Casino Drive acting up in the paddock prior to the Peter Pan (Bud Morton)

According to the past performance, Casino Drive, yesterday’s impressive winner of the Peter Pan and everyone’s favorite new potential foil to Big Brown, was sans meds. No lasix, no bute… although it looked like he had one too many green teas in the paddock!

John of The Race is Not to the Swift points out that this may be another case of a reckless owner (although I STILL don’t agree that entering Eight Belles that was reckless as he claims) as Casino Drive will be asked to go a mile and a half on his third start.

I’d like to see Ready’s Echo in the Belmont as well, perhaps someone over at Pletcher Inc. can work with him to get him to sit closer to the actual race? He could be pretty interesting under those circumstances.

Me pregunto qué ha sucedido con Tomcito? Él no parecía cómodo por ahí y como Superfecta señala en los comentarios, funciona muy bien en las mañanas, pero no es lo que eleva a la pista. ¿Qué sucedió? (Gracias Google Translate!)

Swifty just called me, his opener was “Guess where I am?” I was half expecting him to have gotten himself invited to some Japanese after party after Casino Drive’s impressive romp. “On a bus”. Not nearly as glamorous.

The Long Island Railroad runs trains to Belmont during race days. Normally they’re pretty good about leaving enough time for folks to make the last train after the last race. In fact, one usually ends up sitting on the train for a good half an hour before it leaves.

Today’s card had 10 races, not the normal 9… apparently no one bothered to tell the LIRR because the last train left before the end of the 10th race!

Swifty described the scene as approximately 200 angry people standing around. He managed to hop on some bus that was behind a horse transport truck. Here’s hoping he has as much luck getting home as he did at the windows!

Rajiv Marah and El Amir in the winner’s circle at Aqueduct (~ RAYMOND)

You may have noticed a new photographer in the regular rotation here at GbG. In addition to the excellent imagery of Sarah K. Andrew, Charles Pravata, Jessie Holmes, and Jay (a.k.a., Easy Goer), please welcome Raymond Haddad to the mix!

I first noticed his work from last year’s Breeders’ Cup and struck up a friendly Flickr conversation with him, mainly because I was commenting on all his work! He’s very prolific with one of the most frequently updated photostreams of all of the folks I follow on flickr. His work ranges from portraiture to classic scene and street work. Definitely check out his non-racing work as well!

Around the last week of Aqueduct I started to notice racing shots in his photostream. It seems he has been bitten by the racing bug and has been shooting regularly at Belmont since it’s opening!

In addition to shooting the races, he’s been shooting the jockeys and various NYRA employees. He’s doing a great job of showing the overall vibe of a track and telling the story of Belmont in a very direct, journalistic way that also has a personally inquisitive touch often lacking in photojournalism.

He’s also not shying away from the harsh realities of racing. Included in his recent work are two heart wrenching shots of the recent breakdown and euthanasia of Megalodon yesterday at Belmont.

I’m happy to see someone get so excited about racing, particularly during it’s darkest hour. Welcome to the mix Raymond, we’re glad you’re here!

Well, obviously, but I’m actually talking about today’s 9th at Belmont, a.k.a. the Peter Pan!

Swifty tried to lure me to out to Neverland today but I declined thinking that might be able to pull off my annual cleaning (no luck so far, and look at the time!)… it’s only been the first race and things are going really well for him. Keep up the good work Swifty!

I’m going to take a pass on Casino Drive at such a short price. Last night on the phone Swifty, unaware of the Better Than Honour angle, asked “Casino Drive, WTF?” And rightfully so perhaps, as Alan wisely points out the inequity of judging Eight Belles’ connections as reckless when she had more experience than most of the field, yet Casino Drive’s quest for the Belmont can be characterized as a “historic quest“… barf. Annoyance aside, I am looking forward to seeing his performance, but am looking elsewhere in this field.

It doesn’t look to be a very speedy field, but Casino Drive and Spark Candle are kind of pace unknowns. I’m going with it being moderate to slow

In addition to Tomcito, I’m interested in Ready’s Echo and Cosmic… both have proven they can do well off a moderate to downright slow pace and both look to be improving.

Good luck to all, and let’s hope everyone comes home safe, all day for that matter!

Alan Garcia shows them the way at Belmont (~ RAYMOND)

The TBA has been on fire lately, posting up a storm about all the issues that have come out of the last week.

Here are but just a few of the pieces that you could/should be reading:

Val at Foolish Pleasure continues to dissect and dispel the myths about fillies vs. colts (again) by way of a history lesson.

Teresa at Brooklyn Backstretch discusses safety and surface with a compilation of posts and ponders has anything really been proven?

Superfecta starts a new series, introducing us to “funny foreign horses we should know about“!

Can Gamble discusses an issue that is near and dear to my heart, keeping our stars on the track longer… it’s the only way we can hope to keep new fans (once we address our issues).

And Patrick at Handride lays out his platform for racing commissioner, fun ensues!

Larry Jones training my beloved Hard Spun at Monmouth (Sarah K. Andrew)

Over at The Rail, the question was posed to Dr. Larry Bramlage about Larry Jones’ practice of exercising his trainees and if this could have played into Eight Belles’ accident.

No! This did not contribute to her injuries. You could even make the argument that it would be preventative in that it would make the bones stronger. He rides his horses regularly. They are adapted to him on their back. That would tend to make them stronger. The filly that won the Oaks, Proud Spell, is much smaller than Eight Belles. He rides her, too.

To which I asked (by way of comments): “doesn’t his answer indicate that the weight requirements for jockeys are waaaay too severe and in fact cruel? I thought the reason jocks had to weigh less than a supermodel is due to safety concerns for the horse.”

Can we now use his answer, in print in the New York Times, as evidence that jockeys don’t NEED to have ridiculous weight restrictions. While everyone is so high on safety right now, we shouldn’t over look our sport’s human athletes.

Racing right to the shed, Big Brown wins the Derby, but what’s the real cost in the long run? (Charles Pravata)

Hats off to Jessica for pointing this out…

Meanwhile, amid all this talk of improving safety and the breed, IEAH co-president Michael Iavorone boasted on Wednesday that a stallion deal for lightly-raced, achy-hooved Big Brown is nearing completion, and that the farms bidding for the Derby winner’s breeding rights included “one of the most widely recognized stud farms in the world” (Blood-Horse). All the outrage over Eight Belles’ unfortunate death, all the urgent discussion about what happened and what should be done differently, all the critics piling on Rick Porter and Larry Jones — I think we’re talking about the wrong horse, the wrong connections. Big Brown represents the racing industry gone awry, not the filly.

Boom, there you have it. Inspired by this I commented the following on the current Straight Up post, Safety First:

There’s another horse we all should be talking about as well… Big Brown and the implications of such a lightly raced horse with foot issues being put into the breeding shed! We can’t pay lip service to the issues by acknowledging we have breeding issues (among others) while we passively watch a horse that probably can’t even make it past 6 races go to the shed! Shame on everyone! Where is the outrage about this kind of greed? This is EXACTLY what creates more of the circumstances that we should be avoiding when it comes to safety. Wake up people.

I’m also saddened by the Jockey Club’s Health and Safety Panel. How can breeders be objective about issues with breeding? Four of the seven panel members (all men) are in the business of breeding horses. As my grandmother used to say, Jesus H. Christ on a crutch! (clearly we weren’t religious people).

In all sincerity, I hope Big Brown (and everyone else running) stays safe through the Triple Crown. I don’t have the best of feelings about it.

Update: My apologies to Dell Hancock for my erroneous (and moronic) assumption about her gender based on her name… sorry!!

Big Brown sniffs a rose the day after the Derby (Charles Pravata)

Ok, this photo is totally endearing…

Has anyone seen any reports of how he came out the race? The only thing I saw anywhere was this tidbit in the NY Post entitled “How Jocks Saw Race“:

Shaun Bridgmohan (8th, Pyro): “He was squeezed out of the gate, then I found myself on the rail. He was last down the backstretch. We picked up a few horses later, but he had no real excuse.”

That’s it! Given what the little birdie told Blinkers Off in combination with already being promised to Darley, I’m half expecting to see notice of his early retirement.

Seriously, if you’ve seen anything about him, lemme know!

Update:

From Handicapper’s Edge (thanks Jessica!)

PYRO (Pulpit) and Z FORTUNE (Siphon [Brz]) were reported to be doing well on the morning after their disappointing efforts in Kentucky Derby 134. Pyro finished eighth and Z Fortune was 10th for trainer Steve Asmussen, who had finished third in the 2007 Kentucky Derby with eventual Horse of the Year Curlin (Smart Strike).

“They both came out of it well,” said Scott Blasi, the assistant who oversees Asmussen’s Churchill Downs stable. “Everybody came of out it pretty good.”

Fellow TBA-er Valerie dug up a very interesting study of mixed gender racing in dogs and horses.

Favorite line from the study… in refuting the correlation between human athletes vs. equine and/or canine athletes:

This analysis is strictly speculative, yet it is clear that humans have selectively bred both racehorses and Greyhounds for speed in both genders for several hundred years, whereas humans do not select their own mates based solely on running ability.

I guess it’s time for me to adjust my mate selection criteria!

She also includes a random sample of Australian racing, which is very mixed gender. Well done!