A return to normalcy

The Breeders' Cup is two weeks removed and fading into the rear view mirror until next year. Horse racing moves on, unless you work for the Daily Racing Form. The writers for that publication will not stop talking about Zenyatta’s loss in the Classic. This will be the only paragraph you will see about her loss, she was on the dead rail headed into the stretch and had to make up more ground than anyone else in that race by moving off the rail during the stretch. If Smith swings her out wide at the top of the stretch like he has done so many times before, the outcome may be different. Yes, it was Smith’s mistake and mistakes happen. After Cigar’s first loss in 17 starts Bailey took the blame because the horse could be held to fault after 16 straight wins. As for the horse of the year controversy, who cares? The top two finishers are headed to the breeding shed and they faced off once, it is not like it is the end of a great rivalry like Sunday Silence versus Easy Goer or Affirmed versus Alydar, it was one race with two top quality horses. Only two groups of people place any importance on Eclipse awards, out of touch racing journalists and overly devoted fans of the horses in the running for these awards. There are plenty of races after the Breeders’ Cup and a lot of it is worth watching.

The Mad Hatter Stakes

Just to highlight the ridiculousness of placing too much importance on Beyer Speed Figures, take a look at Understatement. He ran a figure of 115 in February and the Classic winner had a figure of 111, if you go solely on these numbers you will be tempted to say that Understatement is a beast that could have mopped the floor with the Classic field. Closer form inspection shows that he runs his best on the winter surface at Aqueduct though, he ran that big number over the ice rink last January and was shipped to the mid-Atlantic twice in the spring to no success. His tries at Monmouth last year were also mediocre in comparison to his inner track record. It also could stand to reason that his form cycle peaks during the winter as evidenced by his big effort in December of 2009 before running big efforts in two stakes at the Big A. When the racing returns to the inner track, beware of this one.

Suburban Handicap winner Dry Martini is going to post for the 35th time in this race. The one thing that racing has not been good at in recent times is promoting the geldings, they make up most of the horse population at any given track and they run in more races than the high class stallions do as well. The geldings are a great promotional tool, because you know that the breeding shed will never call and all they can do is race. More Than a Reason is not gelded and is making his 59th start, I guess winning starter allowances is not highly sought after in the breeding shed. He made 24 starts last year and 16 starts this year, a total of 40 starts with five wins and a little over $300,000 to show for it, not bad at all.

Juvenile clearinghouse

The Delta Jackpot will be renewed for the eighth time today, seven times prior this race as produced nothing more than futile longshots for the Kentucky Derby. Despite that fact trainers will send their juveniles in this spot because it makes it that much easier to get into the Derby field even if their horse doesn’t have any foundation being in that spot. If there ever was a solid reasoning for restructuring the the Derby entry process this is the example that could be used.

Uncle Mo was a much the best winner in the juvenile, but before everyone goes rushing to Vegas for Derby futures on this one, here is something to consider. The last three Juvenile winners failed to reach the gate come the first Saturday in May following Street Sense’s Juvenile/Derby double in 2007. For some reason the runner-ups and also-rans from the Breeders' Cup Juvenile seem to fare better going forward. This is not a recent trend either, Alysheba was third in the 1987 Juvenile and won the Derby and Preakness the following year. Lookin at Lucky and Afleet Alex were on the board in juvenile and went onto bigger and better things, Wilko never panned out and Vale of York all but disappeared from the radar if it wasn’t for a recent notice about his retirement.

Discovery Handicap

This race usually produces some good runners going forward, a recent example is Haynesfield. Reaching into the vault, Evening Attire was the winner of this race back in 2001. Recently a half brother of Evening Attire, Con the Cat broke his maiden over the Big A carrying the tradition of success over the Aqueduct oval in the family’s genes. If Con the Cat is half as good as his older brother than he should be a hell of a racehorse. Not much insight on this running of the Discovery though, just an excuse to post a youtube link to Evening Attire’s 65/1 upset in this race.

Pat Kelly Talks About Evening Attire

With the first running of the Evening Attire Handicap at Aqueduct tomorrow here is a word about Evening Attire from the only trainer he ever knew.

Evening Attire Honored

The Aqueduct Handicap has been re-named the Evening Attire, in honor of the 2002 Aqueduct Handicap winner who retired in 2008 at the age of 10, will be run on Saturday, January 17 on the inner dirt track. The $65,000-added race is for three-year-olds and up at a mile and a sixteenth.

Evening Attire Day

Evening Attire had his own day at Belmont on the 25th of October 2008. The old warrior is some ham and mugged for pictures in the paddock. NYRA put on a nice presentation for him and even customized the wagering terminals with his picture.

10 Year Old Evening Attire Retired

One of our favorites, ten year old Evening Attire has been retired. Year after year this guy has run his heart out. Here are a few of my favorite Evening Attire races.

Here Evening Attire faces off with Champion Street Cry, a horse that already has sons at stud.


Here Evening Attire runs in a graded stakes at 9 years old. A race that made many people very happy.

Evening Attire Entered In Philly's Greenwood cup $250K Stakes

Everybody's favorite gray gelding Evening Attire is entered at Philly in the 12 furlong Greenwood Cup. This race is part of the win and you're are in NTRA/Breeders Cup promo. Looking at the pp's Evening Attire has a great chance to win as not one of his rivals have proven that they can get 12 furlongs. My only concern would be the weather as it is forecasted to be 95 degrees and unbearably humid. These are brutal conditions for a long race and a three hour van ride. If Evening Attire's connections decide not to run, they can consider a 1 3/16th overnight stakes race at Saratoga on the 9th of August that would be a good fit for him.

Is Overbreeding to Native Dancer Responsible For All Of These Breakdowns?

Very interesting article by William Nack on the overbreeding to Native Dancer and how that is causing so many breakdowns in American racehorses. They just may be on to something, so I did some work on pedigree query researching the pedigrees of every high profile breakdown victim of the last few years. Every single one of them had multiple crosses of Native dancer in their pedigree, representing massive inbreeding. It inspired me to take a closer look at pedigree and breakdowns.

On the flip side I did some research on some of our old warriors. The iron horses that have campaigned year after year, virtually injury free. Out of a selection iron horses like Evening Attire, Spooky Mulder, Naughty New Yorker, Broad Brush, Say Florida Sandy and Arromanches only Broad Brush is free of Native Dancer blood so it is very hard to even find a horse out there without the Native Dancer blood. However most of the old warriors are not inbreed to Native Dancer like the tragic breakdown victims Eight Belles, Barbaro, George Washington, Mending Fences, and Pine Island. Most of the old warriors had balanced pedigrees with sound influences like Damascus well represented in the pedigree.

On a similar note there is the offspring of Unbridled and how it relates to Eight Belles. On youtube they have the ABC pre-race coverage of the 1990 Belmont Stakes available for viewing. It it an interesting watch as you can catch a glimpse of the game before drugs like Lasix were legal everywhere. Before the Belmont Stakes the hosts of the coverage openly doubt the favorite Unbridled's ability to race in New York due to the lack of lasix in New York. At the time New York was the only triple crown jurisdiction to restrict the use of lasix. As they hit the 3/8th pole Unbridled spit the bit. Did he spit the bit because he could not race on his anti-bleeding medication? The horses effort was completely unlike his derby triumph 5 weeks earlier when he had the benefit of lasix. Unbridled is of course the Sire of Unbridleds Song who retired unsound early in his three year old season and is the sire of Eight Belles. Could this be a case of a unsound, drug addicted sire passing his unsound genetic DNA to generation after generation?

Evening Attire Gives Us Another Thrill

The old warrior Tuffy Attire got up for place money at Belmont in the one mile and a half Fit To Fight stakes. He was a dime away from being the longest shot on the board and after a few races where he did not run so well he did not look like a likely winner on paper. Once again he broke five lengths last and trailed early. Commencing a rally on the turn Evening Attire passed everyone but the lone speed winner, who got away with a completely easy lead. This horse has many devoted fans and watching him run today was one of the highlights of the day, horses like Attire are one of the best parts of racing. If the people that are calling for the banning of racing would get to know a beloved old campaigner like Evening Attire perhaps they would attain a more informed opinion.

Evening Attire Will Race On Thursday, This Horse Is Clearly Loved

Take a peep at the condition book and see that Evening Attire is nominated for a twelve furlong overnight stakes race.

Evening Attire is a true favorite and he usually wins a race every so often. At ten years old he is an anomaly on the world of racing. An iron horse who still runs in stakes company at ten years old while most stakes horses retire during or after the three year old season. The horse is the star of the barn and is loved by everyone from the groom to the trainer to the owner to his adoring fans. He really is a creature that is loved. Here's to Evening Attire, I hope he runs his race on Thursday and comes home safe again. This is a horse who is beloved on the backside and frontside. Wouldn't it be nice if the outside world noticed how much a horse like Evening Attire is loved?

Trip to see Evening Attire

The old warhorse drew me away from the warmth of my home, as I had to make the trip down the dreaded Van Wyck to see the old horse that has been making people smile for 8 seasons. If Evening Attire can still get out there and put on a show at his age, we owe it to the faithful warrior to show up and support him. Honestly I didn't like his chances to win, but he did just fine to finish up a strong second. This is the best form he has been in since maybe 2004. Next out with a little more ground his chances to get his picture taken by Adam Coglianese instead of a hack like me improve. Here are a few photos from my mobile phone camera. They are low quality pics of a high quality individual.



Here is Evening Attire entering the paddock. He is a horse with uniquely long legs, he has a athletic and healthy appearance.


Evening Attire seems to be a beloved animal, with a team of handlers that seem to dote on him and adore him. This may be the secret to his longevity. He is a good example of everything that is right with racing. Animal rights activists should take note of the wonderful care that racehorses like Evening Attire enjoy.




Here he is tacked up with Dominguez in the irons. His coat is noticeably lighter than in past years. Evening Attire he is really showing that he is the distinguished elder statesman of all American racehorses. Thank you to the Kelly barn and the connections for maintaining this horse and his form for so many years. He is a wonderful treasure that the entire racing community enjoys.





The most popular horse in New York goes to the post.



Here is to getting them next time. Another fan started a great Evening Attire website, check it out.