David Grening
‏@DRFGrening

In his post-race comments following Flameaway's second-place finish in the Jim Dandy, trainer Mark Casse said he's"fairly certain" the 3-year-old filly Wonder Gadot will run in the Travers.

https://twitter.com/DRFGrening/status/1023343593740746752

Where is Saratoga?

Busy doing the Senior Two Step @ DelMar today...

From DRF PRivman....

DEL MAR, Calif. – Reviews are strong for many of the 2-year-olds set to compete in race 6 on Sunday at Del Mar, a six-furlong maiden race that might be a preview of coming attractions.

The field is led by Bob Baffert's highly regarded Roadster, as well as the Jerry Hollendorfer-trained Gunmetal Gray, both of whom are making their debuts. But the field has plenty of depth, including Jefe, who finished strongly for third in his debut last month at Santa Anita for Keith Desormeaux.

"People say the race is loaded," said Hollendorfer, who will run two horses, Gunmetal Gray (by Exchange Rate) and View Magic (Tapit).

"We like both of them," Hollendorfer said. "Just want to get them started. If you can win at Del Mar, you can run just about any place."

Roadster, a colt by Quality Road, turned in a series of sharp works at Santa Anita, and on Monday worked in company with the mare Vale Dori. Baffert was disappointed Roadster drew the rail. Mike Smith, who has worked Roadster, has the mount.

Also of interest is Of Good Report, a son of Twirling Candy making his first start. His trainer, Luis Mendez, has sent out well-prepared youngsters from limited starters.

http://www.drf.com/news/plenty-hype-around-sunday-baby-races

Not sure Pletcher has ever had a Cal-bred before, assuming this one is.

Who's next??  Stall 33 in Bob Baffert's @santaanitapark barn has been home to American Pharoah, Arrogate and most recently JUSTIFY.  Talk about high priced real estate...

From his agent....

July 26th update: #VictorEspinoza is making more progress today. He was up and walking the hallways of the hospital and is ready for his move to a rehab facility which should happen later today or tomorrow. Still a little bit of work to do regaining upper body strength.

Curtis,
does that mean Justify could lose by a length and it would be considered a "quality start" by today's standards vs. yesteryear?

I really don't get the "get personal" comments when having a good discussion. 
Are we suppose to agree on everything so that it's not personal?  Makes no sense to me.

Question.....when I read that some dummy wagered $50,000 to show on a mortal lock and lost, is it a personal comment or just a difference of opinion in wagering strategies if I refer to him as a dummy?

Anyhoo......this from the LA TIMES newsletter....

We asked our resident racing historian, Jon White, to look at how history will judge Justify.

"That Justify had only six lifetime starts no doubt is going to be viewed as a negative vis-a-vis his standing among the all-time greats in the eyes of many. That he never raced against older horses, unlike fellow recent Triple Crown winner American Pharoah, also will be held against Justify by many. American Pharoah did face older horses in his final career start when he put an exclamation point on his racing career with a 6 1/2-length victory in the Breeders' Cup Classic.

"On the other hand, it is a plus for Justify that he retires from racing with an aura of invincibility. It's also to Justify's credit that he managed to accomplish as much as he did in a relatively short period of time. The ride he took racing on from his debut victory at Santa Anita on Feb. 18 to his Belmont Stakes triumph on June 9 was extraordinary. He became the first Triple Crown winner who did not race at 2. He was the first Kentucky Derby winner who did not start at 2 since Apollo in 1882. He also broke the record for defeating the most total starters in the three Triple Crown races. Justify beat a total of 35 other starters in the three races, breaking the record of 32 set by War Admiral in 1937.

"Of this country's 13 Triple Crown winners, the only one besides Justify to not race after the Belmont Stakes was Count Fleet. Count Fleet was retired after he rapped an ankle during his 25-length tour de force in the 1943 Belmont. Despite not racing after the Belmont, Count Fleet ranked No. 5 on the BloodHorse magazine's list of the Top 100 Racehorses of the 20th Century, behind only No. 1 Man o' War, No. 2 Secretariat, No. 3 Citation and No. 4 Kelso.

"But while both Justify and Count Fleet were retired after the Belmont, Count Fleet's body of work certainly was much more robust than Justify's. Count Fleet won a total of 16 races compared to just six for Justify. Count Fleet was the 2-year-old male champion. Justify did not even race at 2.

"It is clear that Justify was 'a phenomenal talent,' as Bob Baffert said after the colt won the Santa Anita Derby in only his third lifetime start. But many understandably will downgrade Justify to some extent for not racing more than he did when trying to determine where he belongs among the sport's all-time greats."
http://www.latimes.com/sports/more/la-sp-horse-racing-newsletter-20180725-htmlstory.html

Blame the owners for cowardice?

Shirley, you jest.

The insurance annual premium to keep running was about $4,200,000. 

On what planet does it make sense to keep running for another trophy for the mantle?

As we all know, being the good handicappers that we are, handicapping any given race is difficult enough to review the 10 horses facing each other in the 7th race.......yet for some unknown reason, those same otherwise bright individuals find it necessary to handicap horses that ran in 2018 with 1979 and 1973 and beyond while trying to determine who is best.....an impossible endeavor.

I do think Curtis was on the right path for whatever its worth.....NONE, NADA, ZERO of the others in the conversations could have done what Justify did. 

Might as well settle a few other discussions first......Ford or Chevy, Maryann or Ginger to name a couple without getting political

Good luck to all today,
thought there might be a few here in need a of a good massage.

https://twitter.com/i/status/1012028801453305856

p.s.  I'll take the #14 Neepawa in the QueensPlate!$!$!$!

Happy days are here again
The skies above are clear again
So let's sing a song of cheer again
Happy days are here again!!!

Quote from: RUFFIAN on May 02, 2018, 05:27:42 PM
                                     

              RACE 9 + 10 = QUARTER HORSES...WHICH WE DO NOT PLAY
              WE ARE A THOROUGHBRED RACING FORUM       

But they look like so much fun!

I'm a sucker for a good awards show, watched the Golden Globes and the Academy Awards, neither of which got my juices flowing.

But now we have the world famous MeowMix awards, and the presentation was as good as the show was all year long!

Congrats to the victors on a job well done, and most important, very glad y'all had a good time every week.
Special thanks to Ruff, TigerDancer and all the contributors.

Quote from: stark on January 06, 2018, 10:11:29 AM
Gulstream 8th Maiden$.
# 12 APOSTLE

A little background....
This guy was entered a few weeks ago at 8/1 and scratched reportedly with a little fever.

By MDO/AP Indy mare bringing $900,000 at OBS-Mar sale, he had some flashy drills prepping for his first outing.

I was actually thinking about making a little derby future wager before he ran, something like 200-1 would've been appropriate but he wasn't even listed yet in Vegas amongst the 250 possibles.

Today he's only 5/1 and more importantly only has one slow work since the scratch, hmmm!

Some other heavyweights in the race today....
Romans $300,000
Pletcher $725,000
Jerkens $525,000
plus a few others.

I think I'll sit on my hands today and wait for the stretchout off this 7F effort, just wanted to document somewhere my first longshot derby interest for bragging rights

APOSTLE gets one more shot today, listed at 15/1 on the morning line in Gulfstreams 7th race.

20to1 shot in Sunday's nitecap at Santa Anita

#1 Bartlett Hall Espinoza/Shirreffs

Two races so far and he's beaten a total of two horses, one each time, so the price should hold up.

Returns from a two month freshening and he was gelded during that time.

Morning workouts, John gives his normal instructions....wait, wait, wait and finish strong.

Well, this guy throws a bullet 5F in 59-4 best of 49, followed up by a couple more nice 5F works.  Not sure when I remember the Sherriff barn on top of the workout list.

Just a hunch he'll use the rail to his advantage and show his best stuff today.