Very impressed by Lawyer Ron’s win----WOW! That horse sure has come a long way! Congrats to his connections!
~Darci~
Regarding today - the last day of the Saratoga Meet - and the Hopefull Stakes:
[the] last Derby winner who also won the Hopeful was Affirmed. He won the Hopeful in 1977.
Other notable horses who have won the Hopeful in recent years include Afleet Alex (2005 Preakness and Belmont winner) and Summer Squall (1990 Preakness winner).
This year’s edition of the Grade I race is a short, but competitive field.
Two horses share top billing: Ready’s Image, who won the Sanford here on the second day of the meet, and Maimonides, who had an eye-popping 11-length win here in his career debut Aug. 8.
The race goes off at 5:20 pm EST
Times Union 9-3-07 "Hopeful lets Baffert dream big "
If he [Bob Baffert] doesn’t have a seat in the Churchill Downs clubhouse on the first Saturday in May, hey, it’s no big deal.
Honest.
“I don’t miss it,” Baffert said, leaning against a wood fence on the Oklahoma Training Track a few mornings ago. “If you don’t have a good horse, it’s not fun, it’s not the same. When you have a really good horse and you know you have a chance it’s special. When you don’t, it’s not.”
It’s still early in the game, but Baffert might have one that gives him that special feeling again.
Any further word on the condition of Rafael Bejarano?
The last I read (around 6 pm) was him going to Albany Medical with abdominal pain after that bad rearing incident before the 4th race.
The last day of Saratoga wasn’t without a big, big upset in the 103rd running of the Grade 1 Hopeful Stakes! The race replay video can be seen here
It was looking to be the match-race expected in the stretch between the two early top notch 2-yr olds - Maimonides and Ready’s Image - only to have Bill Mott trained Majestic Warrior smoke 'em like a cheap cigar! He blew by them for the victory like they were grazing in the meadow and he was enroute to a fire 
11 lengths off the pace of the front runners, Garrett Gomez told Majestic to go and he simply went!
I wonder if the loss of Rafael from riding Maimonides (replaced then by Kent Desormeaux) had any impact on the outcome.
That victory was iceing on the cake for Bill Mott and kudos to him for the taking the 2007 Trainer’s Title with 27 wins (11 of them with 2-yr olds) vs. Pletcher generating a relatively measly 13 victories*. Mott last won the Training Title in 2001 after which Pletcher controlled it from 2002 - 2006.
- Pletcher was tied for 2nd place (all at 13 victories) with Richard Dutrow Jr., Gary Contessa and Linda Rice
It was damn close for the 2007 Jockey Title down to the very last race to determine who won it. Kent D. had a shot to take a tie if Maimonides had won the Hopeful or if he won the last race.
Instead Cornelio Velasquez won one race to take the title 44-43. Kent Desormeaux went 0 for 10 on the day, losing the last race on the card by a half-length.
I was wondering the same thing about the jockey change on Maimonides. I have to admit, I watched the last race in keen interest with the jockey title-how much tighter can a race get-half a length! wow!
Was the Bejarano accident the starters fault? I know the horse busted through the gate, but shouldnt the guy have let go?
Great thread. I guess its about done.
Yes the assistant starter should have let go - lots of problems with them this year.
As to where Hopefully Stakes winner, Majestic Warrior, might go next:
Mott said he’ll consider sending Majestic Warrior, owned by George Steinbrenner’s Kinsman Stable, to the Champagne Stakes at Belmont Park on Oct. 6.
The success wasn’t that shocked I suppose, per The New York Post
Carrying the royal-blue-and-brown silks of George Steinbrenner’s Kinsman Stable, Majestic Warrior is a son of Horse of the Year A.P. Indy out of the great racemare Dream Supreme, winner of the Grade 1 Test and Ballerina over this track for Steinbrenner seven years ago. Those two races were run at seven furlongs, as was the Hopeful. Another similarity: Dream Supreme was conditioned by Majestic Warrior’s trainer, Bill Mott. Like mother, like son
Maimonides didn’t benefit from the front page of the New York Times (Sunday) obviously - did anyone else see that picture? Those kids were getting closer to him then most people ever can to a race horse
[QUOTE=Glimmerglass;2662834]
did anyone else see that picture? Those kids were getting closer to him then most people ever can to a race horse[/QUOTE]
Wow…Maimonides sure looks calm and quiet. He’s almost falling asleep!
[QUOTE=Glimmerglass;2662834]
Maimonides didn’t benefit from the front page of the New York Times (Sunday) obviously - did anyone else see that picture? Those kids were getting closer to him then most people ever can to a race horse[/QUOTE]
A bit dramatic - you can do that with about 99% of racehorses - we had kids come up and visit our horses all the time.
Here is an article that I found on BloodHorse: (sorry guys I don’t know how to post an article)
Bejarano Hospitalized Following Saratoga Gate Accident
by Claire Novak
Date Posted: September 3, 2007
Last Updated: September 3, 2007
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Jockey Rafael Bejarano was hospitalized Sept. 3 with possible rib and back injuries following an incident in the fourth race at Saratoga, when his mount - the Mark Hennig-trained Marital Asset - broke through the gate at the New York track.
Marital Asset broke through the gate but was still in the hands of the assistant starter, who attempted to hold the colt, said NYRA head starter Roy Williamson. Marital Asset then reared and pinned Bejarano in the starting gate before breaking loose and galloping down the track.
Bejarano was removed from the track via ambulance and taken to the first aid station at Saratoga, where it was determined he should be sent on to Albany Medical Center. According to Tim Kelly, clerk of the scales for the New York Racing Association, the jockey was hospitalized with possible rib and back injuries.
Bejarano’s agent, Joe Ferrer, said from Florida that initial x-rays of the jockey’s back returned negative. Ferrer was awaiting the results of an MRI, and no further information was immediately available on the jockey’s condition.
Marital Asset, a 4-year-old son of A.P. Indy, has a record of 1-3-3 from nine career starts for owner Edward P. Evans. He was immediately apprehended by the outrider and appeared uninjured by the incident.
Bejarano has had a streak of bad luck at Saratoga for the past three years. He injured his foot in 2005 early into his first season at the Spa, and suffered cracked ribs in 2006 after riding for most of the meet.
[QUOTE=HungLikeAStallion;2663275]
A bit dramatic - you can do that with about 99% of racehorses - we had kids come up and visit our horses all the time.[/QUOTE]
Really? Why? After seeing too many vistors to barns rub their hans on the noses of each horse down the line of a barn - spreading whatever could be on one horse’s nose to another - I’d assume with a $4.5 million horse more caution would be used.
As a horse owned, albeit not a race horse, I just prefer that my horse is patted on the neck or back only or scratched under her chin.
I find it hard to believe that 99% of all race horses are visited and petted by kids regularly. Sure, owners and trainers kids, grooms kids etc may come “see the horsies” but I’m sure if strangers wander into Mr Matz’ shedrow, they are politely but firmly dissuaded from patting the pretty horsies.
That said, my little boy met Larry Jones this summer and was invited in to feed Hard Spun some of his favorite treats, sweet potatoes! I wish I’d had a camera.
Linny, maybe it’s 98%
You should’ve used a camera phone at the least for a shot like that - someday your son will get to say, at least, that he met a TC runner and blacktype winner during what might be the height of his career. I was only able to meet Spectacular Bid well after he left the track, same for John Henry.
So the 139th meeting at Saratoga has ended with:
- Two new track records - Lawyer Ron (age 4) in the Grade 1 Whitney Handicap in a time 1:46.64 for 1 1-8 miles; J Be K (age 2) in non-stakes effort raced 5 1/2 furlongs in 1:03.13
Several ties of stakes records, example Midnight Lute equaled the Forgo Stakes - at 7 furlongs - of 1:21.06.
Interestingly the Beyer committee gave Midnight Lute a Beyer fig of 124 vs. Lawyer Ron’s measly 118 … um, sure, that makes no sense.
- New meet champs (measured on total number of wins) in both Trainer and Jockey catagories, ending the Pletcher and Prado hold for the last few years. Bill Mott and Cornelio Velasquez took the 2007 titles respectively
[In case others are wondering - Michael Matz failed to make it onto leading trainers chart; Tagg had of 44 starts 8-7-10; Zito had 63 starts 6-10-6; etc]
-
Gains in every area possible: wagering interests was 2,974, up from 2,698 in 2006; average field size was 8.79 this year, up from 8.51 in 2006; total attendance of 958,574 this year was up 5.7% from 908,569 in 2006; all time on-track handle record of $123,018,041,which is 8.5% better then the prior on-track handle record set in 2003 with $117,368,204 ; and as planned by NYRA average daily purses were a highly generous $773,738 up from $663,156 for the 2006 meet
-
racing breakdowns: you’d be surprised but only one and it was in the very first race of the first day. Last year’s victor in the same race, Massoud, trained by H. Graham Motion broke down on the lead in the stretch and was euthanized. Indian Flare, while euthanized, did not breakdown while racing. She instead did of cardiovascular shock post-race having run with what is believed to be a broken hip incurred in the starting gate.
Maybe I misread it - I believe she was saying the horse is so docile, that children could pet it, rather than just having the opportunity.
Helluva run - saw it with my own two eyes.
:eek::yes:
But a word on the race following - a 9.5f MSW for 3yos+ on the grass. Equitable nosed out Stalingrad in 1:53.74, with the German-bred Schoolboy showing 1-3/4 back. All are 3yos.
Given that Curlin’s time for the Preakness on the dirt was 1:53.46, I just have to ask … WHERE WERE THESE HORSES DURING THE PREAKNESS???!!!
:eek::eek::eek::eek::eek:
I believe we’ve had this discussion before, but when you go above 8f, grass is generally a faster surface than dirt (although a more accurate description would be less tiring).
Obviously keep in mind (aside from turf vs. dirt) Curlin ran two weeks earlier in another Grade 1 at a longer distance and that a 3yr old in August is that much more developed then the one in May. Saratoga for whatever reason tends to bring a lot of would be wallflower horses into their own when they get to race there 
Must be that “mountain air” see the prior posting on that oft remarked but silly description of Saratoga’s geography
The race after LR’s was on a rock hard grass course which has seen records fall all meet long. None of them could keep Curlin company on a dirt course at 1 3/16 miles. All they’d see is his lovely red rear getting smaller as it fades into the distance!
i was there, it was an ugly fall. Having just seen Andrew Lakeman in the clubhouse, had me a little nervous! but the EMTs took Rafael off the track awake and moving. I tried to get ahold of a couple of people to see how he was doing yesterday, but so many people have pulled out already, it’s been hard. Last thing I heard, he was scheduled to be released from the hospital late Monday, with negative MRIs.
Maimonides came out of the Hopeful Stakes with bucked shins: Baffert-trained Maimonides to Miss 30 Days of Training
“I noticed after the race that his shins were pretty sore and he’d bucked one of them, so he’ll miss about 30 days and of course miss the Breeders’ Cup,” Baffert said. “We’re gonna have to back off of him, which is disappointing, but in a way I feel better about it because I’d been wondering why he didn’t run his race in the Hopeful.”
“He should have kept going, and I really didn’t think he could get beat in that race, but it turns out he had a legitimate excuse,” Baffert said. “He’ll be fine, though. He’s young and these things happen; he’ll bounce right back and he’ll have a great winter campaign heading into the Kentucky Derby, so it might be a blessing in disguise.”
