DMR Race 6, 8/14

[P-Dub]

How wide did Mike Smith take that horse that broke down today?? He saves all the ground, comes up the rail, and unfortunately has his mount break down at the 1/16 pole inside of 2 horses.

I stand corrected, you geniuses were right all along.  Smith is a big pussy afraid of riding in traffic.  

Go ahead JB, tell me I\'m defending Smith yet again and add nothing to the conversation. These rides are ignored constantly, yet clowns around here get a kick out of writing the usual crap about this guy.

But I forgot, this is a board for \"serious handicappers\", so if they say something is true, it must be true.

[richiebee]

I know all the numbers on the board were flashing at one point, but this is not a
three blind mice post.

The second place finisher, Hemera, trained by Hollendorfer, is a Ky bred by
Maria\'s Mon who went for 10K as a yearling.

As a 2YO, Hemera raced 3 times at Pyatigorsk, in the South of Russia. Two of her
3 races were triumphs in Graded Stakes; Hemera bankrolled $3089 as a juvenile.

Hemera began her 3Y0 campaign in Great Britain and floundered on the polytrack;
in California, Hemera now has a third and a second in two turf tries.

The online sources say that the city, Pyatigorsk, at the foot of Beshtau
mountain, has a history going back to the late 1700s; the racetrack, which is 100
or so years old, is located near the Podkumok River. It is a traditional Russian
equine facility in that many breeds of horse, both recreational and performance,
are stabled there.

The city Pyatigorsk is known for its curative waters and numerous spas. Two of
Hemera\'s Russian races were run in August. If there is any evidence of overpriced
restaurants in the city, how could Pyatigorsk not be the Saratoga of the former
Soviet?

JB, there were no numbers provided for Hemera\'s Russian races. If you want to get
yet another jump on your competitors, have your people get in touch with my
people: Maybe we can work out a deal whereby I am TG\'s man on the ground on the
Russian circuit. The results could be revolutionary, and after all I am one of the
only TG posters/customers who has a picture of himself in a TG baseball cap
outside the Moscow Hippodrome, the cradle of Russian racing.

Imagine the gnashing of teeth on the East Side near the Old Ukrainian Sailor\'s
Home and Casino if TG and not the Redgozin operation was the first to offer
comprehensive figures for racing from the Motherland.

Paca.

Your comrade,

Richiebee

[moosepalm]

There\'s a theory in child development that suggests that a kid\'s ability to make connections is a sign of highly developed intelligence.  Richiebee, that piece suggests if you were eight years old you\'d be a prodigy. As an adult, however, you\'re just one funny and creative writer.  Very nicely played.

[magicnight]

Concur, Moose. Another classic from Richiebee.

I think he may be onto something, regarding a new market for TG, when he notes ... \"Two of her 3 races were triumphs in Graded Stakes; Hemera bankrolled $3089 as a juvenile.\"

Clearly, all stables in Russia are betting stables.

[TGJB]

SoCal might have a comment on Russian racing...

[plasticman]

A high percentage of his rides are the \'married man\'s route\'. Just by random luck he\'s going to be inside on occasion, but it doesn\'t happen very often.

[P-Dub]

plasticman Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> A high percentage of his rides are the \'married
> man\'s route\'. Just by random luck he\'s going to be
> inside on occasion, but it doesn\'t happen very
> often.


Of course not.

I\'m sure you have been tracking all his rides and know this as fact.

[TGJB]

PDub-- that\'s your last post on this subject ever. You brought this one up, making my point from the other day, and this last post has abolutely nothing in it other than a knock on another poster who responded. I don\'t care what the provocation, you\'re done on this, or you\'re done here.

[plasticman]

I don\'t want to egg you on, b/c Jerry isn\'t too happy with you at this point, but i do follow So Cal racing and Mike Smith doesn\'t ride in traffic all that much anymore. I believe it has to do with Mike being financially stable, older and he kind of likes the idea of leaving the track each day on his own power. I\'d be the same way too if i was him.

[SoCalMan2]

TGJB Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> SoCal might have a comment on Russian racing...


Yeah....i dont know where to start or finish on this.  

I am a degenerate horseplayer and I particularly love going to the races live.  Timonium (1976 -- they had a meet that used to go all summer) was the first track i ever went to and i still feel excited and emotional as I approach that \"antediluvian\" grandstand. That being said, 2003 to 2010 was the only time in my life I lived walking distance to the racetrack.  My walk to the track was shorter than my daily walk to the office......grand total of times I attended in 7 years?  twice.  (Imagine living in central Manhattan with a racetrack located in Central Park and not bothering to go because the racing is so crappy).  This track is the Moscow Hippodrome that RichieBee has his proud photo op in front of (If i had a TG hat I would proudly join RichieBee in a photo op there -- i am going back to Russia in Mid-September).  That track is easily the best in all Russia.....and easily the worst racetrack I have been to in the world (and I have been to the races in over 20 countries). I will say it is architecturally special (although i know nothing about architecture). Runner up for worst racing was racing on the beach at Castlepoint on the New Zealand North Island....but the surroundings and the event were so charming and overwhelmingly beautiful I would heartily recommend that to anybody (just be ready for the craziest form you have ever seen.....no horses are less than 10 years old....a lot of them have things like.....\"childrens\' riding horse 2006-2009\" or \"workhorse\" as their PPs....but this is a better source of information on better horses than what you get in Russia).

So, I do not even know where to begin on Pyatigorsk.  Other things it is known for is being the region that produced Gorbachev.....it is a big university town (do i hear skidmore?).....fairly hot babes (as far as I can tell, South Russia developed fishnet pants....something i have never seen outside of southern Russia and Ukraine (although I hear they are quite popular in Chisinau (Moldova)))....and a lot of caucasus \"flavor.\"  Didn\'t know there was a track there.  Judging by the filly\'s PPs, she was running on turf in Russia which may have been a tip off how she would have handled the surface switch (although she had to have been beating nothing at Pyatigorsk) ....got to like the Armenian trainer.  That is a pretty well traveled horse -- nice opportunistic purchase at Keeneland (sept 08 -- Lehman going under -- world ending -- nobody thinking of buying horses but a few crazy Russians or over-extended English dentists) -- I shudder to think of the route this filly took to get into and out of Pyatigorsk.  Then stopping in a nice barn in London on the way back to....... Southern California.  I wonder how much has been spent on transporting this filly?  Certainly way more than she cost....and way more than she could have made racing in Russia even if she won everything she entered.  Also, note that her graded races are denoted in the form as \"Russian\" graded races.  That is all you need to know about Russian racing.  When was the last time you saw the racing form qualify what a graded race is?   I mean I have seen horses come out of graded races in South Korea, Turkey, Peru, Zimbabwe.....they never qualify a graded race....for Russia...they have to.  I recall a Washington DC International that had a Soviet horse entered.....this horse was something like the best horse ever in the history of the Soviet Union...their Secretariat and Man O War wrapped up into one.....and the horse finished something like 35 lengths behind the next to last place horse.  Anybody else remember that John D. Schapiro special?

FYI -- there was a nice 3 yo that was bought by a crazy Russian (it may have even been the verifiably insane \"president\" of Chechnya)....something like Racecar Rhapsody or something like that....horse did poorly in Russia (although did run in their equivalent of the Breeders Cup (purse something like $50k which is insanely high for a Russian horses race)) and then vanished.

I could go on forever......Richie....you heading back over to Rodina any time soon?