Tavasco Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
[b]A pretty good horse/sheet for a competitor that has only won a MSW and @ Parx.[/b]
Seeing a race on NBC during "prime time" Saturday evening @ 9:00 p.m.- struck me as a little unusual. Apparently this is a portion of this years promotion for the Breeders Cup. More TV coverage for race fans is good I thought. I caught just the end of the broadcast and consequently missed the interesting back story on Pavel who, I thought, looked very good winning.

[b]In hindsight a missed opportunity.[/b]
Originally I confused Pavel with Patch. Then realized I wasn't familiar with Pavel. This captured my curiosity because I am familiar with most older Graded Stakes contending horses. So I used the red board room to examine both his sheet and the race. It became apparent to me that, based on Pavel's sheet, he seemed an obvious contender. So why was he 6/1 I mused. My thought was subsequently confirmed when I read the TG analysis which included Pavel as one of three perceived value horses. Along with Patch the TG key horse. Who @ 20/1 seemed a good thing. Prior to the TG red board becoming available I used the Equibase site to familiarize myself with Pavel's history a cursory look illustrated the horse hadn't hit the board in his last five (5) races. That seemed inconsistent with the performance I had just witnessed. So my knee jerk reaction was PED's. Geez O'Neil had previously only entered two winners @ CD, I'll have Another and another? A closer look might lead one to believe that trainer O'Neil has lots of confidence in Pavel. He certainly has chased some lucrative purses. i.e. Jim Dandy (in his second start), Breeders Cup Classic, Dubai World Cup, Hollywood Gold Cup.

[b]O'Neil gushes credit for the jockey & horse. The nieve little TV gal asks him where did that race come from? His mumbo jumbo answer sounded like a U.S. legislator but shorter in length making no sense at all, to me.[/b]
Following the race most of the commentary pertains to the hot and humid weather in Louisville. It made clear both people and horses are being affected by the heat. Especially after Irish War Cry took charge of the race, then stopped, pulled up and was vanned off. A serious looking veterinarian was interviewed who described the attention as precautionary. Graham Motion would later say IWC suffers from "Thumps" and will probably never race in hot and humid weather again.

But wait, a c/b astute producer, needs to get the coverage off of equine health and on to something more upbeat and entertaining. So switch to petite 5'0" 110 lb. 30 y/o Brittany Eurton, interviewing a chuckling Doug O'Neil. Now that I understand who Brittany is could be the two are old and good friends. If so, Ms. Eurton was an ideal announcer to interview the happy trainer. But for me it seemed a strange moment.

Mr. O'Neil certainly appeared happy and celebratory, Tousling the jockey's hair and probably relieved that the promise he first saw in the Reddam Racing's (as in big client) colt had been realized. The connections c/b thinking they have a legitimate BCC contender this year. So what would an experienced or inexperienced interviewer for that matter ask an elated trainer at a moment like that. Even more difficult what can a trainer say? Dougie is IMHO, not nearly the accomplished celebrity nor interviewee that his stable neighbor Bob Baffert is, but few are. For Mr. O'Neil to be somewhat tongue tied in the moment is not surprising. Even a non riding yet equine knowledgeable Ms. Eurton, probably didn't script the question beforehand and may even have been surprised more than veteran sheet readers.

[b]But he is a Grade One winner now and is heading to the Breeder's Cup Classic I suppose.[/b]
For me I'm guessing Pavel earned a new TG top. He looks a serious race horse with a promising future that was first recognized a little more than one year ago. Will we see him at Saratoga? Well if its hot and humid that brings out his best maybe not. But I'll be paying a lot more attention next time I see him head for the starting gate.

[b]Other things[/b]
"Nieve" as for my lack of wisdom and sophistication I can only say one of my pet peeves for years has been misspelling naive.

As for Rich Curtis and others of like mind thank you for mocking my post. Hopefully, I'll be more aware of my words next time and not such a creature of mindless habit.

As as for Ms. Eurton and young women breaking into a profession (it is not about your appearance) I do believe its about your ability so best of luck to all of you. A bit about Brittany from an article I recently found about her.....

[i]Surprisingly, the one thing Eurton doesn’t do is actually ride horses. “It is something my parents never got me involved in. My dad was a jockey and then he got too big, so he became a trainer and took over my grandfather’s stable, but I grew up playing soccer and dancing,” she said.[/i]

[i]“When people look at me, they think I could be a jockey because I am not very big,” she said, admitting that last time she was on a horse, her feet came out of the stirrups and ended up “bouncing around, holding on for dear life!”[/i]