Vic Zast Saratoga Diary : Zast Diary

Against All Odds

Blood-Horse Staff — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 05:06:00 GMT

There is a guy named Don who sits alone in a clubhouse box and charts the odds with each click of the tote board. His is a lost art, as much a throwback as anything else to the bygone days when bookmakers set the line on a blackboard with chalk.

But this is Saratoga, and not everything needs to make sense or fit into a logical paradigm. That’s the charm of it. What might work for Don may not work for you, and if so, does that make him unusual? Even a person who picks horses by colors or names has a chance here.

Handicappers such as Don, who watch the betting intently, must have figured that Casual Drive would have upset the odd-on favorite in the fifth race. At least, the money was moving in the colt’s direction. With Edgar Prado named to ride by Rick Dutrow, Casual Drive’s odds opened at 14-1, quickly settled at 6-1, and ended up at 5-1 when the bell sounded. Instead, the 2-5 Rollers, trained by Barclay Tagg, won as widely suspected.

Trainer Michael Hushion, who was operating with three new stents in his arteries, saddled Oniyome to triumph by a nose in the third. Because the fourth was a five-furlong dash, trainer Linda Rice was victorious with Saturdaynitesandy. In the seventh, Fancy Diamond held Loving Vindication safe by the slimmest of margins. The width of a nostril kept the Lael Stables’ 3-year-old colt from getting place money. The winner paid $2.90, $2.40 and $2.10. At prices like these, the margin should have been bigger.

Next time out for Rosa Grace, please remember how gallant she ran in the $150,000 Lake Placid Stakes (gr.II). Backseat Rhythm, ridden by Javier Castellano, cleared the field comfortably. But the British-born filly, only five days on these shores having come here from Ireland, appeared more accomplished than her 12-1 odds while ending second.

In the final race, the Ken McPeek-trained Tar Beach, ridden by Robby Albarado, out-gamed Take the Points trained by Todd Pletcher with J.R. Velasquez, the meet’s leading rider. It’s not the last that you’ll hear from these 2-year-old colts. Ditto for Toby the Coal Man. Making his first start, trainer Nick Zito’s protégé of Mineshaft, finished a respectable third.

A day of such splendid competition would not be complete without a little unscheduled excitement. Another runaway horse treated the fans to the fun of a merry chase. A.P. Light ran clockwise at top speed for a half-mile with Sebastian Morales hanging on. Who knows where she might have gotten in the fourth had she entered the starting gate and ran in the right direction?

In the race for taste supremacy (Soup Division), Mouzon House’s seafood gumbo, available on Restaurant Row, is becoming a threat to unseat the racetrack’s clam chowder as “best in house.” No ifs, ands or odds about it.

Bull and More Bull

Blood-Horse Staff — Sun, 10 Aug 2008 11:11:00 GMT

Stella Thayer didn’t make it to the post-race dancefest at Siro’s beer tent. She probably had to rush home to squeeze into her blue jeans for the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame’s “Ride the (mechanical) Bull” party.

Nevertheless, the gathering at Siro’s was wall-to-wall. The three-day fly-mating season was over, and the cigar smoke was keeping whatever bugs were left off the premises. An eclectic collection of rock ‘n rollers were there to boogie to The Accents, eat pizza and clams, and toast the conclusion of a sensational afternoon of racing at the racecourse next door.

It may have been the first Saturday in nearly a century that a significant stakes didn’t grace the program. But 31,497 fans jammed the track’s hallowed grounds to bet a whopping $5.2 million. There were no give-aways. Top jocks Velasquez, Desormeaux and Albarado left town for the Arlington Million. Despite hand-rolled cigars and barbershop quartets, most people didn’t even realize it was “Tradition Turns 140” day. That’s how far pure competition in a unique setting can take the sport.

Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas, with two showy winners on the day, started things off with a bang in the second. Eibar Coa, aboard Flying Pirate, looked to be caught at the eighth pole, yet the jock wouldn’t give up on the 2-year-old son of Fusaichi Pegasus third-time starter until he broke his maiden.

In the fourth race – the $102,500 James Marvin Stakes, Ramon Dominguez followed suit with Eternal Star. The 4-year-old chestnut with a penchant for winning posted a time of 1:08.79. Good away from New York, but only so-so at Aqueduct, he was mighty good at Saratoga.

Dr. D.F.C. rewarded trainer Rodrigo Ubillo and jockey Aldo Arboleda, two men who seldom get their photos in the winner’s circle taken, with a nifty photo for winning the $102,500 Solomon Northrop Stakes for New York-breds. Ariege captured the $102,500 Madame Jumel Stakes for 3-year-old fillies. Mr. Sidney, a $3.9 million Storm Cat 4-year-old colt, broke his maiden for Bill Mott in the nightcap.

Then there was the front-running score by favored Fairbanks in the $111,750 Duke of Magenta Stakes. Richie Migliore hasn’t found many mounts at the Spa since moving his tack here from California. Yet, the way he rode the Giant Causeway horse for Team Valor and trainer Todd Pletcher suggests more rides in store for him.

To NYRA’s credit, the four scheduled turf races were left on the turf, despite the storm on Friday. This decision kept large fields intact and gave handicappers a lot of choices to wager on.

On Thursday, the new head of the state’s Racing and Wagering Board took an unfair shot at NYRA for neglecting the fans. Talk about the pot calling the kettle black. This was more bull than anyone could ride

Heaven Sent

Blood-Horse Staff — Sat, 09 Aug 2008 11:30:00 GMT

Carol Homersham and Joan Proctor of Barrie, Ontario were the most stunning women at breakfast in their custom-made hats. It was Homersham’s first visit to a racetrack, but she looked like a Kentucky Oaks fashionista in her black mesh chapeau with a big bow.

Homersham’s hat went in different directions; its flat oval top slanted left and the brim to the right. Proctor’s was an odd green – the kind you see painted on hospital walls or in good camouflage, and subtle Navy – almost black, but beautiful nonetheless, with swirls of netting that cascaded from the crown.

The two women, accompanied by two gentlemen, escaped a group of four other friends who decided to sleep in. Home away from Barrie for these eight visitors from Canada is a late 1800s farmhouse in Argyle, New York. “I think I found heaven,” said Homersham, when asked how she was enjoying the Saratoga experience.

There were other women at breakfast wearing hats, but they were Trunketts. That’s the name by which 14 friends who model clothing for Saratoga Trunk, the 14-year-old Saratoga Springs business that USA Today rated America’s number one millinery, call themselves. Trunketts range in age from 24 to 68. Hats from Saratoga Trunk retail from $300 to $1800.

The light brown, lampshade-styled hat with dark brown peacock feathers woven into horsehair, which Joanne Finn, a close friend of Saratoga Trunk’s owner Natalie Sillery chose to wear, was priced at over $400. Each Friday morning, on the Porch of the racecourse, Saratoga Trunk has a fashion show to launch the weekend.

Finn said, “When you put on a hat you complete the outfit.” It’s funny, then, that not many hats were found in the clubhouse or grandstand in the afternoon. By one silly man’s count, there were only 23 women wearing fancy hats, 1488 wearing ball caps, 21 in babushkas, and one that had shaved her head bald.

It was yet one more day for umbrellas, not hats. NYRA cancelled the races after the second was run. A 30-minute blast of lightning, hail and torrential rain washed out the far turn of the main track. Maintenance crews determined it would take more than an hour to fix things. The crowd left the grounds reluctantly under perfectly sunny skies.

Die-hard fans stayed for simulcasting. Hat-wearer Meg Bedell of Oceanport, New Jersey – yes, that Oceanport, New Jersey, where Monmouth Park is – was one of them. She asked rhetorically, “I came to Saratoga and I’m betting on Monmouth?” Bedell’s sister, Rosemary Dougherty, echoed the sentiment. “I’m really bummed,” she said.

Many fans wondered why NYRA was so quick to pull the plug on live racing. Cynics immediately leaped to the conclusion that the jockeys were leveraging a walkout as part of a labor negotiation.

“They’ve conducted twilight racing on Fridays before. Didn’t they think the fans would wait around?” a white cap murmured.

I'm So Lucky, Susan Lucci, Sam the Bugler

Blood-Horse Staff — Sun, 03 Aug 2008 10:00:00 GMT

The trusting souls, who didn’t let the threat of inclement weather keep them away from the racetrack, were treated to a grand day of Thoroughbred sport.

This does not mean that the competition was spectacular. It was first class; not incomparable. What was proved in the end was that there is no need for NYRA to pool its best stakes on one day to prove anything.

The program got off to a rousing start with a $17.60 winner. “You’ve got to bet this horse,” said trainer Chuck Simon, observing the odds board while wishing he had a horse of his own entered.

“How often do you find a race in which the second choice is 7-1?” asked the soft-spoken Saratoga native. After 17 maiden starts, Cabazon seems to have finally hit his best stride, winning thrice in his latest five outings.

In the second race, one more number eight horse – a hot number all meet long - won when the Rick Dutrow-trained Precious Package shook off Spaniard easily. Tab the show horse named Viscount to win next time. He moved so swiftly through the lane that he looked far more impressive than the first and third finishers.

John Oxley and trainer John Ward Jr. have a King’s Bishop Stakes (gr.I) contender in I’m So Lucky, the winner of the next contest. Then in the following event, Irish Smoke’s lead on the turn was inhaled by a trio of mind-their-time horses, the winner Porte Bonheur included.

By the way, between these two races, Sam the Bugler left his usual spot at the rail to play a selection of songs for a visually-impaired friend in the clubhouse. Carol Cohen, wife of Albany, New York horse owner Henry Cohen, got to hear “Fly Me to the Moon” and “There Will Never Be another You,” in a 15-minute one-on-one concert.

Jasper Alexander, the chef at Hattie’s, presented the trophy to Storm on the Track’s owners in the fifth. Susan Lucci, the actress, did the same for the owners of Pano’s Love, once the sixth went in the record books.

Regrettably, Storm on the Track’s photo was somewhat compromised. Richie Migliore, back with his first win after a long stint in California, wore generic silks while riding.

Ramon Dominguez, Edgar Prado, Cornelio Velasquez and J.R.Velasquez, each had two winners.

Indian Blessing won the Test.Stakes (gr. I). But the patrons, not the Bob Baffert-trained filly, passed the true test.

Ear Plugs

Blood-Horse Staff — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 11:06:00 GMT

There’s been an uptick in sales of ear plugs at the CVS drug store. The yearlings have returned to the Fasig-Tipton grounds on Madison and East, and sleep-deprived residents of nearby Fifth Avenue are being awakened by their whinnying at 4 a.m.

On the other hand, Phyllis Crocker has heard the early call of Thoroughbreds for nearly 44 Augusts, and despite sleepless dawns, she still enjoys the preemptory alarm. “It’s only for a short time,” the native of Saratoga Springs said. “This wouldn’t be Saratoga without horses.”

Michael Amo, the founder of Thorofan, the latest left-brained group to emerge in a sport that requires right-brained thinking, sees things differently. “Without the fan, there wouldn’t be horses; without horses, there wouldn’t be a sport,” Amo said. “Unlike football, baseball, basketball or NASCAR, the fans participate. They’re the sport’s most important component.”

Amo has set up camp under the covering of the Carousel restaurant, trying to lure people into joining his ranks. Thorofan’s mission is to give fans an organized voice beyond the pari-mutuels system, something Amo believes could be used to influence the establishment. As everyone knows, the chances of changing the status quo are nil without “skin in the game.” So far, Thorofan has 120 members.

Like Crocker and Amo, the sixth and seventh races produced opposite, albeit complementary, conclusions. Inattentive fans might have thought the back-to-back events were a déjà vu experience, but they weren’t. In the sixth race, the gray filly Jibboom, wearing the number four saddle cloth, appeared to have the field at her mercy, until the chestnut filly Final Refrain, wearing number eight, caught her. In the seventh race, the chestnut colt Clemens, wearing number eight, couldn’t catch the gray colt Holla Bend, wearing number four.

Another number eight horse, Luck Money (IRE), was as easy a horse pick as one can get. He won the co-featured Majestic Light Stakes, having run before in England against Henrythenavigator, New Approach and Raven’s Pass. In the following contest, Miss Macy Sue, visiting the Spa for the second time from Iowa, should have captured the Honorable Miss Handicap (gr. II). But the 5-year-old Trippi mare fell prey to a slow break from the inside post and Any Limit triumphed.

After the races, a decent Saratoga Race Course crowd of 19,435, flush with first-of-the- month paychecks, dispersed in various directions. The Police with Sting and Elvis Costello and the Imposters played before a sold-out delirious house at Saratoga Performing Arts Center. The Audiostars, formerly Burners UK, rocked the Horseshoe. A society orchestra crooned the night away at Marylou’s costume ball in the Canfield Casino. Ear plugs were advisable for one of these three venues.

Rainmaker

cdawahare — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 11:28:00 GMT

Nothing ruins a day at the races more than rain, and at Saratoga, where people huddle under the trees in the backyard to picnic, the effect can be worse than ants in the potato salad.

Nevertheless, a happy crowd of 18,127 people ventured into the dreary weather to welcome the Thoroughbreds back. Umbrella-toting fans wagered $2.8 million, and most of them slid dry money out of their wallets.

Give credit to the New York Racing Association for letting the dayhops from the back lot pitch their folding chairs under the grandstand and allowing them to bring their coolers in under cover. Salute the wisdom of the bettors for understanding that drip happens.

By the way, those fans who stuck around witnessed a “Graveyard of Favorites” moment. At 12-1, Jardin, trained by Steve Asmussen, won the opening day’s $100,000 Schuylerville (gr.1). Owned by Padua Stables, the daughter of Montbrook joined with 17-1 Cameron Crazies for an exacta worth $375.Asmussen had three wins on the card.

Despite the upset, handicapping wasn’t really the challenge. It was keeping track of which horse was in and which was out that drove you bananas. The operator in the infield, who was assigned to hoisting signs on the vintage scratch board, was overwhelmed to the point of quitting on his assignment. Wondering why? Well, there were 44 scratches and 72 starters on the 10-race card.

Rick Dutrow Jr., another guy for whom not everything’s gone right lately, had things go superbly. Two horses he listed for the “main track only” got into races and won.

Stormin Normandy benefited from seven scratches in the eighth race, the $80,000 High Rock Stakes for state-breds. Building New Era, previously tried in open company, drew into the seventh, another restricted contest, and crushed his rivals.

A steady downpour continued unabated throughout the afternoon and evening. Here, just south of the bad weather-prone Adirondacks, systems blow in unexpectedly and stay like company that won’t leave until you turn the lights out. Prepare for rain again on Thursday.

Oh, one more thing - Saratoga’s biggest rainmaker is not Mother Nature. It’s former Senate Majority Leader Joe Bruno, and he, too, was at the track for the opener.

For the last couple of years, Bruno, who was no friend to NYRA, seemed to be at the center of the state’s tiring debate about which group should run New York racing. Now that Bruno has left public office and is leading a life in the private sector, how long do you think he can hold on to his clubhouse box?

The huge amounts of money Bruno raised for the area will be missed, but not forgotten. You can say the same for the agita he caused.