The Bridge Jumpers!
In races where there is an absolute standout on paper, I will usually pass up the race or bet $2 on every horse in the race to show, hoping the heavy favorite runs out of the money. For those who followed the latter strategy in the mile and a sixteenth Tampa Bay Derby yesterday, you were rewarded with a profit of $115!
On paper,
War Pass, (Cornelio Velasquez up) figured to toy with his competition. His Beyer speed ratings were well above any of his competitors. In fact, his competition would be coming to the head of the stretch while
War Pass was crossing the finish line. Well, the fans at Tampa Bay Downs certainly bought into the concept. Sent off as the prohibitive choice at 1-20, that's right, folks, a nickel to the dollar, the bridge jumpers began jumping when
War Pass proceeded to run out of gas at the far turn and finish a mind-numbing last in the field of 7. He was beaten better than 20 lenghts. Obviously, a lot of attention will be devoted to
War Pass in the coming days as it is really puzzling why this horse stopped so badly. In the meantime, the Barclay Tagg trained
Big Truck (Eibar Coa up) made the most of his opportunity to prevail by a neck at 7-1 over the tiring
Atoned (John Velasquez up) at 9-1. The show prices were $25.20; $27.80 and $76.40-- a nice reward for show bets.
The Rebel Stakes, also at a mile and a sixteenth, at Oaklawn Park provided a similar result. The 3-5 odds on choice
, Z Fortune, (Garrett Gomez up) showed nothing in the race running an even 5th most of the way to finish 5th. Instead, it was local horse
Sierra Sunset (Chris Emigh up) who stalked
Sacred Journey (Calvin Borel up) to prevail at 4-1. Longshots
King's Silver Son &
Isabull rounded out the $1,105 trifecta.
The San Felipe Stakes at a mile and a sixteenth at Santa Anita Park proved to be the formful race of the three.
Georgie Boy (Michael Baze up) stalked the pace at 7-5 and swung out in the stretch to just get up in the final strides over 7-2
Gayego (Mike Smith up). Speedball
Bob Black Jack (David Flores up) cut the fractions and was able to keep the fractions sensible. Despite that, he still was running out of gas at the end showing he may need a bit more maturity or he just cannot get the distance.
That's all for now. Looks like
Pyro is the Derby favorite at this juncture. More races to come.
May the horse be with you,
Racetrack Lenny
Fog, Cloudy, Clear
Yesterday's prep races put on display everything Mother Nature could throw at horses and more.
The Gotham Stakes (Grade 3) contested at a mile and a sixteenth at Aqueduct Race Track in New York caught the worse of it. The area had a major nor'easter that dumped up to 4 inches of rain. In between torrential downpours, there was dense fog in which you could not see any of the action. In fact, if you look at the chart of the race, all you see is the word "fog" thoroughout. Before the forecast for bad weather,
Giant Moon, was expected to be the favorite. However, since the track was a sea of slop, the bettors went wild over
Saratoga Russell whose previous race had been a 10+ length score in the slop at 6 furlongs. So, a horse that legitimately should have been about 6/1 to 10/1, got sent off the 8/5 favorite--even on the stretch out from 6 furlongs to the mile and a sixteenth.
Visionaire, who had run third to
Pyro last out, was dismissed as a 9/2 proposition because of the outside post position (post 10). Oh ye of little faith!
There were two things going against
Saratoga Russell: 1. He had never been around two turns and never been beyond 6 furlongs; so, he had every right to regress and 2. His pedigree suggested a sprinter versus a distance runner. My hunch proved correct as
Saratoga Russell, under Eibar Coa, managed to set the pace and then tire badly in the strecth to be defeated by better than 40 lenghts, OUCH! I boxed #3
Roman Emperor; #7,
Texas Wildcatter and #10
Visionaire (despite rider Jose Lescano).
Roman Emperor had run evenly last time out, had good "mud" breeding and I figured he just might get close enough to figure in the exactas.
Texas Wilcatter is a Todd Pletcher trainee who loves to gawk at the crowd when racing. Pletcher added blinkers for this outing and I thought that would pay off. It nearly did as
Texas Wildcatter literally came up a nose short to
Visionaire. The exacta paid $84.50 proving that even a blind squirrel finds a nut once in a while. Despite the fog,
Visionaire was closing fast and I like to see that in a horse. Look for him in the Wood Memorial at Aqueduct.
Also run yesterday was the mile and a sixteenth Louisiana Derby (Grade2) at The Fair Grounds in Louisiana. This was a deeply talented field which included
Pyro, Blackberry Road, Tale of Ekati, Majestic Warrior and J Be K. Of those,
Pyro truly impressed. He showed another dimension yesterday by stalking the slow pace being set by longshot
My Pal Charlie, who at 60/1 almost pulled off the upset, instead finishing 2nd.
Pyro (Shaun Bridgmohan up), took over in mid-stretch and won by 3 lenghts going away.
Blackberry Road, making his first start in a while raced an even 3rd most of the way and when the time came to get running, he could do no better than 4th. Very disappointing.
Tale of Ekati, trained by Barclay Tagg, was not a factor, racing 7th most of the way and finishing 6th.
Majestic Warrior, so impressive last year raced 5th most of the way and then flattened out to be a very non threatening 7th.
J Be K was the horse being touted as the "wise guy" horse with every chance to improve. He prompted the pace and then stopped badly in the lane to finish next to last.
Pyro seems to be the real deal.
Finally, Bay Meadows had its El Camino Real Derby (Grade 3) run at a mile and a sixteenth at Bay Meadows Race Track. Derby hopefuls
Nikki's Golden Steed, Behind At The Bar, and Coast Guard ran. Only
Nikki's Golden Steed (Jon Court up) managed to be on or near the lead to hold 2nd beaten by 62/1 longshot
Autism Awareness. Behind At The Bar raced a dismal 7th all the way before coming on a bit at the end to take 5th place. Favorite
Coast Guard (Aaron Gryder up) was a dreadful 8th showing nothing in the race.
Well, that's it for now. It's now wait until next week for the upcoming preps.
May the horse be with you!
Racetrack Lenny
The Bad Cat
El Gato Malo, Spanish for "The Bad Cat" turned out to be a bad cat in the Sham Stakes run at Santa Anita yesterday at a mile and an eighth. The race, run on the all-weather track, had two scratches. Both scratched horses were speed types; so, the race was now deprived of a legitimate pacesetter leaving limited chance for a closer like
El Gato Malo. Ridden by jockey David Flores,
El Gato Malo was sent off at 3/5, and was the victim of a paceless race. The quarter went in just shy of 25 seconds with a half in 50 seconds. When it came time for the real running to begin, the other Derby hopeful in the race,
Colonel John, Garrett Gomez up, stalked the pacesetter,
Victory Pete, and had enough left to hold off the late run by
El Gato Malo, who was steadily gaining but running out of racetrack.
Meanwhile at Turfway Park in Kentucky, three Derby hopefuls ran in the John Battaglia Stakes run at a mile and a sixteenth on their all-weather track. Favorite
Briarwood Circle, Patrick Husbands up, threw in a real clunker and was wide throughout finishing last.
Big Glen, James Lopez up, sat mid-pack throughout, began making his move but had to steady when
Halo's King began to back up. I don't think that cost
Big Glen the win; but, it may have gotten him third had he not been impeded. The stewards did not flash an inquiry.
Big Glen wound up finishing 4th. The other Derby hopeful,
Your Round, ridden by Victor Lebron, was went off 7/2 and actually had a 2 length lead at the top of the stretch and was beaten by nearly 2 lenghts when longshot
Absolutely Cindy went by to score at 19/1.
So, like last year at this time, the Derby picture is very fuzzy. We'll try to clear it up some next time.
May the horse be with you,
Racetrack Lenny
