Uneasy lies the head that wears the crown

Rachel Alexandra has been retired and her 2010 season was far short of expectations set by her connections and racing fans. This year started off with the prospect of a showdown with Zenyatta that looked like a lock until March 13th when Rachel Alexandra was bested by Zardana, a stablemate of Zenyatta. From that point on her season was about getting her back to the 2009 form that netted her Horse of the Year honors and not about a race against her chief rival. Rachel Alexandra's struggles at the track this year are not about who was truly worthy of Horse of the Year honors from the previous year, but about the tough task of defending a championship.

Gio Ponti can be seen as another example of the demands of defending a championship, after winning the Eclipse honors for best older colt and best male turf horse he was sent back into training with the immediate goal of the Dubai World Cup and the long term goal of returning to the Breeders Cup. Gio Ponti's 2010 debut was at Tampa Bay Downs on February 20th in a listed stakes that was meant as a warm up race for the World Cup, he lost that race to Karelian who went on to capture the grade one Maker's Mark Mile. His race in the Dubai World Cup was a close fourth place finish, followed by a narrow loss to long shot stablemate Winchester in the Manhattan. He returned to the winner's circle in the Man O' War where he barely defeated 50-1 long shot Mission Approved and his last start was a narrow loss in the Arlington Million, a race he won last year. In five starts since his 2009 championship season and he has only one victory.

Forever Together won the 2008 Breeders Cup Filly and Mare Turf en route to end of the year honors as the best turf female. She is on a seven race losing streak with her last win being the Diana Handicap on August 1, 2009. Her record is ten starts with two wins since clinching the 2008 Eclipse honors.

Street Sense turned in dominant performances in the Breeders Cup Juvenile and Kentucky Derby against the likes of Curlin and Hard Spun. Curlin improved from his Derby outing against the champ to win the Preakness in a photo and from that point on Street Sense was never the same. He was all out to win the Jim Dandy and Travers before going down in defeat in his last two starts to the same three year olds he whipped in the Derby.

Zenyatta is a freak of nature, she successfully defended her Older Female award last year and is four for four this year with all of the wins being in grade one races. There have been different tactics that have been unsuccessfully used in trying to defeat Zenyatta boxing her in, floating her wide, and going extremely slow up front all come to mind. What she has accomplished in her last three years starts looking better and better when compared to how others have fared. There always have been questions about the quality of the competition she has faced, but the important factor is she has turned them all back so far.

Being a defending champion is a tough task to take on, there is new competition to take on and horses age differently. A championship campaign means that is when a horse was at their peak at the time of the honors. Duplicating those type of performances a year later with new variables is a challenge that is among one of tougher feats to accomplish in this sport.

Breeders' Cup Trip Report

Arcadia Ca - After driving the limo all night on Thursday I caught the first flight out of Kennedy for Burbank on Friday morning. After pulling an all-nighter and then flying all morning, going to the track was out of the question. With the sleep situation critical I watched the Friday B.C. card from the hotel. After sleeping for 12 hours Friday night, I was roaring and ready to go for the Saturday card.









visually appealing scenery at Santa Anita photo credit East Of Allen

Santa Anita is a facility with visual appeal. This venue combines natural beauty with the architecture of the early 20th century. Santa Anita is right up there with American top-class racing venues like Arlington and Keeneland. Perhaps the best part about Santa Anita is the weather. The weather is a gift from the heavens-a combination of the warm sun of the desert with a hint of cool salty ocean air- a welcome respite from the brutal cold of New York winter. The only blemish is the smog that obscures the view of the huge mountains that abut the facility.









International Superstar L. Dettori up on Delegator

There was much bemoaning about the Breeders' Cup running in consecutive years at Santa Anita. However after witnessing the spectacle first hand, those grousers are wrong. With Santa Anita you are all but ensured grade I weather, the facility is beautiful and the area has outstanding infrastructure. Santa Anita is an easy place for horses and people like me to travel to. With great weather and fast/firm there is little chance for a washout. Who can forget the disastrous Monmouth Breeders' Cup; sloppy tracks and bog turf courses are not conducive to good racing or safety. That weekend will be remembered more for the ill fated George Washington than any of the winners. Even the last Belmont Breeders' Cup was a cold and nasty day. If the Breeders' Cup ever wanted a permanent home, Santa Anita would be a good choice.









packed grandstand and apron

Comparing a regular Saturday at Aqueduct to Saturday at the Breeders' Cup really exposes the problems of New York racing. Racing in New York seems to be dominated by only one type of fan, the middle aged to elderly urban working class male degenerate. At Santa Anita there was great diversity in the crowd. Everyone from the horseplayer to the tycoon to the rural horselover to the teenage girl with a horse fetish was in attendance. It was a nice mix and people were friendly, the strangers I was sitting with were even nice enough to invite me out to dinner when I told them I was traveling alone.



















Goldikova

The races were a nice mixed of longshots and relieable favorites. It was no secret but dirt horses and those stretching out are poor bets on synthetic surfaces. Once again not one horse prepped on dirt won a race at the Breeders' Cup. Horses cutting back in distance with previous turf or synthetic success dominated the races. It seems like the public is yet to master synthetic surface wagering, but the track plays fair. Some of these grousers dont like these new surfaces but this seems like the mindless complaining of people that refuse to adapt to change. For me it was a fair day in the parimutuel department. Goldikova was a short priced wagering highlight and I had a few bucks on longshot Furthest Land.









Furthest Land lands a mini-score

The real highlight of the day was undoubtedly Zenyatta. As a New York guy I never developed a Zenyatta-affection, but my heart softened for her today. She is a big, regal but smart looking mare; something really special. There is something different about her, it looks like she isn't trying but she covers so much ground. Mike Smith "She is sent from God. It is His filly. I think he wanted a horse and sent her down her to race against everybody" Fourteen for Fourteen can not be marginalized, the naysayers have been silenced.









Crowd before the classic

At Santa Anita she has a huge following. Trainer John Sherriffs "She loves the crowd. When people yell at her she does her little prance. I don't know. She has a relationship with her fans" There was this one part in the parade where the crowd erupted in applause, Zenyatta wheeled around, stopped and started to paw the ground and prance, the crowd went absolutely nuts for her- it was like the horse was mugging for the crowd. It was nice to see so much affection for a horse. When she won it was like the home team won a ballgame. It was great validation for a crowd that had largely showed up to see her. It was the kind of win that will mint a few thousand new racing fans.












Thousands of these signs filled Santa Anita photo credit AP

Going To The Beach Play Of The Day

The focus shifts out west to Keeneland and Santa Anita this week. Both tracks have great cards for Saturday while New York racing devolves into something only the most hardened of degenerates could withstand. In the Shadwell Mile Justenuffhumor looks like the best miler on this side of the Atlantic and be anxoius to see him win his first GI. However the real sultry action is at Santa Anita this weekend.

In the Del Mar Mile we have the first and second choice both front end runners. The favorite is Cowboy Cal. His gambit is running on the front end. The second choice also likes to run on the front end; that horse Monterey Jazz is a "need the lead" type of runner. With two of the most powerful horses dueling on the front end perhaps someone from the back of the back could take advantage a favorable pace scenario. A logical winner is Whatsthescript with Allicansayiswow providing longshot appeal. I like the sequence of races here and will start a pick three covering Skyrush, Global Hunter, Monterey Jazz, Allicansayiswow, Cowboy Cal and Whatsthescript.


Mine That Bird looked absolutely over the top in a very disappointing West Virgina derby run. He looks like he has no shot whatsoever in the Goodwood Stakes GI. The DRF even picked him to win which should be good for some sucker money in the wagering. Since the derby winner will be one of the favorites the Goodwood becomes a tremendous wagering opportunity. The logical one looks like Colonel John but I will spread a few deep in pick 3s covering Parading, Gitano Hernando, Richard's Kid, Monzante along with the Colonel. With Mine That Bird sure to be off the board this is a good race to play exactas and trifectas.

The last leg of the pick 3 is the Lady's Secret GI. This race will anchor my pick 3 play. While Zenatta has assembled an undefeated record this year her campaign has been a bit like the Harlem Globetrotters. Every time she races she gets to beat up on the same old Washington Generals. This time the Boston Celtics are coming to town and my money will be on the Celtics er. Cocoa Beach. Cocoa Beach is the first real challenge Zenyatta has had to face all year and I am going to gamble that she is not up to it. The single is Cocoa Beach. The reward in the pick 3 should be generous.

Santa Anita Race 6 Power 3 - 2,4,7,9,10 / 3,4,6,7,8 / 1

Santa Anita Race 8 Win #1 Cocoa Beach

Stats
47 16-7-4
strike rate 34%
cumulative return 117.50
$2 ROI $2.47

$5 Million Beldame Challenge~The Race Of Our Lifetime

When we look back at 2009 it is going to be remembered as the year of the filly. Fillies and mares have dominated from coast to coast. So many of them have amazed us with dazzling performances that have dropped jaws and lit up speed figure charts. It would be absolutely extraordinary if a benevolent sponsor offered up an enhanced purse for the Beldame this year. Now is the time, the horses and the rivalry are here right now. NYRA/TVG have promised a million but there are million dollar races throughout the summer. This is a special occasion and it calls for a special race with a huge purse.


Imagine a race that corralled all of the filly all-stars. What about the $3 million Ladies Classic at Santa Anita? It is just not the same on that synthetic surfaces especially without division leader Rachel Alexandra. This distaff classic has to be at Belmont and it must be on dirt. The star studded field of recent big winners would be Rachel Alexandra, Zenyatta, Icon Project, Seventh Street, Music Note and Careless Jewel. Let them fill out the field to twelve runners to generate maximum handle. There would not be enough words to describe the excitement that a race like this would generate.

Horse Of The Year

The horse of the year ran in the Ladies Classic, undefeated Zenyatta deserves the honors. Curlin started the year off in sterling form, had an aggressive campaign planned that terminated as his form steadily waned. Zanyatta was steady and strong throughout the year winning on all the Socal tracks. Her ace in the hole is that she scored on dirt at Oaklawn. To put an exclamation point on the whole body of work her win in the Ladies Classic was absolutely brilliant.

Zenyatta won all seven of the Graded Stakes races she ran in and improved as the year went on. Her year was a steady accent. She has the potential to be a legend like Personal Ensign the other main track undefeated filly champion if she comes back for more. The fact that she won on dirt puts her over the edge, the dual surface wins are something that Curlin could not match. This year was the year of the Z fillys in racing, overseas we had Zarkava and in North America we had Zenyatta. The undefeated Z filly should be awarded the honors.

Curlin started the year off with such promise. Two rousing victories in Dubai and then an aggressive campaign lined up that was supposed to end in Paris. While we commend the connections for taking a sporting risk the end result was a let down. The turf was quickly abandoned and the Bredders Cup was sort of an after thought after the trip to Japan seemed like too much. The latter part of Curlin's campaign did not have the same level of success as his fall 2007 winter 2008 campaign had. He fell far short of that and failed to take the big prize the Breeders Cup classic, a race he had every chance to win. Curlin raced on three surfaces but could only manage to win on dirt. His turf race was a gutsy placing but was far from the extraordinary wins Zenyatta racked up over different tracks and surfaces. We have to give Curlin and "E" for effort and a "E: for racing as a four year old but the HOY goes to the filly.