Run For The Roses :

[MemphisMafia]

As time permits I will post some interesting thoughts for race fans leading up to the toughest race for 3 year olds on the planet , and I tender this for food of thought today :

Footnote for Footnote fans: Back in 1981 two strong contenders for the roses met in the Gotham Stakes at New York: Cure the Blues and Proud Appeal. These two horses hooked up early and were at each other's throats for almost the entire race along the backstretch and thru the homestretch. Proud Appeal prevailed in a long drive and hit the wire a nose in front of Cure the Blues. That race definitely ruined these two runners. Proud Appeal went off the Derby favorite that year and finished dead last. Cure the Blues was never the same after that battle finished out of the money in the Derby and if I remember correctly never won another race.

Read the Footnotes has not raced in over 48 days , the last winner of the derby that didnt race in April was Needles in 1956 and needless to say a long lay-off is not favorable . And 28 of the last 30 Derby winners ran no worse than third in thier last race , plus 11 of the last 12 winners had a triple digit figure Beyer score as a three year old .


Interestingly, in the last 12 years since Beyer figs have been published there were only 3 horses who started in the Derby with a Beyer increase of 21 or more points:

Millennium Wind in the year 2001 came into the Derby with a Beyer fig of 114 in the Blue Grass which was a 23 point increase over his previous race Beyer of 91. He finished 11th in the derby.

Keats has the world record for a Derby starter Beyer increase: He ran a 51 Beyer fig in the Spiral on March 24, 2001 and followed that up with a 110 Beyer fig in the Lexington, an increase of 59 Beyer points. He ran 16th in the derby.

Rockamundo in 1992 ran a 103 Beyer fig in the Ark Derby which was an increase of 26 Beyer points over his last race, a 77 in the Remington Park Derby. He finished 17th in a field of 19 in the Derby that year.





G.L.

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[MemphisMafia]

News :

Preachinatthebar, will not be pointed toward the Kentucky Derby.
Photo: Anne M. Eberhardt
After watching Mike Pegram's Preachinatthebar work five furlongs in 1:01 3/5 Thursday morning, trainer Bob Baffert said the son of Silver Charm will not run in the Kentucky Derby (gr. I).
Baffert said he didn't feel the colt is good enough right now to win a race as demanding as the Derby.

"He worked OK, but he's not as aggressive as he was," Baffert said. "You've got to be doing fantastic to win the Derby and he's not doing fantastic right now. Physically he's fine, but he's not showing me what I need to see. I talked to Mike, and he asked me if he can he win, I told him I don't feel that confident about the situation. So, we agreed, let's not risk hurting him just for the sake of running.

"You can ruin a horse running him in the Derby if he's not ready for it. I'm in it to win and he didn't show me enough to convince me he can win the race. And it has nothing to do with having another one in there. I would have done it if he were my only starter."

Preachinatthebar's defection opens the door for Song of the Sword to get in the race. The son of Unbridled's Song is currently stabled at Keeneland following his third-place finish in the Coolmore Lexington Stakes (gr. II).

G.L.

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[MemphisMafia]

Gary Sez :

Lion Heart :

Lion Heart probably will have the lead for the first 3/4 of a mile to a mile, but Smarty Jones , Read the Footnotes and the other horses that press the pace (there are several, these two are the best) will make things tough for him. This race is setting up for a true 1 1/4mi. horse. It yet to be determined who that horse is, but the winner is going to be SmartyJones , Friends Lake, Borrego, Castledale, Master David, Tapit, The Cliff's Edge and maybe, just maybe Eddington or Action this Day, especially after his last work. There appears not to be any superstar this year (unless it's SmartyJones - who I don't like) so all the middle distance horses will be fighting at the top of the stretch (or sooner) and start to fade. If you want to key a horse with a price, take one off this list.

Hes a wiz at this stuff , I thought I would pass along his e-mail and share it with you all .

G.L.

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[MemphisMafia]

News :

Read the Footnotes workout gives trainer goose bumps


READ THE FOOTNOTES

Klaravich Stables Inc.’s Read the Footnotes worked five furlongs in :59.60 on Wednesday morning at Palm Meadows Training Center, a move that trainer Rick Violette said puts the Smoke Glacken colt exactly where he needs to be for his next start: the Kentucky Derby (G1) on May 1 at Churchill Downs.
"That was just incredible; I’ve got goose bumps," Violette said from South Florida. "It was exactly what we wanted. The way he did it was just incredible. It seemed to be effortless; you couldn’t tell the rider was asking for any run at all."

Morna MacDowell was aboard Read the Footnotes on Wednesday morning, and they galloped out six furlongs in 1:11.80 after completing the final quarter-mile of the work in :22.80.

"He hit the head of the lane, she tapped him a bit, and he was off," Violette said.

Read the Footnotes has not raced since finishing fourth in the Florida Derby (G1) on March 13. Before that, he had pieced together three straight graded stakes victories, including a victory in the Fountain of Youth Stakes (G2) on February 14 at Gulfstream.

Violette said that he would ship the colt to Churchill on Friday and have him work a half-mile early next week.

"His last work will be nothing more than a half-mile maintenance move to show him where the wire is and let him blow off a little steam," Violette said. "The real work is done. He’s fit, sharp, and where we need him to be. He’s had his two one-mile foundation breezes, and [Wednesday’s] work sharpened him up. He got plenty out of it."

Read the Footnotes has won five of seven starts and has earned $450,660. Jerry Bailey had been his rider since his Nashua Stakes (G3) victory, but he has opted to guided Louisiana Derby (G2) winner Wimbledon in the Derby, so Violette selected jockey Robby Albarado for the mount.—Ed DeRosa

[MemphisMafia]

News :

Paragallo's bluff snags 'Rock'
By JAY PRIVMAN

Horsephotos
Bill Foster, stable foreman for trainer John Servis, walks Smarty Jones at Churchill Downs on Saturday following his five-furlong workout.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Ernie Paragallo bluffed. Rock Hard Ten folded, at least temporarily. Sinister G folded, for good. St Averil called. And Smarty Jones raised the stakes. Seven days out from the 130th Kentucky Derby, Churchill Downs on Saturday became the newest site of the World Poker Tour.
On a day filled with intrigue and subterfuge, Song of the Sword secured a spot in the Derby field when Sinister G officially was dropped from consideration. But Paragallo, the owner of Song of the Sword, might have cost Rock Hard Ten a spot in the race with his cunning.

On Friday, Paragallo said he was strongly considering bypassing the Derby with Song of the Sword. That, along with the shaky status of a number of other Derby contenders, caused the connections of Rock Hard Ten to scratch their colt from Saturday's Derby Trial in the belief they had a shot to make the Derby without additional earnings.

That plan might backfire.

Paragallo on Saturday said he was bluffing, with the hope Rock Hard Ten would scratch out of the Derby Trial. Had he won the Derby Trial, Rock Hard Ten would have surpassed Song of the Sword on the graded-earnings list. If more than 20 horses are entered on Wednesday in the Derby, the field is determined by earnings in graded-stakes races.

"We're back in," Paragallo said Saturday from Keeneland. "I was only out to keep him" - referring to Rock Hard Ten - "out of today's race. If he would have run today and won, he would have knocked me out."

Not necessarily. Value Plus is not expected to run in the Derby. If he does indeed come out, Song of the Sword would be 19th on the list, with Pro Prado 20th. Eddington and Rock Hard Ten would be bumped. If Rock Hard Ten had won the Derby Trial, and its first-prize money, he would have vaulted to 19th, but Song of the Sword would still have been 20th. In that case, Pro Prado and Eddington would have been bumped.

Jason Orman, the trainer of Rock Hard Ten, decided to scratch his colt from the Derby Trial after consulting with co-owners Ernie Moody and Madeleine Paulson. All of them preferred to bypass the Derby Trial if they were assured of a spot in the Derby, since they believe Rock Hard Ten would be best served by not running back in one week. But they decided to scratch before learning of Paragallo's bluff. Rock Hard Ten still might get in, but the prospects are dicey.

"We decided to scratch because it looked like he had a better chance to get in the Derby," Orman said. "We'll wait and see what happens. We think going straight into the Kentucky Derby gives him his best chance to run well in the Derby. We're trying to do what's best for the horse."

Rock Hard Ten had an eye-catching gallop on Saturday and is scheduled to work on Monday.

Rock Hard Ten, as well as Eddington, did move one spot closer to getting into the Derby when Sinister G was removed from consideration. His trainer, John Toscano Jr., said Sinister G suffered a relapse of the lung infection that was discovered following the Wood Memorial on April 10. Sinister G was put on antibiotics after that race, was taken off them, then was put back on antibiotics on Thursday.

"The horse is not 100 percent, and it would be insanity to run," Toscano said. "It would knock him out for the next six months."

St Averil, whose status for the Derby also was uncertain, apparently earned himself a spot in the race with a work at Santa Anita on Saturday that satisfied trainer Rafael Becerra.

"If he scopes clean and everything looks okay, it's a go," Becerra said, after St Averil worked six furlongs in 1:11.80 with jockey Tyler Baze. "I need to confer with the boss," Becerra said, referring to owner Stan Fulton. Advertisement

[MemphisMafia]

Sundays Workouts :

Activity Report for Sunday April 25, 2004
By DRF CORRESPONDENTS
Note: Activity reports on Derby contenders are being posted as they come in from the field.

Action This Day - Jogged one mile, galloped one mile.

Imperialism - Galloped 1 3/4 miles.

Minister Eric - Galloped 1 1/4 miles.

Rock Hard Ten - Galloped 1 1/8 miles. Scheduled to work Monday morning.

Smarty Jones - Walked around the shedrow one day after his fast five-furlong work.

Wimbledon - Turned in impressive five-furlong work in 59.40 seconds on a sloppy track with exercise rider Dana Barnes. Seems to be training well coming into the race. Said trainer Bob Baffert: "It was a very nice work. A lot of horses were struggling with the track. I worked today because the track might be worse tomorrow."

Friends Lake - Worked five furlongs in 1:03.06 over a sloppy track during a driving rainstorm.

"It couldn't have been worse, the track was absolutely awful but he did fine came back well and it's over," said trainer John Kimmel.

Friends Lake will school in the paddock and at the gate on Wednesday and Thursday.

Read The Footnotes - Galloped one mile and one half over a sloppy track under regular exercise rider Morna McDowall while appearing to want to do more. Will get that chance on Monday when scheduled to work a half mile after the renovation break assuming the track has dried out to trainer Rick Violette's liking.

Eddington - Worked five furlongs in 1:00.06, breezing, over Belmont Park's main track at 8:50 a.m., after the renovation break.

Eddington's final time was the second-fastest of 26 works at the distance. The bullet was 59.60 seconds.

With jockey Pablo Fragoso aboard, Eddington jogged the wrong way to about the 7 1/2-furlong pole, turned around and commenced his work at the five-furlong pole. The Belmont clockers timed Eddington in 23.90 for his opening quarter-mile. He galloped out six furlongs in 1:13.30.

Eddington's trainer, Mark Hennig, said, "I was worried that he went off a little more aggressive, but he went nice. I told Pablo to make sure he didn't go too fast."

Value Plus - Worked a half-mile in 49.62, breezing, over Belmont's main track before the harrowing break.

Tapit - Galloped one mile at Tapeta Farm in North East, Md. Wood Memorial winner scheduled to breeze Monday and ship to Churchill Downs on Wednesday.

Song of the Sword - Illinois Derby runner-up galloped two miles at Keeneland. Will ship to Churchill Downs either Monday or Tuesday.

Pollard's Vision - Illinois Derby winner worked five furlongs in 1:00.89 over a sloppy track. Under exercise rider Patti Krotenko, Pollard's Vision worked in company with the 3-year-old filly Cherry Bomb. Pollard's Vision drew away from Cherry Bomb late and galloped out extremely well.

Limehouse - Tampa Bay Derby worked five furlongs in 1:01 in company with Speightstown. Limehouse went out at 5:45 a.m. broke off in company with Speightstown and finished a length in front. Michelle Nihei was aboard for the move.

Value Plus - Florida Derby runner-up worked four furlongs in 49.62 seconds over Belmont Park's main track. Trainer Todd Pletcher reiterated that Value Plus would only run should Lion Heart or Smarty Jones defect.

Master David - Wood Memorial runner-up jogged a mile over the sloppy Churchill main track. Trainer Bobby Frankel said Master David would likely work on Tuesday.

Lion Heart - Blue Grass runner-up galloped 1 1/2 miles at Keeneland "before the rain," trainer Patrick Biancone said. Biancone said that Lion Heart would ship to Churchill Monday morning and could work. "It all depends how the track will be," Biancone said.

[STALLION]

memphis, i see ur a horse guru. i owned a horse,asctually both me and my uncle here in wny. harness racing actually. but what do u thin about tappit? think hes got a good shot here

[MemphisMafia]

STALLION :

Compared to the pups , I am a novice in this sport . I glean information very well and have a extensive background in racing in general. Tapit was going to be my next article so hang in there , and I will cast my stones the night before the race as to who I like and my tickets status.

G.L.

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[MemphisMafia]

Derby Facts :

Tapit: Only 1 horse (Sunny's Halo) since 1947 has won the derby off just 2 prep races as a 3 year old,39 have tried and failed,including champions as Native Dancer and Point Given. The last horse to win the Derby with just 4 prior career starts was Exteminator in 1918.

Smarty Jones: The last horse to win the derby while unbeaten was Seattle Slew in 1977, since then 7 have lost including favorites Air Forbes Won,Private Terms,Mister Frisky and Indian Charlie. The last winner whose trainer and jockey were both in the derby for the first time was Spectacular Bid in 1979,(Tapit also has a first time Trainer/Jockey) Only 1 derby winner was bred in Pennsylvania.

Read the Footnotes/Friends Lake:Neither has raced since March 13th(Florida Derby) a layoff of 7 weeks,the last horse to win the Derby off a longer layoff than 4 weeks was Needles in 1956. Of the 48 winners since then 41 have had their final preps 3 weeks out or less. Alos RTF and FL had just 2 preps this year see (Tapit), and their both N.Y. breds. What are the chances of a N.Y. bred winning the Derby 2 straight years?

Wimbledon/birdstone/St.Averil/Action This Day: The last horse to win the Derby after running 5th or worse in their final prep was Iron Leige in 1957.In fact only 2 horses did not finish 1-2-3 in the previous race, Sea Hero and Thunder Gulch both 4th in the Blue Grass. Birdstone has the added knock of a 6 week lay-off and just 2 '04 preps. Action This Day is bucking the "Breeders Cup Jinx'.

Borrego/Minister Eric/ Song Of The Sword: No Horse since Proud Clarion in 1967 has won the derby without already having finished first in a stakes race.

Castledale:just 2 preps this year.

Imperialism:He's already raced 15 times. The last horse to win the Derby off that many starts or more was Cannonade 30 years ago.

So what's left.TCE,MD,LH,PV,QGR,PP,Limehouse.

G.L.



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[frankb03]

MMM

This time of year reminds me of one of my favorite athletes. Secretariat! Last night I watched the ESPN top athletes video on Secretariat for about the 10th time.

In 1999 ESPN ranked Secretariat number 35 in the top-100 athletes of the century. I might take some heat. In my book Secretariat is #1. The 1973 Belmont Stakes was the greatest performance in any single event.