Blog

How good is West Coast?

It seems like Bob Baffert is likely to run West Coast in the Awesome Again at Santa Anita this weekend.  It will be his first start since his runner-up effort to Thunder Snow in the Dubai World Cup, and only his third start since last year’s Breeders’ Cup Classic.  Full disclosure: West Coast has been…

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Tourney Talk- There are no mistakes

A man has an affair, gets caught, and tells his wife “I made a mistake.”  She doesn’t buy it.  Why?  Because that’s not a mistake.  A bad decision?  Yes.  But not a mistake.  A mistake is forgetting to grab the milk while grocery shopping.  Or failing to carry the 1 when balancing your checkbook.  But…

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This never works

I’ve seen it happen so many times over the years.  A horse is taken out of his normal, established running style in an attempt to make him more competitive in a given race, and the change in tactics doesn’t work and the horse runs off the board.  Does that mean Bill Mott’s clear attempt to…

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Brown Town

We have some serious racehorses making appearances at Parx on Saturday.  The highlights are the Cotillion and the Pennsylvania Derby for 3-year-olds.  Both with a purse of $1,000,000.  Both with Grade 1 status.  And I think extra consideration needs to be given to two contenders from the Chad Brown barn who are both double digits…

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Meet the 2018 Breeders’ Cup Distaff Winner

She races in the Cotillion at Parx on Saturday. Her name isn’t Monomoy Girl. Her name isn’t Wonder Gadot. Her name isn’t Midnight Bisou. You can thank me later.  Oh, and bet her on Saturday until it goes click.  And don’t tell anyone competing against me in The BIG One.    

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I’m confused

As far as I’m concerned, one of the favorites for the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile is Firenze Fire.  He is your prototypical one-turn miler.  Not merely a one-turn horse.  Specifically a one-turn miler.  So I have no idea why he is passing on the Kelso, a one-turn mile at Belmont, in favor of the Gallant…

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Tourney Talk- The BIG Decision

The BIG One is probably the largest tournament that has never really been on my radar.  In the two years I’ve been participating in tournaments, I think have only played in one online qualifier for it.  I was always aware of The BIG One, but just never gave it much thought. Don’t really have a…

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25-1 on Takaful seems….low

It’s always fun to think about catching a big price on a sneaky horse to win a big race weeks or months in advance.  I’ve hit a few in my day, including Monarchs at 17-1 (could have had 10-1 on Derby Day), and Giacomo at about 50-1 (same price as Derby Day).  I’ve missed way…

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Trip Alert: A horse can only run so fast

UPDATE: The fractional times for the Woodbine Mile are currently under video review, calling the entire point of this post into question. Half-way into Saturday’s Woodbine Mile, Lord Glitters was a full 10 lengths behind leader and eventual winner Oscar Performance.  By the time the race was over, Lord Glitters had managed to cut that…

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