There were plenty of both in the last couple of days but we will be brief.
Winners:
Two-Year Old Racing. All you had to do was see the explosive quick move Alex made in the Sanford opening Friday ar Saratoga last year to know he was areal runner. The distance question started then (half to Unforgettable Max) and was still going strong until about 3 hours ago.
Losers:
Those horses who started late, and were lightly raced. The beaten lengths today tell the story. The Derby results sometimes can be disregarded because of field size and trips. Horse who had promising springs were beaten several poles again today proving the stress of boths races, competition, big fields and crowds, were more than they could handle.
Winners:
Underrrated unknown jockeys. First we had Stu Elliot on Smarty, JJ on Ghostzapper, Friday Eibar on Eddington, and now J Rose on Alex. Plenty of backstabbers were out there trying to muscle these guys off but the connections stuck to them and they came thru. Other lessor name guys owe them a beer.
Losers:
Big Name Jocks. With some of the recent butcher jobs provided by Stevens and Desormeaux (Derby) and Bailey both races. People should realize an excuse from a Hall of Famer is just that. An excuse \"Till I find something better\".
Winners:
Racing as a whole. Another huge crowd, good story and continued momentum. No Triple Crown potential but Belmont Day will still be a Big Event.
Loser:
The Zito Juggernaut. In 15 days it has collapsed faster than the Taliban. He is a tough guy, he\'ll be back.
Silver Charm wrote:
> There were plenty of both in the last couple of days but we
> will be brief.
>
> Winners:
>
> Two-Year Old Racing. All you had to do was see the explosive
> quick move Alex made in the Sanford opening Friday ar Saratoga
> last year to know he was areal runner. The distance question
> started then (half to Unforgettable Max) and was still going
> strong until about 3 hours ago.
Silver, hes a FULL to Unforgettable Max. But Max is a good mile to 8.5 mark horses at two turns and thats where they should be running him.
results
> sometimes can be disregarded because of field size and trips.
> Horse who had promising springs were beaten several poles again
> today proving the stress of boths races, competition, big
> fields and crowds, were more than they could handle.
Good Point. Solid 2YO foundation is looking more important all the time.
>
> Winners:
>
> Underrrated unknown jockeys. First we had Stu Elliot on Smarty,
> JJ on Ghostzapper, Friday Eibar on Eddington, and now J Rose on
> Alex. Plenty of backstabbers were out there trying to muscle
> these guys off but the connections stuck to them and they came
> thru. Other lessor name guys owe them a beer.
>
> Losers:
>
> Big Name Jocks. With some of the recent butcher jobs provided
> by Stevens and Desormeaux (Derby) and Bailey both races.
I need a Preakness isolation on Bailey, its possible High Fly just didn\'t want to run today that Derby effort was a sapper.
> Loser:
>
> The Zito Juggernaut. In 15 days it has collapsed faster than
> the Taliban. He is a tough guy, he\'ll be back.
He\'ll be back with some of these same horses. High Fly is not done. Sun King needs to one turn mile. He\'s wasting him until he figures that one out. Bellamania has a Ohio and Pennsylvania Derby future but he\'s got to get him out there to do it.
I left out one more of each.
Loser:
The guy who posted on this Board last week that Lost in the Fog was the Best Three Year Old going.
Winners:
Delaware Park and Slots. Todays exacta was filled out by two horses who started their careers at Delaware. Surely a first. The two year old watch no longer starts with Saratoga and Del Mar. The politicians who are against slots but still expect the Racing Revenues in their State Budgets better wake up. They are about to see the money go where almost big business starts.
In Delaware.
Post Edited (05-21-05 22:12)
I\'m the guy who commented about Lost In the Fog. I said MAYBE and I stand behind it. I\'m also the guy who was defending Alex when some of you were dismissing him (as I just posted in another thread).
Alex is a real good horse as I and some others have said right along. Once again, read the archives.
Don\'t try to turn him into the second coming of Hindoo off what he did today.
Author: Bally Ache
Date: 05-15-05 06:11
>While you guys are going on and on about nothing (lost in the fog), this colt ran six in 1:07:01 on cruise control.
>Do you think maybe this is the best 3 yr. old in the country?
Re: Lost In The Fog
Author: big18741
Date: 05-15-05 09:00
>I\'m not so sure he can\'t stretch out,and this 3yo crop is average at best as of May 15th(including Afleet Alex)
>Start him off in a one turner at Belmont,and go from there.
Thought I would bring the exchange back up to refresh peoples memory. I will let the others be the judge of what was said. I stick by my comment.
Anybody care to commment on the Delaware Park exacta yesterday. Take that up to Albany (NY) and Frankfort (Ky) and give the anti-slots politicos a dose of reality.
Silver:
Slots already on the way in NY; eta March/ April 2006.
Yes the 1-2 finishers began at Del, as did High Limit. Do not forget, however, that the 1-2 finishers were also NYRA stakes winners.
Silver, the way I prefer to look at it is that Kentucky and NY are the only states where racing is still strong enough to survive without slots if they had to. IMO, no amount of slot machines will ever make Mountaineer, Delaware or Philly Park a racing venue which can compete with NY, KY
or Florida.
With regards to Lost in the Fog-- hypothetical one turn 1-1/8th race at Bel, full field, LITF and Alex included. What result? 1-1/16th? (No, Going Wild is not in the race)
Bizarre afterthought: Anyone notice that the 1-2 finishers in the DERBY both showed a running line to Class Handicapper\'s favorite colt, Texcess?
Post Edited (05-22-05 09:13)
Silver
If cashing the Preakness makes me a loser I\'m happy to accept the tag.
I was wrong about Afleet Alex.I was skeptical on him at classic distances.If you check previous posts-I tried to punch holes in him for his 1 of 5 route record not his excellent 5 of 5 sprint resume.I had a strong opinion on Scrappy T and posted repeatedly on him.I felt the three year olds were average at best as of May 15th.I was wrong only about Afleet Alex,but still managed to use him on top of Scrappy in the Preakness.
As of today this is still a below average crop of three year olds if you take AA and Lost in The Fog out of the mix.
Losers in my opinon would be the bettors who made Malibu Moonshine,Hals Image,Galloping Grocer,and Going Wild all shorter than 30-1.
One of those Texexcess races was the Delta Jackpot.
As in Delta Downs. The Road to the Triple Crown now goes thru Delta Downs and Delaware Park.
Both of the 1-2 finishers yesterday were forced to leave Delaware to achieve more money and notoriety. Things start slow and build, only a matter of time before a track like Delaware puts together a HIGH DOLLAR Juvy program that would give people an incentive TO NOT LEAVE. You have to get them to come there first then expand while the other juridictions are asleep at the wheel or locked up in some sort of fillibuster.
Not a single Ky Juvy from last years crop in the Preakness yesterday. And maybe one in the Derby. They better wake up quick. Delaware is only a DISH satellite away.
Post Edited (05-22-05 09:23)
They have to leave Delaware, they close in November and don\'t open until late April.
Stay at home until November, tuck away for the winter at Palm Meadows a couple of Preps at GP and return home for a meet that now starts the Early-March.
Kind of like what Past Preakness Champions used to do in New York and Kentucky.
IMO Delaware is already past its peak. They have a nitwit governor who banned smoking in casino. Handle went down significantly therefore purses went down.
What happens next year when Philly slots are on line? It\'s only 40-50 miles between Philly Park & Delpark. A lot of their handle has to be coming from PA. Del is still a relatively sparsely populated state.
If Md. ever gets its act together (HA!!) then delpark will be hurt. I think Pa. is in for a big surprise if they think slots alone will save them. At least Md. racing has tradition, and a better (but weakened) breeding industry.
Delaware draws from Philly, New Jersey, Delaware, and the Northern Maryland (Baltimore) crowd.
Philly thinks when slots are up and running their purses will be as big as NY.
NY says when there gaming is up and running they\'ll have $100,000 MDSpWt.
It will be a merry-go-round and none of it creates more good horses. Just inferior horses running for bigger purses as with state-breds.
Not really true Bally, they start running 100,000 MSW races, I think a few more people (me, for one) will get involved in the ownership side of the game.
Beyerguy
Years ago, I had a friend who owned a boat and then sold it. He used to say whenever he got the urge to buy another boat he would stand in the shower and rip up twenty dollar bills.
I think horse ownership falls into the same category (unless your wealthy).
No doubt, right now, its a losing proposition. It doesn\'t mean it will remain that way, there has to be a purse level that would allow it to be profitable. I won\'t go in uninformed, that is for sure.
Nice little string guys.
The guy who owned the boat had no revenue stream unless he charged the pals who went out with him.
Horse Stock is down state-side but what about in Japan. Sadler Wells the #1 sire in Europe was bred I believe at Claiborne Farm. Along with top Japan sires Forty Niner and Sunday Silence (Stone Farm). They all sold to the highest bidder.
With a better opportunity for a return on your investment there will be more owners. The risk will be less until the Breeders start getting higher bids for the sold offspring. Its simple supply and demand with regression risk analysis factored in.
As of now slots in Ky and NY is TALK. With both legislatures already having proved they are slow moving and consistently behind the curve who knows when there will be change. The others are already acting. Any slippage these two have already incurred, and don\'t kid yourself they have incurred some, they may never get it back.
Somebody correct me if this is wrong, but my understanding is NY already passed legislation a few years ago for video lottery terminals (whatever they are). The holdup is determining whether NYRA or someone else is going to have the racing franchise.
What a Joke.
VLT\'s are legal we just don\'t know who is allowed to do it.
winners: the owners of closing argument, who sold an equity interest in their horse right before the preakness (beaten by 25 lengths).
With some trepidation I suggest that we can add Giacomo and his connections and backers to the winners list.
Relative to the way this horse was brutalized by handicappers of all stripes after the Derby, his show effort in the Preakness has to be considered a quasi-vindication.
At a bare minimum, surely we must agree that he \"belongs\" with the good runners of his generation and that the Derby was not the fluke of the century.
sure
That was the second biggest paying Derby winner ever. Tgraphs tools pointed to impending bounces by all the big number horses. The fast pace was foreseeable. They can never take that away from him or those that cashed. Giacomo won the Derby.
hoss,
i think the handicapping public judged Gia fairly. they made him the third choice in the preakness and he came in third, losing by ten lengths. smith and shirreffs definitely make the winners list. it\'s good to see the classy people rise to the top of the sport at this time of the year.
Coffee hasn\'t totally kick in yet, but I think one of the reasons for delay in NY was that a group had sued challenging the constitutionality of the VLT law. About a year ago one court issued a decision that said VLTs where legal, but that sharing the dough with horse side was illegal, because per state const. all \"lottery\" $ had to go toward education. This ruling was appealed, and I think recently the highest court in NY issued a decision allowing both VLT operation and revenue split w/horsepeople.
Also during this time, the casino people partnering w/NYRA on VLT set-up didn\'t want to proceed until they knew what would happen in the court case and w/the franchise. I believe the state legislature just passed a law that said whoever gets the franchise inherits all obligations/licenses in re: VLTs.
Supposedly NYRA now believes VLTs will be up at AQU in early 2006; whether the court case and latest law really does move things forward is anybody\'s guess, given the way things happen here in Albany.
Thoroughbred Times and Bloodhorse web sites usually cover this stuff pretty well, probably can search their archives for more details on the court decision and the legislative action.