borrow one of yours. Why don't you go polish your nails or something?

re: Travers Weekend Selections

Weekend — Wed, 31 Aug 2011 19:11:04 GMT

Laz, I give the Factor a ton of credit. I was addressing the fact that Mo and Caleb’s Posse ran in 121.6 vs. The Factor 121.4, but they did it on a track that plays much slower than Del Mar. You are smart enough to figure that out when you are not sticking up for you little minion. I was responding to a post that said the Factor would have beaten Mo by 5...

As far as the horses being better in Cali, 15 lengths better, can I have what you are smoking? la la land seems fun.

Hell, Baffert hated how deep the track was. He almost did not send Coil, and when Coil left his race on the track in his 46 work, he was done. Dray was right. For once...

Sorry Revla, I did not know you wore a dunce hat and tried to be the spelling police all at the same time. That is a bit of an oxymoron. You need to learn basic grammar, a space after a comma, and a dash in re-check. GMAFB

re: Travers Weekend Selections

Weekend — Wed, 31 Aug 2011 12:51:38 GMT

Mike, no one ever addresses you, but you always chime in with your tired comments. I owe you nothing btw. You keep up the good work of saying nothing. It is the only thing you are good at. Lord knows you can't pick a winner

re: Travers Weekend Selections

Ranagulzion — Wed, 31 Aug 2011 03:01:08 GMT

Jersey Boy,

Have you ever heard the saying "whoever the cap fits let them wear it"? Obviously it your size Buddy.

As for typecasting, you've typcasted yourself Jersey Boy. I've been very accurate on the AP Indys and Bernardinis. its all recorded here in black and white. Show me your record Bro.

re: Travers Weekend Selections

Mike Relva — Wed, 31 Aug 2011 01:23:07 GMT

BILLY'S EMPIRE

Think you might re check your spelling,my name isn't Revla,also correct spelling is absurd,NOT obsurd.

re: Travers Weekend Selections

LAZMANNICK — Wed, 31 Aug 2011 00:57:57 GMT

Billy

Contrary to what your buddy AAF said in his snide remarks about Coil, did it ever occur to you that The Factor's time was legit, was accomplished against older horses, and was when coming back from his own layoff. And also did it ever occur to you that maybe the horses in the Pacific Classic were better, hence the much better time for their 10F race?

re: Travers Weekend Selections

Mike Relva — Tue, 30 Aug 2011 23:06:18 GMT

BILLY'S EMPIRE

You weren't being addressed,but since you brought it up ONE THING I don't say is pretending to own racehorses,which you clearly don't. When called out,as predicted you wouldn't produce the name(s). Wonder why? You've chided me for visiting retired horses,of all things. Nice to know you could care less about a horse once their career ends. You're a major joke.

re: Travers Weekend Selections

Weekend — Tue, 30 Aug 2011 20:36:48 GMT

2 things I would like to say.

1. To everyone jumping on the Factor bandwagon and saying he would of beaten Mo(and subsequently Caleb) by 5, they ran almost identical times, maybe 13/100th of a difference, but MO and CP did it on a very tiring and slow track. Travers 2:03 and change v P.Classic, 2:00 and change. With that logic, TC and Acclimation beat the Travers Field by 15?? I think not

2. Mike Revla, do you ever have anything to say? EVER? I think your comeback to everyone on the blogs is, "can't wait for your spin when grace loses the woodward" or some obsurd statement like that. You have a lot to say, for someone that does not know crap. You are what I like to call an old pair of Nike's, the kind with the very large SWOOSHTAG on the side.

Good for Porter and Jones for having the balls to run v the boys.

re: Travers Weekend Selections

Mike Relva — Tue, 30 Aug 2011 19:41:00 GMT

AAF

You mean kinda the same as when your comments represent someone living in a world far from reality?

re: Travers Weekend Selections

datflippinrabbit — Tue, 30 Aug 2011 11:12:42 GMT

Not to go off topic but Afleet's comment about Cape Blanco.Coolmore seems to be training this horse in Ireland to run in America and doing so sucessfully can't remember the last time i've seen that.Noted that they won't give him to Pletcher hummm.

re: Travers Weekend Selections

datflippinrabbit — Tue, 30 Aug 2011 10:59:14 GMT

The most impressive race was the Factor,Martin Garcia really rode him well to keep the pressure on Smiling Tiger and then make him spit the bit turning for home.To have a horse finish like that after solid early pace,he's a big one for shure.I hope this horse stays healthy we're gonna see some fun.

re: Travers Weekend Selections

GunBow — Tue, 30 Aug 2011 05:35:54 GMT

Pacific Classic:

From a quality standpoint, I found the 21st running of the Pacific Classic to be quite satisfying. Although he has been flying somewhat under the radar(with many undoubtedly remembering his swan dive at the end of his 10' campaign), something reflected in the fact he has been ridden by a different jockey in his last 3 races, Acclamation has suddenly placed himself right in the middle of the Horse of the Year discussion.

Even as a California based fan, putting Acclamation and Horse of the Year in the same sentence seems a little unbelievable. But Acclamation totally deserves such consideration, now having won 4 consecutive graded stakes, with the last 3 being grade 1s(4 career gr.1 wins).

I had always considered Acclamation a quality horse, but had felt he had been placed in races that were a little above his head. After Acclamation was thrown into the gr.1 Kilroe first start this year off a 7 month layoff(he ran 5th), and then was shipped out to West Virginia to run 9 furlongs over a dirt bullring(he ran last), it looked like Acclamation was the same horse at 5 as he had been at 4. The fact he swept the gr.2 Murray and gr.1 Whittingham easily did nothing to change my perception given he had done the same thing last year. Through June of this year, Acclamation appeared to be a solid gr.2 type that could run with the elite only over his beloved Hollywood turf course at distances of 10 furlongs+.

I was strongly of the opinion after the Whittingham that Acclamation should come right back in the gr.3 Sunset and then point for the gr.2 Del Mar Cap. However, his owners decided to throw him outside of his comfort zone yet again and run in the gr.1 Read at 9 furlongs over Del Mar's Durante turf course and then in the gr.1 Pacific Classic on Polytrack. It all seemed like a stretch to me, but Don Warren and Bud Johnston have been completely vindicated, with Acclamation rising to the task and proving he is a much improved animal.

The article in the Bloodhorse by Jack Shinar suggested Acclamation stole the Pacific Classic by setting a slow early pace. I don't see it that way. No, Acclamation did not set a fast pace, but the first quarter in 24 and 2, half in 48 and 3, and 6 furlongs in 112 and 4 were right at the average splits for the 4 runnings of the Pacific Classic over synthetics.

The pace of steady 24s was directly in Acclamation's wheelhouse, as is evident by the 4th quarter. Even though the 6 furlong split was moderate, it doesn't take away from how impressive that 4th quarter was; the way Acclamation, Twirling Candy, and Game on Dude separated themselves from the rest of the field around the turn was a reflection of talent, brilliance and class. The 3 leaders, the 3 favorites, covered that 4th quarter in a superb 23.73, and the others just couldn't keep up.

Twirling Candy and Game on Dude had done the same thing in the Hollywood Gold Cup when they shook away from the likes of Setsuko and Miss Match during the 4th quarter(Miss Match had run Blind Luck to a length in the gr.1 Vanity a few weeks before the Gold Cup, but she simply could not handle an internal fourth quarter fraction in 24 and ended up getting beat about 8 lengths).

The 4th quarter turned the Pacific Classic into a 3 horse battle, which quickly became a 2 horse affair when Game on Dude couldn't match the acceleration of the other two. As I had suspected, in a race that unfolded more like a turf race, Game on Dude didn't have the brilliance to keep up with Acclamation and Twirling Candy, horses that had demonstrated electric kicks on turf.

After that sensational 4th quarter, Acclamation kept going, running the final quarter in 24 flat for a final time of 200 and 3, a new track record. Acclamation had won his last 3 graded stakes by an average of almost 5 lengths, so it wasn't obvious before the race how he would do in a stretch battle. The answer is that Acclamation has plenty of heart to go along with his immense talent. Acclamation kept his head out infront of Twirling Candy the entire stretch, bravely holding off that horse's spirited kick.

With the win, Acclamation has guaranteed a spot in the BC Classic. However, I would be surprised if he goes in that race. Although Acclamation has been shedding his old image and conquering new worlds, I do think he is best as a marathon turfer. Clearly he can run well on Polytrack, but dirt is another question. At the very least we can say Acclamation doesn't like a muddy dirt track. If Acclamation does run in the Breeder's Cup, something that I believe is complicated by the fact that as a Cal-bred he isn't nominated, it will likely be the Turf.

Acclamation still faces two key questions if he were to run in a race like the BC Turf. First, how will he handle soft going, something quite possible in Kentucky in November? The second question is how well will he ship? Acclamation has run outside California just twice, and he finished last both times(10' UN Cap, 11' Charles Town Classic). However, he does have valid excuses, besides the shipping, for those poor effort. For the UN, Acclamation was clearly going off form, and followed that effort with a next-to-last run in the Eddie Read(which he won by 4 this year). For the Charles Town Classic, Acclamation had to run on a muddy dirt track around a bullring, in what was his second start in 7 months.

Finally, a discussion of Acclamation's win would not be complete without mention of P Val. I found it quite amazing that 20 years after P Val scooted home Cal bred legend Best Pal in the inaugural Pacific Classic he wins the 21st edition on another Cal bred. P Val has certainly had his share of problems, but the talent has always been there.

Twirling Candy ran like I thought he would, turning in an outstanding performance. But he had no excuse for why he couldn't get by Acclimation in the stretch. In the final sixteenth Twirling Candy needed to find a little extra, but with his distance capabilities being stretched to the limit, he just didn't have anything else in reserve. Twirling Candy wasn't going to get by Acclimation even if they ran around again, and Acclimation galloped out well ahead of him.

Twirling Candy did himself proud in the Pacific Classic, but he did lose his 4th gr.1 race around 2 turns, all as the favorite. Twirling Candy can get 10 furlongs, at least on some surfaces; afterall, he ran the last quarter of the Pacific Classic in 23 and 4( a final half of about 47 and 3).

So, Twirling Candy can get 10 furlongs on Polytrack and he came close on Cushion Track. My guess is that he could win a gr.1 turf race at 10 furlongs. However, I don't think he's a 10 furlong horse on dirt, and thus I am skeptical about his chances in a race like the Breeder's Cup Classic. If I owned him, I would point him for either the Mile or Dirt Mile and prep for the BC in the Goodwood(9 furlongs dirt) or Clement Hirsch(10 furlongs turf). Given Acclamation is more likely for the Hirsch, the Goodwood would make most sense, a race Twirling Candy would be an overwhelming favorite for.

Game on Dude ran about as well as he could given the surface and race profile; losing 3rd at the wire was a cruel ending. I expect Game on Dude to be much more formidable on dirt, and believe him to be a legit BC Classic contender; 10 furlongs on dirt is what he wants to do.

re: Travers Weekend Selections

Householder — Tue, 30 Aug 2011 00:00:48 GMT

No way Blind Luck closes into those fractions. Cudos to Pat V who brought the race to a crawl and had plenty left for Twirling Candy. Another blogger noted that Acclamation scared away Blind Luck. Now I think he was 100% correct. That horse thought he was running another 1/4 mile. No one was getting by him. Unusual Heat...just grinding away up front.