Inner Dirt MVP

The Aqueduct Inner Track meet is nearing its end, much to the delight of more than a few people. I guess it is a case of different strokes for different folks. The inner track meet has the distinction of being a long grinding meet for gamblers and horses alike; it is difficult to string across a sizeable winning streak during this time of year for many.

Inherit The Gold exemplified himself with his consistent brilliance over course of the last four months with a solid four race winning streak that could very well parlay into an appearance in the million dollar Charles Town Classic. He could also stay local with an attempt at glory in the grade three Excelsior Stakes in April on the Aqueduct main track.

His latest victory may have been his most impressive, he faced off against a tough rival in Yawanna Twist who was toting 118 pounds to Inherit The Gold’s top weight of 124 pounds. Yawanna Twist ran against the best of his generation last year, which was capped off with a gutsy fourth place finish in the Preakness versus the best of his generation Lookin at Lucky.

Inherit The Gold has more than a few options after the conclusion of the inner track meet, which he excelled at this year and in the past. He is a proven two turn professional and Monmouth has many lucrative two turn races that are run during the course of their upcoming meet. He also has a win or two over the Belmont oval going the one turn route distances. The future is bright for this gelding after a prosperous winter in New York.

BREAKING NEWS!!!!!

After Uncle Mo’s rousing comeback to the races this last Saturday at Gulfstream Park, Repole Stable and the soft serve ice cream giant Mr. Softee have reached an agreement to do a cross promotion in the upcoming months. Much like the one that IEAH Stable and UPS had during Big Brown’s vaunted attempt at the elusive Triple Crown. When Mr. Softee representatives were reached for comment they said, ”We are very proud of signing an agreement with a group of sports owners that exemplify a great soft schedule en route to a big event, much like our great soft serve frozen treats.”

Team Repole's meeting with the Mr. Softee people. Not pitcured, a man with an ice cream cone for a head.

Here at Powercap, we pride ourselves on getting the inside scoop on these sorts of stories and we have an early draft design of the Uncle Mo Mr. Softee truck.

The Pletcher Triple

New York's first big day of the year had Todd Pletcher winning three out of the four stakes carded, basically picking up where he left off last year. Pletcher has taken up the throne that Lukas vacated in the late 90's. Got a stakes race? Pletcher has a horse for that race. Fancy Suits? Check. Well heeled clients with deep pockets? Check. Gray hair? Check. All Pletcher is missing is a pair of shades, he probably already has the Bentley.

Fred Capossela Stakes

The winner faced Soldat in his previous start back in September, Sensational Slam looked no worse for the wear from that layoff. He sat off the pace and won with ease.


Tom Fool Handicap

The first half of the Repole Stable chalk double was captured by Calibrachoa, who could have been had for $40,000 back in November. He has now reeled off three straight stakes victories with the major sprint stakes races on the horizon. It will be interesting to see how this horse stands up to the class of the division from this point on.

Gotham Stakes

The public backed Stay Thirsty and they were not disappointed. This horse probably had a tougher comeback race than what Uncle Mo will encounter considering the circumstances. Stay Thirsty had not won past six furlongs and November layoff was what kept him from being a prohibitive favorite. Chances are the connections of the Gotham winner will ship this horse to Hawthorne or another track with a big purse and a thin field in order to pad the graded stakes earnings.

Kentucky Derby Failure Five, Round Two

The first edition of the failure five saw two of the five horses mentioned drop off the pathway, Boys at Toscanova and Tapizar. Tapizar ran poorly in the Bob Lewis Stakes and an injury was found shortly after the race, Boys at Toscanova was not training well and was removed from consideration due to this. In light of this, it is time to update the list.

1. Uncle Mo

The Derby Futures morning line favorite among the entries listed and there is not much to report on this one. Gulfstream Park wrote a race up around the same time as the Tampa Bay Derby in hopes of luring this horse away from Tampa Bay Downs. I’m sure this glorified allowance race will not fill though.

2. To Honor and Serve

The three-year-old debut of this horse will be this Saturday in the Fountain of Youth Stakes; this race produced Eskendereya last year. In related news, Belmont Stakes ticket applications are being accepted now. The only reason this is relative is the fact that for a horse to win the Triple Crown he has to have experience over the Belmont oval, To Honor and Serve has that going for him and the connections go a long way as well. With that being said he will probably either miss the Derby completely or be a tough luck loser in the first leg and run the table in the last two legs. That seems to be the way things go in this sport.

3. Dialed In

There seems to be a recurring theme with this group of three-year-olds, it is that they don’t race much. The top two are still working out and this one will skip a showdown with To Honor and Serve to train up to the Florida Derby. It should be noted that this horse was the co-second choice on the morning line with To Honor and Serve in the futures pool with only two starts to his name. This horse is set up to fall short with this type of schedule, if everything goes according to plan he would make it to the Derby with only three starts and a running style that requires a perfect trip in order to win. Curlin was one of the better horses to compete in the last twenty or so years and he could not pull off a Derby victory with a light schedule leading up to the race, how could this horse be any different?

4. Mucho Macho Man

An old angle that has worked almost every winter and spring with the three-year-olds has been that if a trainer ships a horse out of their home base, the horse will be a force to be reckoned with. It struck again this weekend when Mucho Macho Man shipped to Fair Grounds and beat a wide-open field in the Risen Star. Chances are this horse will train in Florida and race again in the Louisiana Derby. Using Fair Grounds as a springboard to the Kentucky Derby has not been a successful route. The last horse to win the Louisiana Derby and Kentucky Derby was Grindstone back in 1996.

5. The Factor

One California speedball gets knocked out of the frame only to get replaced by another. Baffert has not stated that he is aiming this one for the big dance, but seeing how it is a three-year-old trained by Baffert it is a safe bet he will take a shot at this with a race going two turns in the near future. Two races Baffert cited the Sunland Derby or the Rebel Stakes as possible next starts.

Derby Winner?

This is an auspicious first time start. The first sub 109 six furlong race since 2005 at Fairgrounds. This one has the movement to be a great one. Combine they with top connections and graded stakes is just a matter of time. With today's training style I don't think the triple crown is out of the question for Bind. Uncle Mo better be on his game when he tangles with this one.

Trip To Aqueduct (Dresden Downs)

In post OTB New York City NYRA is providing free bus service from former OTB locations to the venerable Big-A. On the warmest Saturday in ages -downright balmy at 35F- I decided to take advantage of NYRA's generosity and use the free bus from midtown Manhattan to the Big-A.

This is a bus like no other; it is like someone returned from a time warp and dragged a busload of working class NY residents from 1982 with them. In a city increasingly becoming a Bauhaus playground for the wheel-heeled this crowd was a quite the contrast from the typical mid-town Manhattan crowd. Almost all on-board were working class men in their 50s to 80s. On the way back one of them was so tanked he fell over on the way to his seat. Perhaps it is not a coincidence that this working class element has slowly been disappeared from NYC and now one of their favorite haunts has also been shuttered.

Aqueduct itself looks like a post WWII site in Dresden after absorbing the wrath of the Allied war machine. Conducting a sporting event at a venue in this state of disrepair is a surreal experience. The entire third floor grandstand and apron is shuttered while festooned with a large lot of construction/demolition debris. Would ball sports play in a stadium that looks like this? Our observations make it obvious that the casino construction is far from ready; the slot playing blue-hairs are going to have to wait much longer for their VLTs.

A few pics from the trip:

Scenes from Belmont

Last week Greg went down south to Gulfstream (lucky) and I trekked out to the Belmont simulcast. Mostly for two reasons, the first was you can only go to Aqueduct so many times in a month before the charm wears off (for other people it is one trip in a lifetime) and curiosity, Belmont's clubhouse was opened to take up the slack that the NYC OTB left behind. Apparently the heating for big sandy's clubhouse wasn't quite up to snuff so NYRA had to bring in some kerosene heaters to keep the betttors warm and cozy.



Ever wonder what they do with the Secretariat statue in the paddock during the winter? Wonder no more, much like a museum exhibit it is boxed up and preserved when not on display for the public.


It must be a massive operation to get the odds board ready for winter inactivity as evidenced below.



Belmont's grandstand is big, cold, and empty during the winter. Every once in a while a politician or newspaper editorial raises the point that Aqueduct's property should be sold to developers and Belmont be made into a primary racing center for the year in New York. Just from touring the closed off grandstand this would not be wise. The heating issue is the primary reason, the surface change over to a winterized surface or building an inner dirt surface inside the turf course is another issue, and the track maintenance of this massive oval during the brutal winter months would probably be much more than what they are spending at Aqueduct right now.

Kentucky Derby Failure Five

Almost every racing website has a columnist or two that ranks the Derby hopefuls leading up to the event. This is our attempt to capitalize on the trend not by saying the ranked horses are the best of the group, but by saying they will somehow defect out of the Kentucky Derby or fall short of expectations.

1. Uncle Mo

The champion juvenile and winter book favorite for the big race. Pletcher is waiting until March to start this one in the Tampa Bay Derby, the last two year old champ to do that was War Pass. There are other parallels with War Pass and Uncle Mo as well, both completed the Champagne-Juvenile sweep and both seem to have the same career trajectory. War Pass was lightly raced at two with only four starts on his record and Uncle Mo went to post three times last year. More good news for Uncle Mo’s backers too, the last three Breeders’ Cup Juvenile winners did not make it to the Derby.

2. To Honor and Serve

The Remsen to Kentucky path has not been one of success since Thunder Gulch pulled off the trick in 1994. Old Fashioned, Rockport Harbor, and Buddy’s Saint went into their three year old campaigns as hot horses for the Derby only to be sidelined before the main event took place. The runner-up in the Remsen, Mucho Macho Man returned to service in the Holy Bull only to gets his doors blown off by Dialed In as well.

3. Boys At Tosconova

This horse was intended to make his debut this weekend in the Holy Bull, but that was called off because Dutrow did not like how his horse looked going into the race. Probably a wise move on the part of Dutrow, not a good sign for a three year old early in the season though. The pedigree on this one seems to be a bit of a wash, Officer is the sire which probably means that nine furlongs is his limit and Coronado’s Quest is on the dam’s side of the pedigree, which is a decent stamina influence. This horse is a question mark with four legs. Also of note on this horse:


At Horse Racing Nation they are advertising Uncle Mo merchandise on the page of Boys At Toscanova, not a lot of respect being doled out for this horse.

4. Dialed In

A Kentucky Derby prep season without Zito is something that doesn’t happen often. His whole stable is centered on having horses entered in the three year old classics and when that doesn’t happen his year is kind of shot. Had fun losing money on Ice Box in the Derby and Belmont last year? Well this is your chance to get more of the same punishment, this horse has the same type of running style as Ice Box and got a win earlier in the season at Gulfstream than Ice Box did. Andrew Beyer also penned that if this horse won the Holy Bull that it would make the prep season much more interesting. Beyer was right on something, that may be a sign of the apocalypse.

5. Tapizar

Not only included here to defeat all claims of having an east coast bias, but also because this is the first three year old in a long time that I think may turn into something special. Twice now he has outrun other stakes horses on final time, on November 27 his maiden victory was faster than the two mile and a sixteenth stakes races that took place and his win last out was faster than a stakes race for four year olds on the same day.

So you may be asking me why is he on a list filled with horses that you think may be flops and fizzle out of the picture for the Kentucky Derby? Because the last horse I had this type of notion on was Repent, he got injured after finishing second to War Emblem in the 2002 Illinois Derby and lost subsequent starts in the Travers and Jockey Club Gold Cup.