Jeu De Roseau lands huge punt at Towcester
Monday (5/10) was the most unusual day of the week for some exciting races and money exchanges! In a Class 4 2 miles handicap hurdle race at Towcester on Monday, punters witnessed the odd of a horse named Jeu De Roseau went from 25/1 in the morning to 6/4 SP. What had happened? Read the article in the Racing Post.
Racing Post Article
RacingPost Chart
Attheraces Replay
Fine Ride by Tony Culhane on Cozy Tiger to win at Wolverhampton
Even a Class 6 race at Wolverhampton can be quite exciting and it was a splendid piece of ride by jockey Tony Culhane on 5-year-old gelding Cozy Tiger in this low-level 1m6f marathon. What puzzles me is that there is clearly not much pace in the race but the winner was still able to close strongly in the stretch. This just show how poor the other horses are. But from a betting perspective this is indeed an exciting finish.
Racing Post Chart
Replay
Stoute's Imposing Won Opener at York Dante Festival on Wednesday
The lightly-raced yet improving 4-year-old Imposing (carried 124 lbs) was the only horse who can catch the experienced 5-year-old handicap horse Indian Days (top weight at 133 lbs), who set a strong pace in the first 6f of the race, in the opening race of 2010 York Dante Festival, a class 2 handicap at and 1m2½f on good ground.
Imposing, 4yo b.c. (Danehill Dancer - On Fair Stage, by Sadler's Wells) is trained by Sir Michael Stoute and owned by the partnership of Smith/Magnier/Tabor.
Racing Post Story
Racing Post Chart
Fallon (Deauville Flyer) Caught Moore (The Fonz) In Last Stride at York
SportingLife Chart
Video Replay
Snow Top Mountain and Garrett Gomez
Snow Top Mountain (Garrett Gomez) won the battle against Sparky's Dream (Julien Leparoux) in deep stretch in an allowance race for NW1X for 3-year-old fillies at 1 1/16m on the turf at Churchill Downs, race 7 in the card on Thursday May 13. Snow Top Mountain ran just slightly off the pace and Sparky's Dream was a bit further back. When they turned for him, Gomez saw a instant gap and immediately brought Snow Top Mountain out to the third path and start working. Leparoux on Spark'y Dream was 2 more lengths back on his outside but full of run. More often than not, the horse on the most outside path in a turf race with the clearest view and full of run will pass by the fields inside of him to win the race, and it certainly looked like the case, but not so easy with Gomez on Snow Top Mountain. He really worked hard on the horse and he responded a bit and he worked harder and he respond a little bit more. In the end, I think the jockey made the difference here (at least visually) and the 7/5 won the race by a length in 1:45.24 on good ground.
Brisnet Chart
Obligingly and Strasbourg
The 1-2 finishers of the 8th race at Belmont on Friday May 15, a mile allowance (N1X) on the dirt, were clearly at least a grade better than the rest of the field. I am actually more impressed by the runner-up Strasbourg, and I do think that his is a talented horse and his achievement in the future can be better than Obligingly, if he continues to train on and stay healthy.
Strasbourg was bred in Kentucky by Herbener Crompton & Van Andel. He was sold by his breeder to DKW Racing in the 2006 Keeneland November Sales as a weanling for $195,000. In the 2007 Keeneland September Yearling Sales, he was subsequently sold to Leprechaun Racing, agent for $140,000. The jackpot was hit in the 2008 OBS February 2yo Sales, when he is sold to Padua Stables for $450,000.
Leprechaun Racing's Mike and Britt Mulligan won't need to slip on down to the oasis to chase the blues away, not after a selling a strapping Friends Lake colt to Padua Stables for $450,000 yesterday (Feb 12, 2008). Leprechaun also sold a Lion Heart filly for $475,000 (see p5). The Friends Lake colt, a heavily muscled chestnut selling as hip 33, put buyers on notice with a co-bullet :10 flat breeze at the first under tack show, and became one of the talking horse in the days leading up the sale as buyers made repeated sojourns to Leprechaun's barn. Bidding on the colt boiled down to a scrum between representative of Satish Sanan's Padua Stables and Buzz Chace, sitting alongside Kiaran McLaughlin and West Point's Terry Finley.
"This was one of the top horses of the sale, and we really wanted to buy him," Sanan offered shortly after launching the winning salvo. "He is by a freshman sire and he's a nice-moving horse. We liked everything about him." Hip 33 first went through the ring as a weanling in 2006, selling to DKW Racing for $195,000. He returned to last year's Keeneland September Sale and was knocked down to Mike Mulligan for $140,000.
Sanan, joined by son Sasha and daughter Nadia, admitted that he had to pay less for the colt than expected. "We were going to buy him," he said. "But I thought we'd have to go to $500,000 at the bottom end." Sanan added that he was impressed with the February line-up OBS had assembled. "There are some of the best horses that have every been here, according to my team," he said.
I very much agree that he has a nice move. Unraced as a 2-year-old (which seemed to be odd for horse that was sold for $450,000 in a 2-year-old sales and who ran :10 flat for one furlong), Strasbourg debut on May 23, 2009 as a 3-year-old in a 6.5f MSW race at Belmont main track. He set the pace but was overtaken by the eventual winner Gridiron in the final stride and lost by a nose. He hasn't seen the race track until February of this year at Gulfstream as a 4-year-old. Using a different tactic this time, he was unhurried and rated at fifth in the 7f MSW test, took charge 1f out and won by a head. He was second by half a length again when he shortened back to 6f in a first level Allowance race at Gulfstream in March. And he stepped up to a mile for the first time again. 1 win and 3 second in 4 starts. He has done very little wrong. He seemed to have the speed to run on the lead, but he is more suitable to be just stalking the pace and then challenge the pace in the stretch. He can stay at least a mile, and I will not be surprised if he can step up to 9f.
Lookin At Lucky Redeemed and Won The Preakness
As for Lookin At Lucky, he finally got lucky and a change of jockey just freshened things up a bit more. Staring in the Kentucky Derby as a co-favourite from post #1 and just came back from a bad trip in the Santa Anita Derby, all the pressure was on this little horse and Garrett Gomez. This time at Pimlico, all the pressure was on Super Saver and Calvin Borel. The 2-year-old champion showed the world he was a deserving champion and Smart Strike sired the second Preakness in 4 years, after Curlin's victory in 2007. it is all heart in the final furlong in a neck-to-neck battle between Lookin At Lucky and First Dude. Nice race!
What Else?
There were many fine performance throughout the week ... 2008 Queen's Plate winner Not Bourbon came back after a 20 months layoff and won first time out in a 6f Allowance race
... Paco Bay and Richard Hughes just toyed with the field in the Lockinge Stakes-G1 and won by 3/4 lengths ...
.... the 2-year-old Dansili colt Zoffany is now 2 for 2 with another easy win at Naas in a 6f race. I will be surprised if Aidan O'Brien is not running him in the Coventry Stakes at Royal Ascot to try to emulate the path and success of Henrythenavigator 3 years back
... round 3 of Sariska vs. Midday in the Middleton Stakes-G2 ... Manifest overpowering performance in the Yorkshire Cup ... 4-year-old King's Best gelding Chiberta King won the 1m6f Class 2 handicap race at Newmarket "wire to wire" while carrying 134 lbs ... Cape Blanco puts himself in the Derby picture with an honest and pragmatic victory in the Dante Stakes ...
then a couple of nice easy wins by Robby Albarado on two promising 2-year-olds, the Ken McPeek trained filly Salty Strike (Smart Strike - Lake Huron, by Salt Lake) on May 14 at Churchill Downs
... and the Steve Asmussen-trained, Jesse Jackson-owned chestnut colt Kantharos (Lion Heart - Contessa Halo, by Southern Halo) at Churchill Downs on May 13
But after all, IMHO, the scariest performance belongs to Padua Stables' 4-year-old colt Majesticperfection
Tyler Baze on Court Hero
In the "Split Foes" department, how many times have we seen the best ride of the week is usually left to one of the very last races? In Race 9 on Sunday May 16 at Hollywood, Tyler Base rode 21/1 shot Court Hero in a maiden claiming race for $32k-30k at 6f on the cushion track. Here is the official chart:
COURT HERO settled outside a rival then a bit off the rail, moved up inside on the second turn (it is only a one-turn race so no clue why it says the second turn), came out into the stretch, was in a bit close off heels nearing midstretch, split foes, waited behind rivals a sixteenth out then bulled between horses in deep stretch to get up late.
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