The first Californian I refer to is one Eldrick \"Tiger\" Woods, whose return from
sex addiction therapy at The Masters this weekend will give that tournament (and
CBS) record viewership, the kind of spotlight Racing will only get if there is
the possibility of a Triple Crown winner. Actually some on this Board have
already mentioned the Triple Crown as more of a probability than a possibility
this year, but more on that later.
Back to Tiger. I have disrespected this man as a golfer long before I disrespected
him for violating one of the primary Don Corleone rules, that \"A man who doesn\'t
spend time with his family can never be a real man.\"
For all of his considerable talent, Tiger\'s temper tantrums on the course are
tolerated where they shouldn\'t be, because it assures that future generations of
young golfers will think that such behavior is acceptable, where clearly it is
not.
Tiger has many times in the past stopped in mid- swing (either backswing or
downswing) upon hearing the slightest noise, usually the click of the shutter on
a camera.
Hey Tiger, man up. I remember playing in a foursome where during my backswing on
a difficult drive I heard the ripping noise of 2 beer can pull tops and the sound
of the third member of the foursome on the cell phone chatting up his boss\'
daughter. I do not mean to use the noise as an excuse for hitting a Lou Gehrig--
a \"dead yank\" -- off the tee, but how are you going to cope the first time you
play a tournament in the NY metro area and you are being serenaded by drunken
gallery members singing Rick James\' \"Superfreak\" or Donna Summers\' \"Bad Girls\"?
[Oh right this is the Thorograph board]. The other Californian who has fallen
from grace,precipitously and probably through no fault of his own, is Lookin at
Lucky. The two year old champion colt,after one bad trip (which apparently the
trainer is now calling a bad ride) is being dismissed by many on this board whose
opinion I have a lot of respect for. In the last 36 or so hours I have read that
some are looking forward to the prospect of betting against this colt, that
others will be looking to use him at best to fill out the superfecta, that there
is the possibility that he will stand in the Derby gate at double digit odds.
Still others have mentioned that he did not make the same physical appearance at
Santa Anita that he did at Oaklawn for the Rebel or even during the 2YO campaign.
Others have called him a \"grinder\" which only makes me hungry.
I was rather surprised, in looking at the TG numbers for the Santa Anita Derby,
that LAL basically replicated the same TG number 4 times (TG 6) in winning 4 2YO
stakes; his best number (3) came in a second place finish in the BC Juvie. And
those margins of victory, as has been mentioned, have been quite modest.
I am not giving up on this colt. As I have told NYC, I do not believe that Derby
prospects with 7 or 8 lifetime starts, especially runners being tried at
distances they are not capable of performing at, have developed TG patterns in
the traditional sense of the word. LAL has a pattern of sorts which is kind of
irresistible to me- he seems to know how to win.
Lets go to the pedigree. LAL is by Smart Strike, who I think even Silver Charm
will agree has replaced Unbridled\'s Sore as America\'s premier stallion; SS was
the dam sire of last years Derby winner. LAL\'s lone sibling to race, Kensei, was
a graded stakes winner last year at 3.
As to his physical condition and how he came out of the SA race, if I were to
take any kind of strong position on him, I would want to see a couple of Baffert-
fast six and seven furlong works leading up to the Derby. Knowing how Baffert has
traditionally worked his better runners, if he goes into the Derby with only
average works I would tend to begin to agree with those who contend that he is
past his peak.
