Smart move by Tagg going in Jim Dandy instead of against Big Brown at Monmouth Raceway.
I\'m unloading if TOE is anything close to his 10-1 morning line.
Good Luck,
Joe B.
JBel...the skies opened up like Noah had his boat already loaded. Hail....cats and dogs...lightning...you name it it was a bad time to be out ...not everyone made it from the Track to their cars after the last race......Turf is in question tomorrow after that deluge
NCTony
I sense that Macho Again is going to run a new top and win.
very tough race. all bets off if it comes up sloppy.
Tiz Now - female family traces back to the great Phipps producer Resolver. \'2\' first time dry dirt, expecting similar or a touch better. big weight break.
Anak Nakal - didn\'t want the 10f or 12f. \'5.5\' top last year, \'2.5\' top in the Wood. looking for a run in the \'2-3\' range.
Mint Lane - two fast efforts in a row, and comes in on three weeks. dangerous if loose on the lead, but Da T should provide company.
Pyro - they dulled his run prepping for the 10f Derby, but it appears as though Pyro is back. negative 1 last year, negative \'0.5\' last with a 30 second final 5/16. good post. gets pace. looks tough here.
Tale of Ekati - big new top in the Wood. didn\'t want the 10f or 12f. looking for a run in the \'1\' range cutting back to 9f, but 123 lbs does not help.
Da Tara - I expect this guy to pop again before long, but he gets a pace partner in Mint Lane, and totes 123 lbs.
Macho Again - looks like a 1 turn horse to me, but the \'2.5\' Preakness run looks competitive at 115 lbs.
Alaazo - a tad slow.
let\'s see what the odds looks like. not sure the ml is going to hold. have to use Pyro, and TNTT will be the other key if the odds drift up.
Do we need any more evidence that TOE will be best suited to middle distances?
Dear Mr. Barclay Tagg,
There is a little race on August 30th called the Forego Handicap. It\'s a Grade I, 3 & up, going 7 furlongs. Will you please run Tale of Ekati in that race so I can bet my lungs?
Nice call.
How much do you charge for daily picks?
Halo--
The cut back in distance seems to be logical.
More than your lungs, I am more concerned with TOE\'s throat.
How strong would you feel betting TOE if you learned that he had undergone a
myectomy? As far as I know he has not had this procedure yet but his races of
late seem to point to him benefitting from any procedure which will improve his
breathing.
I still contend that this colt has the pedigree to win, long or short, at the
Spa. Tale of the Cat won the King\'s Bishop and was second in the Whitney. From
TOE\'s female side you have Maplejinsky and Sky Beauty, each of whom won the
Alabama.
In further support of his Spa sprint pedigree, you have his 3rd dam, Gold
Beauty, winner of the Test Stakes in 1980.
I did not make that large a bet on TOE today, partially because of a depleted
bankroll from Saturday, resulting mainly from me being a \"Comment-hater\". I
guess its time for me to give some credit to Nick Zito and his gelding, the
fastest NY bred Slow Rat of all time.
phenomenal call on Macho.
Amazing that he went slower than overnight stakes in the race before carrying less weight and still won. Another testament to the lack of quality classic distance horses this year after Brownie.
Macho will be carrying full freight and presumably facing tougher (an improving Mambo in Seattle and some from the Haskell) in the Travers and will likely be a good bet against there.
Again, great call.
Rich,
How would I feel if ToE had a myectomy? Let me put it this way. I would be very comfortable playing him with the myectomy, the turnback, and getting ten pounds from Benny the Bull. Not to mention double digit odds.
ToE had a perfect trip in The Wood. He more than likely won because they crawled home.
ToE had a perfect trip in The Derby. As much as he tried, he just couldn\'t sustain his bid and finished up a decent fourth.
The Belmont was a toss for me. I was there and he was a nervous wreck before the race.
Again today, ToE had a picture perfect trip. In fact, today\'s race was like a mirror image of The Wood. Even down to Da\'Tara looking like War Pass battling on the lead. He sat right off of dueling leaders, made the lead at the head of the lane, and proceeded to finish a well beaten fourth. All this with a :13 second final eighth. Not impressed with him or the whole race for that matter.
I do know he\'s not a grass horse. His work was reported to be sub-par.
I do know he\'s gone through his two-year-old top, so he\'s obviously moving in the right direction.
Maybe you\'re right about the throat. I just know this horse is better than what he\'s showing right now, and my gut is telling me distance.
thanks, I see via the redboard that TG also like him...I\'m mystified on the last race - knocked me out of everything...turf sprinters, I have 3 to end the day - # 4,6,7 - thinking it\'s in the bag...and two, not one, horses fly home @ 15:1...nothing to show for macha again.
Shan
\"IF\" the 10 only finished 3rd or 4th and not second, I hit the Super. Had the 5 to win tho....I am still feeling the rush...
NC Tony
Good for you, Tony...you know what? I had a good day Sunday, too. I played 4 Del Mar races - last 4 on card, super/tri/ex in each race, using 6 horses in all bets...might have learned some money management techniques after all these years...keep you posted.
How\'s the back?
Does anyone else think Tale of Ekati would have drowned Best Defence?
There is no doubt in my mind that he would have.
What exactly is Mr. Barclay Tagg thinking?
I\'m fully aware that Harlem Rocker was at fault, however, this was a gutsy call by the stewards with so much at stake. Grade I, nice purse, and enormous impact on the breeding industry.
I\'d like to applaud the stewards (for a change) for making the right call, even though this might attract some heat.
Nice job.
The finish was too close for the stewards to ignore Harlem Rocker drifting in taking TOE\'s path. Pletcher ill after Coa told him that HR was pulling himself up as soon as he made the lead in deep stretch.
TOE snapped an 0 for 50ish streak for Tagg in NY.
Mike
Different opinion here - caught both ways so no animosity. TOE took up briefly off his heels after HR swooped by and lugged in (no doubt), but had every chance to run with him prior and to run him down after shifting out - he didn\'t, and it didn\'t cost him a placing. They should have let it stand.
twoshoes Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Different opinion here - caught both ways so no
> animosity. TOE took up briefly off his heels after
> HR swooped by and lugged in (no doubt), but had
> every chance to run with him prior and to run him
> down after shifting out - he didn\'t, and it didn\'t
> cost him a placing. They should have let it stand.
he had a chance to overcome the trouble, yes. that is irrelevant.
the trouble definitely cost ToE the nose he lost by.
that horse comes down every time.
HR is lucky to get 2nd money here. if Bribon doesn\'t bump hard with the very unfortunate Zito horse at the 1/4 pole, he probably runs down both of them. AS also had trouble back there, and he was flying as well.
Didn\'t see it that way, he wouldn\'t have been in trouble if he ran with the winner in the first place. I understand the call, but I wouldn\'t have made it on any race on the card, particularly a Grade I. Just my opinion. Matter of semantics but, if HR had won by 2 do they make the same call? The lug in and the brief steady being all the same? Like I wrote, I don\'t care so much from a wagering standpoint, for some reason it just rubbed me the wrong way. End of comment on my part. I get the DQ, and I\'m not burning down the stewards box, I just don\'t agree with this call. I\'m sure others will see it differently.
Micheal,
I have to disagree with you about HR. HR was sawed off at the break and that cost him position & a number of lenghts. I also disagree that he was lucky to get second money, and feel he was unlucky to not win the whole thing.
Look for PETA at the big A tomorrow. What a sad end to a classy, fast horse in WB. Kinda surprised Johnny didn\'t ease up on him as he was clearly off his game. Coa doesn\'t strike me as the brightest bulb in the jock\'s room. He had no reason to spank HR right handed
Buck,
With all due respect, this race was not the fourth at Aqueduct on a Thursday afternoon.
I don\'t like Coa as a person or a rider, however, I find no misbehavior with him. He sensed a huge win and went for it. This horse just bore in way too much after a right handed stick. After all, these aren\'t two year olds we\'re talking about here.
Point taken Halo but if you watch the head on again, HR drifted in a few feet before the right handed stick.
Buck,
I just went back to look at the race for the umpteenth time, and you are absolutely correct. HR was bearing in BEFORE Coa applied the stick. However, HR certainly wasn\'t beyond control.
Makes me think; isn\'t a world class rider, during a world class race, supposed to keep a world class racehorse on a straight path?
I have to believe that Pletcher makes a change next start.
P.S. - Coa used to ride Tale of Ekati.
Halo,
Wow!you know these horses do not come with steering wheels or brakes. No jock is powerful enough to strong arm a horse when there begin to veer.COA is actually a bit of a daredevil on the track but he\'s a good strong aggressive rider.As you may know, he has his detractors in the game.
Someone commented as to what if HR had won by two. Simple, the foul would have been ruled \"insufficient\" and he would have stayed.With the finish being a nose, the foul was considered \"sufficient\" to change the outcome. This call, in NY, was pretty much in line with how the stewards have ruled in the past in similar cases.
Mike
I`ve seen prado do the same thing in the breeders cup at belmont to ticket to Paradise. the stewards let it stand possible because it was a califorina horse and rider and prado was the winning jock.
Literally adding insult to injury, the race caller didn\'t have the decency to even mention Wanderin Boy\'s injury. The gallant old warrior deserved better. I\'m sick of announcers making believe that something we all saw with our own eyes never happened. Occasionally we\'ll hear that an injured horse has pulled up, but to not even mention a fatal injury to such a classy horse is disgraceful. They are obviously following management orders to hush up injuries, but if this is NYRA\'s idea of public relations, it sucks.
Bob
I thought this call could have gone either way, which means he should have stayed up. Far too many horses are taken down for minor infractions.
We should let the finish line decide the winner, with DQs only for the most serious infractions (which this was not). The inconsistency in steward rulings can be maddening, and for those affected on the negative end it is a real turnoff to the sport.