Classic

[Michael D.]

I like Raven\'s Pass.

Elusive Quality on top is the obvious question mark. his offspring back up two full points when stretching out. RP should get some stamina from his dam though, and he\'s been finishing his mile races like he wants to go on. gets 1st lasix, and gets 5 lbs. improving 3 yr old might be ready to pop a big one, even if 10f isn\'t his best game.

trading at around 7.5 to 1 at the moment.

Henry and The Duke were my original picks, but I like the way Raven held off Henry last, and Duke is coming off that grueling effort just three weeks ago.

RP the key.

[marcus]

Seems like the Europeans throughout both BC cards are getting imo very strong backing tonight at the www.oodschecker.com site . Ravens Pass 13/2 , 6-1 but 8-1 seems to be the standard  . Personally - I\'m throwing out Curlin  , currently listed over there at 2-1 ...

[Michael D.]

YESSS!!!!

the key was the stamina on bottom, and the very strong finishes going a mile.

[Silver Charm]

Kudos to you Michael D.

Someone please remind Steve Crist who said he loved Curlin at the 3-1 Euro ML and I said on his Blog, Curlin was even money to hit the board.

Wait I am going over there now to do myself.

[miff]

Chisel it in stone: Synthetic equals Grass, period!!

[shanahan]

Michael - how could you ignore the obvious point of the seminar:  EQ\'s don\'t get distance?

[Michael D.]

shanahan Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Michael - how could you ignore the obvious point
> of the seminar:  EQ\'s don\'t get distance?



I handicapped a large heart here. I used the Verbatim and Princequillo genes on bottom and the the strong finishes at a mile to come to that conclusion.

accepting the large heart, you had to love the line on this colt: \'1.25\' going in, 37% to pop a new top, 1st lasix, and 5 lbs? this colt had negative figure written all over him.

[P-Dub]

Michael,

You have proven again you are one of the best handicappers on this board.  Congratulations on a nice score.

What a disaster today was. Did get Midshipman and the double and the P3 going to the next 2 races. Wasted a lot on the Turf and Classic.

Then chase Bejarano on No Advantage instead of playing Into Mischief like I had handicapped the night before. Nice. Finish the day by messing up the wire to wire winner in the last. When you\'re having a bad day, its amazing how your mind does ridiculous things that looking back just make you shake your head.

Did I mention I lost a $400 voucher too??  

Not a good day, but most was self inflicted.

I will never ignore Euros in a BC turf race again. Never ever. I don\'t care where they race or what numbers the others have.

I am done chasing tris and supers. Geez, a lot of money lost going after those things.

I thought the TG product held up ok. Far from perfect, but we all knew going in this was going to be a different BC.

Santa Anita did a great job hosting the event.  Well organized, good weather. You may not like the surface, but they know how to host a big event.

Time to take my buddy out to dinner for his birthday. He had a rough day too, but its nothing a couple large hot sakes won\'t cure.

[tmon]

P-Dub I follow UK racing using the Racing Post site. With registration they have a free online form. Using their numbers only the 5 winning Euros were all improving young (3,4) horses/mare. In addition it helps to know that Gosden\'s stable has been firing winners and the O\'Brien stable had hit a flat spot.So before next years BC you might consider following UK racing for a couple of weeks.

[TGJB]

tmon-- using the Racing post figures (available in DRF) Westphalia was much faster than Gosden\'s horse.

[tmon]

I didn\'t say faster I said improving. Until Yeats won today O\'Brien\'s stable had gone very dull. While Gosden\'s stable was hot almost 30% winners in the past couple weeks. Also the colt Donativum beat won a grade 1 race earlier that day in the UK. And in my opinion Westphalia was just sent over in hopes that he was still as sharp. He had 3 races in 5 weeks and the third one was a tough race.