Tuesday, August 26, 2014

Top Horses List: Week 7


The Pacific Classic, Travers and Personal Ensign in the books! These are the lists for the Classic and Distaff. Twelve horses are now included and this will be the final size list (as 14 horses is the maximum amount of horses allowed)

Distaff

Rank Horse Name (Sire) Trainer Profile
1 Close Hatches (First Defense) Mott Cigar, Royal Delta... both Breeders' Cup champions and both trained by the same person as this little lady. There is a reason why he is in the Hall of Fame and hopefully will pick up another champion title at the end of the year. Just destroyed the Personal Ensign on Friday. Spinster at Keeneland is next for her.
2 Beholder (Henny Hughes) Mandella You could say that she is the career opportunist. In both of her Breeders' Cup wins, the hot horse faultered. If she can win the Zenyatta, then a great chance to do it a third time.
3 Iotapa (Afleet Alex) Sadler Right now she is keeping Beholder's top female in the West seat warm. The Zenyatta will show weather or not she can take it away outright.
4 Untapable (Tapit) Asmussen A Cotillion showdown with Sweet Reason awaits her. The last time her trainer sent a horse to the race? My Miss Aurelia won.
5 Stopchargingmaria (Tale of the Cat) Pletcher Remember when it looked like that Untapable looked to be unbeatable? Well here comes another Repole horse named after his wife. Charging Maria might just be the best one yet.
6 Broken Sword (Broken Vow) Hollendorfer Her trainer is known for his fillies, but she is not the best horse in his barn currently. Not sure how she will do on dirt, but could suprise people.
7 Fiftyshadesofhey (Pulpit) Baffert Def better on the East Coast then the West Coast. Would not be surprised if the Beldame is next for her after her runner up finish in the Personal Ensign.
8 Stanwyck (Empire Maker) Shirreffs 3rd in the Personal Ensign on a less then ideal surface conditions. Maybe a trip home to California for her next race?
9 Antipathy (A.P. Indy) McLaughlin Not sure what happened in the PE, but hopefully will rebound in the Beldame. Much better then she showed and hopefully we see the real Antipathy there.
10 Princess of Sylmar (Majestic Warior) Pletcher I'm thinking she will be retired now after another poor performance in the Personal Ensign. She shouldn't feel too bad though about not going forward from 3 to 4. Many horses before her and many after her will have that happen to them.
11 Molly Morgan (Ghostzapper) Romans Welcome back to the list Molly! Now granted she is prob a tier below the Close Hatches in the world, but she rebounded to win the in her last. Maybe she'll try the current queen of the Older division in the Spinster.
12 Joint Return (Include) Servis Once upon a time... there was a man named John. Now he trained horses for a living and won a G1 race with Jostle. However, 2004 would take him on a magical ride where he was a length away from the Triple Crown with Smarty Jones.10 years after the Smarty Party, Servis is back with the Alabama runner up. Could take on Untapable and Sweet Reason in the Cotillion at her home track. John's brother Jason is the trainer of last year's Turf Sprint co-runner up Tightend Touchdown.

 Removed: Belle Gallanty (After Market)- Had to finish well in order to remain on the list... couldn't do it.

Others Considered: Flashy American (Flashy Bull), Miss Besilu (Medaglia d' Oro), Parranda (English Channel), Stopshoppingdebbie (Curlin)

Please note Sweet Reason (Street Sense) is more of a Filly and Mare Sprint candiate then Distaff. However if she wins the Cotillion, she will join this list next time it comes out.

The next list will be out after the Cotillion.

Classic

Rank Horse Name (Sire) Trainer Profile
1 Shared Belief (Candy Ride (ARG) Hollendorfer Only a handful of horses have won the Pacific Classic at 3, on Sunday he joined that group. I put him #1 for now, just because he ran recently where as the former #1 was idle.
2 California Chrome (Lucky Pulpit) Sherman We know where he is heading in his comeback. It will the PA Derby. Would not be surprised if he meets #3 (and/or 4) as well as 5. The top two have yet to meet. When they do, Championship honors will be on the line.
3 Wicked Strong (Hard Spun) Jerkins He is peaking at the right time. Sure a loss in the Travers hurts his 3yo Champion honors. However, he once again finished ahead of Tonalist and Bayern who where reguarded higher then him in Saratoga's biggest race.
4 V.E. Day (English Channel) Jerkins The Travers winner got up late thanks to a hot pace by Bayern. However, he barely beat his stablemate who might have lost interest towards the end. He's below Wicked Strong for now, because he needs to show that he's not just a Saratoga horse.
5 Tonalist (Tapit) Clement Saratoga might not be his best track... which is okay. Being close to the pace hurt his chances big time this weekend.
6 Palace Malice (Curlin) Pletcher Got outworked on Sunday and will be skipping the Woodward. Are the Older Horses really that bad? He remains that top older horse for now.
7 Moreno (Ghostzapper) Guillot That being said, a win in the Woodward and these two horses will switch places. Hopefully his inconsistent finishes are out of him.
8 Moonshine Mullin (Albert the Great) Morse Idle since the Stephen Foster. Hopefully he will be getting over his minor injury and gets one more start before the big race.
9 Itsmyluckyday (Lawyer Ron) Pleasa Not sure if he is a Woodward bound, but could be a horse to watch out for if he goes. His brother in law has #12 on the Distaff list.
10 Zivo (True Direction) Brown His Clark 3rd place finishing stablemate has been a disaster this year in both of his starts. Will be facing #7 in the Woodward who he has already beaten in the Suburban. Very under the radar type.
11 Toast of New York (Thewayyouare) Osborne With Meydan going to dirt for 2015, if he wants to run in the Dubai World Cup, the Classic would be a good test to see if he wants dirt. The distance shouldn't be a problem for him. 2nd to #1 in the Pacific Classic.
12 Majestic Harbor McCarthy I was debating on weather to keep him on the list or put Imperative back on. I decided to keep him on the fact that a mile and a quarter is more within his scope then the latter. Also Imperative is one of the most inconsistent horses out there. Hoping for a better effort on the return to dirt in the Awesome Again.
Others Considered: Imperative (Bernardini), Game On Dude (Awesome Again), Albano (Istan), Irish You Well (Broken Vow), Kid Cruz (Lemon Drop Kid), Departing (War Front)

The next list will be after the Woodward that will be run this weekend.  

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