Testa Rossi All Over the Place

[richiebee]

First things first best of luck to Covel\'s filly in the Ashland. Grade I stakes
are never easy, but the classy turf filly gets a bit of a break in the Ashland:
her competition is a combined 1/8 on synthetic surfaces; surface wise, a fairly
level playing field.

Interestingly, TR shows up in the Euro past performances of two stakes runners
this weekend. In today\'s Transylvania at Keeneland, Chad Brown\'s French bred
Pleuven ran 3rd in TR\'s maiden breaking win at Lyon-Parilly.

More interestingly (to me anyway) is Margot Machance, an English bred filly with a
French name and French trainer, who broke her maiden at Santa Anita on March 15,
her first try in the US, at odds of 10/1. This obscurely bred filly was third in
an allowance race in her first lifetime start at Maison-Lafitte, beaten a length
by a much more seasoned Testa Rossi, who had already won twice.

Margot Machance turns up in the Providencia, a Grade III at SA Saturday. The two
favorites in this race will be the 1/2 finishers in the China Doll, which was also
run on March 15: Diversy Harbor and Nashoba\'s Gold. The third place finisher in
the China Doll, Tiz Kissable, also returns in the Providencia. Both the China Doll
and Margot\'s maiden race were run at a mile; the TG # earned by Margot was very
close to the TG # earned by Diversy and Nashoba; while Diversy and Nashoba should
be 5/2 co faves, Margot could escape at much better odds.

Also best of luck to Covel\'s School on the Hill in the finale at Kee on opening
day; amazing how Jimmy\'s outside post bad karma continues.

[covelj70]

Richie, great oberservations and thanks so much for all of the good thoughts

I am anxious to see how that filly runs in California as well

One of the reasons we bought TR was that the company she was keeping in France kept showing up and running well in other races.

We looked at buying several of those horses over the summer and everytime we looked at another one, TR was beating them

It was just a really good crop of horses running against one another over there.

Thanks for the thoughts on School on a Hill as well.  I will happily trade that bad outside post for TR\'s perfect draw in the 6 hole tomorrow.

While he will lose alot of ground, I think I prefer him being outside anymway.  He\'s a horse that has talent (as his sheet suggests) but he shies away from horses when he gets down inside and/or crowded by others.  He\'s a small horse and that can happen sometimes with the small ones.  He\'s fast for this level but he hasn\'t shown any heart or courage in his races so I am laying off him today.

I actually can\'t even watch the race as today is my son\'s 11th birthday so I am taking him and his buddies to the Devils game tonight to celebreate and we are leaving at 5pm so we can watch pre-game warm ups and get dinner at the arena and I promised the other parents I would actually watch the kids and not be on my phone the whole time

[Wrongly]

Best of luck in the Ashland Jim.  I might be out there Saturday but it conflicts a bit the Uconn game.

FYI, we got a lot of rain last night as that storm moved through.  Weather is finally clearing with high winds. Should improve over the day but I\'ll be very surprised if they run turf races today.

[covelj70]

thanks man

they are off the turf today there

hope I get to see you tomorrow.  please text me and we can hook up, my wife will be there who you met before.  she\'s much more pleasant to talk to than I am on any day let alone a race day when I am nervous!

[drbillym]

McPeek was interviewed right after Rosalind\'s last race and mentioned several reasons for her poor performance and stated the Ashland was his goal.  Will use with TR.

[number5858]

Best of luck today in the Ashland. You know you have a chance, perhaps even a good chance. Hopefully, you will turn into a multi-Ashland winning owner. Enjoy.