Talk About Tennis 2.0

DWB finished a distant second (8 1/2 lengths) but held on for third by a neck. The substitute favorite (Shades of Truth) after the scratch of Patty H finished dead last and folded the second DWB challenged her on the lead. Instead, the winner was the longest shot on the board, Al Alhambra (30/1), who decided today was the day she was going to run a race unlike anything she's done before. There's nothing you can do about that--when the light bulb goes off.

The second place finish will more than cover DWB's barn bill for the month.

::

Rock Along is still on schedule to race at Keeneland on Thursday. She'll run against two Wesley Ward first-time starters, one of whom was purchased in Europe for over $470K. Ouch.

Progress! And a covered Barn bill isn't a bad thing.


Unrelated aside - any of the folks you talk with in to Zed_Run?

Fastbackss wrote: ↑Wed Apr 21, 2021 2:27 am Progress! And a covered Barn bill isn't a bad thing.


Unrelated aside - any of the folks you talk with in to Zed_Run?

I have never heard of it, but I will certainly look into it!

::

DWB actually earned $6500 for finishing second. So that will cover her barn bill for at least 2 months.

Looking at the numbers, honestly, she clearly regressed. This happens a lot after a first race, especially a first win. Equibase's preliminary speed figure gave her a 53. So that's a significant step backward. It's also possible she just didn't like the track, but relying on that feels like both an excuse and a crutch. She just got beat.

Compare that speed figure to the winner, who was running in the 53 range in all three of her previous races. She chalked up a 71. So that was a big step forward for her.

This is how the ball bounces sometimes. You just have to roll with it. As if you have a choice.

It also makes you appreciate those horses like Essential Quality that just keep moving forward with every start of their career--at least so far. That is SO hard to do race in and race out.

I'm still proud of her. And I'm glad she held on for second. A third-place purse would have been half of what she got and only covered her barn bill for a month. BIG difference.

So, Rock Along finished 6th of 10, but I was VERY encouraged by her debut for a very big reason--she has excellent early speed. She won the break from the 10th stall in the gate and immediately darted over to the rail to get front position along with the #1 (Ruthin)--that's the $470K horse from Europe trained by Wesley Ward. She was able to stalk the leader all the way to the top of the stretch, but then Rock Along began to tire and got passed by four other horses leading up to the wire.

But that early speed will be a tremendous asset for her. Now, we just need to focus on improving her endurance, which will be easy because she's bred to like a mile or more when her body is ready for it.

::

This race had another first for me... I've never had a horse that was beaten by a horse (Ruthin) that is being prepped to run at the Royal Ascot. Ruthin won this race by 6 lengths and put up a whopping 84 for an Equibase speed figure. That's an incredible number for a 2-year-old first time starter--even for the turf. She is GOOD. And for $470K+--she better be.

I can report Rock Along came out of the race just fine, in spite of being very tired. It occurred to me after I provided my original report that I assumed she just got tired at the end (it made sense, she missed a week of training 2 weeks ago) and had not considered the fact she may have bled. But she scoped beautifully. It really was just about missing a week of training. (Though no one was going to beat the 1 horse today.)

::

I can also report that both Rock Along and Danceswithbourbon are headed to Churchill. Assuming their training goes well, that's where they'll race next. I also believe my colt, Cryptic Creed, was schedule to go to Churchill in the near future, but that may be in doubt. He hasn't done a published work in a month. (But that doesn't mean he isn't training. Saffie can be a little cagey about this sort of thing. I have not been told about any kind of setback in his training.)

::

Meanwhile, the Euclid partnership (DWB) is planning to buy a 2-year-old at the Ocala sale tomorrow or the day after. I'm already in. If you ever get a chance to google "Buckpasser in the X position", do it. It makes for fascinating reading. I mention it because it came up when our Euclid partnership leader, Matt, reported on his research from the Ocala sale. I had no idea. I am learning new things EVERY day.

Rock Along before today's race. She was 100% professional the whole time.

Gorgeous creature.

So, we have another horse.

Yesterday, a 2-year-old colt (not yet named) went through the auction ring and came out RNA--that means Reserve Not Attained, which is a fancy way of saying that the bid price in the ring wasn't as much as the minimum price established by the sellers. So our fearless leader, Matt, approached the sellers immediately after the sale and made an offer, which they accepted. This was also how he got Danceswithbourbon last year.

This colt is from the first crop sired by Unified. Unified raced 7 times in his short career--all on dirt--winning 4 of them at distances ranging from 6 furlongs to 1 1/8 mile. These included 2 Grade 3 wins, 1 Grade 2 win, and a 2nd in the Grade 1 Carter Handicap. BUT, my favorite thing about Unified is that he's a son of Candy Ride, an Argentine stallion that has without question made the greatest impact on the U.S. throughbred gene pool of any foreign-born sires in the last 15 years. He is also one of the top sires of sires in the U.S.

The colt's dam, Flatter Me First, is what we call a "hard-knockin" mare. She raced 32 times in 5 years with only two brief layoffs in her career. She had 7 wins, 2 2nd place finishes, and 5 3rd place finishes earning just over $101K in purse money. Strangely, 6 of her wins came on dirt at Mountaineer and Churchill (I guess back in the day Mountaineer used to attract better horses than it does today) with another win on the synthetic at Turfway Park. All of her wins came at the 1 mile distance. She has produced two other foals--both have been winners.

So, now he'll go to the farm to decompress from the sale. Apparently these sales are pretty stressful, and then he'll go to Jordan Blair around June 1 to resume training.

I'll post a picture once I have one. All I have now is a video of him during a work--and he DOES look fast. Hopefully we'll be able to get him off the ground more quickly than DWB, but of course, we'll make sure he gets all the time he needs.

Some horses pulled out of the Derby last week, so some of the horses on the bubble got into the field. Here is a really nice feature on the JOCKEYS that will be riding in the Derby. Of particular note, the last horse in--Brooklyn Strong--will be ridden by Umberto Rispoli. Umberto THOUGHT he would get his first ride in the Derby when he rode Rock Your World to victory in the Santa Anita Derby. But the connections snubbed Umberto in favor of Joel Rosario who has much more big race experience. Now Umberto will get his first Derby mount aboard Brooklyn Strong.

https://www.americasbestracing.net/the- ... by-jockeys

They drew the posts for the Kentucky Derby today. Interesting dynamics here. (BTW, I LOVE Ken Rudulph, but for your own good, don't actually listen to him. He loves crazy longshots. Though I don't think there really ARE any CRAZY long shots this year. Especially if the weather forecast holds up... They're calling for heavy rain in Louisville all day Thursday and into Friday morning.)

Just checked on the track conditions today at Churchill... It's officially rated as sloppy. I'd call it Sloppy on Steroids.

dryrunguy wrote: ↑Thu Apr 29, 2021 9:46 pm Just checked on the track conditions today at Churchill... It's officially rated as sloppy. I'd call it Sloppy on Steroids.

Though I go with this thinking anyway, now even more so - advantage veteran jockeys.

BY MARY ELLEN CAGNASSOLA

A horse owned by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum might not make it out of the gate at this year's Kentucky Derby after renewed allegations that the ruler of Dubai abducted his own daughter, the Associated Press reported.

The Kentucky Horse Racing Commission (KHRC) received a complaint this week from human rights attorneys and students at the University of Louisville who asked that Essential Quality, Sheikh Mohammed's horse, be banned from the Derby. They also asked that he not be allowed to enter any horses in any races until his daughter, Princess Latifa, is freed or a public hearing is held.

Sheikha Latifa bin Mohammed Al Maktoum said last spring that she is being held against her will and was detained by commandos in 2018 after trying to flee Dubai via yacht. Her 38-year-old sister, Shamsa, was abducted from Cambridge, England, in August of 2000 and has not been seen since.

A judge found last year that Sheikh Mohammed was responsible for both abductions in a case between him and his second official wife, Princess Haya, over their two children. Princess Haya fled Dubai in 2019 with their daughters in fear of her husband, she told the courts.

Essentially Quality, an undefeated grey colt, is favored 2-1 among 20 competitors and the sheikh's strongest chance of winning the Kentucky Derby after 11 tries and millions of dollars spent. The request to remove Essential Quality from the race is not expected to be honored, AP reported.

Kristin Voskul, spokeswoman for the KHRC, didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.

The sheikh had told the the court he was relieved at having found his "vulnerable" daughter, Shamsa, after she went missing.

Princess Haya is the daughter of the late King Hussein of Jordan and married Sheikh Mohammed in 2004.

The cases are particularly sensitive in Britain because of economic and historic links to Dubai. Sheikh Mohammed, who is vice president and prime minister of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), is hugely influential in Britain's racing industry because of the money he spends on breeding and racing. He is friendly with fellow horse enthusiast Queen Elizabeth II.

The sheikh is well-known in Kentucky racing circles, with his Godolphin operations based at Jonabell Farm in Lexington. While the sheikh won't be among the limited fans in attendance Saturday, Churchill Downs spokesman Darren Rogers indicated the protest has little chance of success.

"Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid currently holds a valid racing license in the state of Kentucky. There have been no horse racing violations and nor are we aware of any other U.S. regulatory or governmental investigations," Rogers said.

"We are focused on the 3-year-old thoroughbreds who have earned their way into this year's Kentucky Derby and our responsibility is to the integrity of the race and the safety of those horses."


https://www.newsweek.com/racing-commiss ... te-1587614

^^ WTAF?!?