Sometimes I wonder......

[jimbo66]

I guess it is hard to criticize the connections of a horse that had won 5 or 6 races in a row, but what is Storm Mesa doing in a 1 1/8 turf race at Delmar?

I think a part owner was posting on this board for a while, and I even remember him asking after the Iowa or Lonestar race \"how do you recommend getting this horse to the BC distaff\".  Well, the answer wasn\'t race in two turf races.

The horse ran a negative 4 sprinting, the fast TG figure ever given for a 3 year old fillie (and I am not sure if there have been faster for older fillies either).  The fillie backs up a bit going a route.

So, now after two turf races, what do you do?

This move by Calhoun now leaves you not knowing what you have.  One more race maybe before the BC races and he doesn\'t know if he has a sprinter, a router or a turfer.  

Bad bad management.....

Too bad, she looked like a real special filly.

[Caradoc]

Jimbo: Bad management? I\'ve been around long enough to remember Joe Cantey running Temperence Hill back two weeks after winning the Belmont in the Hill Prince, then and now a minor grass stakes.  By that comparison, this isn't so bad.  

Still, it doesn\'t make a lot of sense.  A better plan would have been either to 1) point to the Test or the Alabama (the latter a prestigious Grade I, with a purse of 100K more than the combined purses of the San Clemente and the Del Mar Oaks) or 2) give her a short break and point to the fall races.  She really doesn\'t have a grass pedigree and has been in training for at least a year, so the latter course may have been better in any case.  But even if you were going to take her to California, it was not sensible to run her in both the San Clemente and the Del Mar Oaks.  They are only 21 days apart which nowadays qualifies as a short turnaround.  Note that the horses that ran well in the San Clemente and ran back yesterday in the Oaks generally did not perform well.

[jimbo66]

Agree with you Caradoc about the potential campaign in the east.  Based on the negative 4 coming in a sprint, my \"guess\" is that horse wants to sprint.  The test would have been a great choice.  But if they wanted to stretch her out and test her longer, maybe a prep then the Alabama, that also would have made sense.

Maybe Calhoun doing what is best for him, rather than the horse (he doesn\'t come east)?

Hard to figure what to do with the horse now.  Too bad, because a filly that can run negative 4, let alone as a 3 year old, should be handled better than this.

[BitPlayer]

For what it\'s worth, there were interviews with Calhoun on TVG both yesterday and before the San Clemente.  One reason Calhoun gave for putting Storm Mesa on the grass as opposed to running in NY was that he thinks she prefers a \"tight\" surface.  Christina Olivares also mentioned that Calhoun had said (off camera, I think) that he wanted to avoid Indian Blessing (hence, no Test).

I note that Lethal Heat, who ran third yesterday despite chasing the pace, ran just a week earlier.

[fkach]

When I look at Storm Mesa\'s overall record, IMO she looks like an improving 3YO that just sort of freaked in that one sprint effort against much weaker horses than she would have faced in NY. I really don\'t see all that much evidence to suggest she\'s better sprinting. In fact, her turf debut looks pretty good to me too.

I looked at the charts for the day she put up that very fast figure. I\'m not really familiar with LS or those horses, but I think you could make a little case that the sprints certainly weren\'t tough on speed horses setting fast fractions that day. A few kept running. I sort of doubt she\'s as good as that figure suggests.

I don\'t think it was a horrible decision to try the turf given that she won a Grade 2 on it. It seems as though they knew she could handle it. Why not try it again given that she won a Grade 2 on it first time?

Personally, I think Indian Blessing and the Test would have been too much. However, now that she ran a weaker race, they probably need to re-evaluate. Maybe she needs a rest. If not, a return to sprinting just to make sure she\'s not just better going short makes some sense.

I doubt I would have handled her this way, but I don\'t think any blatant mistakes were made.

[Caradoc]

Bit: Two points.  First, Lethal Heat\'s line makes for no comparison with Storm Mesa.  She neither ran a gutbuster in the spring nor had a deteriorating line.  The question is whether, among all horses, you should run a horse with a gutbuster in the recent past and a deteriorating line twice in 21 days on a strange surface.  Second, Lethal Heat is trained by Barry Abrams, one of the last (if not the last) of the short-turnaround masters.  The normal rules regarding short rest seemingly do not apply to Barry\'s trainees.

[fkach]

One thing that should be considered about this result is that the winner and place horse were 42-1 and 32-1 respectively and rallied from last and next to last. Sometimes a result like that is telling you something about the race development that isn\'t that obvious.

[jimbo66]

Was wondering what TGJB was going to say about Storm Mesa, as I posted this back in August on the fillie.  The negative 4 was huge, now the connections are hoping she can run a 3 on turf, to win today.  Third straight route turf race after the huge number sprinting on dirt.  i know calhoun is a high percentage trainer, but I wonder what he is thinking.

Funny thing is that I think she fits in today\'s race, even though I don\'t think she should be routing on turf.  She has a nice post, Eddie Martin should be told to GUN to the lead and NOT TAKE HER BACK, like he did in the two turf races.  She is the speed of the race if she leaves the gate and will save ground on both turns through what should be slowish fractions.  If she could ever get 1 1/8 miles, today would be the day.