Rides and Euros

[Silver Charm]

Bailey was a little unsure on LAL. Thought in his last race he beat absolutely nothing, which he did, compared to what he is going to have to beat next out.

If this horse is 9-2 or so there is not a lot of value or premium in his price. Baffert no doubt will have ready to run the race of his life. Is that good enough is the question.

[miff]

\"Thought in his last race he beat absolutely nothing, which he did, compared to what he is going to have to beat next out\"

Silver,

Re LAL,a fair statement which also applies to Quality Road and Zenyatta.

On the CLASSIC, genius arab connections withdraw Richards Kid to point for winter Campaign in the middle east, BRILLIANT!

Love Baffy but he\'s smoking some strong stuff lamenting that Richards Kid could have been named Champion Older Horse or maybe HOY.

Baffy also loses El Brujo Rojo,gone bad again.


Mike

[jbelfior]

Jimbo:

Selections made by the talking heads at TVG, ESPN, etc will not include LAL. Same theory for the newspaper guys..

IMO, a ton of non-regulars\' money shows up on days like this.


Opinions on others in the Classic  such as Fly Down or First Dude. Are we still thinking that the 3yo crop is below par?


Good Luck,
Joe B.

[jimbo66]

Joe B,

We will have to see what final odds are, but I believe LAL will be 5-1ish.  I strongly doubt the horse is 8-1.

I wouldn\'t group Fly Down and First Dude together because IMO, they are very different.  First Dude is a one-paced horse whose best race is not competitive (unless the Penn Derby figures are much faster than expected).  He has a flat line at best and to me is a strange horse in the way he gets easily passed and then seems to fight back a bit after the race is over.  I would have found him interesting in the BC Marathon.
 
Fly Down, on the other hand, has some upside and is somebody that will be on my spread pick-4 tickets.  His Travers got a very good figure, although I have to admit I have trouble swallowing the negative 4.  On the other hand, he is a horse that can run very fast, figures to benefit from the 1 1/4 and I will take the glass \"half full\" approach that his not changing leads is a sign of maturity issues and not physical issues.  As such, I can view him as a horse with a very fast top, who will get some weight as a 3-year old, has a running style that may benefit from what looks like a fast pace in the Classic, has some upside and will be 20-1ish.  In that case, he is a \"use\" for me.

Jim

[HP]

Buck\'s Boy would get my vote for best BC trip ever and it\'s a textbook illustration of a few TG principles, especially the importance of ground loss.  Those who insist that ground loss doesn\'t matter should watch this race, around three turns.  I forget the year.  HP

[TGJB]

1998 at CD. Third leg of a huge pick 3 for me, Da Hoss was the first leg, 2x2x1 to Bucks Boy.

For whatever reason I\'ve done very well in BC\'s at CD. Santa Anita not so much.

[HP]

Yes.  I remember that day.  I liked Hawksley Hill over Da Hoss.  Did not believe in the Dickinson miracle and did not have the exacta.  I do remember a certain figure maker making some comments after watching the interview with Michael on TV.  LOL  HP

[magicnight]

Was Escena nosing Banshee Breeze the middle leg of that one? I do remember it was suckling pig and good red all around, compliments of you, thanks to that P3. Good times!

[Silver Charm]

Magicnight that may have been.

I will say this about Escena that yr. She may have been one of the few \"clean\" winners that yr in 1998. I believe even Andy Beyer wrote an article implying as much.

There was ZERO TESTING or CONTROLS back then. Almost every winning trainer had previously had some sort PRIOR POSITIVE VIOLATION on his record. Except maybe Bob Baffert trainer of Silverbulletday.  

Clenbuterol, Milkshakes....to say it was the Wild West is an understatment. More like Panic in Needle Park........

[TGJB]

Magic-- Can\'t believe that was 12 years ago. And a certain lady\'s one-liner that night-- which I won\'t repeat here-- may still be the best off the cuff remark I have ever heard.

HP-- Dickinson\'s crap was after the 96 BC Mile at Woodbine. I was just thinking about that, and I\'m still pissed. But talk about amazing trips-- Da Hoss started from the rail, and had the speed to take advantage of it. In the paddock Michael told Stevens to take back. Stevens didn\'t like it, and said (according to a good friend of mine who was with the Prestons that day) \"I\'m not taking responsibility for this\".

Anyway, gate opens, Gary takes him back to last or close to it. Astoundingly, nobody shuts the rail off. DH has clear sailing up the rail the entire backstretch and turn.

Then, unfortunately, someone stuck a microphone in Michael\'s face...

[magicnight]

That was no lady ....

[HP]

Yes...that is getting through to my memory bank now.  I remember watching it and thinking \"if you don\'t have any class when you win, it\'s just not in you.\"  You may have phrased it differently.  LMAO.  HP

[magicnight]

Silver, you don\'t  think Awesome Again won the Classic clean???

[P-Dub]

What did he say??

[TGJB]

She, not he. Condensed version-- there was a certain British guy hanging out with us who had a well earned reputation as a womanizer (ahem), and not a very discriminating one. He had already had a busy weekend by the time we got to Saturday night, where I was celebrating Da Hoss\' victory and a very succesful day of betting by taking a few friends out for dinner.

Anyway, the waitress came to tell us the specials. One was suckling pig, which caught our British friend\'s attention. The waitress, with a Southern accent, asked \"Have you tried our Kentucky suckling pigs\"? At which point a certain lady at the table-- who had just met him that weekend-- said, \"Oh, he\'s tried a few of your pigs, all right\".