Saturday 9/19 Sara-- Alabama Stakes.
Pine Island, Adieu and Teammate arguably the fastest of the field off their TGs. PI and Adieu posted lifetime bests in their last race, equalling Teammate\'s Gulfstream number.
Adieu is more experienced and won a stake at the Spa as a 2YO. She has never been this far, but won her 2- turn debut, the Delaware Oaks, rather easily. The word miler is usually associated with Adieu\'s sire El Corredor, but his TG sire profile shows a decent number at a mile or over. (Q? why can\'t TG make a TGI # for 9f and over?).
I will be looking for Pine Island and Wonder Lady to be bet as the 2 faves. PI moved forward quickly when stretching to 10 furlongs in a muddy Coaching Club, but still has not won over a fast track.
Wonder Lady Anne L has some brilliant wins on her resume, especially considering she was once sold at auction for 8K. She has much more \"bottom\" than PI or Adieu, but has never put two winning efforts together in her short career.
I will use Adieu and the two Allen Jerkens entrants in the middle of a P3 which begins with...
Saturday 8/19 Sara -- Yaddo Stakes
Sabellina is fastest, classiest and has two Spa turf wins. Favored and has to be used. But I will also use Finlandia, who got taken out pretty severely on the turn in her last. Finlandia made 5 starts on the turf as a 3YO. In four of those starts, her TGs ranged from 18 - 10. The other turf start was at the Spa and resulted in a TG# 7. Trainer Bush en fuego (15- 5-3-1) at the Spa (the Burning Bush?).
Note on On the Bus: Since K Ram is involved we will never know the truth about why this mare is racing in foal. I could see the point of trying to win a Graded Stake with her, but her value is not really enhanced by her winning another 100K NYB stake. Not only is she coming off of a win, she has worked brilliantly since that race.
Sorry K Ram, I don\'t trust you. Never have. It may later be announced that the mare was not in foal after all... or maybe a mare in foal is producing chemicals which could be a masking agent for performance enhancing drugs.(Too many Dick Francis novels). (Q? Is this mare ultrasounded before each race to detect foal?)
Sunday August 20 -- Del Mar Pacific Classic
I guess if you like Perfect Drift, you have to bet him to win because there is probably no value left betting him place or underneath in gimmicks. As camera shy, and apparently as sound, as any horse that I can remember.
Gotta go golf. Best of luck in all wagers.
Nice going richiebee w/ that wknd race analysis and good luck too , not that you\'ll need it ... ( same as I tell JB ) but maybe in your Golf Game though - They got \" Miniature Golf \" up there ? I never could lose that baseball swing ...
I like SF in the Pacific Classic ( and for the next few races ) w/ 3 over as savers .
In the Yaddo I\'m hoping that , and in the words of Little Richard , \" The Beauty Is On Duty \" .
I settled on Teamate becouse of the price in the \'bama ...
the Yaddo - I can\'t make heads or tials as they all seem pretty slow - much slower than the par time indicates...much slower. maybe time for someone going that route 1st time - although the finlandia comment is right on.
a horse ran in foal here on thursday - del mar - and wired the field form the 11 hole...
I need help @ the spa with the 8th race.
the fav, sabellina, looks too tough for me in the ny bred stks race.
i also like the fav, pine island, on top in the alabama.
underneath, miss shop interests me a bit. has private account and majestic prince on bottom, and she was running pretty well at the end of her last. if she gets a good pace to run at, she could be there late.
pyramid love also has a decent pedigree to stretch out. not sure what biancone is up to with the :46 work and blinkers. speculative though, need huge odds.
hope to have something more interesting for the Dmr races.
good luck
Richie,
good call on finlandia.
also good read on teammate. she ran well enough to win this race most years. pine island was brilliant though. it\'s great to see shug back in the winners circle in a big one at the spa.
Thank you, Michael.
Good to see Shug and the Chief, two Hall of Fame trainers who are still doing it the old fashioned way, front and center in a big event. If I\'m not mistaken, each of them has now won the Alabama 3 times.
right on richiebee - he\'s ( shug ) re-inventing the model of how it\'s done - maybe he\'ll rub off a little on the competition .
Usually I have zero interest in listening to trainers in TV interviews etc ( like zito pletchr lukas and many many others - alot of them ) becouse you know their talking fast and you know their talking out of both ides of their mouth - I can get a real sense of where their coming from ...
This particular trainer however is definately the real genuine article and always is worth listening too on any number or variety of issues when appearing on interviews , it seems like shug \" actually \" knows how he got to where he is ... - hows golf ?
Marcus:
Was in your neighborhood Fri morning, grabbing some potato and egg from DeFontes on the way home from work.
The only golf which matters today will be played outside the Windy City. A lot of young guns have a chance to \"make their bones\" by beating the Tiger today, but Tiger has proven to be very tough when he gets on the lead.
It\'s no accident that Shug trains for the Phipps\' who race what they breed and and breed what they race. Keeping their horses sound and healthy is crucial to them. This is in stark contrast to the current trend in the industry to pump horses full of steroids so they can breeze a fast furlong and bring huge prices at the auctions. They are then raced too fast, too early on drugs that push them beyond there soundness limitations. When the inevitable breakdowns occur, they are wisked off to stud to produce more horses that can only run on drugs.
Shug, like Jerkins, is a beautiful anachronism and the game needs more like him.
Bob