Anyone remember the post last year where Jake tried to give Ragozin credit for Lava Man, saying \"client\" Doug O\'Neill was responsible for the claim?
O\'Neill, in today\'s Thoroughbred Times on-line:
\"I told them he wasn\'t worth it when he was in for $62,500, and I even tried to talk them out of taking him at $50,000. That\'s how smart I was\".
Conratulations to owner Steve Kenly, who claimed Lava Man using Thoro-Graph, on the sweep of the big California races.
But he won\'t get the best number in this one.
Questions to better understand your thoughts and \"position\" in the food chain AFTER horse has been purchased.
Last race,Court was told previous to race to stay away from rail and certain comments were later made by you that sounded like a jock change would be a positive.
This race he goes 3 and 4 wide.Now many jocks would have done the same,and some would have tucked him in behind #5, Magnum, well before the first turn.
Gomez stole 2nd money by plying his trade and using his brain simultaneously.
I\'ve never seen a horse so lathered out like the 8 was before the race.For this animal to obtain place money is an indication of how weak this field was.
One look at the form and a 10 year old would observe that sitting behind the gray would have bought you at the very least 200k.
What was the jock thinking?The trainer?The connections? OUCH!
And for anyone else responding ,this IDEA of tucking him in and whether he had room, isn\'t an afterthought--the race was LOST at that point and easy detected while sitting on my rear saying\'HERE WE GO AGAIN!\"
David-- my responsibilities and authority vary from client to client and trainer to trainer with a particular client, from total control with Graph to less so in other cases. This particular ride is a sore point with me, since I did send an e-mail with suggested instructions, and they were not the ones given to the jockey (\"drop in behind the speed and save ground\" became \"sit third\", with no mention of saving ground). On paper, those two things could have worked out to be the same thing-- but in fact the jock rode to instructions. Just not mine.
Oh well, it was just a million dollar race. Matches up well with the trip SF got in the same race next year.
One of the best performances of SF\'s career showing good early tactical speed.On TV Cerin said( before the race) they were going for it ALL with the owners blessing and were tired of finishing second/third.
The winner,LM, will not get the best Tg fig but ran the best race by far, fighting all off early and holding sway late.SF looked great physically.
it was fun to watch Lava Man\'s last win of the year...he really exploded away from them...anyone bet he\'ll have a mysterious ailment 3 wks before BC?
TGJB Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> David-- my responsibilities and authority vary
> from client to client and trainer to trainer with
> a particular client, from total control with Graph
> to less so in other cases. This particular ride is
> a sore point with me, since I did send an e-mail
> with suggested instructions, and they were not the
> ones given to the jockey (\"drop in behind the
> speed and save ground\" became \"sit third\", with no
> mention of saving ground). On paper, those two
> things could have worked out to be the same
> thing-- but in fact the jock rode to instructions.
> Just not mine.
>
> Oh well, it was just a million dollar race.
> Matches up well with the trip SF got in the same
> race next year.
That has to be very frustrating having a horse sitting on this A Cycle while poor communication and poor jockey decisions deprive the animal of the elite black type and the larger slices of the mega purse. (Actually, its time for the big race purses to become more lucrative.) Super Frolic is not going to dominate his competition, but he should have notched a 10 pole Grade I or at least been right there. My personal belief is that he lost the B.C. Classic on the break. Others may disagree with that, but they are not going to influence me. I\'ve known the truth about many things before some realized it.
As far as the Pacific Classic being weak sure don\'t know where that comes from. Not really worried about how washy Good Reward looked, thats part of the routine. Trade Jockeys with Good Reward and Frolic makes that one very, very interesting.
That winner is a good horse. He could be compromised by more early speed, but which is the last horse to win the Santa Anita Handicap the Hollywood Gold Cup and the Pacific Classic?
Weak field indeed.
By the way TGJB, congrats on that Del Mar contest. Now the pressure is really on. Not in Vegas...Here! You have to prove it every day now.
lol
P.S. Frolics jockey......Berjarano, The kid, whats his name.....Afleet Alex\'s jockey, or back to Espy. These other guys are killing you.
Maybe that last one and the ground lose will make a lasting impression on everyone involved and you can chalk it up for experience . It never ceases to amaze me how wide jockeys are riding in So Cal - no attempt to save even a little ground at least on turn seems normal these days .
mets are going to the world series , no yanks though ...
i think lava man will be fine.. in fact they should just give him rest til BC day... they saved saint liam last year to give him rest and he ran a great race and won
\"Cerin said( before the race) they were going for it ALL with the owners blessing and were tired of finishing second/third\"
I\'m a nobody compared to these folks but wouldn\'t \"going for it all\" pragmatically mean giving you the best chance of winning by taking a risk as opposed to \"playing it safe\"... for example, a ground saving trip with the possibility of traffic as opposed to clear and wide?
In any case, very encouraging and still under the radar. Will be a useful bomb again in the BC with the tactical speed and staying power, assuming he stays fit and gets along with the new jock.