Re: Saratoga or DelMar...which is the better meet? (582 Views)
Posted by:
Delmar Deb (IP Logged)
Date: July 19, 2006 10:33PM
Then Lee Rousso and Jim Quinn must not have been in there, because their winning tickets - and mine - on Dare and Go were for the Pick 3! And Lee Rousso even gave out Dare and Go as a single in the Pick 6 at the National Turf seminar put on by Jeff Siegel and Bob Selvin that morning across the street. Neither of them however, used the horse, as they both fell victim to the hype about Cigar.
Mott handled the horse beautifully, even better than what Woody Stephens did with Smarten. He managed to avoid the Santa Anita Handicap and the Hollywood Gold Cup thinking that by the time the Pacific Classic came around all the good horses would be used up or out of commission.
But you can't fool Dick Mandella! First off, Jerry rode another horse in the Hollywood Gold Cup and saw only saw the heels of Mandella's Siphon, which even Jerry admits caused him to chase that one in the Pacific Classic. Then Corey Nakatani wanted to get into the act, and his move on Dramatic Gold not only lost him any chance of friendship with Bailey, but also got him barred from Paulson's Del Mar Country Club and taken off all of David Hoffman's horses. Yet even without that kind of help, Dare and Go was the first Grade 1 horse (other than what Holy Bull would have done had he not been injured) to come between Cigar and the finish line. Alphabet Soup and Skip Away would also beat Cigar and further prove the brilliance of Mott's campaign over the skill of Cigar.
Delmar Deb