john velazquez

[shanahan]

is simply the best jockey of our current generation.  What a display this afternoon...

[Chuckles_the_Clown2]

Which Velasquez are you referring to?

shanahan Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> is simply the best jockey of our current
> generation.  What a display this afternoon...

[shanahan]

Chuckles_the_Clown2 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Which Velasquez are you referring to?
>
> shanahan Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > is simply the best jockey of our current
> > generation.  What a display this afternoon...


the one in the subject line riding at GP (not just for TP)...What are you up to Chuckles?

[richiebee]

Shan:

You confused Chuckles with the spelling.

John VelaZquez-- rider of Rags to Riches and other Pletcher runners.

Cornelio VelaSquez-- underrated rider on NY and Fla circuits...

neither to be mistaken with Jorge VelaSquez, who many still say was the
difference (in a negative way)in the great Alydar/Affirmed rivalry.

John is from Puerto Rico, the 2 VelaSquezs are Panamanian.

Very dangerous to ask CTC a simple question like \"What are you up to?\"

Chuckles is probably working hard to disqualify the Count Fleet and the LeComte
as Derby Preps as each of them was won by a NYB bred slow rat.

[shanahan]

well, thanks Richie...I feel like I just stepped in something...

[richiebee]

Shan:

No offense intended, and being able to spell these guys\' names and knowing where
they are from has certainly NOT helped my handicapping....

[shanahan]

no, none taken...I meant I might be stirring I pot I can\'t watch!

today\'s late pik 3 @ AQUDCT:

7)  3,4

4,3,2

9) 3,4,6,7

$24 for the one dollar.

[Sandreadis]

Richiebee, Just curious how anyone can argue that Jorge was somehow the difference in Affirmed/Alydar. Was he somehow worse than 18 year old Steve Cauthen? What if Laffit rode Affirmed in the Triple Crown? Do you think it would have been as close as it was?  I think he was 7 starts and 7 wins replacing the injured Cauthen.Jockey\'s aside, I just don\'t think there is any debate??

[Chuckles_the_Clown2]

A good horse can come from anywhere...even New York. (Remember Thunder Rumble?) I\'m guessing you\'re remembering Rockport Harbor, Galloping Grocer and Attila of Troy. That said, I thought the two slow rats acquitted themselves pretty well. Z Fortune\'s backside may be a challenge down the road but he did win at a two turn mile in pretty fair time on the day and he did it in a professional manner putting some daylight between him and his adversaries.

Giant Moon did what was asked of him. You have to like his style a bit less.  Down the road, maybe he\'ll turf, but right now they can dream can\'t they?... Spanky Fischbein?

You\'re not usually fond of the Aqueduct innertube slow rats Richie, are you baiting me with some special opinion or just sticking to your position that the inner tube does not produce top flight stakes winners? I did rate Rocky pretty high, maybe I was wrong, but he was injured.

[richiebee]

Sand:

Tongue was planted pretty firmly in cheek there. A couple of people I used to go
to the races with were not big \"Georgie\" fans, and one of them was a huge Alydar
fan. \"Chollie\" has still been known to mutter \"Put the kid on freakin Alydar
and...\" (a variation of this over the years has been \"If Laz trains Alydar...\").

Chollie and Georgie went way back. At Saratoga in the mid 70s, Velasquez was
playing ping pong outside the jock\'s room and Chollie yelled \"Georgie you s--k
at ping pong just like you s--k at race riding\"

Georgie looked up from the table at Chollie and said \"Jump over the fence and
find a paddle, fat boy.\" We all secretly liked Jorge a little more after that--
he was a smartass just like us.

Was thinking about Affirmed a bit the other day, not only because of the death
of Louis Wolfson, but also because of the big rains at Santa Anita. If I
remember correctly, Laz Barrera was worried that he had not gotten enough
training into Affirmed at Santa Anita leading up to the Derby due to an
unusually wet winter.

[Sandreadis]

Great story. I guess Chollie never made it over the fence to settle things. The backside must have been pretty entertaining back in the day with Cordero and Jorge and others pranking and joking.I started following racing in the early 80\'s. I thought Jorge was a pretty good pilot even towards the end of his career. thanks for sharing.

[richiebee]

Chucky Cide:

Yes good horses come from everywhere, but the likelihood that the road to the
Derby will start on the inner course is slight, the reason being that none of
the IDT 3YO races (ie Count Fleet, Whirlaway) are graded,and of course the
graded earnings are all important.

Giant Moon has been improving and showed some rate- ability in his last. He is
undefeated, he is by a good distance sire and he is in the hands of a competent
trainer. On the other side of the ledger he has not beaten quality competition
and he has no graded earnings.

2008--30 years since Slew won the last Triple Crown. Some tantalyzing near
misses between then and now.

[magicnight]

Long day at Living Room Downs, Richie? Affirmed was \'78.

[richiebee]

Magic

That sounds right.

No racing sport yesterday at LRD.

Even without any rooting or betting interest, I must say that both Sunday NFL
games were quite entertaining, especially shorthanded Chargers (whats a Volek?)
eliminating Colts. As with most TV sports the key to enjoyment was liberal use
of the mute button.

[magicnight]

Richie,

Yes, I\'m glad I picked yesterday as the day to devote to foo\'ball watching ... two corkers!

And agree (especially with Fox), although, rather than make frequent use of the mute botton, I just keep it muted and make infrequent use of the \"volume\" button (\"did that hit sound as nasty as it looked?\"). That preening Fox robot with outsized shoulder pads rankles my ass even more than that Microsoft \"help\" paperclip ever did!

I think there\'s a lesson for racing in the way that the nets cover the (on-field) sound and sights. I love it when they use that camera on wires to cover the kickoffs from above the field and behind the play! Why can\'t racing coverage put you in the action/chaos like that?

B