Owners Conspire to Keep Filly Out of Preakness

[bobphilo]

Zayat and Allen are conspiring to keep the filly (RA) out of the Preakness by packing the field with their inferior horses, including a maiden. What's most striking are the self-contradictory reasons Zayat gives. On one hand he says this is a "business decision" to knock out his main rival, while on the other hand he claims to be protecting the poor defenseless filly against the big bad colts. Disgusting and pure hypocrisy.

http://tinyurl.com/qvbg75

Bob

[Barry Irwin]

When I first read this stuff I had to check out the date to make sure it was not April 1.

[jimbo66]

Just completely ridiculous.  People continuing to talk about how they don\'t want another Eight Belles.  Nobody does.  But running fast horses in competitive races is what this sport used to be about.

[Uncle Buck]

Mary Lou Whitney and the owner of Mine That Bird (can\'t even name him - Calvin prolly can\'t either) calling Zayat ( as he himself reported on TVG today) to get him to block the filly to \"enhance Birdstone as a sire\" is the most ridiculous thing I\'ve heard all spring.

Funny thing is - the race offers little to no value if she does get to run. Without her it\'s quite wide open and way more intruiging from a gambling perspective. I want to see her gallop and I\'ll save my sheckles for the Belmont

[P-Dub]

Has anybody ever seen a bigger bunch of crap than the pathetic excuses these clowns are using to exclude the Filly??

Is it any wonder that thoroughbred racing is just ahead of Women\'s Bowling or Billiard\'s with regards to national recognition?? ( I made that up, but you get the point)

So anytime a filly races against colts, we should exclude her because of what \"might\" happen?? I guess we should all stop driving our cars, because you never know...we might get into an accident.

I love this game, and I know there are many more of you that are much more involved in the game than I. Its almost embarassing to be associated with this sport when  you see such ridiculous behavior. And to think, those responsible for these actions are people of extreme wealth and intelligence. Makes you wonder how they became successful in the first place.

[Silver Charm]

They became successful with the kind of conspiring conniving greed they are exhibiting here.

Do we agree on something now P-Dub?

[jimbo66]

Buck,

You see no value in the race if Rachel runs?  You should lose your thorograph password/board access for that...    (just kidding)

Rachel running creates a tremendous value opportunity.  Time to take the rubber band off the bankroll.

Filly runs the fastest race every for a 3 year old filly, which is a 4 point new top and 7 points of development from her 2 year old top.  Gets a free pass/easy trip in that race.  Now comes back on 2 weeks of rest to race against a 13 colts or so. She figures even money or so.  Throw her off the trifecta tickets.  Not sure I can play the super and throw her off those tickets as well.

The Derby winner, who will get play, comes in off a 6 point new top.  Obviously, also off of 2 weeks rest.  And, he got a dream trip on a golden rail.  

In a post last week, I asked TGJB how many horses have run 4 point new tops or better in the Derby.  Of the winners in the last 20 years, that would be Barbaro and Giacomo.  (doubtful that any non-winners would have done this, but can\'t be sure).  We know betting against those horses in the Preakness was a winning proposition.

I dream about these types of betting opportunities.  The filly runs maybe a gallant 4th, with Mine that Bird well back in the pack.

Now, the key is to try and zero in on the winner and which horses to box in hte exacta and trifecta.  Hull may have a \"Bernardini-type\" line coming into this race, although I have to see the sheet.  Pioneer of the Nile, whom I confess I hated in the Derby, ran a very credible 2nd in the Derby.  Raced on the outside in the 3 path the entire race, while the rail was the place to be.  Yes, it will seem like POTN enters into the Preakness off a 2 point new top or so, but IMO measuring dirt tops compared to synthetic tops is meaningless.  Very meaningless.  What is much more important to me is Baffert\'s record in the Preakness.  Silver Charm, Real Quiet and War Emblem all fired big shots in the Preakness off the short rest.  POTN is the horse to beat in the Preakness IMO, but not sure the 9-2 or so odds are great value.  Thinking General Quarters and his \"every other\" line is the value play in the Preakness.  Expecting the Frenchman to give this horse a nice patient ride, on the rail, about 4 lengths off the speed.  Looking for him in the number at 10-1 or so.  

5 more days.....

[Thehoarsehorseplayer]

The accident-car analogy might be applicable to racing in general but when it comes to running Rachel against colts on two weeks rest a more precise comparison would be the  baby-car seat analogy.

You need a Form, you\'re in a hurry, you\'re only going a couple of blocks, you put Jr. in the car seat but you don\'t strap him in.  Probably nothing happens.  But if it does, you get rear ended and Jr gets thrown from his seat, injured or killed, do you ever forgive yourself? Or do you live with the anguish that you did not do everything possible to protect your child?  Everything possible to protect: the difference between tragic accident and criminal negligence.

Now, I don\'t think there is a high probability that Rachel will be injured running in the Preakness. But I do think running on two weeks rest against colts there is a heightened probability. Maybe no more heightened than an injury occurring to a child who is not strapped into his car seat.  But why run that risk?

Horses will always run to satisfy human vanity. But,should they be imprudently endangered to satisfy hubris?  And that\'s what paying $10 million dollars for Rachel and running her in the Preakness is all about: not sport, but hubris.

Here\'s a poem by Philip Larkin.  One can only hope that such a life awaits Rachel.


At Grass

   
   The eye can hardly pick them out
From the cold shade they shelter in,
Till wind distresses tail and mane;
Then one crops grass, and moves about
- The other seeming to look on -
And stands anonymous again

Yet fifteen years ago, perhaps
Two dozen distances sufficed
To fable them : faint afternoons
Of Cups and Stakes and Handicaps,
Whereby their names were artificed
To inlay faded, classic Junes -

Silks at the start : against the sky
Numbers and parasols : outside,
Squadrons of empty cars, and heat,
And littered grass : then the long cry
Hanging unhushed till it subside
To stop-press columns on the street.

Do memories plague their ears like flies?
They shake their heads. Dusk brims the shadows.
Summer by summer all stole away,
The starting-gates, the crowd and cries -
All but the unmolesting meadows.
Almanacked, their names live; they

Have slipped their names, and stand at ease,
Or gallop for what must be joy,
And not a fieldglass sees them home,
Or curious stop-watch prophesies :
Only the grooms, and the groom\'s boy,
With bridles in the evening come.

[big18741]

Giacomo got the same figure Derby/Preakness.

[Lost Cause]

I\'m all for showing the best against the best in this game as there is not a lot of that anymore but To come back from that performance in two weeks to run against the boys for the first time definitely scares me.  
I thought they would wait until the Belmont as she has tactical speed and doesn\'t seem like distance will be much of an issue for her but most importantly it would give her 5 weeks of spacing and a chance for her new connections to know her better.
Just hope she doesn\'t get knocked out for the rest of the year as it would have been nice to see her face Zenyatta for Horse of the year honors later this year..

[bobphilo]

Ahmed Zayad and Mark Allen, probably embarrassed by the overwhelming uproar over their attempts to block the entry of RA as well as the absurd reasoning behind their plans, have decided to not enter extra horses to block the entry of the Filly in the Preakness. D. Wayne Lukas, who also said he would enter last place Derby finisher, Flying Private as part of the conspiracy, also has had a change of heart.

An unrepentant Zayat still claims that his threatened actions were not the cause of the uproar but blames RA owner Jesse Jackson for having entered the filly against colts. As if an owner does not have the right to enter a talented horse, and favorite no less, where he feels she belongs.

Apparently, Zayat\'s plot would not have worked anyway since there the is no such written "rule" favoring nominated horses over supplemental entries like RA in the Preakness.

It would be nice if racing got its rules straight.

http://www.drf.com/news/article/103668.html


Bob

[chrifron]

Interesting double-standard to me....The NY tabloids slammed MTB\'s owner and Zayat for being so evil as to conspire against the wonder-filly--one paper called them pigs. Outside of the well-written piece by Randy Moss and the opinions on this site, few have taken Jess Jackson to task for the self-aggrandizing act of spending $10 million to grab this filly solely for the purpose of racing her in the Preakness.

So, Mr. Jackson somehow comes out of this looking like the hero and sportsman, when in reality, he is the bully who bought his way into the headlines with a big bankroll. It concerns me that the original owners intended to give RA 5 weeks off and run her back against her own gender. The Sport of Kings didn\'t need this--the Triple Crown and the Derby outcome was a good enough storyline in itself.

 I am in agreement with Covell and others on here--running her back in 2 weeks after the top is risky and vain. Let\'s hope she gets through this safely, and that her connections back off after the Preakness and give her proper time off and spacing between races.

[P-Dub]

Silver Charm Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> They became successful with the kind of conspiring
> conniving greed they are exhibiting here.
>
> Do we agree on something now P-Dub?


Yes we do!! ( You gave me my first laugh of the day....)

[P-Dub]

I made my points known on this \"sportsman\" thing previously. Won\'t repeat them.

Before this Preakness thing started, I asked whether anybody thought she would run in the Belmont,  thinking the 5 week rest would be sufficient rest. Wouldn\'t that race make much more sense?? Also racing in NY, wouldn\'t that increase her exposure that this guy so obviously craves?

How many of us will watch the Preakness not as a great race, but as a possibility for something going wrong?? I hope she comes out fine, I really do. But this entire episode just smells bad.

[Funny Cide]

The Jackson bashing gets old.  Didn\'t IEAH buy 2 made horses in Patena and I Want Revenge just so they could get in the Derby (even if it didn\'t work)?  Didn\'t Prince Salman buy War Emblem just to get in the Derby?  Do you have any idea how many offers owners get if there\'s even a whiff that they might be interested in selling their good horse?  

Agree or disagree with him, Jackson thinks that he sees a super-filly who deserves the opportunity to show exactly what she can do on the track.  If she were mine, she wouldn\'t be running in the Preakness, but that\'s really neither here or there because who says I\'m right and he\'s wrong? Hindsight\'s a great thing.  Too bad we can\'t buy it beforehand.

It\'s a sad day when we\'re hammering owners for daring to run their horses -- the best against the best -- in the sport of horse racing.