Linny!!
Can we catch up on Weds the 2nd? I’ll be up for the Dominion Award Luncheon and the races later that day…
Nancy
I’ll be there Sat, August 12 for the night and races on Sunday. I CAN’T WAIT!!! I wish I could go for longer, but my job is seasonal and don’t dare ask for time off! I was there a couple of years ago with a bunch of friends for the Honorable Miss Stakes, which we knew the owner of the winner. Too much fun, after she won, we had a private party in one of the rooms, went to a cook out and the owner of the filly sponsered drinks at the Parting Glass until 4 in the morning. I get hungover just thinking about it! We stayed at the Brentwood (?) which is across the street from one of the track enterences, so you can watch the horses going to the track in the morning. Then after coffee in the gazebo, we just walked into the track to catch training. I have a 2 year old that (and I know this sounds cheezzy, but) my dream is to saddle him at Saratoga next year. Can’t wait to see it in the program, owner, trainer & breeder. Who knows, I’m just breaking him now and he’s brillant. I just hope he’s as fast as he is smart!!! His mom, who I own, was a stone cold runner and has a heart the size of Texas.
Today’s big feature is the six-furlong G3 $100k Schuylerville Stakes for 2-year-old fillies, a race not held last year but was recently won by Ashado in 2003.
PP HORSE, JOCKEY; TRAINER
1 Chief Officer, Velasquez C; Mott William I
2 Expertise, Prado E S; Lukas D Wayne
3 Baroness Thatcher, Bejarano R; Romans Dale
4 Becky’s Flute, Desormeaux K; J Jerkens H Allen
5 Angel Island, Bridgmohan S X; Blasi Scott
6 Frances G, Borel C H; Pitts Helen
7 Audacious Chloe, Gomez G K; Pletcher Todd A
8 Cotton Blossom, Velazquez J R; Pletcher Todd A
9 Desire to Excel, Smith M E; Breen Kelly J
Results of Race 9 - Schuylerville Stakes
1 - Cotton Blossom (Todd Pletcher) - paying a nifty $18.60 to win
2 - Desire to Excel
3 - Chief Officer
Baroness Thatcher was scratched.
The best straight payoff of the day?
Race #3 with “Busters Rodeo” (Our Father Stables) paying $53.50 to win!
Absolutely! I’ll be there. PT me and we’ll make arrangements.
Anyone know what happened to Frances G (who went down hard just a few strides from the finish in the Schuylerville Stakes)???
exhaustion …
From the news wires:
As the leaders crossed under the wire in Wednesday’s Schuylerville Stakes , Frances G fell, throwing jockey Calvin Borel from his mount.
Frances G fell about 100 yards from the wire due to exhaustion. Neither horse nor jockey Calvin Borel was injured.
Frances G stayed on the ground for several moments, but then got to her feet and was vanned off. Her spill forced a steward’s inquiry, but there were no disqualifications.
Oh Glimmerglass, THANK YOU! It looked HORRIBLE and I can’t bring myself to watch the replays. I hope the poor baby will recover fully and not be ruined (mentally) by the fall. 
Aside from the solid 27,346 crowd and the record opening day handle both on-site and total, there were track speed records to be set:
Silver Timber set a Mellon Turf Course record by running 5 1/2 furlongs in 1:01.34. That eclipsed the mark of 1:01.46 set last year by Second in Command. Coincidentally, Linda Rice trained both horses.
The first 2-year-old maiden race produced a potential star as City Snitch, a troubled fourth as the 3-5 favorite in his debut at Churchill, rolled to an 11 1/4-length win under apprentice Julien Leparoux. His final time of 1:03.88 was only 0.56 of a second off the track record of 1:03.32 set by Mayakovsky in 2001. Trainer Patrick Biancone said City Snitch would likely to run back in the Saratoga Special on Aug. 17.
source: DRF/ESPN 7-26-06
The Feds are watching
An interesting bit of news, although I think Agent Mullder just wants to get to watch the horses race and make some money while “doing his job for country”
Times Union 7-28-06 “Track now on FBI’s watch”
Horse racing fans attending big races at Saratoga Race Course this year will be joined by some armed federal agents hidden in the crowd.
I think Al Qaeda doesn’t exactly have America’s premier racing event on their list … or at least very high on it 
Most of the horses in the Travers this year will be owned by Arabs. The Travers has “protection.”
Frances G was in her stall on Thursday. She fell from heat exhaustion there was some concern that she may have injured herself falling.
Some notes from Friday at the Spa
:lol: Wayne Lukas intoduced me to a colt who he says will “make him famous.” The horse is named Pegasus Wind and he runs on Sat in race 2.
Rick Violette says Cool The Economy exited her Thursday maiden win well and will point for another start at the meet, possible a stake.
I saw Michael Matz with DD and kids, said hello but we were moving in different directions at the time, no chance for chatter. He has horses in Races 1 and 3 Saturday.
I saw DD and kids out hound exercising with Cheshire a couple of days ago. Beyond a wave and a nod, can’t bring myself to be the 10,000th person to ask about Barbaro!!! Saw her at a show earlier with the kids, and it just feels like a courtesy to allow her to just be there like anyone else.
Fantastic effort
(Rather then slide this article under the Bernardini thread which was becoming yet another homage to Michale Matz, sorry folks, its getting a tad excessive IMHO, I thought I’d stick Bernardini’s effort here)
His romp even made ESPN’s #5 top sports highlight of the day! A shame that Spectacular Bid’s grandson couldn’t have closed the gap up a bit more.
Times Union, Albany NY
Bernardini just brilliant
Nine-length romp in Jim Dandy shows Preakness win no fluke
By MATT GRAVES, Special to the Times Union
Sunday, July 30, 2006
SARATOGA SPRINGS – Any remaining skeptics who professed that Bernardini’s victory in the Preakness was little more than a byproduct of Barbaro’s demise may have been converted by the A.P. Indy colt’s resounding performance Saturday in the Jim Dandy.
Navigating a sloppy Saratoga main track with little more effort than an extended morning workout, Bernardini stamped himself as the clear-cut 3-year-old divisional leader with a nine-length victory over Minister’s Bid in the 43rd renewal of the Travers prep.
“I was a little bit worried about the sloppy track,” said trainer Tom Albertrani. “I wasn’t sure how he’d handle the race track, but (ex-jockey, ESPN analyst) Jerry Bailey called me this morning and asked me what I thought. I said a good horse can run on anything.”
Bernardini has certainly established himself as a “good” horse with three consecutive graded stakes victories after taking the Jim Dandy.
A late start in his career forced Albertrani to skip the Kentucky Derby, but he’s made up for lost time with victories in the Grade II Withers and Preakness before giving Albertrani his first victory in the Jim Dandy and ending a three-year Todd Pletcher domination in this race.
This race was virtually over shortly after the field of six passed the stands for the first time with jockey Javier Castellano establishing his position in front and never yielding it. At times, Castellano appeared almost bored as the Darley Stable star displaced the slop with hog-like efficiency.
“I had plenty of horse in the end,” said Castellano, who inherited the mount on Bernardini in late April for the Withers. Edgar Prado, who rode Barbaro in the Kentucky Derby, had broken Bernardini’s maiden in Florida on March 4. “I didn’t want to beat him up.”
Bernardini, the son of stakes-winning dam Cara Rafaela, has won his last four starts by a combined 25 3/4 lengths and covered the nine furlongs in an as-he-pleased 1:50 2/5.
“I guess there was a lot of doubt in people’s minds about the Preakness victory,” Albertrani said. “He showed today what a really good horse he is. I’ve been saying all along how good this horse is. I think we are going to see better things from this horse later on. I don’t think we’re going to be fearing anyone in the Travers.”
The Midsummer Derby has been moved back an extra weeks and is now four weeks behind its local prep this year, which is fine with Albertrani. And the way he finished this race, it appears the Travers distance of 1 1/4 miles should be no problem even though it will be the longest challenge for him to date.
“He ran pretty much how I was hoping,” Albertrani said. “Javier said he had a lot left. We knew there wasn’t much speed in there, and it looked like Minister’s Bid could be the only other horse to outrun us to the first turn.”
Castellano would not allow that to happen, and Minister’s Bid, part of a John Ward-trained entry with Dr. Pleasure, found himself in a chasing mode the entire way around. He briefly gave up second in the stretch to late-running long shot Hemingway’s Key in the stretch before ragining the place spot by a head.
“Bernardini is one nice horse,” said Ward of the 1-2 winning favorite. “We knew what he was like going into the race. We really liked Bernardini coming down the lane. He was balanced and his ears were pricked. My two horses were like fifth-graders in the detention barn or the study hall. They were not focused and they have to get better with that.”
Prado did his best to stay with the eventual winner, but in the end was only battling for second money of $100,000 in the $500,000 stake.
“You really can’t take anything away from Bernardini,” said Prado. “He got out there and we tried to stay with him through the far turn, but he just kept pulling away.”
It was deja vu for Castellano, who won the middle jewel of racing’s Triple Crown with similar facility on May 20 in the colt’s previous start.
“He’s such a classy horse,” Castellano said. “He felt just like he did in the Preakness. It was just perfect. After the race he was so calm, and he wasn’t blowing at all.”
“My two horses were like fifth-graders in the detention barn or the study hall. They were not focused and they have to get better with that.”
My fave quote of the day :lol:
I was there yesterday and I have to say, Bernardini was impressive to the nines. And talk about g-o-r-g-e-o-u-s !!
For those interested in seeing the Bernardini replay: Saratoga Stakes Videos - see Jim Dandy S.
No registration required.
I don’t think Javier Castellano ever put his crop on him once. As Tom Durkin said as he cruised to the finishline “he didn’t even break a sweat and its 90 degrees here”.
Rather premature (although he is adding a much needed boost of excitement) is this exceptionally glowing article:
NBC Sports 7-30-06 “Bernardini could be Horse of Year; Intimidating run in Jim Dandy may make fans forget about Barbaro”
The Darley Stable star loped home without being stung by the whip and trotted back to the unsaddling area as if his exertion was light exercise. He assumed the pace setter’s position from a very fast Minister’s Bid from the gate, cut fractions that were decent while a length on the lead, and then separated himself from the competition like a mouse from a cat. Is this a horse for the ages?
Today’s action (Monday July 31st): Times Union 7-31-06
Notable: Today’s third race offers an interesting matchup between Andromeda’s Hero and Wilko. Trained by Nick Zito, Andromeda’s Hero finished second behind Afleet Alex in last year’s Belmont Stakes. He’s looking for his first win in seven starts this year. Wilko, who has $1.8 million in career earnings, hasn’t won since capturing the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile in 2004. .
As I recall Wilko put in a great effort in the Dubai World Cup, taking 2nd, although he finished finish last in the seven-horse field of the G1 Suburban Handicap at Belmont on July 1st. That race was won by the impressive Invasor (Arg).
Also news …
The Green Monkey’s day
The Green Monkey was up early, out galloping on the Oklahoma Training Track at 6 a.m. (Sunday) Pletcher said he could have his first full workout at the Spa on Tuesday. The previous time he worked, The Green Monkey ran five furlongs at Belmont Park.
“He has settled in here very well,” Pletcher said at his barn Sunday morning.
Pletcher has not yet picked a race for The Green Monkey but the plan is still for him to run toward the end of the meet. John Velazquez, the regular jockey for Pletcher’s barn, will be The Green Monkey’s rider when he gets to the races.
Pletcher, though, joked that he might change his mind and bring the legendary Angel Cordero Jr. out of retirement. Cordero, a Hall of Famer, is Velazquez’s agent.
“We might need Angel because we might not get enough coverage for his first start,” Pletcher said with a laugh.
Andromeda’s Hero won the race, Wilko was last 
Funny Cide, maybe?
He’s at Spa, but Tagg and Sakatoga are scrounging for some 1 3/16th or maybe longer race for older horses, preferably a restricted stakes race for NY bred horses. If NYRA was smart they would’ve accomodated this on one of the lighter days at the end of the meet. Funny Cide still is a huge draw years later!
Funny Cide breezed on the main track on Monday morning, finishing the 4-furlong workout in :48 2/5. He wasn’t pushed by any means and was only 23 of 88 clocked times.
ALL Racing 8-2-06 CANCELLED - (a first)
The heat is too much and NYRA calls off Saratoga Racing for Wed
NY Newsday 8-2-06 “Saratoga races canceled due to heat”
Trainers, jockeys, the track veterinarian and New York Racing Association officials met during the morning and unanimously decided to call off the day’s card.
“The consensus in the room was to take the ultimate precaution and cancel the entire card for the safety of all participants,” said NYRA senior vice president Bill Nader. “Racing will resume tomorrow and Friday’s card will be expanded to a 10 race program.”
While individual races have been canceled by severe weather in the past, Nader said this is the first elimination of a full card since NYRA took over operation of the 142-year-old track in 1955.
Glimmerglass - yes, and I heard it’s possible they’ll call things off tomorrow too.
What they don’t say in their release (as a reason for the cancellation) is that the spectators just won’t show up when it’s this hot. …In addition to the safety factor as the reason for cancelling.
