Talk About Tennis 2.0

The Preakness Stakes is today at 7:01 p.m. Eastern. The Derby Winner, Mage, is the heavy 4/5 morning line favorite. That's justified. The second favorite on the morning line is Bob Baffert's National Treasure. He won his debut at Del Mar back in September but hasn't won in four starts since. So that tells you a little something about the field.

Fun Fact: Seven horses running in the Preakness; three of them, including Mage, are sons of Good Magic (son of Curlin). His first crop of foals have made quite the splash in Triple Crown fields. Good Magic had two sons in the Derby field.

Pace was pedestrian, but the ending was fun. I thought Blazing Sevens was going to take it.

No U.S. Triple Crown this year. Blazing Sevens ran his eyeballs out in a losing effort. Mage was third. He got the worst possible pace scenario in spite of breaking better than usual.

Unified Dreams (remember him?) just scored his first allowance win--by a snotbubble--at Canterbury Park. That's his fourth career win in 14 starts. But all three of his previous wins came in claiming ranks.

He's now won two of his last three races (was second in his previous start) and three of his last five.

The field for the Belmont is set, as are post positions and morning line odds.

Dry what do you think about the shutdown of Churchill Downs?

It's always disappointing to me when that few horses in a TC race.

Anywho, enjoyed the names of the top 6 (we'll at one point of the race) in grade 1 Acorn yesterday

ti-amie wrote: ↑Tue Jun 06, 2023 11:26 pm Dry what do you think about the shutdown of Churchill Downs?

Sorry, Amie. I'm just now seeing this. Crazy week.

I think lots of things about it. First, what took them so long? Whether it was a soundness issue or a track issue (because both the dirt and turf courses were in questionable shape), they should have shut it down well before the Derby. But they waited and only cut the Churchill meet by a week. Second, I have long had questions about Saffie Joseph. But the first autopsy was released earlier this week. Nothing was found in terms of toxicology or previously undetected defects. If the second autopsy reveals the same, then Churchill should reinstate him and apologize profusely. Third, why on Earth anyone would want to run their horses at Churchill is a complete mystery to me, but that fact seems to lend credence to the theory that the problem was one of soundness rather than the tracks themselves.

Finally, I guess we wait and see what happens with Churchill's races moved to Ellis Park. While Ellis attracts trainers and owners from other tracks, most of the horses that will race there in the weeks ahead will have come from Churchill.

When it's all said and done, I'm guessing it will be largely unsolved. There are just too many potential factors that figure into all of this. I know we like things simple, cut, and dry, but we cannot rule out the notion that this may have been the result of a combination of factors.

History made. Jena Antonucci becomes the first woman trainer to win the Belmont. And Javier Castellano ride two of the three U.S. Triple Crown winners. I didn't think Arcangelo could do it, but I was rooting for him the whole way.

Dry did you have an issue with the sound mix? There are a lot of complaints about being unable to clearly hear the announcer when the stretch run started.

ti-amie wrote: ↑Sun Jun 11, 2023 1:04 am Dry did you have an issue with the sound mix? There are a lot of complaints about being unable to clearly hear the announcer when the stretch run started.

I believe this call was done by the guy who calls Churchill. Drawing a blank on his name, which is embarrassing.

The official call from Belmont was done by Tom Durkin. He did fine. (He had some issues in the Cody's Wish race a few races before. But hey, that was one of his first calls in several years. Willing to cut him a break.)

Jena sums it up. We all know life isn't really that simple. Not everyone can just go off and "make your own table." But you can't help but appreciate the sentiment.

Rinaldi is perfect for that role.

We've seen his produced pieces, but solid interviewing on the fly to weave a tapestry as if it were produced...

BTW, I just watched all 10 races from Saturday's opening day at Ellis Park. Remember, the races that ran yesterday and will run today were originally scheduled for Churchill.

The day was entirely incident-free.

Just watched all 10 of today's races at Ellis. It was uneventful except for two things: 1) the track started out rated as fast; then the rain came, and it was downgraded to muddy; then more rain came, and it was downgraded to sloppy; 2) one horse in Race 7 was eased after checking hard in traffic and did not finish. The Equibase chart for the race simply states the horse was "distanced". She DNF (did not finish). But it also did not state that she walked off the track. Sometimes they add that. Sometimes they don't. But it looked to me like everything was okay with the horse. The jockey simply realized there was no point in finishing. That's what it looked like to me.

Thankful for two mostly uneventful days for Ellis. But that's bad news for Churchill.