Will Julien keep the mount on Union Rags now?
Javier Castellano took off to go with Algorithms, who has the splint.
[QUOTE=FatDinah;6166482]
Will Julien keep the mount on Union Rags now?
Javier Castellano took off to go with Algorithms, who has the splint.[/QUOTE]
Likely so. Julian was Michael’s first pick last season, but I’m pretty sure I read somewhere that his agent had already committed him to another horse at that time, so Michael went with Javier. FWIW, I thought Julian gave him a much better ride.
Contrary to the slightly misleading DRF headline if you glance at it - Algorithms part of field for Pool 2 of Kentucky Derby Future Wager he will NOT a named horse in the 2nd Churchill future pool, rather just one of the three hundred+ ‘others’ as field 
In fact there is a decent chance Algorithms won’t even start in the Kentucky Derby now. I’d hate to be Javier Castellano’s agent, Matt Muzikar, now. You can only imagine a response of something like ‘my bad.’
I watched the connections gather in the winner’s circle on HRTV but evidently missed this:
Phyllis Wyeth lit up a cigar in the winner’s circle, horse racing convention be damned. She was going to enjoy her horse of a lifetime, so she raised her hands above her head, holding that cigar aloft.
There are horses all over pointing for the Derby. The race is never won at the end of February, but the right horse often emerges then, very possibly the same horse that once roamed the Wyeths’ Point Lookout aerie that overlooks Brandywine Creek.
“He used to be right outside my studio,” Jamie Wyeth said. “I did drawings of him as a yearling.”
Now that could be a good work to auction for a charity 
For the record Dr. Kendall Hansen in his blog gives props to UR
I am impressed with Union Rags return…. 4 months off and 1:42 and change is great after tracking a 48 second half. I am a closet fan of his. A guilty pleasure. Hansen is friends with him on FaceBook. ))) This is going to be a great rivalry. His run today flatters Hansen and I am happy. I also noticed he ran a real straight line down the stretch.
What I would like to see on Saturday [in the Gotham] is Hansen maintain the same lead he has at the quarter pole all the way down the stretch and finish the last quarter in 25 seconds or less.
I think this was cited by another on a prior thread - but in case you didn’t see it: NPR’s “In Kentucky, 2015 Derby Winner Could Arrive Any Day Now” Feb 27, 2012 - moving in particular with the mention of that horrible spring of 2001.
The story links to this DRF video (on youtube) of a foal being born (2m 48sec)
Report just in:
“Algorithms is off the Derby Trail due to a fractured splint bone & is scheduled for surgery tomorrow”
[QUOTE=Mali;6168121]
Report just in:
“Algorithms is off the Derby Trail due to a fractured splint bone & is scheduled for surgery tomorrow”[/QUOTE]
A shame. When Todd was pressed for his status on Sunday (after the scratch) he was rather unclear so I suspect the stable had an idea it was more serious.
Another injury, albeit more minor, yet who knows if it will derail any chances - Ever So Lucky with foot bruise:
… "several days of wet weather that disrupted his training and a little gash on his right foot, and now he’s suffered a second minor setback, a bruise on his left foot, Sheppard revealed Sunday.
“We pulled the shoe off and treated it Sunday morning, and it seemed better,” Sheppard said. “I think if all goes well, we’ve still got a shot to make the Swale.”
Hansen’s effort this weekend in the Gotham will adjust the Future Pool 2 odds obviously but the following is how they will open up on Friday afternoon. They close Sunday at 6pm EST. An aside - he companion Kentucky Oaks Future Wager will open with the Derby bet at noon on Friday, but that wager will close on Sunday at 6:30 p.m., 30 minutes later than the Derby Wager.
KY Derby Future Wager Pool 2 March 2-4
#. Wagering Interest (horse) and the initial Morning Line Odds
- Alpha 20-1
- Battle Hardened 50-1
- Bodemeister* 15-1
- Castaway* 20-1
- Creative Cause 20-1
- Dullahan 50-1
- El Padrino 12-1
- Empire Way 50-1
- Fed Biz 12-1
- Gemologist 20-1
- Hansen 15-1
- I’ll Have Another 30-1
- Liaison 50-1
- Mark Valeski* 30-1
- Midnight Transfer 30-1
- News Pending* 30-1
- Out of Bounds 20-1
- Rousing Sermon 30-1
- Sabercat 30-1
- Scatman* 20-1
- Secret Circle* 15-1
- Take Charge Indy 30-1
- Union Rags 4-1
- All Other 3YO’s 3-1
- denotes a new named entry
Saturday March 3rd - Grade 3 Gotham Stakes for $400,000 - Race 10, off at approx 5:03 pm EST. HRTV, TVG and I’m pretty sure the DRF.com will all have the race live.
Almost a fully house with 13 starters - the race at 1 1/16 mi on their inner track is capped at 14 runners.
123 Lbs. Non-winners of $150,000 or $45,000 twice allowed 3 Lbs.; $50,000; or $39,000 at a mile or over in 2012 allowed 5 Lbs.; three races, 7 Lbs.
PP Horse
-
My Adonis -
Stealcase -
Finnegans Wake -
Pretension -
Maan -
Dan and Sheila -
Suns Out Guns Out -
Raconteur -
King and Crusader -
Side Road -
Done Talking -
Hansen -
Tiger Walk
Dutrow is sening out #9 King and Crusader. No expected issues with a forced withdrawal like West Virginia’s Charlestown and IWR.
Anyone thinking there will be an upset of Hansen or will he knock out a home run in his 2nd 2012 start like Union Rags did? At this point it has nothing to do with adding further to his King Midas loot rather just getting fit and focused for 1 1/4 mi.
A couple more “off the trail”: (Feb 29, 2012)
Junebugred, the winner of the Smarty Jones Stakes is out with an ankle chip. Named after a fishing lure, he was one of the early feel good stories at Oaklawn. But trainer Steve Hobby found filling in the colt’s ankle yesterday and that means at least 90 days on the sidelines.
Consortium jumped into the Derby picture when he finished second to Algorithms in a Gulfstream allowance race. He was being pointed to the Gotham Stakes in New York [but was found to have] a chip in his right front ankle and is headed for surgery.
Added bits on this weekend’s Gotham Stakes
The 13 entries are believed to be the largest for a single running of the Gotham, which was first run in 1953.
Trainer Kiaran McLaughlin said Consortium was to undergo surgery and would be out until the summer. McLaughlin and Sheikh Mohammed’s Darley Stable entered Side Road, a recent maiden winner, in the Gotham. Alan Garcia will ride Side Road from post 10.
As for the relatively poor post position for Hansen:
Mike Maker, the trainer of Hansen, admitted that post 12 was a concern but added “what can you do?”
Maker will be removing the blinkers from Hansen’s equipment in the Gotham, but still expects the horse to be on the lead under Ramon Dominguez.
“He’s going to break and put himself forwardly placed. With or without blinkers that’s his mentality,” Maker said.
At this point the outcome and video appears to be widely posted elsewhere but in case anyone didn’t see it :
Video replay: 3-3-12 $400k G3 Gotham Stakes at Aqueduct
While the Illinois Derby offer was appreciated and Turfway Park (who has the G3 $500,000 Spiral Stakes March 24) has been good to Hansen’s connections as well, it’s been determined that he will return to New York for the $1 million Grade 1 Wood Memorial on April 7.
Hansen covered 1 1/16 miles in 1:43.84 over an Aqueduct inner track labeled good and was assigned a 95 Beyer Speed Figure for the performance.
The victory should silence the silly chatter he cannot rate, is just a sprinter, won’t make it to the Derby, cannot go past 1-mi, etc.
Off the Gotham victory, as expected, his odds dropped considerably in the Derby Future Wager Pool 2 (closed 3/4). In the 1st Future Pool, Hansen has very lofty odds [yea for me!!] at 26-1.
Union Rags, an impressive winner of the Fountain of Youth in his seasonal debut Feb. 26, was the 4-1 second choice, followed by Hansen (9-1), El Padrino (12-1), Creative Cause (17-1), Alpha (18-1), Fed Biz (22-1), and I’ll Have Another (22-1).
Always somewhat amazing is the meager crowds that Aqueduct can barely muster even on a big day like the Gotham, on a Saturday, and with good weather: attendance on Saturday was 8,244, up 16 percent from last year’s crowd of 7,114.
Contrast that with Dr. Fager’s 1967 Gotham - just look at that full parking lot for a Derby subprep!
[QUOTE=Glimmerglass;6177751]
Hansen’s connections … will return to New York for the $1 million Grade 1 Wood Memorial on April 7.[/QUOTE]
Actually correction it’s a $750,000 purse and not $1 million
Image: the tee shirt Dr. Kendall Hansen was sporting is cool - I wonder if they’ll make them available to the public.
By the way as noted below Mike Maker did a bit of the old school training with Hansen by working him the morning of the Gotham. You don’t see that in 2012.
Dr. Hansen’s blog entry Mar 4th
But that was only 2 changes Mike Maker employed, …there were 2 others…very important. He decided to take Hansen to the track the morning of the race to gallop about 3/4 of a mile. Hansen gets upset when he does not get to go to the track. So why not make him happy and then let him take his usual 4 hour morning nap?? It worked great…he was much calmer after his saddle went on. In addition Mike was genius….he made a length of cord to tie to the bridle with a slip knot and run it inside the top lip of Hansen, (where you would have a tie chain)….and let this stay on until he loaded in the gate. He was much more relaxed in the post parade. Nice idea Mike!!
Four changes……and Hansen runs a race that proved he is a SERIOUS Derby contender. The other contenders can not be comforted to see White Lightning relax and save some of his dangerous speed until the quarter pole…
Another injured and off the Derby trail: Out of Bounds
Jay Privman, the Daily Racing Form’s national reporter, reported via Twitter Monday that leading Kentucky Derby contender Out of Bounds suffered a condylar fracture to his left foreleg in a workout this morning at Hollywood Park.
Out of Bounds, winner of Santa Anita’s Sham Stakes, was to race in Saturday’s San Felipe at Santa Anita. He was ranked No. 3 in The Courier-Journal’s most recent Derby poll, behind Fountain of Youth winner Union Rags and Risen Star winner El Padrino.
Harty said Out of Bounds would require surgery, but the injury should not be career-ending.
Looking ahead towards this Saturday - March 10th - there are two graded Derby prep races on the schedule:
$350,000 1 1/16 Mile, Grade 2, Tampa Bay Derby at Tampa Bay Downs.
38-horses were nominated to this race - complete list here. The race is limited to 12-starters and the final entries determined midweek.
$300,000 1 1/16 Mile, Grade 2, San Felipe Stakes at Santa Anita Race course hasn’t released a nomination list and will not closed until midweek. Among the contenders that could appear - Bob Baffert (who is winning at a clip never seen before in his career, even the QH days) runner Bodemeister who worked Sunday morning with an impressive effort.
With a few would-be contenders opting out for Oaklawn Park and the Rebel Stakes (3/17) it could be a very nice spot for Bodemeister to get some graded earnings.
[QUOTE=Glimmerglass;6177751]
At this point the outcome and video appears to be widely posted elsewhere but in case anyone didn’t see it :
Video replay: 3-3-12 $400k G3 Gotham Stakes at Aqueduct.[/QUOTE]
Glimmerglass, I don’t know about anyone else, but for me, it isn’t official until YOU post it… with commentary.
Thank you!
frugalannie - ha! I’ll be sure keep that in perspective
Race 9 SAT March 10 - San Felipe S. (Grade II) with 10 starters
PP. Horse __ Jockey __ Wgt
- Blingo __ M E Smith __ 118-lbs
- Bodemeister __ R Bejarano __ 118-lbs
- American Act __ M A Pedroza __ 118-lbs
- Midnight Transfer __ V Espinoza __ 118-lbs
- Groovin’ Solo __ A Quinonez __ 118-lbs
- Liaison __ M Garcia __ 123-lbs
- Creative Cause __ J Rosario __ 123-lbs
- Rousing Sermon __ J Talamo __ 118-lbs
9. Tiz Point __ G K Gomez __ 118-lbs -
Empire Way __ B Blanc __ 118-lbs
Note the return of Garret Gomez! $300,000 guaranteed, of which $180,000 to first, $60,000 to second, $36,000 to third, $18,000 to fourth and $6,000 to fifth.
SAT Mar 10th Race 11 - $350,000Tampa Bay Derby (Grade II) with the max 12-runners
Note the Ned Evans bred (and homage named) Spring Hill Farm, mentioned several times before on this thread, is running!
PP. Horse __ Jockey __ Wgt
- Prospective __ L Contreras__ 120-lbs
- Golden Ticket __ M R Cruz __ 116-lbs
- Twin __ D Centeno __ 116-lbs
- Chief Energy __ P Lopez __ 116-lbs
- Tell All You Know __ L R Goncalves __ 116-lbs
- Cozzetti __ J Lezcano ___ 116-lbs
- Battle Hardened __ J R Leparoux __ 120-lbs
- Ravelo’s Boy __ J Sanchez __ 116-lbs
- Spring Hill Farm __ J Castellano __ 116-lbs
-
Take Charge Indy __ C H Borel __ 116-lbs -
Fox Rules __ H Villa-Gomez __ 116-lbs -
Cajun Charlie __ T J Hebert __ 120-lbs
We should see a very solid effort (if not a winning one) from Battle Hardened the Michael B. Tabor and Mrs. John Magnier owned runner.
As an aside Bob Baffert on Tuesday (3/7) remarked that Fed Biz had a “setback” hence not running in the San Felipe:
“I had a little setback with him, not bad, though,” Baffert said. “It’s nothing serious.
“I don’t know if he got cast or what. He tied up a little on me.”
A shame - WGN-TV To Air Illinois Derby at Hawthorne Derby at Hawthorne Race Course"
WGN-TV Chicago will provide live coverage of the 55th running of the Illinois Derby from Hawthorne Race Course on Saturday, April 7th from 5:00-6:00pm CST.
Hosted by WGN Sports’ Dan Roan, coverage will feature the race as well as expert guests from Hawthorne Race Course. “I firmly believe that horse racing is having a resurgence in the general market and that a powerhouse station like WGN is getting behind Illinois’ most important race is further evidence of that,” said Tim Carey, president and general manager of Hawthorne Race Course.
WGN provided for the 1st time last year coverage of the Arlington Million and that was wretched. I was there in person and DVD’d their show. It was so poor that I couldn’t even watch the whole telecast. Hopefully TVG’s telecast of the Illinois Derby will not be blacked out or delayed due to WGN.
[QUOTE=Glimmerglass;6182624]
$350,000Tampa Bay Derby (Grade II)
Note the Ned Evans bred (and homage named) Spring Hill Farm, mentioned several times before on this thread, is running![/QUOTE]
The DRF seems to like George Bolton’s ‘Spring Hill Farm’ chances:
Spring Hill Farm may prove the one to catch in the Tampa Bay Derby. A son of Smart Strike, Spring Hill Farm has led at every call in both previous starts, a seven- furlong maiden victory on Jan. 14 and a one-mile allowance win over a sloppy track on Feb. 11. Both his wins came at Gulfstream.
SPHF’s two victories have yield Beyer Speed Figures of 79 and 85, respectively.
Of the 2012 Derby prep races (graded ones) held thus far the lowest Beyer for a winner has been an 82 which was achieved by Mr. Bowling in the Lecomte (G3) Jan 21st [His next effort was miserable] and Battle Hardened in the Sam F. Davis (G3) Feb 4th.
When, you may be asking, is the NBC Sports networks coverage again of the Derby prep races? Quick reminder here:
Saturday, March 24, 2012, 5-6 p.m. (NBC Sports Network - nee VERSUS): Vinery Racing Spiral Stakes and Bourbonette Oaks (Turfway Park)
Saturday, March 31, 2012, 5-6 p.m. (NBC Sports Network): Florida Derby and Gulfstream Oaks (Gulfstream Park)
Saturday, April 7, 2012, 4:30-6 p.m. (NBC): Resorts World Casino New York City Wood Memorial (Aqueduct Racetrack) and Santa Anita Derby (Santa Anita Park)
Saturday, April 14, 2012, 6-7 p.m. ET (CNBC): Toyota Blue Grass Stakes (Keeneland) and Arkansas Derby (Oaklawn Park)
And now the Swale Stakes (G3) finally was drawn and yep Augustin Stable’s Ever So Lucky is in!
Not a lot of loot offered up so whoever wins this needs more graded money to make (starting the Derby) happen. The owner of the winner to receive $90,000; $30,000 to second, $15,000 to third, $7,500 to fourth, $4,500 to fifth and $3,000 to sixth.
Gulfstream Park. SAT MAR 10 - Race 10 - $150,000 Grade 3 Swale Stakes at 7 furlongs - field of 10
PP. Horse __ Jockey ___ Wgt
- Quick Wit __ A O Solis __ 115-lbs
- Trinniberg __ W Martinez __ 115-lbs
- Silver Menace __ R A Dominguez __ 117-lbs
- Motor City __ E S Prado __ 121-lbs
- Hello Prince __ J A Garcia __ 121-lbs
- Bahamian Squall __ L Saez __ 115-lbs
7. Ever So Lucky __ J Bravo __ 115-lbs - Musical Flair __ J C Leyva __ 121-lbs
- Seve __ K J Desormeaux __ 115-lbs
-
Good Morning Diva __ R Maragh __ 115-lbs
