All my unsuccessful attempts to hit the pick 4’s and pick 6’s this past weekend, especially the carryover, have kept me from a few posts. First off, I have to thank Steve Crist for his I, Idiot post. It made me feel so much less idiotic about my multi-race exotic follies. Mind you, I was out of Sunday’s Pick 6 in the first (5th) race and didn’t have any picks in the 2nd (6th), but I did have Giveityourbestshot! Mia blew my chances at the meager Pick 4. I should have gone with her instead of The Ag, solely based on Pletcher’s cold streak.

Speaking of which, my favorite handicapping god Steve Davidowitz, has a DRF+ article with a lot of great insights, such as when to avoid a horse based on a good trainer with a cold streak. Other salient points include the fine points of subtle class drops & class relief + when to bet a bridesmaid to win. All points that could have helped this past weekend, but I can’t wait to put to use this coming weekend!

Published late on friday was a little article about NYRA agreeing to “try” to keep the track soft.

Hopefully they really will try. [DRF]

And, one of my favs from early in this year’s Derby trail, Belgravia is back on the work tab! He was a promising 2 year old last year who won the Hollywood Prevue and seemed well on his way to the Derby trail. Here’s a profile of him at Thoroughbred Times’ Road to the Triple Crown. A quote from his trainer caught my eye…

“He doesn’t need it (Lasix),” Biancone said. “Simple as that. I will not judge other people. So far, so good, he hasn’t needed it. We never used it with Lion Heart. I mean, if a person trained with aspirin every day, and did not need it, eventually it loses its effectiveness and does not work.”

Who needs Lasix when you could have cobra venom!

Dick Powell has an article at Handicapper’s Edge about the unnecessarily over sealed track at Belmont and all the injuries, including Rags to Riches.

Rags to Riches’ injury is one of numerous ones, some catastrophic, that have occurred since racing returned to Belmont. Despite what track superintendent John Passero says, the track is too hard from the constant sealing. I know that this time of year, it is hard to maintain Belmont since the angle of the sun becomes more severe and some spots dry out differently than others. But based on the running times of Saturday’s early races and the account of how the track was groomed Friday after the last race, we lost a racing superstar to an injury that could have been avoided.

It’s not like this is first time this has been pointed out (and in this case, directly to NYRA) … but clearly it’s waaaaayyyyyyyy more important to have a FAST track.

[Handicapper’s Edge]

Excellent with a capital E commentary by Dan Liebman of Bloodhorse on breeding and the new gold (sub) standard. Superfecta pointed this out yesterday but I just now read it and have to give it 4 thumbs up.

It’s always satisfying to not only see someone point out something hideously wrong, but to also point who and what’s to blame. You go Dan Liebman.

I was just over at Left at the Gate and thought I’d share a comment that pretty sums up something I’ve blogged about many times.

Alan, I’m so glad to see you blogging at the official BC site about the detrimental effect that today’s sparse campaigns are having on the sport. I’ve been a fan since I was seven years old, but in recent years my interest has dwindled to the point that most weekends I don’t even know what stakes are being run, let alone try to watch them. (Of course, the new baby has something to do with that.) It’s impossible for me to get excited about a horse I can only expect to see run a few times a year, and can only expect to see run against top competition in the classics and Breeders’ Cup. (emphasis is mine).

And if it’s hard for lifelong fans to stay enthused, forget about getting and sustaining new ones.

Not only has IWCG never run on turf, he trained on it for the first time on Monday. Looks like it went well. No Biz liked it and Teuflesberg did alright… now if we could just get Hard Spun on the Turf!

[DRF]

Buried in a Lawyer Ron update was some info on The Monkey.

Pletcher said The Green Monkey came out of his third-place finish in a six-furlong maiden race at Belmont Sept. 15 in good order. The Green Monkey’s debut was regarded as a highlight of the racing card because of the $16 million he brought at auction last year as a 2-year-old.

“You would think a horse that worked as fast as he did at the 2-year-old sale would be a little quicker,” Pletcher said. “But I liked the way he finished the last sixteenth and the way he galloped out. I look forward to running him [at longer distances].”

I love that he came out and said the obvious, you’d think he would been a little quicker with that scary 2yo $16 million deal sealing workout. It’ll be interesting to see how he stretches out, and develops.

[Bloodhorse]

Just noticed stretch running grey gelding Imawildandcrazyguy is entered in the Needles Stakes this Saturday at Calder. It’s a 1 1/16th mile on the Turf. I’m pretty sure this will be his first Turf outing.

[DRF]

There was another sad and needless death of a carriage horse this weekend near Central Park. The horse, Smoothie, was startled by a snare drum from a group of performing break dancers and bolted.

I found the story as I was going to one my fav sites, Gothamist (a NYC blog), to see if they posted a story about R2R being back at Belmont. They had covered the Belmont Stakes and R2R in the spring so I sent them a tip about R2R being back at Belmont… if the NYRA won’t do it, I will.

Not only did they not post anything about R2R’s returned, I was horrified to see this story. Warning, there’s a disturbing picture of poor Smoothie laying in the street, clearly deceased. I’m glad that they’re showing how mortifying it really is and are pointing people to the petition, but be warned, it’s upsetting.

Please, please sign this petition and send the link to your horse loving friends.

Thank you.

uplifting racing story this weekend. Shakespeare, a true ‘comeback kid’, made a huge move on the inside to win the Woodbine Mile just as it looked like Kip Deville (who ran a great race) had it in the bag.

What strikes me about as interesting about Shakespeare’s story is that he’s overcome a lot of injury’s and is still going strong… some we don’t see too much. Oh, we see the injuries, just not the time to recover from them and make appropriate comebacks. Let’s hope his comeback and win this weekend is a sign that we’ll see our beloved Rags to Riches next year, rolling down the stretch to win it big.

Story includes a race replay, make sure to watch it.

[Bloodhorse]

She sustained a hairline fracture yesterday that will take her out for the year, but her connections say that she’ll run a s 4 year old. Man, I had a sneaking suspicion that we weren’t gonna see her in the Breeders’ Cup this year, I shoulda gone to Belmont yesterday to lay eyes on her.