Biancone

[Chuckles_the_Clown2]

I\'m not really up on European racing. Can someone tell me what this guy has accomplished over there from a major race perspective? I\'m outta the loop.

What bothers me is a statement he made about Brancusi. To my knowledge Brancusi ran in the Derby and never ran again. He finished last. I know never running again  can be said about a lot of horses, including Baffert\'s Indian Charlie and I believe Indian Express as well.Brancusi cost 375K and certainly had a Derby horse pedigree:

http://www.pedigreequery.com/index.php?query_type=horse&search_bar=horse&h=BRANCUSI4&g=5&inbred=Standard&x2=n&pedloggedin=0

Saturday he brings a 1.4 million horse into the Derby that won\'t let another horse run in front of him:

http://www.pedigreequery.com/index.php?query_type=horse&search_bar=horse&h=LION%20HEART2&g=5&inbred=Standard&x2=n&pedloggedin=0I

But this is what the frog said about Brancusi:

\"The main thing is we tried to make Brancusi a Derby horse,\" Biancone said. \"This year we have a Derby horse.\":

http://www.drf.com/tc/kentuckyderby/2004/news.html#story3

Sheez, NOW HE TELLS US.

[pgsheets]

Didn\'t Brancusi crack a hoof at the 1/2 mile pole ?
I seem to remember him running again later in the year, but I\'m wrong more often than not.

[MO]

I seem to recall a rought trip.

[Michael D.]

CtC,
he accomplished everything there was to accomplish in france..... the arc included, a couple of times i think. brancusi never was a real good race horse. he had some some speed, and loads of distance breeding on both sides, so biancone and tabor tried to turn him into a derby horse, as they say.

[Chuckles_the_Clown2]

I looked Biancone up. His main claim to fame is what he accomplished on the grass with \"All Along\".  He\'s got some other accomplishments, but he\'s very much in the Dickinsen category...reaching into new ground:

http://www.thoroughbredtimes.com/tc/contenders/person.asp?PersonID=971

[MO]

The dual qualifier theory was \"jubulently stomped on\" when Strike The Gold won, so I suppose there\'s a 1st time for everything.

[Chuckles_the_Clown2]

agreed MO

You gotta break in somewhere. A shrewd trainer can come from anywhere and you just have to recognize when he\'s upon you.

I remember the 92 Breeders Cup. Pre computer betting, Pre multiple signal simulcasting. Real paper racing form. Ink on the fingers.

I saw a horse entered in the B.C. sprint by a trainer I didn\'t know from California. He was a gelding and obviously ouchy. Big race spacing, but every time he came back to the races, he came back running. He was really motoring on the layoff. I looked him over in the Paddock and realized he\'d shipped all the way from Kalifornia and I liked what I saw. I liked his 39 year old trainer. He was quick and jovial and you could tell he wasn\'t an ordinary type horseman. I liked the fact he was West Coast Speed and would probably be on the pace, which was important at Hallandale that year. The horse was Thirty Slews and he won a tight one over Meafara at about 18-1. It was that trainers first year with a thoroughbred license and there he was at the Breeders Cup. He\'s gone on to win three derbys, three preaknesses and a belmont and had a 2nd and two 3rds in the Derby, if I\'m not mistaken.



Post Edited (04-27-04 23:19)

[bdhsheets]

Biancone had All Along, Sagace and Strawberry Road, winning the Arc with the first two in the mid eighties, if memory serves. Trained for Daniel Wildenstein. Busted in Hong Kong for horses testing positive.

One would think his forte would be turf racing, but in 121 starts over the last 3yrs he has a whopping 7% win percentage vs 16% overall.

[Chuckles_the_Clown2]

thx bdlsheets

I looked up some more. Youre correct in everything you said. He was a young phenom in Europe with All Along and Sagace. A lot of time has passed..he went to Hong Kong and thats Turf racing there. His American horses have tended to be speedsters ...my gut says he\'s searching for the formula. But hasn\'t really been as hot as he was back in the mid eighties.

http://espn.go.com/horse/columns/misc/1761916.html

[bdhsheets]

Chuckles:

FWIW: A great website for racing in the UK [they do pay attention to other Euro racing  LOL as in France....heh, heh, heh Hong Kong and the USA] is the Racing Post www.racingpost.co.uk/horses

One can look up results for races over the past TEN years or look up a horse or trainer [not that looking for Biancone would work, lol] i.e. Castledale has done the SA Derby ducking in business before. They put the DRF to shame.