On the road to the 2012 Kentucky Derby

[Glimmerglass]

In case someone was wondering about Thunder Moccasin - who was thought likely to run in the Swale - he’s pointed now towards Aqueduct and next month’s Bayshore:

The undefeated Thunder Moccasin was expected to wheel back in the Swale off an impressive victory earlier this winter in the Grade 2 Hutcheson.

“We just ran out of time trying to get him back to the race [Swale],” said Pletcher. “It was just a little close. The Bay Shore fits our program better.”

The Grade 3 Bay Shore will be run April 7 at Aqueduct.

Trainer Dale Romans entered a pair, Seve and Quick Wit, for the Swale, but said he’s uncertain if either would start.

“With Thunder Moccasin not running it doesn’t look like there’s anybody too tough in there,” said Romans. “Both my horses are doing well but I’ll look over the field before deciding whether to run.”

The 52nd running of the Bay Shore Stakes (a race that the late great Lost In the Fog shipped in for and won) is a $250,000 race vs. $150,000 for the Swale at Gulfstream.

Oddly though the Kentucky Derby official site placed ‘Thunder Moccasin’ on a list of horses labeled as “Withdrawn from Serious Consideration, Sidelined and/or Inactive”. TM has $90,000 in graded earnings which would (currently) tie him for 34th.

[Glimmerglass]

Image: the tee shirt Dr. Kendall Hansen was sporting is cool - I wonder if they’ll make them available to the public.

Yes its available - per Dr. Hansen:

I have had numerous requests asking where to get the blue shirt that says “The Great White Hope” with a rose for an O in Hope and 5-5-12 at bottom. Go to www.OverlayApparel.com I get 15% of profits and will forward all that to New Vocations for retired race horses.

I’m not trying to hawk anything here, but the tee is $20, free shipping, and seems like a neat bit of history to have around. I still would love to have had the classic “Spectacular Bid is Spectacular” just like his groom Moe Hall wore back in the day.

[Glimmerglass]

I liked this comment in regards to Hansen - from Dr. Kendall Hansen’s March 7th entry - and it gives some insight into his personality:

I was asked here, how tall is Hansen? 16.0 He is not a monster, but perfectly shaped and straight. … He is the boss around the barn and since he pays the bills we all technically work for him. He is friendly and loving in his stall and enjoys peppermints and carrots. He is happiest if he gets to go the track and then has his four hour morning nap.

He did bite his 6 foot 6 inch massage therapist DeJuan McClure in the chest one day, but I think he was playing. Ouch!! He is often too much for one person to walk and needs a hot walker on either side.

Also - if you’re near Turfway Park and want to see him you can when he schools between races. Since Hansen is laying over at Turfway Park this week before the training center in Louisville opens, he has agreed to a request from the track to meet some of his fans and school in the paddock between the 6th and 7th race, about 8 pm Friday night.

[nasalberry]

[QUOTE=Glimmerglass;6184121]
Also - if you’re near Turfway Park and want to see him you can when he schools between races. Since Hansen is laying over at Turfway Park this week before the training center in Louisville opens, he has agreed to a request from the track to meet some of his fans and school in the paddock between the 6th and 7th race, about 8 pm Friday night.[/QUOTE]
THANK YOU FOR THIS INFO!

[Glimmerglass]

The many ways Barbara Livingston can visually capture a ‘white’ horse:

http://www.drf.com/blogs/hansen-photographers-dream

[Beverley]

@WhiteCamry;6178269

Contrast that with Dr. Fager’s 1967 Gotham - just look at that full parking lot for a Derby subprep!

Thank you for the link to that nice trip down memory lane!

[Glimmerglass]

Another race slated for Sunday (3-11) with, for some observers, Derby implications. Grade 3 $150,000 Palm Beach Stakes on turf at 1 1/8 miles, Gulfstream Park.

Dullahan is currently listed 10th in Daily Racing Form’s Derby Watch. The son of Even the Score has not started since finishing fourth in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile. Trainer Dale Romans has planned all along on following the same path that got Paddy O’Prado to the Derby two years earlier, which included a victory in the Palm Beach.

Dullahan’s past success included winning the Breeders’ Futurity over Keeneland’s Polytrack, before trying the BC JV at Churchill. It was there that he found trouble at the start and was last of 13 early, yet closed stoutly to get up for fourth.

Not that anyone was expecting it, but no Kentucky Derby appearance for the full brother to Frankel - Noble Mission trained by Sir Henry Cecil. Rather he is among the 143 entries for £1.25 million Group 1 Epsom Derby (June 2nd)

And Kentucky Oaks Day there will still be a “pink” theme but the partnership with Susan G. Komen is done. Churchill announced a new partnership with Stand Up To Cancer (SU2C) for Oaks Day. The partnership with SGK ceased in Dec 2011.

[Glimmerglass]

DRF - Grade 2, $350,000 Tampa Bay Derby (3-10-12)

Win, Place, Show: Prospective, Golden Ticket, and Spring Hill Farm; also ran Ravelo’s Boy, Sam Davis winner Battle Hardened, Twin, Chief Energy, Fox Rules, Cajun Charlie, and Tell All You Know.

DRF - Grade 3, $150,000 Swale Stakes (3-10-12)

Win, Place, Show: Trinniberg, Hello Prince, Ever So Lucky; also ran Silver Menace, Good Morning Diva, Bahamian Squall, Quick Wit, Motor City, Seve, and Musical Flair.

Trainer Jonathan Sheppard said he was pleased with Ever So Lucky’s 3-year-old debut.

“We are very happy,” said Sheppard. “Obviously you like to win but we hadn’t really been training him for speed like that. We’re been trying to get a good bottom under him for longer races.”

DRF - Grade 2, $300,000 San Felipe Stakes (3-10-12)

Win, Place, Show: Creative Cause, Bodemeister, Midnight Transfer; also ran Liaison, Rousing Sermon, Blingo, American Act, Tiz Point, Empire Way, and Groovin’ Solo.

Both Creative Cause and Bodemeister are expected to come back in the Santa Anita Derby on April 7.

[Glimmerglass]

I didn’t have big expectations following Dullahan’s brief illness that threw off his training (plus this was an odd route to the Churchill, IMHO) … anyhow the outcome isn’t a shock:

Video: Grade 3-T $150k Palm Beach Stakes with Howe Great winning

Howe Great paid $3.40 after completing one mile in 1:46.56 over a firm course.

“He’s a very classy, straightforward horse who hasn’t done much wrong since we’ve had him,” said trainer Graham Motion. “The more he races, the more he’s relaxed. He’s very tractable and doesn’t need the lead, even though he’s been in front in his last two races. Johnny rode him confidently and looked like he had a lot of horse at the top of the stretch.”

Motion said the Blue Grass Stakes at Keeneland would be next for Howe Great.

Dullahan circled five wide entering the stretch and finished with good energy to be second in his first start since the Breeders’ Cup.

[Glimmerglass]

Off of her hard fought victory in the Honeybee Stakes (G3) at Oaklawn Saturday 3-10 the connections are now thinking the filly On Fire Baby might be up for the $1M Arkansas Derby against the boys and maybe the Kentucky Derby

[Owner Anita Cauley] said she wants to wait and give On Fire Baby time out of this race before making a decision on her next start. The Fantasy is April 11, and the Arkansas Derby April 14.

On Fire Baby, a Triple Crown nominee, won a pair of Grade 2 races last fall at Churchill Downs, the Golden Rod and Pocahontas. The Honeybee was her second start of the year, following a third-place finish against male rivals in the $100,000 Smarty Jones at Oaklawn in January. The Honeybee was also her first start on Lasix. She is a daughter of Smoke Glacken.

[Glimmerglass]

Off the Derby trail: Fed Biz

“I’m taking him off the Derby trail,” Baffert said from Ocala, Fla., where he is attending the 2-year-old sale. “I took him back to the track, and he’s still not comfortable. I’m going to stop on him. He’s got a hind-end issue. We can’t find it, but something’s nagging him. I’m going to give him some time off.”

[Glimmerglass]

Injured & Off the Derby trail: Spring Hill Farm

Spring Hill Farm, who finished fourth in the March 10 Tampa Bay Derby (gr. II), suffered a right knee fracture and will have surgery at Rood and Riddle Equine Hospital in Lexington March 14.

It will be unknown until after surgery if Spring Hill Farm will return to racing, but Bolton is hopeful.

“It sounds fixable from what they are saying so far, but we will wait until after surgery,” Bolton said. “Hopefully he can return to his old self at some point, maybe next fall.”

A photo of the start of the Tampa Bay Derby revealed that Spring Hill Farm fell to the ground right after the starting gate opened, which is likely where he suffered the injury. Sent off as the 2-1 favorite, he still ran well considering the extent of the injury.

“It was a very courageous run for a horse that suffered that kind of fracture,” Bolton said. “The gates opened when he was in the wrong position, his head was sideways coming out of the gate, and then it swung the other way. He just went down to the ground and probably hurt himself getting up. He probably ran most of the mile and a sixteenth in pain.”

[Toadie_s_mom]

Well boo hoo, pitiful me. I might as well not even look at my fantasy stables anymore. I’ve lost 5 horses:cry:

[Glimmerglass]

SAT March 17 - Rebel Stakes at Oaklawn Park $500k, Grade 2

1 1/16 miles. Full field of 13-horses.

PP. Horse. … Jockey … Wgt

1. Unbridled’s Note … C Hill … 115-lbs
2. Scatman … L S Quinonez … 117-lbs
3. Cyber Secret … R Albarado … 117-lbs
4. Optimizer … J K Court … 115-lbs
5. Jake Mo … M C Berry … 117-lbs
6. Sabercat … C S Nakatani … 119-lbs
7. Secret Circle … R Bejarano … 122-lbs
8. Atigun … T J Thompson … 117-lbs
9. Reckless Jerry … J Rocco, Jr. … 115-lbs

10. Ring It Up  ... L Wade ...  	115-lbs
    

11. Pee H Dee ... I Ocampo ...  	117-lbs
    

12. Najjaar ... C H Borel ...  	117-lbs
    

13. Adirondack King ... S Elliott ...  	117-lbs
    

A - Coupled Entries - Ring It Up, Pee H Dee

[Glimmerglass]

While the G2 Rebel is the only graded stakes race for the Derby trail, there is an interesting race tomorrow (FRI Mar 16th) at Gulfstream that has a couple of likely Derby bound runners:

Race 3 (off at 2:05 pm EST) $80,000 Allowance Race - field of 5

Gemologist and Currency Swap, two of the more highly regarded members of the 2-year-old class of 2011, will make their belated 3-year-old debuts.

Gemologist and Currency Swap were both perfect at 2. Gemologist, a son of Tiznow owned by WinStar Farm, won all three of his starts as a juvenile, including the Grade 2 Kentucky Jockey Club. Currency Swap capped off his brief but successful season with a three-quarter-length victory over Trinniberg in the Grade 1 Hopeful.

[Glimmerglass]

[QUOTE=Glimmerglass;6197312]
FRI Mar 16th at Gulfstream

Race 3 (off at 2:05 pm EST) $80,000 Allowance Race - field of 5[/QUOTE]

Victory by a wide margin Gemologist over Currency Swap then a gap to the other few runners.

[CVPeg]

Gemologist sure was impressive - especially as I was behind Currency Swap. Really hoping CS moves up, and Terri Pompay gets to the Derby. But can’t take away Gemologist’s win.

[Glimmerglass]

video - 2012 Grade 2 $500,000 Rebel Stakes 3-17-12

As you see it was Secret Circle (Bob Baffert) with the victory but not easily as Optimizer, ridden by Jon Court for D. Wayne Lukas was flying at the end and was only 3/4 of a length behind. It should be a very good sign for Lukas in the longer Arkansas Derby next!

Secret Circle earned $300,000 for his win in the Rebel.

Third was Scatman, then Jake Mo in fourth, followed by Cyber Secret, Najjaar, Adirondack King, Sabercat, Pee H Dee, Reckless Jerry, Atigun, and Unbridled’s Note. I was fooled like some to wager on Calvin and the very rare pairing of him on the Godolphin horse - Najjaar - oops. However I did also wager on Lukas/Court too

Attendance was solid - as have most Oaklawn races this meet - at 31,882.

[Glimmerglass]

With the Wood Memorial 2-weeks away this isn’t good news with Hansen’s jockey:

Less than 24-hours after winning at Fair Grounds aboard Havre de Grace, Ramon Dominguez is now at the North Shore Hospital (NY) following a spill at Aqueduct. Early tweets suggest a possible broken collarbone

Following the Rebel Stakes:

Secret Circle will attempt to complete a sweep of Oaklawn Park’s series for 3-year-olds next month, when he runs in the Grade 1, $1 million Arkansas Derby. He is being pointed to the April 14 race, trainer Bob Baffert said Sunday

Optimizer also is headed to the Arkansas Derby, trainer D. Wayne Lukas said. The horse, who was third in last year’s Grade 1 Breeders’ Futurity, rallied from eighth in the Rebel. Jon Court, who has won the last two runnings of the Arkansas Derby, rode the horse Saturday.

“Jon said he didn’t get to move him when he wanted to,” Lukas said. “This horse makes a big run, and he said he had to hesitate a little bit, he said [a horse] came over and he had to wait a little bit. He said if he could have moved when he wanted to, he might have won it.”

[Glimmerglass]

A cited yesterday with the injury it’s unclear if Ramon will get to ride Hansen in the Wood. By the way Dominguez won his fifth consecutive inner track riding title at Aqueduct. I has been was significantly marred by a number of unexplained breakdowns and injuries - 18 racing fatalities as of Sunday.

Per the DRF 3-19-12, Ramon didn’t break the collar bone but

Dominguez told Daily Racing Form that he is not in any pain, but is wearing a sling designed to keep the separation from getting any worse. Dominguez said doctors told him recovery time from a separation is less than a fracture – which is typically six to eight weeks – but they wouldn’t speculate on how long he’d be out of action.

“I’m hoping two or three weeks, but what am I going to do? I have no control over it,” Dominguez said by phone. “I’m thankful the horse didn’t break down – which I thought she did – and that I didn’t get hurt worse.”