A Plea to Sheikh Mohammed

[Silver Charm]

My friend you are racings greatest fan. Without a doubt one of the all time legends in the sport you so dearly love tracing back over its 1,000 year (?) history. You have given much much more than you have taken.

Your dream and vision of winning the Kentucky Derby with a horse trained in your home base, with your home base trainer is the same one dreamed here every fall, winter and spring. Get up early in the morning, see how the stock is doing, watch their training, planning day by day for their ultimate goal. Once things start to come together it can become not only energizing but almost addicting. Consuming.

This year I hope you succeed. But with that I must say I am being selfish.

You just acquired two of the best american based two year olds, Vineyard Haven and Midshipman, or next years top Derby prospects. I am sure you paid good money as you always do and it was fair a deal for everyone. Certainly the sellers.  

But here is where I get selfish. As a big racing fan I wake everyday in the late fall, over winter and during early spring watching and thinking about how the Big Horses are doing leading up to the Kentucky Derby. This year the big days starting in early February and going on until mid-April may not seem so big because the big horses are not here. Maybe others come along. Nobody knew who Big Brown really was this time a year ago, so who knows.

But recognizable names like trainers Bobby Frankel and Bob Baffert are good for the American sport and even better leading up to the Triple Crown Trail. They give good copy to the press and can deliver on race day if their athlete is up to it by the time he starts blooming as he turns three. They also create a buzz leading up to the big day for the less than knowledgable fans because they at least know who they are. This helps people here sell the game.

I hope I see you in the winners circle on the first Sat in May. With the garland of roses wrapped around the one of those two horses necks. I hope you get the self satisfaction of saying \"I always wanted to keep trying to do this because I knew one day we could do it\".

And then once have you given yourself a well deserved pat on the back. Remember what I said above, the part about those being our heros too.

And then remember what I said about you being someone who has always given much much more to the sport than he has ever taken.........

[smalltimer]

Silver,
it ain\'t gonna work.  You\'re still gonna pay 1.99 for gas.

[richiebee]

Silver:

1)Godolphin Stables has an excellent and extensive website where you can follow
the daily progress of any of their runners in training.

2)For all of his great horsemanship skills, Sheikh Mo has not won a major
race ie (Derby or Breeders Cup) on the dirt as far as I recall. One day
he will catch on and leave the prospects which American trainers such as Kiaran
McLaughlin (sp?) and Thomas Albertrani (sp?) develop with those trainers
instead of immediately transferring them to the bin Suroor (sp?) barn.

3)If you are going to appeal to Sheikh Mo, feel free to jump on the bandwagon
which I have been pushing for at least a year-- we need Sheikh Mo to get
involved with US racetrack ownership. SM is far too shrewd to get bogged down in
NYRA\'s quicksand, but the Magna properties are imminently purchasable and
likely priced for quick sale.

Silver I have to like you because you love the Racing game. But on election
night I seem to remember that you posted that President Bush is \"a good man
from a good family\". I am a non practicing Jew who passes by Ground Zero five
times a week. That being the case, it is difficult for me to forgive or forget
that the Bush family allegedly banked Nazi money in the 1930s and formed an
unholy alliance with the Saudi royal family in the 1980s. (I am not as extreme
as the Bush bashers who believe that bin Laden will emerge from the basement of
the White House on January 19.)

And to be honest, the \"good man/good family\" quip was not your most outrageous
piece of poppycock, for I seem to remember that you declared that a Saturday
10 race Saratoga card which featured 5 maiden races was a \"great day of Racing.\"

I am all for your positive attitude in general, but sometimes you have to call
a pile of crap a pile of crap.

[richiebee]

Silver Charm Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
   
 
> But recognizable names like trainers Bobby Frankel
> and Bob Baffert are good for the American sport
> and even better leading up to the Triple Crown
> Trail. They give good copy to the press and can
> deliver on race day if their athlete is up to it
> by the time he starts blooming as he turns three.
> They also create a buzz leading up to the big day
> for the less than knowledgeable fans because they
> at least know who they are. This helps people here
> sell the game.


Silver:

Amidst the flowery prose, it seems as if you are trying to weave Bobby Frankel
into the Kentucky Derby tapestry.

I will let you do the research. Bobby Frankel, obviously one of the best in the
game, has held a trainer\'s license since [19  ](fill in the blank). Since that
time he has saddled [  Derby runners],with [   winners].

In my humble opinion, the best three horsemen/trainers I have had the pleasure
to watch are H. Allen Jerkens, William I. Mott and Bobby Frankel. They are
listed in that order because the \"Chief\" is the elder statesman of the three,
and a lot of Frankel\'s great work has been accomplished on a California circuit
I do not follow that closely. As to Mr. Mott, I worked for him as a groom and
competed against him as a trainer 25 or so years ago and did not acquit myself
too well in either case. And I must remind some of the young turks on this
board that Billy Mott was a tremendous claiming trainer in the Midwest before
he was discovered by the Firestones and John Franks and Allen Paulson.

But as usual, I digress. What do these three training titans have in common
other than a spot on Union Avenue in Saratoga in Racing\'s Hall of Fame? An
absolute lack of success in the Kentucky Derby. The number of Derbys won by
these 3 is, well, a nice round number.

I have a theory about this. Winning the Kentucky Derby usually starts with a
battle plan which begins with a 2YO flashing talent in a stakes race in the
fall. At that point, owner and trainer have to begin planning five, six, seven
months into the future, to send a young horse into a battle it is likely he is
not physically or mentally prepared for. I do not think the three above
mentioned trainers are comfortable trying to train a young horse on such a
demanding schedule, and none of the three seem to be obsessed with Derby glory.

Is it possible that Sheikh Mo paid Frankel and Joe Torre and their partners
the equivalent of the Derby winner\'s share for Vineyard Haven without the two
guys from Brooklyn having to sweat out the pressure of the Derby trail and the
possibility that VH might never compete in the Derby??

With apologies to Peter Townsend and Roger Daltrey, \"I call that a bargain...\"

[miff]

\"Is it possible that Sheikh Mo paid Frankel and Joe Torre and their partners
the equivalent of the Derby winner\'s share for Vineyard Haven without the two
guys from Brooklyn having to sweat out the pressure of the Derby trail and the
possibility that VH might never compete in the Derby??


Bee,

The reported price of $12 Million(if true) for Vineyard Haven has to be considered the heist of the century for this nickle bred.Louie Laz must be planning on opening a couple more Sergio\'s at the SPA with that money.

Sheik Mo sends this one and Midshipman to the desert which has been a recipe for disaster so far but with his money Sheik MO  can afford to be stubborn. Sooner or later the law of probability will get him his desert prepped Derby winner.


Mike

[Silver Charm]

Wow Ritchie. Who needs morning coffee with posts like these to wake up to.

But let me first lead with some sort of apology to Bloodhorse writer Steve Haskin who had written a Sheikh Mohammed story just yesterday himself. My post was in no way a response to his, I only saw it after I posted and had been meaning to put this one up for a few days but have just been too busy.

I stand by my comment on President Bush (is he still President or has the other guy and the media already moved him out) and his family. You are entitled to say what you want. But remember you used the word \"Allegedly\".

Frankel had Empire Maker for Juddmonte a couple of years back and that story line worked out pretty good. The Bob Baffert who gloated a few years back that he out foxed the Sheikh when he sold him Wordly Manner for an outrageous sum knowing he could not get the Derby distance has changed and deserved a second chance.

Things are fragile here in this country and racing is no different. Lots of people suffer in this country if the sport suffers. Sheikh Mohammed has always had a bigger heart with the sport than an iron fist.

If he keeps taking our heros away that impression will soon change.......

[NoCarolinaTony]

Miff & Bee,

If the Sheik-yer-butti wants a desert trained Animal win the Derby, why not go the Turf Paradise route?

Ahhh- all said in jest as I am spending the weekend here with a Sunday Ticket to the Giants Cards game, and a Saturday spent at TP.

NC Tony

[miff]

Tony,

Hope Big Blue did not forget to bring their pass rush this week, it\'s been absent for two straight games.


Good Luck
Mike