Poll - Who Will Prove to be the Season's Best 3-Year-Old?

re: Poll - Who Will Prove to be the Season's Best 3-Year-Old?

Freetex — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 17:32:47 GMT

One last thought on this blog. If Mine That Bird is as tough and hearty as he appears to be, then, for me, he wins hands down.

re: Poll - Who Will Prove to be the Season's Best 3-Year-Old?

Mary — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 19:11:06 GMT

Barb, No. Sorry. I wish that I did recall the name of the Giacomo get that had an impressive race. but I don't. I would have added him/her to my Virtual Stable just to follow along for a while. Guess I will have to put pen & paper handy to the tv because I have forgotten a few that I wanted to remember.

Hurts to get old. : D

I will check the Pimlico website for contact info to ask about the historian.

re: Poll - Who Will Prove to be the Season's Best 3-Year-Old?

barb — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 03:59:26 GMT

Mary...I don't know who was at Pimlico, but there is probably someone you could contact on their website who could give you that info. I am just a big fan of racing with alot of books(over 200 racing related). And I like to answer questions, lol. People often make comments on these blogs that send me to the bookshelves. I always like to learn something new so I'm glad I could help. And do you know the name of the son/daughter of Giacomo? BTW, he won the Ky Derby (over Afleet Alex who ran a stellar Preakness).

re: Poll - Who Will Prove to be the Season's Best 3-Year-Old?

Mary — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 00:22:56 GMT

Barb, Thank you for the historical record. The only horse I recognize from pp #13 is Giacomo, who won one of the Classics that year. BTW, one of his get recently got some very good press on one of the racing channels. While they did mention that they hadn't previously noticed any of his get burning up the tracks, they were very definitely salivating over the one who raced that day.

Since you are something of a researcher or historian yourself, do you know how to find out the name of the historian that sat in the press box at the Preakness, who was reported to have said the field was the deepest he had seen in 60+ years of viewing that race? It would be nice to see if he has written anything on the race so that we could have it first hand, instead of through the filter of the Pimlico official whose job, I assume, includes promoting that track and it's biggest race, or even my recollection of what he said.

re: Poll - Who Will Prove to be the Season's Best 3-Year-Old?

barb — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 19:12:48 GMT

Mary...I always like to do research. So I did a little on your question about post 13 in the Preakness. Here ya go...First of all there haven't been many fields with 13(or more) runners, just 16 out of 134. For 1894 I don't have post positions just the final order of finish. 1917- #13 Fruit Cake(finished 4th). 1921- #13 Star Voter(9th). 1923- Goshawk (last). 1924- Mad Play(3rd, to Nellie Morse). 1926- Banton (last). 1928- Don Q (10th of 18, largest Preakness field ever). 1970- Plenty Old (13th). 1974- Destroyer (11th). For 1981, 1992 and 1999 I do not have detailed results. 2002 was Equality (last) and in 2005 Giacomo was #13 and finished 3rd. And of course 2009 Rachel Alexandra, winner. Not exactly a who's who list of great horses.

Katsan, on the subject of greatest race ever I agree. This wasn't even the greatest Preakness(1989, 1997, 1978, 1973 those were GREAT Preakness'). If I were to choose the greatest "filly beats the boys" race it would have to be Rags in the Belmont,(stumbled at the break, beat the HOY in the "Test of the Champion" in a thrilling stretch battle). Tho I sure loved Winning Colors in the SA and KY Derbies. And I was very happy with RA's Preakness. I was too young for Genuine Risk, but I love her in retrospect.

re: Poll - Who Will Prove to be the Season's Best 3-Year-Old?

steve s — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 17:28:04 GMT

A jockey(CALVIN BORREL) that is a danger to himself.DID you see ride on MISS ISELLA.

re: Poll - Who Will Prove to be the Season's Best 3-Year-Old?

Mary — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 04:02:16 GMT

Katsan, Ok. If you say so, it was Mark Allen's idea to keep Rachel Alexandra out of the Preakness. I thought I remembered Chip Woolley's voice in that recording played on HRTV. But does that negate my point, or prove it? By your admission, a team Mine That Bird member tried to keep Rachel Alexandra out of the Preakness. Guess they knew where the heat was going to come from. Even if it was technically legal, it was still a shabby thing to do. That back room finagling is what America has hated about horse racing for as long as I've been alive. We want everything to play out in front of us fairly. And we don't want to hear that possibly the best horse was froze out.

<>And yes, I stand by the'09 Preakness being the greatest race I have ever seen. I saw history. You can dispute that if you want to, but you can't dispute these facts; she was only the 11th filly to ever win a Triple Crown race, she was the first favored filly since 1915 to win a classic, the first filly to win the Preakness since 1924, she is the only filly to try the Preakness after winning the Oaks, and she is the only horse to have won the race from that post position ever. It would be interesting to know what notable horses started from pp #13 over the years. Since she did something they couldn't do, she can be measured against them as well.

I watched an interview with an official from Pimlico who spoke of a racing historian who watched the race from the Press Box, and has watched every Preakness for 60+ years. Apparently, this historian is a 'go to' source when sportswriters want to harken back to days gone by. The Pimlico official reports that the historian thought it was the deepest Preakness field that he had ever seen.

More than any of that, it was the way the race unfolded that just skewered my heart, polishing of a sprint stakes record holder early and then holding off the Derby winner's late charge. They reminded me of a tag team trying to take her down.

Maybe the '09 Preakness will eventually grow on you, too. <g> You often hear the talking heads on these horse racing channels refer back to a race having more significance than was immediately obvious on the day because so many of the starters go on to distinguish themselves in their next race. One race often mentioned in this light is the $900,000 Sunland Park Derby in which MTB finished fourth. Both he and others have gone on to G 1 wins from that race. As this year's other Preakness contestants go on to prove what they are made of, that too will all reflect backward on the filly that beat them.

I don't think of race horses in terms of who owns them, even if I am aware of it. What purpose does that serve?

re: Poll - Who Will Prove to be the Season's Best 3-Year-Old?

Zookeeper — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 19:59:31 GMT

What did you guys think of the Stephen Foster and the other races yesterday? We were treated to some exciting stuff weren't we?

re: Poll - Who Will Prove to be the Season's Best 3-Year-Old?

Jason Shandler — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 19:47:38 GMT

Time flies when you're having fun Sweet Terchi :)

re: Poll - Who Will Prove to be the Season's Best 3-Year-Old?

ColetteMarie — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 16:57:15 GMT

I think Mine That Bird will be the 2009 3 yr. old of the year. His electrifying turn of foot is amazing. His ability to turn on the speed & pass one top level 3 yr. old after another and zip in & out of traffic is something that I never get tired of watching. Not only is he incredibly gutsy, he also is a very sturdy horse. So many of the other 3 yr. olds seem so fragile & who knows how many will still be racing in November. Mine That Bird strikes me as having long term stamina to be front & center in every race. Another horse I believe we will be seeing a lot of thru out the rest of the year is Musket Man. He was right there coming in 3rd in both the Derby & the Preakness. Another gutsy horse. I was wondering though if he has raced on synthetic before. We already know that Mine That Bird can run & win on both dirt & synthetic. So, he is definately my pick for top 3 yr. old. It is sure going to be an exciting rest of the year!!

Colette

re: Poll - Who Will Prove to be the Season's Best 3-Year-Old?

sweet terchi — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 16:31:24 GMT

Jason, Iv'e been away earning $$, (fair is in town), are you sure the Draynay ban clock is working correctly? I could have sworn there were more days than posted!

Draynays Better Half, I don't think things are as dire with your Cheeto boy. There were some rumors of him creating havoc on other blog sites, unless they have banned him also!

re: Poll - Who Will Prove to be the Season's Best 3-Year-Old?

Katsan — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 04:24:15 GMT

Mary, safe to say on this blog, you're barking up the wrong tree.

It was Mark Allen's idea. Truthfully it's been done before and will be done again. It's strategy. Mark was actually going to run the colt he was going to enter, as a 'rabbit' so to speak. A colt not even trained by Chip.

Thankfully the class and wisdom of co-owner Doc prevailed. This is another rumor, just like the one that Lukas was entering Luv Gov to block Rachel.

When all else fails, and the true inside story isn't known, Make it UP?

Just saw that on the new blog.

Shameful.

Calling it the greatest ever? While I admire Hal immensely, the new connections who I also know, not so much and think the filly is fabulous, by no means was it the greatest race. Unless you've not seen too many.

re: Poll - Who Will Prove to be the Season's Best 3-Year-Old?

Mary — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 00:37:21 GMT

The astounding thing about the 2009 running of the Preakness Stakes, the thing that takes the winner Rachel Alexandra to new heights untouched and clean, was that after she put away a very talented graded Stakes sprint record holder whose obvious intent was to mix it up with her right from the starting gate, and despite setting blistering early fractions, she then held on to polish off the Kentucky Derby winner, a horse known for tremendous late run. She was tested every step of the way and bested all to become the first filly to win the Preakness Stakes since 1924.

Post race analysts that simply listed Rachel Alexandra with other fillies that have won Triple Crown Races missed a couple of important points. The fact that she is the only Oaks winner to attempt the Preakness, much less win it, and that she won from a post position that has never previously taken the race, puts her out there all by herself in a league of her own because there is nobody on that list but her.

As much as I enjoyed Mine That Bird's Kentucky Derby win, and celebrate how valiantly he showed up in the Preakness, I do not agree that he could have gotten to the filly if he didn't have to go wide around the field in his late run. He was the beneficiary of those blazing early fractions while he lay comfortably off the pace dead last for the first 3/4 of the race, and he got to make his move exactly when it suited him. It just wasn't good enough. First Rachel Alexandra was compromised by her post position, and then she was forced wide around the first turn, so neither horse was permitted to take the shortest route around ol' Hilltop. Only Rachel Alexandra was tested every step of the way, and still got home in front. If they had both gotten a perfect trip I think the order of finish would have been exactly the same, but the winning margin would have been considerably wider.

I love Mine That Bird, and always will, but I stand in complete and utter awe of Rachel Alexandra. I think that Chip Woolley must have felt the same way or he wouldn't have done his level best to try to keep her out of the race. And I will always wonder if trying to keep her out of the race simply morphed into the appearance of a very talented graded Stakes sprint record holder whose obvious intent was to mix it up with that freak filly right from the gate while Chip makes nice with the press. Hmmmm.

It was the greatest horse race I have ever seen, and I will never forget it as long as I live. I will be talking about it to my great grandkids, and telling them that I was alive then, and that I saw her. For me it was the benchmark against which all others aspiring to greatness will be measured. You don't dare even dream of horses doing stuff like this. What more can a flesh and blood horse do? Maybe nothing.

re: Poll - Who Will Prove to be the Season's Best 3-Year-Old?

draynot — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 11:27:21 GMT

Greg J,

Thanks for the update on the Secratariat movie. Can't wait for it to come out. You can be sure that whoever plays the part of the great one it won't be big brown although he might be the one carrying the water bucket. My moneys on Curlin.

re: Poll - Who Will Prove to be the Season's Best 3-Year-Old?

zenyatta — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 01:36:16 GMT

Who is this Sea of Stars horse?? I know it sounds dumb but I have never heard of him except for on this blog... I have heard of a lot of horses but just not this one!!

Matt H.,

Her name is Rachel Alexandra, not Rachel Alexandrea. She's named after her previous owner's grand-daughter, if I got that straight.

Draynay's Better Half, you are too funny!!

re: Poll - Who Will Prove to be the Season's Best 3-Year-Old?

StardustyRose — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 00:48:53 GMT

Greg J.

Who in the world are they gonna get that is remotly close to Secretariat? This I have to see. :) Thanks.....

re: Poll - Who Will Prove to be the Season's Best 3-Year-Old?

tvnewsbadge — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 22:30:04 GMT

Ghostzapper said "This colt is built like Secretariat and has speed and power".

I like Quality Road because he's a local horse but no one can ever compare him to Secretariat.

What made Secretariat one of the worlds great equine champions (if not the greatest)of all time was not only his accomplishments on the track but the fact that he was DURABLE.

Secretariat was built to LAST, not to make a nice showing in a couple of races and then head to the stud barn to pass on his defects to another generation.

Secretariat could easily have run and produced championship efforts into year four and beyond, and almost certainly would have done so if old man Chenery had been alive and his estate not saddled with tax problems.

As much as I'm rooting for horses like Quality Road and I Want Revenge and Dunkirk to recover and be able to return to the track, my hope for them is not so much that they'll be able to pull out a championship effort or two, but that they'll be able to finish their careers alive.

All good horses that are exciting to watch WHEN they're healthy, but hardly the stuff of Scretariat.

re: Poll - Who Will Prove to be the Season's Best 3-Year-Old?

larryb — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 21:03:47 GMT

Jason, is there any word on the champ MIDSHIPMAN or on Vineyard Haven, the two best two year olds of last year only to suffer the consequences from their new owners hard headedness to continue to take the best colts and ruin them in Dubai like Street Cry, Wordly Manner, Rulers Court, etc.

re: Poll - Who Will Prove to be the Season's Best 3-Year-Old?

Majella from Ireland — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 19:14:22 GMT

Maggie thanksd for that interesting information! :)

re: Poll - Who Will Prove to be the Season's Best 3-Year-Old?

Greg J. — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 18:48:48 GMT

Lady Ruffian,

Your quite welcome, It is good to hear she is doing well...

For Big Red,

A friend of mine E-mailed this to me, Thought you would be interested, but you probably have everything relating to Secretariat!, But if not, Check this out, pretty cool...

cgi.ebay.com/Secretariat-Photo-1973-Belmont-Stakes-%22The-Photo%22-Signd_W0QQitemZ220429554495QQcmdZViewItemQQimsxq20090610

re: Poll - Who Will Prove to be the Season's Best 3-Year-Old?

Lady Ruffian — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 18:23:21 GMT

GREG J. thank you for the update on Stardom Bound!

re: Poll - Who Will Prove to be the Season's Best 3-Year-Old?

joe — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 17:51:51 GMT

An interesting Travers between MTB and SB. "Summer" is heading to the Haskell; it would be great to see a 3 year old tackle the Haskell and Travers, like Coronado's Quest, Skippy or Forty-Niner. Recent trainers have made these a one or the other proposition. A Jockey Club with MTB would seem unlikely; didn't Chip W. indicate only two pre-BC races with 3-year olds, only? (The Haskell, Travers, Super Derby, Jerome, etc...) Rachel has nailed down 3 year old championship honors with her Preakness "one for the ages" win, a la' Genuine Risk's Derby win.

re: Poll - Who Will Prove to be the Season's Best 3-Year-Old?

Greg J. — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 17:33:00 GMT

BTW,

This from Steve Haskin on Stardom Bound, "Stardom Bound (who is doing well on the farm and expected back to the track in several weeks)...

re: Poll - Who Will Prove to be the Season's Best 3-Year-Old?

vocherdesatroyer — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 17:08:42 GMT

Do you realize the accuracy of this list at the moment? I would only make one change to the top five and off form it's questionable moving Dunkirk ahead of Musket Man. After the top five I would change things around but that is not so important.

Do I think this will last the year? Not a chance except the top horse. I totally expect Big Drama to improve, Giant Oak turn out to be a good turfer of note, Munning, Mr. Fantasy to be good sprinters, especially Munning if his last was a real example. Quality Road and The Pamplemousse need to get their chances to show what they really have. I Want Revenge if he ever races again.

I saw a good article which I noticed reading this blog in previous topics it would address.

ON TRACK

BY: JOHNNY D.

NO ‘JOCK KNOCKIN’ ALLOWED

It’s easy to criticize the performance of any losing jockey. As simple as shootin’ fish in a barrel…with an AK 47. Fire at will. From the apron, the grandstand, the press box or, these days, online from the comfort of your home.

Take your pick from a laundry list of canned complaints: The jock moved the horse too early, too late, too wide. He got stopped along the rail. He checked, steadied, broke slowly, was too far back, or went too fast early. He didn’t whip the horse enough, didn’t go through a hole. And, the mother of all ‘jock knocks’--he stiffed ‘em!

To refine a standard: Winners tell jokes. Losers blame jocks and turn to the next race.

‘Jock knockin’ is a horseplayer’s inalienable right bestowed with the purchase of a mutuel ticket.

However, sometimes we take the easy way out and abuse the freedom.

Take the criticism leveled at Mike Smith for his piloting of Mine That Bird in the Preakness Stakes, or the Monday-morning quarterbacking that followed Calvin Borel’s handling of the same horse in the Belmont Stakes. In both cases, fault was found with the way Mine That Bird was ridden, pilot error blamed for defeat.

There was no way Smith and Mine That Bird were going to get a golden, rail trip at Pimlico. The Preakness is a completely different race than the Derby. First of all, it’s a shorter distance than the Derby so the field doesn’t string out like it does in Kentucky. There’s less separation between horses, less room for negotiation. In the Preakness Smith took the overland route and finished second, beaten one length by the extraordinary filly Rachel Alexandra. It’s exactly where they were supposed to end up.

Would Mine That Bird have whipped Rachel Alexandra if Smith had somehow, someway reproduced Borel’s rail-skimming Derby sojourn? Maybe. But that would have been an occurrence more consistent with television’s Lost than real life.

If you recall, even Bo-Rail himself couldn’t duplicate Derby rail-riding magic with Street Sense in the Preakness when they failed against Curlin three editions ago.

It’s true that when a jockey rides a masterpiece, as Calvin Borel did in the Kentucky Derby, twice, he gets an inordinate amount of credit. So, doesn’t it also make sense that when he rides a so-so race he should get an inordinate amount of blame?

Not exactly. And here’s why:

In an important race like the Kentucky Derby it’s relatively easy for a jockey aboard a 50-1 shot to execute a loosey-goosey plan; take back to last in a 19-horse field, ride the rail and see what happens. On the other hand, when that same horse is a short-priced favorite in an equally important race—like Preakness or Belmont--it’s impossible to implement a similar strategy.

In subsequent races, like with Mine That Bird in the Belmont, the Derby winner has a bulls-eye as large as the Belmont grandstand on his back. The other jocks are looking for him. They’d love to see the ‘horse to beat’ attempt to ride the rail home from start to finish.

Trapped favorites like that usually don’t see running room until sometime Sunday morning.

In the Belmont Stakes the shoe was on the other foot, sort of. Now, Kent Desormeaux was ‘hanging loose’ and saving ground along the rail with 11-1 chance Summer Bird. Borel, aboard the heavy favorite with the Calvin Crown at stake, couldn’t afford to be caught inside.

What made matters worse is that Mine That Bird acted differently for Borel in the Belmont. This time, instead of settling into a comfortable gallop, he pulled at his jockey and fought for his head early in the race. Borel had no choice but to let his mount cruise up to the leaders on the outside.

Mine That Bird made up ground with such ease that, coming off the sweeping Belmont turn, Borel must have felt the Calvin Crown already resting upon his head. He had no clue that his partner, who had won the Kentucky Derby with plenty in reserve and had gobbled up ground voraciously in the Preakness, would run out of gas in the last 100 yards.

But that’s what the Triple Crown campaign does to horses--good horses. It knocks them off their games. Dulls the blades. Lands them short of the green.

We’ve seen it so often in the past we ought to anticipate it just like we do spring.

C’mon, spare Borel. Hate the game, not the player. Put blame where it actually belongs; squarely on the shoulders of that tag-team combination of Derby, Preakness and Belmont—undefeated for 31 years. The Triple Crown pulled the rug out from under Mine That Bird, not Calvin Borel making a premature move.

Technically Mine That Bird wasn’t alive to win a Triple Crown in the Belmont. But he might as well have been. He ran in all three races and was just one-length away from bagging the first two legs. He hit the wall in the Belmont stretch. No shame in that. He’s got plenty of company.

Want some good advice? Give up ‘jock knockin’ as your first excuse for a losing wager. Delve deeper into each race to see if there isn’t some other possible explanation for your losing wager.

Often you’ll find that the hole your jock didn’t hit was moving faster than the horse he was riding.

After all, they still call it horse racing, not jockey racing.

Race On!

1. Rachel Alexandra (18) F 5 5-0-0 189 1

2. Mine That Bird (1) G 5 1-2-1 171 2

3. Summer Bird C 5 2-0-1 140 -

4. Musket Man C 6 3-0-3 124 3

5. Dunkirk C 5 2-2-0 90 -

6. Quality Road C 3 2-1-0 89 4

7. Pioneerof the Nile C 4 3-0-0 63 5

8. I Want Revenge C 3 2-0-1 61 6

9. Charitable Man C 3 1-0-0 34 8

10. Papa Clem C 5 1-2-0 31 7

Others: Munnings 17; Friesan Fire 6; Chocolate Candy 5; Capt. Candyman Can 4; Flying Private 4; Giant Oak 3; Justwhistledixie 3; The Pamplemousse 3; Mythical Power 2; Stardom Bound 2; Big Drama 1; Kelly Leak 1; General Quarters 1; Mr. Fantasy 1.

re: Poll - Who Will Prove to be the Season's Best 3-Year-Old?

StardustyRose — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 17:04:55 GMT

da3hoss

LOL I know it is Mine That Bird. I change that on purpose hoping people will MIND that bird. Wish I would have minded that bird put a grand on him in the KD. :-)

This blog is really funny since Draynay has gone. NO I don't miss him at all.

That ticker cracks me up. LOL