By Thomas Chambers
This is my favorite time of the year for Thoroughbred horse racing.
In the spring, you have the inscrutable three-year-olds making their runs toward the Triple Crown series. In November and December, the Breeders Cup is over and it’s difficult to get too excited about the two-year-olds trying to get their feet under them. The Breeders Cup is what it is, but waits for its own intense 10-days of handicapping.
But here in mid- to late-summer, all is well as Saratoga, with stakes races throughout the meet, and Del Mar run their top-quality meets and Arlington gets into the mix with its turf-niche program, the Arlington Million, part of the International Festival of Racing (Aug. 8).
On the simulcasting side, you get exotic locales such as Finger Lakes in upstate New York, the California fairs at Santa Rosa and Fairplex, Emerald Downs in Washington State, the Jersey Shore’s Monmouth meet, Minnesota’s Canterbury Park with its Claiming Crown, and the beautiful turf course at Colonial Downs.
The three-year-olds are maturing, becoming in many instances much different horses than they were in the Crown chase. We now know which horses are crafting the truly memorable campaigns of 2009. Trainers are already on the Breeders Cup (Nov. 6-7) express, hoping to get their charges in the right rhythm for the big payday. Much of it leads up to the August 29 Travers Stakes, also known as the “Summer Derby.” And to top it all off, we have a superstar in the making, one who might transcend racing itself into the mainstream sports consciousness.
* While it’s generally true that male horses are faster than female horses, we now have a filly who obliterates the distinction simply by running. It’s time to bury the “Battle of the Sexes” angle and just acknowledge that Rachel Alexandra is the best three-year-old horse in America, if not the best horse period.
She toyed with the boys once again Sunday by winning the Haskell Invitational at Monmouth by more than six lengths.
With Belmont Stakes winner Summer Bird and up-and-comer Munnings in the mix, Rachel simply bided her time in the lead pack with those two and took off on the far turn, opening daylight by the time they came into the stretch. While Summer Bird and Munnings ran with their ears pinned back like angry polecats, Rachel’s flopped and flapped upright or forward throughout the race. I’ve heard this is a sign the horse is running easy and relaxed. She was running for fun, and finished just one-fifth under the stakes record.
If you didn’t get a chance to see it, catch the replay and watch how she runs the nine furlongs seemingly in one long, smooth effort and just bounds away in the stretch. And she shut down a couple of cylinders in the final yards, so it didn’t figure to take too much out of her.
She’ll apparently be pointed toward the Travers Stakes, another race against the males, or perhaps the Sept. 7 Woodward, also against the boys. Wherever she goes next, her performance Sunday figures to have an effect on the Travers field. Who out there wants to face her? Summer Bird’s trainer, Tim Ice, sounded a bit exasperated about the whole idea: “We’ll take a look at the Travers,” he said. “If she’s in there, she’s in there. I’m not going to invite her.”
Owner Jess Jackson reiterated he’ll skip the Breeders Cup and its artificial surface with the filly, but you know he also wants Horse of the Year honors for her. That might take a win in the Travers. And we’ll have the added feature of an autumn argument over whether Rachel should go to the Breeders Cup. (I agree with Jackson. And he was enough of a sportsman last year to take Curlin to Santa Anita that he won’t back down to a confrontation with super older filly Zenyatta. We can dream, can’t we?)
* Who wins when you card the Kentucky Derby winner, deep-deep-deep closer Mine That Bird, and front-running speedball Big Drama in the $750,000 West Virginia Derby on Saturday? Even when they both run the race they wanted to run? Answer: Soul Warrior.
As he was expected to do, Big Drama, running at nine furlongs for the only time except his fifth-place finish in the Preakness, grabbed the lead and ‘Bird set back, looking to make his patented late run. Trouble was, as we could all see on TV, the Mountaineer track was groomed for speed and ‘Drama was running the risk of taking off and hiding. Mike Smith felt it too, and was forced to ask Mine That Bird with more than a half-mile to go. He wouldn’t be able to close into a slow pace today. So as the big two polar opposites duked it out in the stretch, Soul Warrior flew past them both for the win. ($48.00!)
Despite two honorable performances in the Preakness and Belmont, we now have to wonder how much of a fluke Mine That Bird’s Derby win really was. Trainer Chip Woolley’s rationale for going to West Virginia was that Monmouth’s track for the Haskell would have been too fast for ‘Bird to run into a hot pace. The bloggers are all over Woolley, but hindsight is great, right?
‘Bird will be running a long time because he is a gelding. Looks to me like Woolley needs to pick his spots a little better, after he realizes the horse is one-dimensional and will find it more and more difficult to get his perfect setup. Perhaps California?
* For non-related reasons, I was forced to play the races this weekend at home on the Bozo-Puter and it turned into an intense intravenous injection of racing and wagering.
Here are the results of other significant races last weekend:
– First time around two turns, Kensai turned back a determined Warrior’s Reward to win the Jim Dandy (GII) Saturday at Saratoga. Charitable Man finished third.
– Forever Together won the Diana Stakes (GI) over upset-minded Carribean Sunset, becoming only the sixth horse to win it two consecutive years.
– Informed ran down Mast Track to win the Grade 2 San Diego Handicap at Del Mar on Sunday. Well Armed appeared to suffer the dreaded Dubai Bounce as he finished eighth and last in his first start since winning the Dubai World Cup in March.
Workin’ for the Weekend
We’ve got a great weekend of racing Saturday and Sunday as Arlington gets its day in the sun with its International Festival of Racing, aka Arlington Million Day (ESPN, 3:30 p.m.). The cantilevered castle in the suburbs will host the Secretariat Stakes, 10 furlongs for three-year-olds; the Beverly D., 9.5 furlongs for fillies and mares three and up; and the 27th Arlington Million, 10 furlongs for three years and older. All are Grade I and all are on what figures to be a beautifully conditioned Arlington turf course.
Here’s my rundown:
Arlington Million: This year, the wiseguys are figuring one of the big American three of Einstein, Presious Passion and Gio Ponti won’t get beat. One of the biggest appeals to Million Day is the invasion of the foreigners and they always run well on grass, it’s what they do. Gloria de Campeao comes in off a Grade I win in Singapore and all the others have graded stakes experience.
Still, probable favorite Gio Ponti has won three Grade I’s in a row, and Einstein, with turf whiz Julien Leparoux aboard, is wanting this race badly after stumbling and finishing a close fifth here last year. Presious Passion is a versatile horse who has won four of six coming in, all visually impressively. I’m going with Einstein, simply because he’s been keeping better company lately.
Here’s the Million lineup in post-position order: Einstein (BRZ), Presious Passion, Just as Well, Stotsfold (GB), Mr. Sidney, Gio Ponti, Gloria de Campeao (BRZ), Cima de Triomphe (IRE), Recapturetheglory
The Secretariat: This race is wide open. Proceed Bee, Oil Man, Reb and Giant Oak all come out of the July 11 American Derby, the Arlington prep for this race, won by Reb by just a head. If you’re talking back class, you like Take the Points and Giant Oak. Oil Man finished third but was placed down to fifth after some heavy bumping in the American Derby.
Me? I’m liking Take the Points – although he’s really been disappointing me this year – because he was unfortunate to run into the hot Battle of Hastings in his last two and has Kent Desormeaux up. And the speed figure improvement of Laureate Conductor jumps out at me too. I’ll also back local boy Giant Oak. He has as much graded stakes experience as any of them and if Chris Block has the Oak in a state of high self esteem, this is a locomotive who could do it on the stretchout. At least that’s my theory/hope.
The Secretariat lineup, by post position: Cliffy’s Future, Driving Snow (GB), Hoosier Kingdom, Proceed Bee, Laureate Conductor, Oil Man (IRE), Quite a Handful, Take the Points, Reb, Black Bear Island (IRE), Giant Oak
The Beverly D.: This is a tough one to figure. Pure Clan figures to be the favorite, coming off a fairly easy win in the Modesty Handicap July 11 at Arlington. Alnadana looks formidable, coming off a Grade III win in France. Canadian invader Points of Grace is five-for-eight lifetime and just won the Grade II Dance Smart at Woodbine. California girl Black Mamba has the speed figures, but will they translate to the deeper Arlington turf?
I anticipate a contested pace up front and Pure Clan closes mighty fine. I was there to see it July 11. I hope I can get 3-1. Alnadana, with good recent form, looks capable.
The Beverly D. runners, in post order: Alnadana (IRE), Pure Clan, Points of Grace, Black Mamba (NZ), Mad About You (IRE), Tizaqueena, Dynaforce, Denomination
Arlington’s the showcase Saturday, but the satellites will be smokin’ with some other great races this weekend.
Saratoga: At Saratoga on Saturday, we have the Test Stakes and the Whitney Handicap. I like Cat Moves and Heart Ashley in the Grade I Test for three-year-old fillies over seven furlongs. In the Grade I Whitney, nine furlongs for horses three and older, Dry Martini will probably be the favorite, but he’ll face veterans Macho Again, Asiatic Boy, Commentator and hard-luck Smooth Air. Dry Martini’s the one, but Tiznow colt Tizway tiz mine as well.
On Sunday, Benny the Bull (if he throws in a clunker here, I hope they retire him) looks to make a bit of a comeback in the Alfred G. Vanderbilt Handicap, a Grade II sprint. Fabulous Strike also runs, with Kodiak Kowboy and Fatal Bullet contesting.
Del Mar: Zensational should win the Grade I Bing Crosby at Del Mar on Saturday, but he’ll get a challenge from Bamaha Breeze and Global Hunter, wheeling back two weeks after running in the Eddie Read.
On Sunday, fabulous five-year-old filly Zenyatta runs in the Grade I Clement L. Hirsch Stakes. Zenyatta is 11-0. Her biggest competition will be Life Is Sweet. If you want to see a big mighty force-of-nature filly steamroll around the seaside circuit, head to the OTB or try to get Fox Sports Net West tuned in. I found this little workaround last week. Sports Net often picks up the TVG feed for the later feature races in California, so you might get lucky. But scan all the Fox sports channels you can find. Zenyatta is worth it.
Good News
Quality Road, a three-year-old knocked out of the Kentucky Derby (he probably would have been the favorite) by a quarter crack, came back in smashing fashion Monday afternoon by setting a new record in the Amsterdam Stakes at Saratoga. Even after a timer problem and dispute, Quality Road got the record and a 110 Beyer Speed Figure. He’s now pointed to the Travers.
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Thomas Chambers is the Beachwood’s man on the rail. He brings you Track Notes every Friday. He welcomes your comments.
Posted on August 7, 2009