Its a very good race. derby1592 gets the Kudos though not the reward for selecting Saratoga County last. He ruined my Tri. My instinct tells me Zito found a tough spot for his "Easy road to Kentucky". He's got a nice hole however.

Random Statements (very random :)) on the best day in Florida Racing now that Hialeah is no longer Queen, and that fact is a great loss in regard to the aesthetics and history of the sport. This a big day theres some nice blood on this card:

1ST

- Courageous King, 700K purchase, trouble last, blinkers off, Kalifornia dragstrips weren't quick enough for him. I guess they thought they'd pop maiden easy out here and jump into the Stakes. Add the ship to his yearling price and he better do something quick to earn back some of that money.

- Outlaw Kid, Winstar Homebred/400K buyback, trained by Walden of course who is struggling of late.

- Forestwood, 800K purchase, Pletcher

2ND

- Classic Wine, Irving & Marge Cowan they've owned some good ones. I believe Hollywood Wildcat among them.

- Forest Danger, 900K purchase, trouble last, Pletcher, another Forestry/Storm Cat price tag

- Its Awesome Baby, Cam Gambolati ever optimistic that lighting can strike twice

- Playhurt, Craig Perret he use to be my favorite guy to bet at this boneyard. Had the record for stakes in one year until that other jockey stole it from him

3RD

- Gotta Have Magic, Concordes Tune by Concorde Bound by Bold Reasoning. This part of the family tree is very underated. Everyone focuses upon the Slew side, not that this horse has a prayer, Connections Zed for the meet

- Outer Marker, Jonathan Sheppard one of the good horseman, You gotta have the horses

- Salute the Troops, and honor them by bringing them home, A WinStar market acquisition, 180K for a purchase and not enough capital to retain the entity that made your stallion roster?

- American Cherokee, Frank Gomez trained sire Cherokee Run and would not travel with him turned him over to Frank Alexander is my recollection. First time Cherokee Run started had win, per and tri mucho multiple times. Thank you Mr. Gomez another consummate horseman.

- Pro Band, 575K purchase, Lost to Ghost Mountain hes got a shot to earn that investment back :)

- Titanius, Look what Manny Azpurua is left with now that Sir Oscar was stolen from him

- Conservationist, another 800k Forestry/Storm cat buy

4TH

- Irish Melody, This one only cost 500K
- French Glen, This time they only paid the STUD FEE for Forestry and that saved them 750K :)

- Madcap Escapade, Dayum only paid 160K and got a fast horse how is that possible? Oh silly me nuther grandson of Storm Cat. On another note a jockey wins for you by 10 and 11 lengths and you take that jock off for the venerable and aging Jerry Bailey? A curse on this house. A curse on Frank Brothers and Bruce Lundsford. Your horse is not going to go on. Your horse will not retire sound. ChucklestheCurseClown say...."slower".

La Reina - will be more Hoss than all those Forestry/Storm Cat fakers combined.

5TH I dont do grass

6TH

- Summer Book, Perret again

- Mr. Mabee, WinStar again, That must be a 155K purchase price.

7TH

- Intimidator, Thats right he cost 2,100K, some nice blood on female side, apparently won through the bleeding last

- Battle Hero, Remember Serena's Song?, Remember Flanders who beat her?, This one is out of Flanders, even Pletcher can't get him to run. By the way, when did Pletcher start training for Overbrook? I thought this was Lukas's exclusive client.

- Tango Tales, 600K purchase beat the 800K purchases last one, Storm Cat Grandsire again. You have to like the way he's finishing though.

8TH

- Albaaz, 750K McLaughlin purchase by Swain, yeah he'll earn it back

- Hot Hand, Zed for Santa Anita, Onefor Here the Lukas barn keeps gathering momentum, least he didn't pay too much for this one. More residual value that way

- Ptah, Phil Gleaves, assistant to Woody, he was on the verge of breaking in big had Wise Times and A.P. Jet I believe. I don't know what happened.

- Stormy Ray, Dayum they only paid 7.5 K for the Stud Fee gelded him and now they have 92K on the credit side of the ledger. My GOD thats not horsemanship, that sounds like a profit?

- Camp David, 1000K purchase, now 5, yeah he was a good buy.

9TH

- Frisky Spider, 3K stud, 10K purchase, now banking 55K with three wins, come on Robert a horseman has to be in deep hock to show his stuff.

10TH

- Chapel Royale, 1200K but I think this one has a chance to earn it back.

- Saratoga County, can't be a horse only cost 100k :)

12TH

- Gamble, apparent Padua/Hollendorfer 875K gamble probably a Barretts buy, now trained by Cam, you gotta wonder how much money this Sanan has burned. I guess hes got a lot.

- Literary Row, 410K Pletcher buy but NOT a Storm Cat? WTF?, Think sale is a 2yr old in training sale, didn't start til he was four. They prolly drilled the soundness out of him in that sale. Last was good, but the time off makes it look like he came unglued again. Not with my money.

13TH

This is great race, with a slew of competent conservative horseman that do their best to give their owners great value and then theres also Todd Pletcher.

- Newfoundland, you read it right 3,300K purchase, I've got a big number for his last, but I'm highly skeptical of it, race came off turf was on sloppy track and he was life and death to beat another horse. Yeah he'll win it back. When are these morons gonna get off this Storm Cat b.s.? I can see Storm Cat with a real stout mare, but at this price? I don't get it.

- M B Sea, OMG a Breeders Cup winning sire (Which I had) that only goes for 10K, purchased for 20K with 365K in the bank? And Perret Up? This horse would embarrass Newfoundland on any type of fair track. Today I'm not sure.



Post Edited (03-13-04 00:22)