Godolphin

[Josephus]

Anybody have any insights into why their horses are running these dynamite races off layoffs?  I know they have great stock, but they are not missing with any of them.  It will be interesting to see what happens in their follow-up races.  Who gets the credit. is it Mettee or the main stable trainer?

[Niall]

Its the springs ... Saratoga Springs ... The Spaaaaaaa ... long known for the recuperative powers of the water ... Seriously one reason is GTC. Greentree Training Center. You may have seen the workout designation in the form. Right next to the track, it is a state of the art facility. Metee and others have said the horses are doing much better there. Turnout paddocks and plenty of space to graze. Makes for a happy horse ... And also some credit must go to \"trainer in training\" The Mig. Has been working most of their horses and Kiaran and Rick have given him a lot of credit. And kudos to them for paying him in very live mounts.

[TGJB]

Not for nuthin\', but I would love to know if they changed vets somewhere around late June early July. When the horses first left Albertrani they were all running like they were poisoned. They all of them started running well.

[APny]

I\'m sure its just good old fashioned training...oh and the turnout paddocks.  Please people.

[covelj70]

Total aside here.

I don\'t think GTC has alot to do with why they are running well but that is one unreal facility.

A buddy of mine took me back there when I was up at the spa and it\'s absolutely insane.  Most lavish facility I have ever seen (including humans living quarters).

There\'s a full sister to Bernadini that was training there all summer as well.  2 year old.  Have to admit it was very cool being around that kind of stock.

[basket777]

super derby 2

case in point   was the best horse on paper   ran wonderful most likely to his number or a little better.   was the most likely winner    that was a big surprise?

[Niall]

These are not your typical horses coming off layoffs ... They are stakes quality animals and if memory serves me correctly, most ran very well in their debuts so they had a license to run well off the bench. VH was surprising in the Kings Bishop, however people are still talking about how good he looked in the paddock. Still 2nd time Kiaran or 1st time bin soour is a very potent angle ... and the vet ...

[Lost Cause]

TGJB Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Not for nuthin\', but I would love to know if they
> changed vets somewhere around late June early
> July. When the horses first left Albertrani they
> were all running like they were poisoned. They all
> of them started running well.


I don\'t know if anyone has the stats but I believe every year around this time of year Godolphin and Darley horses run well compared to the rest of the year.
That is just from my memory.

[miff]

Lost,

No stats either but Bin Suroor is always ice cold or red hot it seems. Considering what Sheik MO has spent on racing stock and the results achieved, this venture is a financial disaster in a pure business sense.


Mike

[TGJB]

Miff-- that ice cold or red hot thing is exactly why I raise the issue of the vet. He\'s not the only one-- Contessa was that way for a couple of years, could probably sit down and make a list of others.

Now, if we had a vet of record listed on the program...

That was a recommendation of mine that the Jockey Club did NOT act on. It\'s a little tricky, but it could be done.

Barry Irwin had an interesting idea a few years ago as well-- don\'t allow anyone on the grounds with any medications. They have to buy everything from a pharmacy on the backside.

[Rick B.]

TGJB Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Barry Irwin had an interesting idea a few years
> ago as well-- don\'t allow anyone on the grounds
> with any medications. They have to buy everything
> from a pharmacy on the backside.

They\'d have to tighten the hell out of security for this to work.
 
When we went to Saratoga last month, we literally turned off of Union and parked the car -- no checkpoint, no security -- then walked into the barn area unchecked.

My buddy has an owner\'s license, but he was never asked for it. We stopped and talked to Baffert by Terranova\'s stalls, then moved on to Dutrow\'s barn. We had breakfast in the track kitchen. Not a word from anyone.

I was astonished at how easy it was. I think I could have hand-trucked a 55 gallon drum of M99 in if I wanted to.

Maybe it was just a fluke -- something strange that day, perhaps, or security recognized my buddy and decided we were OK. But if that\'s way things normally operate at racetracks, the overall integrity of racing is for shit, IMO.

[miff]

JB,

They wont: list vets,procedures since last start,give updates on track maintenance, tell you where and how much the big pick six tickets were bought and lots of other stuff.Go ask an official about these things and they look at you as if you were from f--king Mars.
Clueless!


Mike

[Wrongly]

FYI
The full sister to Bernardini is a filly by the name of Kind Words. Didn\'t pick up her feet in her first outing:

DRF Chart

[Michael D.]

Bernardini never even made it to the races at 2. Ran an \'11\' first out at 3. Cara Rafaela was a good 2 yr old, but her foals are not running early. She has produced three good ones - one of the others had a \'21\' top at 2, and the other didn\'t race until he was 4. Will be interesting to see how Kind Words develops.

[jbelfior]

Were any of these Godolphin eyebrow raisers on the turf?


Good Luck,
Joe B.