Saturday Preview

Sadly I don't have time to do a preview for all the races on Saturday. Terrible, I know. However, here are my picks for tomorrow's races.

Juvenile Fillies- Rachel's Valentina, Songbird, Tap To It
Turf Sprint- Bobby's Kitten, Marchman
Filly and Mare Sprint- Taris, Judy the Beauty, Floretti
Filly and Mare Turf- Photo Call, Legatissimo, Hard Not to Like
Sprint- Runhappy, Barbados, Limousine Liberal
Mile- Tepin, Mshawish, Karakontie
Juvenile- Riker, Brody's Cause, Swipe
Turf- Big John B, Golden Horn, The Pizza Man
Classic- American Pharoah, Smooth Roller, Honor Code

Whitney Preview

Older males take center stage this weekend as possibly the best field of the year comes together in this year's Whitney a WAYI for the Classic.

Video


Written Preview

9th Race - Saratoga - Saturday, August 8th, 2015 STAKES. 1 1/8 Mile Dirt. Purse $1,250,000. Whitney S. (Grade 1). FOR THREE YEAR OLDS AND UPWARD. (05:46 PM)

PP	Horse	A/S	M/E	Wgt	Jockey	Trainer
1	Honor Code	4 R	L	124	Castellano Javier	McGaughey III Claude R.
2	Tonalist	4 C	L	124	Velazquez John R.	Clement Christophe
3	Noble Bird	4 C	L	124	Bridgmohan Shaun	Casse Mark E.
4	Liam's Map	4 C	L	117	Smith Mike E.	Pletcher Todd A.
5	Moreno	5 G	L	124	Velasquez Cornelio H.	Guillot Eric J.
6	V. E. Day	4 C	L	124	Alvarado Junior	Jerkens James A.
7	Lea	6 H	L	124	Rosario Joel	Mott William I.
8	Coach Inge	4 G	L	121	Ortiz, Jr. Irad	Pletcher Todd A.
9	Wicked Strong	4 C	L	124	Saez Luis	Jerkens James A.
10	Normandy Invasion	5 H	L	117	Clark Kerwin D.	Jones J. Larry

Honor Code (A.P. Indy): Won Met Mile and 5th in the Alysheba. Even though he has won at 2 turns, that was as a 2 year old. Will need to prove he can do it as an older horse.

Tonalist (Tapit): 2nd in the Suburban and Met Mile. With the speed in the race it will set up for him. That being said, 0 for 3 at Aqueduct and Saratoga combined.

Noble Bird (Birdstone): Won the Stephen Foster and 2nd in Alysheba. The latter was his stakes debut, thus needs to prove himself. This will be his NY debut.

Liam's Map (Unbridled's Song): Won Allowance/Optional Claimer and Harlan's Holiday. Graded stakes debut. Only loss was last year at Saratoga.

Moreno (Ghostzapper): Defending champ of the race. 8th in the Gold Cup at Santa Anita and 2nd in the Californian. Last time out broke a 4 race streak where he ran pretty well.

V.E. Day (English Channel): 2nd in the Brooklyn and 6th in the Fort Marcy. Shortening up in this race. 2 for 2 last year at Saratoga.

Lea (First Samurai): No Dubai bounce for him as he finished 2nd in the Foster after his 3rd place finish in the World Cup. Best finish at Saratoga was a couple of wins at 3 when he was a maiden then an allowance. Best stakes finish was 3rd, but that was on turf.

Coach Inge (Big Brown): 3rd in the Suburban and won the Brooklyn. The latter was his stakes debut. 1 start at Saratoga, but that was on turf.

Wicked Strong (Hard Spun): 2nd in the Forbidden Apple and 5th in the Met Mile. Has been in a bit of a cross-roads this year. Won last year's Jim Dandy before losing the Travers by a nose to his stablemate V.E. Day.

Normandy Invasion (Tapit): 2nd in the Carl Hanford and Allowance/Optional Claimer. Has won only once since running in the 2013 Derby. Saratoga debut.

Picks

Head

Win- V.E. Day

Place- Wicked Strong

Show- Moreno

Heart

Win- Wicked Strong

Place- V.E. Day

Show- Honor Code

Haskell preview

The darling of American horse racing returns in the home state of his owners. American Pharoah will be facing some very interesting horses in this year's Haskell, the first WAYI of the year for the Classic. Lets take a look at the field:

Video


Written Preview

12th Race - Monmouth Park - Sunday, August 2nd, 2015 STAKES. 1 1/8 Mile Dirt. Purse $1,750,000. William Hill Haskell Invitational S. (Grade 1). FOR THREE-YEAR-OLDS. By invitation only. No nomination, entry or starting fees. The winning owner to receive $1,100,000, $330,000 to second, $150,000 to third, $90,000 to fourth, $50,000 to fifth and $15,000 sixth through last. Weight: 122 lbs. Non-winners of a Triple Crown race allowed 2 lbs.; Non-winners of a Grade I Stake at a mile or over in 2015, 4 lbs. The William Hill Haskell Invitational has been selected as one of the Breeders' Cup Win and You're In Challenge Races. The nominated winner of theWilliam Hill Haskell Invitational will be entitled to automatic entry into the 2015 running of the Breeders' Cup Classic Championship race and will be entitled to have pre-entry and entries fees waved for the Championship race, and will be entitled to receive a travel stipend if traveling from a base located outside the state of Kentucky. The owner of the winner to receive a trophy. (05:52 PM)

PP	Horse	A/S	M/E	Wgt	Jockey	Trainer
1	Upstart	3 R	L	118	Bravo Joe	Violette, Jr. Richard A.
2	Competitive Edge	3 C	L	118	Smith Mike E.	Pletcher Todd A.
3	Nonna's Boy	3 C	L	118		Pletcher Todd A.
4	American Pharoah	3 C	L	122	Espinoza Victor	Baffert Bob
5	Mr. Jordan	3 C	L	118	Lopez Paco	Plesa, Jr. Edward
6	Keen Ice	3 C	L	118	Desormeaux Kent J.	Romans Dale L.
7	Top Clearance	3 C	L	118	Castellano, Jr. Abel	Catalano Wayne M.
8	Dontbetwithbruno	3 C	L	118		Pletcher Todd A.

Upstart (Flatter): 18th in the Kentucky Derby and 2nd in the Florida Derby. Cross-entered into the Jim Dandy.

Competitive Edge (Super Saver): 6th in the Woody Stephens and won the Pat Day Mile. First two turn race.

Nonna's Boy (Distorted Humor):Won the Lamplighter and was 3rd in the Easy Goer. Dam is a 3/4 sister to Cairo Prince.

American Pharoah (Pioneerof the Nile): Won the Belmont and Preakness in his last two after winning the Kentucky Derby. The biggest question will be how much did the visitors he had take out of him.

Mr. Jordan (Kantharos): Won the Pegasus and 2nd in the Tarpon. While undefeated at Monmouth, takes a big step up in class.

Keen Ice (Curlin): 3rd in the Belmont and 7th in the Derby. Might be fresher then the Triple Crown winner.

Top Clearance (Majestic Warrior): Won Allowance/Optional Claimer and broke maiden. Stakes debut.

Dontbetwithbruno (Tiz Wonderful): 2nd in the Lamplighter and 4th in the Pegasus. Step up in class.

Picks

Head picks

Win- American Pharoah
Place- Keen Ice
Show- Mr. Jordan

Heart Picks

Win- American Pharoah
Place- Upstart
Show- Keen Ice

Dark Horse- Nonna's Boy

Gold Cup at Santa Anita recap

Hronis Racing's Hard Aces (Hard Spun) was able to hold off Hoppertunity (Any Given Saturday) to win the Gold Cup at Santa Anita. Catch a Flight (ARG) (Giant's Causeway) was third. John Sadler trains the winner and Victor Espinoza rode him.



Bred by Dreamchaser Thorobreds, Hard Aces is out of the mare All in With Aces (Quiet American). His record is 23 starts with 6 wins, 3 seconds and 7 thirds with earnings of $592,145.

Hard Aces has earned a spot into this year's Classic.

Gold Cup at Santa Anita Preview

Another week and it's time for the next WAYI race for the Classic. This week it's the Gold Cup at Santa Anita. I appologize for now video preview I did not get a chance to write my preview for this until this evening.


9th Race - Santa Anita Park - Saturday, June 27th, 2015 STAKES. 1 1/4 Mile Dirt. Purse $500,000. Gold Cup at Santa Anita S. (Grade 1). FOR THREE-YEAR-OLDS AND UPWARD. (05:45 PM)
PP Horse A/S M/E Wgt Jockey Trainer
1 Batti Man (ARG) 7 G L 119 Perez Fernando Hernandez Mulhall Kristin
2 Hard Aces 5 H L 119 Espinoza Victor Sadler John W.
3 Poshsky 5 G L 119 Prat Flavien Miller Peter
4 Motown Men 6 G L 119 Baze Tyler West Ted H.
5 Majestic City 6 H L 119 Lopez Charles C. Baltas Richard
6 Hoppertunity 4 C L 121 Garcia Martin Baffert Bob
7 Big Cazanova (ARG) 6 R L 119 Nakatani Corey S. Miller Peter
8 Moreno 5 G L 121 Velasquez Cornelio H. Guillot Eric J.
9 Catch A Flight (ARG) 5 H L 119 Stevens Gary L. Mandella Richard E.
10 Lideris 5 H L 119 Talamo Joseph Miller Peter
11 Finnegans Wake 6 H L 124 Smith Mike E. Miller Peter

Batti Man (Manipulator): 2nd and 1st in Allowance Optional Claimers. Stakes experience has been mixed.

Hard Aces (Hard Spun): 6th in the Oaklawn Handicap and 3rd in the Californian last time out. Has done well on both starts on the SA surface.

Poshsky (Vronsky): 6th in the Tiznow and 4th in an Allowance/Optional Claimer. Off the board in both graded stakes tries.

Motown Men (Decarchy): Won the Tiznow and 3rd in the Precisionist. 4th in lone other graded stakes try.

Majestic City (City Zip): Won the Lone Star Park Handicap and was 8th in the Santana Mile. Has not had the greatest success in G1 company.

Hoppertunity (Any Given Saturday): 3rd in the Stephen Foster and San Antonio. Quick turnaround.

Big Casanova (Giant's Causeway): 5th in the San Pasqual and 7th in the Californian. 7th in the Jockey Club Gold Cup last year.

Moreno (Ghostzapper): 2nd in the Californian and won the Charles Town Classic. Tends to run 2 good races in a row and then a bad one.

Catch a Flight (Giant's Causeway): Won the Californian and Precisionist. Has never been worse then 3rd in the US.

Lideris (Mizzen Mast): 6th in the Californian and 9th in the Greenwood Cup. Hasn't shown in Southern Hemisphere form in the US.

Finnegans Wake (Powerscourt (GB)): 4th in the Manhattan and won the Woodford Reserve. Dirt starts came as a 3yo.

Picks

Win- Hard Aces
Place- Catch a Flight
Show- Majestic City

Dark Horse: Finnegans Wake

Stephen Foster Recap

Note: I appologize for the lateness of this post. I meant to do this the Sunday after the race, however a stablemate to the winner Noble Moon broke down in the Plate Trial. Thus out of respect I waited and then forgot until I was out of state for a long scheduled vacation. Thus I'm doing this now.

John Oxley's Noble Bird (Birdstone) took the lead in the stretch and held of Lea (First Samurai) to win the June 13th, Stephen Foster Handicap. Hoppertunity (Any Given Saturday) was third. Shaun Bridgemohan rode the winner for trainer Mark Casse.

 

The winner is out of the mare Anyhow (Tiznow) and bred by Jack Swain. His record is 10 starts with 4 wins, 3 seconds and 0 thirds with earnings of $531,278.

Noble Bird has now earned his spot into this year's Classic.

Stephen Foster Preview

The three year olds go on a little vacation... so it's time for the big boys. Here is the field for this year's Stephen Foster.

8th Race - Churchill Downs - Saturday, June 13th, 2015 STAKES. 1 1/8 Mile Dirt. Purse $500,000. Stephen Foster H. (Grade 1). FOR THREE YEAR OLDS AND UPWARD. (09:42 PM)

PP	Horse	A/S	M/E	Wgt	Jockey	Trainer
1	Commissioner	4 C	L	120	Castellano Javier	Pletcher Todd A.
2	Lea	6 H	L	120	Rosario Joel	Mott William I.
3	Paganol	4 C	L	114	Albarado Robby	Hartman Chris A.
4	Noble Bird	4 C	L	116	Bridgmohan Shaun	Casse Mark E.
5	Hoppertunity	4 C	L	121	Smith Mike E.	Baffert Bob
6	Majestic Harbor	7 H	L o	115	Lanerie Corey J.	McGee Paul J.
7	Cat Burglar	5 H	L	116	Espinoza Victor	Baffert Bob

Video Preview

Written Preview

Commissioner (A.P. Indy): Won the Pimlico Special and Skip Away. 2nd in last year's Belmont.

Lea (First Samurai): 3rd in the Dubai World Cup and 2nd in his Donn defense. Has always run well at Churchill.

Paganol (Tiz Wonderful): Won Allowance/Optional Claimer and 7th in the same condition. 10th in lone stakes try, the Southwest.

Noble Bird (Birdstone): 2nd in the Alysheba and won Allowance/Optional Claimer. Before the Alysheba had won last 3 out of 4 races.

Hoppertunity (Any Given Saturday): 3rd in the San Antonio and won the San Pasqual. Won the Clark on this surface last fall.

Majestic Harbor (Rockport Harbor): 9th in in the Louisville Handicap and won Allowance/Optional Claimer. Best days are behind him it appears.

Cat Burglar (Unbridled's Song): 3rd in the Pimlico Special and 2nd in Allowance/Optional Claimer. Has never finished off the board in a stakes race.

Picks

Win- Noble Bird

Place- Hoppertunity

Show- Cat Burglar

Top Horses List: Classic and video

The first Classic rankings of the year! For now I am only going to be doing 5 horses. By the time the Whitney rolls around though I will be up to 7 and then by Woodward time I'll be up to 10. So I hope this goes well and we'll see how it goes.

Ranking	Horse (Sire)	Trainer	Profile
1	American Pharoah (Pioneerof the Nile)	Baffert	What can I say, Triple Crown winner. His lone bad race was last year in his career debut. He by far is the best horse in training (remember Shared Belief is currently injured) and its showed. His stablemate Bayern is not the same horse he was last year, California Chrome hasn't won a dirt race since the Preakness... he tops the list for now.
2	Tonalist (Tapit)	Clement	Lost nothing in defeat in the Met Mile... especially since it wasn't at an optimal distance for him. Should turn the tables on Honor Code in his next.
3	Frosted (Tapit)	McLaughlin	Like American Pharoah, he has only run one bad race. It did look like he needed Materality to force the pace a little bit more, but even with that I don't think he had any chance to catch AP.
4	Honor Code (A.P. Indy)	McGaughey	The only reason why I have him this low is because of how unproven he is. Sure he won the Remsen at 2... but the two horses right behind him came back to win G1's at 9 furlongs at 3. He has yet to do that. Also concerned about his injury history.
5	Keen Ice (Curlin)	Romans	He was the only horse who was closing at the end of the Belmont. He like Frosted needed a faster pace, but unlike Frosted he might have made it a more interesting race. Could be one to watch down the road.

Also I have a WAYI recap video:



Written previews will be up tomorrow with 1 possibly 2 videos.

Classic recap

After interfering with formally undefeated Shared Belief (Candy Ride (ARG)) at the start, Kaleem Shah's Bayern (Offlee Wild) went gate to wire to win the Breeders' Cup Classic. However, he had to wait out an inquiry. Toast of New York (Theywayyouare) was second and California Chrome (Lucky Pulpit) was third. Bob Baffert who had been so close before won his first Classic with Martin Garcia riding.

Race Replay



Bred by Helen Alexander, the winner is out of the mare Alittlebitearly (Thunder Gulch). His record is 10 starts with 6 wins, 1 place and 1 show with earnings of $4,389,680.

Classic Preview

This is it! All the hard work is completed now these 14 horses will battle it out for the biggest prize on the year, the Breeders' Cup Classic. Here is this year's field:

Breeders' Cup Classic (gr. I) Nov. 1 5:35 PM PDT

Post	Horse	Jockey	Trainer
1	Prayer for Relief	Irad Ortiz, Jr.	Dale L. Romans
2	Cigar Street	John R. Velazquez	William I. Mott
3	Imperative	Frankie Dettori	George Papaprodromou
4	Moreno	Javier Castellano	Eric J. Guillot
5	V. E. Day	Joe Talamo	James A. Jerkens
6	Shared Belief	Mike Smith	Jerry Hollendorfer
7	Bayern	Martin Garcia	Bob Baffert
8	Zivo	Jose Lezcano	Chad C. Brown
9	Toast of New York	Jamie Spencer	Jamie Osborne
10	Footbridge	Rafael Bejarano	Eoin G. Harty
11	Tonalist	Joel Rosario	Christophe Clement
12	Candy Boy	Corey Nakatani	John W. Sadler
13	California Chrome	Victor Espinoza	Art Sherman
14	Majestic Harbor	Tyler Baze	Sean McCarthy
15 AE	Big Cazanova	Elvis Trujillo	Peter Miller

Prayer for Relief (Jump Start): 3^rd in the Woodward and 4^th in the Whitney.

Pros: Has shown up in big races outside of Churchill.

Cons: A slight step below top tier horses.

Cigar Street (Street Sense): 2^nd in an allowance and won the Homecoming.

Pros: Will be the emotional favorite (dam is a ½ sister to the late great Cigar) and sire won the Juvenile (which he turned into a Derby win).

Cons: Lack to stakes experience.

Imperative (Bernardini): 5^th in the Awesome Again and 3^rd in the Pacific Classic.

Pros: Won the Charles Town Classic and then ran well in the Gold Cup.

Cons: Consistent in being on and off the board in every other race.

Moreno (Ghostzapper): DQ'ed from 4^th in the Jockey Club Gold Cup and 2^nd in the Woodward.

Pros: Part of the pace, will keep Bayern honest which will benefit a closer.

Cons: 10^th in last year's Classic.

V.E. Day (English Channel): 6^th in the Jockey Club Gold Cup and won Travers.

Pros: Defeated Tonalist and Bayern 2 back.

Cons: This will be his 3^rd graded stakes start.

Shared Belief (Candy Ride (ARG)): Winner of the Awesome Again and Pacific Classic.

Pros: Undefeated in career and has passed his 10f and dirt test.

Cons: Other then Toast of New York, has yet to face other top 3yo's.

Bayern (Oflee Wild): PA Derby winner and 10^th in the Travers.

Pros: Will be part of the early speed, if he gets loose then unlikely to catch.

Cons: Speed duels will hurt.

Zivo (True Direction): 2^nd in the Jockey Club Gold Cup and 4^th in the Woodward.

Pros: Was on a 6 race winning streak before it was snapped in the Woodward.

Cons: Has never raced outside of NY.

Toast of New New York (Thewayyouare): 2^nd in the Pacific Classic and 6^th in the Belmont Derby.

Pros: Has faced top company in the US and Dubai.

Cons: First dirt start.

Footbridge (Street Cry (IRE)): 3^rd in the Awesome Again and 2^nd in the San Diego.

Pros: Been on the board in both graded stakes he has been in this year.

Cons: Has never won a stakes race in career.

Tonalist (Tapit): 3^rd in the Travers and won the Jockey Club Gold Cup.

Pros: Shows up on big days and has never been worse then 4^th in his career.

Cons: All of his stakes wins have been at Belmont Park.

Candy Boy (Candy Ride (ARG)): 2^nd in the WV Derby and 3^rd in the PA Derby.

Pros: Won the Lewis

Cons: 2^nd tier 3yo this year.

California Chrome (Lucky Pulpit): 6^th in the PA Derby and 4^th (dead heat) in the Belmont.

Pros: Won the SA Derby and San Felipe before taking down the KY Derby.

Cons: Didn't look fantastic at Parx.

Majestic Harbor (Rockport Harbor): 4^th in the Awesome Again and 6^th in the Pacific Classic.

Pros: Won the Gold Cup at Santa Anita and Tokyo City earlier this year at SA.

Cons: Last two races haven't been up to that Spring/Summer form.

Big Cazanova (Giant's Causeway): 8^th in the Jockey Club Gold Cup and won an Allowance.

Pros: Stakes experience in Peru.

Cons: Poor stakes debut in the US.

Picks

Win- Majestic Harbor

Place- Tonalist

Show- Zivo

 Dark Horse- Cigar Street

Video Preview

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jHJ7EdStLaw&feature=youtu.be Embedding coming soon

Stallion Outlook: Classic

The Stallion Outlook is something I had originally posted on my regular blog Furlong Drive back in 2012. This is where I do a quick profile on a horse and their sire. This year I will only be doing one for the Classic, but if this is successful I will expanded it to the Distaff and big two Turf races (Turf and F/M Turf) for 2015. I took the horses who listed as contenders on the Breeders' Cup's website. So here it is:

Horse	Sire (Their Sire)	Horse's Profile	Sire's Profile
Shared Belief	Candy Ride (ARG) (Ride the Rails)	Undefeated in his career. Two G1 wins this year in the Pacific Classic and Awesome Again have been against older horses. Champion at 2.	Undefeated his career in both South and North America. Biggest US win was in the Pacific Classic.
Majestic Harbor	Rockport Harbor (Unbridled's Song)	Won the Gold Cup at Santa Anita. 4th in his last race the Awesome Again.	2nd in the Rebel as a 3yo and won the Remsen at 2. Sired Ria Antonia who was elevated to 1st in last year's BC Juvenile Fillies.
Candy Boy	Candy Ride (ARG) (Ride the Rails)	3rd in the PA Derby, 2nd in the Los Alomitos Derby and West Virginia Derby. Ran well at SA earlier this year finishing 3rd in the SA Derby and winning the Lewis.	See Shared Belief
Moreno	Ghostzapper (Awesome Again)	DQ'ed from 4th in the Jockey Club Gold Cup after finishing 2nd in the Woodward and won the Whitney.	Both him and his sire won the Classic. His sire's 1/2 brother is Macho Uno (Holy Bull) a Juvenile winner who sired Mucho Macho Man last year's Classic winner.
Zivo	True Direction (French Deputy)	2nd in the Jockey Club Gold Cup and won the Suburban earlier this year.	Won the Fall Highweight in 2002.
Noble Moon	Malibu Moon (A.P. Indy)	3rd in last year's Nashua and won the Jerome earlier this year.	1 for 2 in his career. Sired last year's Derby winner Orb.
Medal Count	Dynaformer (Roberto)	3rd in the Belmont and 7th in the Joe Hirsch. Hasn't won since the Transylvania earlier this year.	Sire won the Jersey Derby and is the sire of Barbaro. He also has Perfect Drift who was 3rd in the 2005 Classic.
Long River	A.P. Indy (Seattle Slew)	3rd in the Jockey Club Gold Cup. Trainer won the 2006 edition with Invasor.	Sire won the 1992 Belmont and Classic. Best finisher in the Classic was 2nd in 06 with Bernardini. Long River's dam Round Pond (Awesome Again) won the 2006 Distaff.
Toast of New York	Thewayyouare (Kingmambo)	U.A.E. Derby winner and 2nd in the Pacific Classic.	G1 winner in France. Sire's dam is the 2 time Mile winner Miesque (Nureyev), his dam is a 1/2 sister to Better Than Honour (Deputy Minister) the dam to Belmont winners Jazil (Seeking the Gold) and Rags to Riches (A.P. Indy).
Prayer for Relief	Jump Start (A.P. Indy)	3rd in the Woodward and 4th in the Whitney. Has had 2 on the board finishes at Santa Anita.	Won the 2001 Saratoga Special. Final start was an 11th place finish in the Juvenile.
California Chrome	Lucky Pulpit (Pulpit)	6th in the PA Derby, but did win the Preakness, KY Derby and SA Derby earlier this year.	2nd in two stakes at Santa Anita, 3 for 22 in his career.
Tonalist	Tapit (Pulpit)	Belmont and Jockey Club Gold Cup winner. Will need to prove that he can win outside of Belmont.	Won the Wood Memorial. Sire of 4 Breeders' Cup races winners (Stardom Bound, Hansen, Tapizar and Tapitsfly).
Footbridge	Street Cry (IRE) (Machiavellian)	3rd in the Awesome Again and 2nd in the San Diego.	3rd in the 2000 Juvenile and Dubai World Cup winner. Sire of both Street Sense and Zenyatta.
Imperative	Bernardini (A.P. Indy)	5th in the Awesome Again and 3rd in the Pacific Classic.	Preakness and Jockey Club Gold Cup winner. 2nd in the 2006 Classic. Other then having Classic winning sire, dam ran well in the Juvenile Fillies.
Tapiture	Tapit (Pulpit)	Won the West Virginia Derby and was second last time out in the PA Derby.	See Tonalist
Bayern	Offlee Wild (Wild Again)	Haskell and PA Derby winner, will be part of the pace.	Sire won the Suburban and Massachusetts Handicaps. He is also the sire of 2009 Juvenile Fillies winner She Be Wild.
Cigar Street	Street Sense (Street Cry (IRE))	Only 2 starts this year including his Homecoming win last time out. However, he won the Skip Away last year.	Won the 2006 Juvenile and 2007 Derby. The only horse to do so. Cigar Street's dam is a 1/2 sister to 1995 Classic winner and 3rd place finisher in 1996 Cigar (Palace Music).

Top Horses List: Week 10

Amazing how 4 races can change everything. Here are this weeks Top Horses Lists.

Distaff

Rank	Horse (Sire)	Trainer	Profile
1	Close Hatches (First Defense)	Mott	The horse to beat as she will try to give her trainer his third Distaff win in 4 years. Keeneland next for her, the race? The Spinster.
2	Beholder (Henny Hughes)	Mandella	The Queen of Santa Anita reigned once again with a win in the Zenyatta. Would not be suprising if she gets the win again.
3	Belle Gallantey (After Market)	Rodriguez	I thought I had placed her on the list after her Del Cap win, but I hadn't. Still a smashing win in the Beldame. Not sure she'll get away with a loose lead though.
4	Untapable (Tapit)	Asmussen	The three year olds are bad. However, with Stopchargingmaria's loss in the Beldame, she is the likely 3yo champ.
5	Stopchargingmaria (Tale of the Cat)	Pletcher	Belmont is a speed bias track... hopefully Santa Anita is not one too.
6	Don't Tell Sophia (Congaree)	Sims	Needs to run the race of her life at Santa Anita... should she go.
7	Tiz Midnight (Midnight Lute)	Baffert	Running second to Beholder is not bad. A filly with a future.
8	Iotapa (Afleet Alex)	Sadler	Did a great job to holding down the fort while Beholder was out. Drops due to a 3rd in the Zenyatta.
9	Stanwyck (Empire Maker)	Shirreffs	Really wished that she had done better in the Beldame. Hoping the return home will be helpful.
10	Endless Chatter (First Samurai)	Brown	3rd in her graded stakes debut is not bad. Trainer tends to be more conservative, but he did pre-enter a horse into last year's Dirt Mile who while didn't make it into the race, did finish 3rd in the Clark.
11	Broken Sword (Broken Vow)	Hollendorfer	Spinster bound? Hopefully... maybe?
12	Molly Morgan (Ghostzapper)	Romans	Really interested how she does against Close Hatches. Could be a suprise result.

Removed: Sweet Reason (Street Sense)- She's F/M Sprint bound.

Antipathy (A.P. Indy)- No works since her PE disaster.

Fiftyshadesofhay (Pulpit)- Could only finish 5^th in the Beldame.

Others considered: Fiftyshadesofhay, Jojo Warrior (Pioneerof the Nile), Parranda (English Channel), Stopshoppingdebbie (Curlin)

Classic

Rank	Horse (Sire)	Trainer	Profile
1	Shared Belief (Candy Ride (ARG))	Hollendorfer	That Awesome Again was a dog fight. Floated wide, had to deal with a pacesetter at the end and still won. This horse is amazing and will be very difficult to beat on the 1st of November.
2	Tonalist (Tapit)	Clement	Look whose back in the top 5? He really needs to prove though that he can travel with his track.
3	Bayern (Offlee Wild)	Baffert	Looks like his stablemate Fed Biz could give him a bit of a fit on the front end. However wouldn't be now with Game On Dude retired, his trainer has options. As long as he's not pressured then he'll air. However, I expect him to be pressured in someway.
4	Zivo (True Direction)	Brown	The first non 3yo on the list. Like Tonalist he needs to prove that he can travel with his track.
5	Fed Biz (Giant's Causeway)	Baffert	Not 100% sure he really wants a mile and a quarter... but he's by a Classic runner up and out of a mare's whose sire won the Classic. 2nd in the Awesome Again, but gave Shared Belief all he could handle.
6	Toast of New York (Thewayyouare)	Osbourne	Honestly he should be higher... but the dirt right now is a question mark.
7	Long River (A.P Indy)	McLaughlin	Hi there Round Pond's son! The 2006 Distaff winner's boy finished third in the JCGC ahead of the Travers winner. So proud and honestly would not discount him in the Classic should he go.
8	California Chrome (Lucky Pulpit)	Sherman	The wild weekend caused him to move up a spot... but still don't think he has a good chance.
9	Cigar Street (Street Sense)	Mott	Forget the fact that his sire is a BC Juvenile and KY Derby winner (the first one to do that double). His dam is a ½ sister to the one and only legendary 1995 Classic winner. If that's not enough pressure on the Homecoming winner, then I don't know what is. Other then the fact that he has the same trainer as Cigar.
10	Footbridge (Street Cry (IRE))	Harty	By a Dubai World Cup winner and whose broodmare sire is also a Dubai World Cup winner. Doesn't get more a mile and a quarter then that. 3rd in the Awesome Again.
11	Tapiture (Tapit)	Asmussen	Almost had to remove him due to a numbers game, but was able to keep him on.
12	Majestic Harbor (Rockport Harbor)	McCarthy	I am not giving up on him... but he looks like he needs at least 10 furlongs.

Removed: Wicked Strong (Hard Spun)- My heart breaks for him. He looked like was going to make a big move on the turn and then clips heels. Sadly his jockey Rajiv Maragh has broken his arm.

Moreno (Ghostzapper)- I'm not angry at Moreno himself. Who I am angry at is Junior Alvarado. A deserved DQ.

Itsmyluckyday (Lawyer Ron)- Going to Kelso... bad idea. He's not BC nominated anyway so maybe they just saved money.

V.E. Day (English Channel)- 5^th in the JCGC wasn't too bad... but looks like Jimmy Jerkins has said both him and WS are done for the year. Which is fine as they will hopefully be back better then ever next year.

Others Considered: Candy Boy (Candy Ride (ARG)), Departing (War Front), Stephenoatsee (A.P Indy)

Even though the Spinster is next week, I am not expecting major changes for the Distaff division. Thus this is the final top horses list for the year. I'm very happy with these lists and now we wait for pre-entries which will be released later this month and then the draws.

Awesome Again recap

Already into the Classic thanks to his Pacific Classic win,Jungle Racing LLC, KMN Racing LLC, Hollendorfer, Litt, Solis II & Todaro's Shared Belief (Candy Ride (ARG)) remained perfect in the Awesome Again. This was despite a wide trip a good portion of the way in the race. Fed Biz (Giant's Causeway) was second and Footbridge (Street Cry (IRE)) was third. The winner is trained by one of his co-owners Jerry Hollendorfer and was ridden by Mike Smith.

 Replay

  Bred by Pam and Martin Wygod, he is out of the mare Common Hope (Storm Cat). His record is 7 starts with 7 wins, 0 seconds and 0 thirds and earnings of $1,552,200.

Jockey Club Gold Cup recap

Returning to the scene of his greatest win the Belmont, Robert S. Evan's Tonalist (Tapit) returned the winner's circle this time in the Jockey Club Gold Cup. Zivo (True Direction) was second and Long River (A.P Indy) was third. Sadly Moreno (Ghostzapper) clipped heels with Wicked Strong (Hard Spun) causing the Travers runner up to lose his jockey Rajiv Maragh (according to his Twitter account Maragh is scheduled to have surgery today on a broken arm, Wicked Strong as of this moment appears to be okay). Moreno was DQ'ed from 4th to last due to that clipping of heels. Mircomanage (Medaglia d' Oro) was eased. The winner was ridden by Joel Rosario and trained by Christophe Clement.

Replay



Bred by Woodslane Farm, Tonalist is out of the mare Settling Mist (Pleasant Colony). His record is 8 starts with 4 wins, 2 seconds and 1 third and earnings of $1,802,000.

Tonalist has now earned a spot into this year's Classic.

Super Saturday Part 3

These are three of the four big races of the day (only the Beldame which is not a WAYI race is not listed). The Jockey Club Gold Cup (Classic), Zenyatta (Distaff) and Awesome Again (Classic). Here are the fields:

10th Race - Belmont Park - Saturday, September 27th, 2014

STAKES. 1 1/4 Mile Dirt. Purse $1,000,000. Jockey Club Gold Cup Invitational S. (Grade 1). FOR THREE YEAR OLDS AND UPWARD. (05:50 PM)

PP	Horse	A/S	M/E	Wgt	Jockey	Trainer
1	Micromanage	4 C	L	126	Saez Luis	Pletcher Todd A.
2	Last Gunfighter	5 H	L	126	Bravo Joe	Brown Chad C.
3	Wicked Strong	3 C	L	122	Maragh Rajiv	Jerkens James A.
4	Zivo	5 H	L	126	Lezcano Jose	Brown Chad C.
5	Prayer For Relief	6 H	L	126	Velazquez John R.	Romans Dale L.
6	Long River	4 C	L	126	Velasquez Cornelio H.	McLaughlin Kiaran P.
7	Speak Logistics	4 C	L	126	Lopez Paco	Contessa Gary C.
8	Tonalist	3 C	L o	122	Rosario Joel	Clement Christophe
9	Stephanoatsee	5 R	L	126	Ortiz Jose L.	Zito Nicholas P.
10	V. E. Day	3 C	L	122	Castellano Javier	Jerkens James A.
11	Moreno	4 G	L	126	Alvarado Junior	Guillot Eric J.
12	Big Cazanova (ARG)	5 R	L	126	Ortiz, Jr. Irad	Miller Peter

Mircomanage (Medaglia d' Oro): 3^rd in the Greenwood Cup and won the Birdstone. Was 2^nd in the Brooklyn earlier this year and finished 3^rd in last year's Haskell.

Last Gunfighter (First Samurai): 6^th in the Woodward and 5^th in the Whitney. Won last year's Iselin and was 5^th in both the Gold Cup and Classic last year as well.

Wicked Strong (Hard Spun): 2^nd in the Travers and won the Jim Dandy. Speed has been added with the addition of blinkers and did break his maiden here last year.

Zivo (True Direction): 4^th in the Woodward and won the Suburban. Has finished no worse then 3^rd at Belmont.

Prayer for Relief (Jump Start): 3^rd in the Woodward and 4^th in the Whitney. Has shown promise in the past in graded stakes, but not always at the Grade 1 level.

Long River (A.P. Indy): 7^th in the Woodward and 5^th in the Monmouth Cup. Never has run in a stakes race at Belmont.

Speak Logistics (High Cotton): 5^th in an Allowance/Optional Claimer and 7^th in the same type of race in his last two. Last graded stakes race last year 7^th in the PA Derby.

Tonalist (Tapit): 3^rd in the Travers and 2^nd in the Jim Dandy. Should enjoy the return to Belmont where he won the Peter Pan and Belmont.

Stephanoatsee (A.P. Indy): 5^th in the Woodward and 2^nd in Allowance/Optional Claimer. Hasn't finished on the board in a graded stakes race since the Strub last February.

V.E. Day (English Channel): Won the Travers and the Curlin. 2 for 2 at Belmont.

Moreno (Ghostzapper): 2^nd in the Woodward and won the Whitney. Only one poor performance at the track.

Big Cazanova (Giant's Causeway): Won his last two at Del Mar, so he is going synth to dirt. Stakes placed in his native Argentina.

Picks

Win- Zivo

Place- Wicked Strong/V.E. Day

Show- Moreno

Dark Horse- Tonalist

5th Race - Santa Anita Park - Saturday, September 27th, 2014

STAKES. 1 1/16 Mile Dirt. Purse $300,000. Zenyatta S. (Grade 1). FOR FILLIES AND MARES, THREE-YEARS-OLD AND UPWARD. (02:30 PM)

PP	Horse	A/S	M/E	Wgt	Jockey	Trainer
1	Tiz Midnight	4 F	L	119	Espinoza Victor	Baffert Bob
2	Iotapa	4 F	L	124	Talamo Joseph	Sadler John W.
3	Yahilwa	4 F	L	119	Bejarano Rafael	Cassidy James M.
4	Beholder	4 F	L	121	Smith Mike E.	Mandella Richard E.
5	Wittgenstein (IRE)	4 F	L	119	Gutierrez Mario	O'Neill Doug F.
6	Tiz The Key	3 F	L	116	Baze Tyler	Mandella Richard E

Tiz Midnight (Midnight Lute): Won last 3 races including two Allowance/Optional Claimers. Stakes debut, but her dam won this race when it was the Lady's Secret in 2007.

Iotapa (Afleet Alex): Winner of the Clement L. Hirsch and Vanity. Kept the seat warm for Beholder while she was out with injury, could this be the race that she takes it away outright?

Yahilwa (Medaglia d'Oro): 2^nd in an Allowance and 7^th in the Osunitas. Did finish second in the Adoration in three back.

Beholder (Henny Hughes): Defending champ of this race was 4^th in the Phipps and won the Santa Lucia. How she rebounds from her injury will be a key factor.

Wittgenstein (Shamardal): 7^th in her last two races, both Allowance/Optional Claimers. Has been up and down in the US.

Tiz the Key (Tiznow): 11^th in the San Clemente and 4^th in the American Oaks. Turf to dirt, but did break her maiden on the dirt.

Picks

Win- Beholder

Place- Iotapa

Show- Tiz the Key

Dark Horse- Tiz Midnight

8th Race - Santa Anita Park - Saturday, September 27th, 2014

STAKES. 1 1/8 Mile Dirt. Purse $300,000. Awesome Again S. (Grade 1). FOR THREE-YEAR-OLDS AND UPWARD. (04:00 PM)

PP	Horse	A/S	M/E	Wgt	Jockey	Trainer
1	Fed Biz	5 H	L	119	Garcia Martin	Baffert Bob
2	Sky Kingdom	5 H	L	119	Espinoza Victor	Baffert Bob
3	Bird E House	3 G	L	116	Talamo Joseph	Sadler John W.
4	Shared Belief	3 G	L	121	Smith Mike E.	Hollendorfer Jerry
5	Footbridge	4 C	L	119	Bejarano Rafael	Harty Eoin G.
6	Majestic Harbor	6 H	L	124	Baze Tyler	McCarthy Sean
7	Mystery Train (ARG)	4 R	L	124	Blanc Brice	Vienna Darrell
8	Imperative	4 G	L	119	Desormeaux Kent J.	Papaprodromou George

Fed Biz (Giant's Causeway): 2^nd in the Pat O'Brien and won the San Diego. He was 6^th in last year's Dirt Mile.

Sky Kingdom (Empire Maker): 4^th in the Los Alamitos Mile and 2^nd in the Cougar II. 3^rd in last year's Hollywood Gold Cup and won the Tokyo City.

Bird E House (Birdstone): First start on the west coast. Won an Allowance/Optional Claimer in his last start, this is also his first stakes start.

Shared Belief (Candy Ride (ARG)): Undefeated in his career and defeated older last time out in the Pacific Classic. Could take the 3yo Championship away from California Chrome with a win in this race.

Footbridge (Street Cry (IRE)): 2^nd in the San Diego and Oak Tree Handicap. Has never been worse then 5^th at Santa Anita.

Majestic Harbor (Rockport Harbor): 6^th in the Pacific Classic and won the Gold Cup at Santa Anita. Should enjoy the return to a dirt surface.

Mystery Train (Not For Sale (ARG)): 9^th in his US debut, the Pacific Classic. Will be interesting how he does on a US dirt surface.

Imperative (Bernardini): 3^rd in the Pacific Classic and 8^th in the San Diego. If form holds... he should be in for another good finish.

Picks

Win- Majestic Harbor

Place- Shared Belief

Show- Imperative

 Dark Horse- Sky Kingdom

Video

I appoligize for the coughing. I really wanted to this video as quickly as possible (since it's up much later then expected) and didn't have time to edit it out :( Also sorry for the slight interruption at the end.

Top Horses List: Week 9

Super Saturday won't be for one more and the Classic picture has changed dramatically. Lets take a look at the new list for both the Distaff and Classic.

Distaff

Rank	Horse (Sire)	Trainer	Profile
1	Close Hatches (First Defense)	Mott	With her main nemesis retired, should air in the Breeders' Cup, unless the real Beholder shows up.
2	Beholder (Into Mischief)	Mandella	She loves Santa Anita and the next two starts are there. Wouldn't be any bit surprised if she wins her third Breeders' Cup race.
3	Iotapa (Afleet Alex)	Sadler	If Beholder is not the same horse... she will be your likely Zenyatta winner.
4	Untapable (Tapit)	Asmussen	Her Cotillion win very likely wrapped up 3yo honors for her... but don't be surprised if Stopchargingmaria beats her on Holloween.
5	Stopchargingmaria (Tale of the Cat)	Pletcher	Even though the winner of the Cotillion overcame the track bias... maybe it was a good thing she scratched. Beldame is next.
6	Broken Sword (Broken Vow)	Hollendorfer	Under the radar... hopefully she can stay that way for the BC.
7	Sweet Reason (Street Sense)	Gyarmati	More likely for the F/M Sprint... but ran pretty well in the Cotillion. Ran okay in the Juvenile Fillies last year.
8	Fiftyshadesofhey (Pulpit)	Baffert	Did she well on the slop for a reason? Hopefully she can duplicate that onto a fast track.
9	Don't Tell Sophia (Congaree)	Sims	Churchill and Oaklawn specialist. The biggest question is can she travel outside that comfort zone.
10	Stanwyck (Empire Maker)	Shirreffs	For purposes of this list, I'm assuming she is still in New York. Really think she could be following in her big brothers footsteps in the leadup to the Distaff.
11	Antipathy (A.P Indy)	McLaughlin	Could be the X factor when this is all said and done.
12	Molly Morgan (Ghostzapper)	Romans	I really was debating on leaving her on the list or not... and I realized that who she was going to be replaced with is untested.

 Horses Removed: Princess of Sylmar (Majestic Warrior)- Retired, which isn't too surprising considering how she ran this year. However, would have fun to see her try the Beldame again.

Joint Return (Include): Two horses overcame the track bias... she couldn't.

Others Considered: Stopshoppingdebbie (Curlin), Parranda (English Channel), Jojo Warrior (Pioneerof the Nile)

Classic

Rank	Horse (Sire)	Trainer	Profile
1	Shared Belief (Candy Ride (ARG))	Hollendorfer	Extended his lead with California Chrome's loss in the PA Derby.
2	Wicked Strong (Hard Spun)	Jerkins	There is a chance that the Jockey Club Gold Cup will in all likelihood be his final start at the age of 3. For now though, going to keep him on here until we officially know.
3	V.E. Day (English Channel)	Jerkins	Would be interesting if he could pull of a Tiznow like second half of the year and win the JCGC and BC to end the year. That certainly would throw a wrench into things. However, he has to prove that the Travers was no fluke.
4	Moreno (Ghostzapper)	Guillot	Returns to his preferred distance next week. He has turned it on since the Whitney.
5	Tonalist (Tapit)	Clement	Return to Belmont hopefully will be helpful... but I think I'm starting to lose a little bit of faith in him.
6	Bayern (Offlee Wild)	Baffert	Loose lead means that he is gone. Should get pressure in the Classic. The only reason I have him this low, is the fact the last time he went a mile and a quarter... he finished last.
7	Itsmyluckyday (Lawyer Ron)	Plesa	Skipping the JCGC for the Kelso. Interesting move. Why so? Uncle Mo did that as a 3yo... and it failed at the end.
8	Toast of New York (Theywayyouare)	Osbourne	Is officially Classic bound. Dirt is a question mark, but Europeans have shown that they can run well on it.
9	Majestic Harbor (Rockport Harbor)	McCarthy	If anyone is going to stop the Shared Belief express... this could be the guy to do so.
10	California Chrome (Lucky Pulpit)	Sherman	How the mighty have fallen... He might have needed a race, but that PA Derby didn't look good at all.
11	Zivo (True Direction)	Brown	The older horses on the East Coast took a major hit with Palace Malice's retirement and the possible retirement of Will Take Charge (as of this writing I'm not sure what to believe). The good news? He has a G2 at this distance and track where he is running next.
12	Tapiture (Tapit)	Asmussen	A mile and a quarter likely a little bit longer then he really wants to go. However, if a fast pace comes... watch out.

Removed: Palace Malice (Curlin)- Bone bruise found on a scan a few weeks ago ended not only his season, but his career. A shame really because of a rebound in the JCGC was very possibly.

Moonshine Mullin (Albert the Great)- Season over, Oaklawn next for him.

Other's Considered: Candy Boy (Candy Ride (ARG)), Imperative (Bernardini), Departing (War Front)

 Honorable Mention goes to Game On Dude (Awesome Again) who retired this week. Best Breeders' Cup Classic finish was 2^nd to Drosselmeyer (Distorted Humor) and ahead of that year's Horse of the Year Havre de Grace (Saint Liam).