New Plans for Hansen and now for Alpha

Sometimes men are the most indecisive people, and frankly its annoying.  Hansen who is currently training at the Churchill Training track (according to his facebook) was originally pointed to the $1 Million Wood Memorial, and now drf.com is reporting that he will now skip the Wood and run in the $750,000 Blue Grass Stakes.  Which now because Hansen is skipping the Wood, Alpha who was being pointed to the Louisiana Derby is now being reconsidered for the Wood.  Dr. Kendall Hansen is saying that he would rather not ship the equine Hansen around that much, I get it, but look at a map, Kentucky to New York is not that long of a flight.  I think you are trying to get an easier race in before that first Saturday in May.  Ramon Dominguez who was injured in a spill last week is scheduled to race again March 31, The Wood is April 7th, and the Blue Grade is April 14.  I see the point of holding off and giving Ramon more time to heal, but if he wasn't ready he would not embarrass himself by losing on a Derby horse. Ramon is the regular rider for both Hansen and Alpha, but if they both are going to the Derby, he might as well make his choice now. 

But here's by advice to the owners: your horse isn't always going to win, so wo-man up and lets see some good competition! and dammit, enter them both in the Wood!

GIRL POWER

I feel like as writing this entry today, I should probably have a Spice Girls record blaring in the background, but per usual, I'm at work currently and my co-workers do not necessarily share the same love for 90s/2000s pop music as I do.  A week from Saturday, I truly believe that Chantal Sutherland will make history and be not only the first female jockey to race in the Dubai World Cup, but I think she has a mega chance to win.  Now I was not always a fan of Chantal, but after her performance in the Breeder's Cup, I was pretty blown away.  Chantal and Game on Dude was demolishing the field one-by-one, until Drosselmeyer came literally out of nowhere to win.  Drosselmeyer is a distance horse though.  His connections almost entered him in the Marathon, and he won the Belmont, (the longest of the Triple Crown), that is why he had a lot of horse left, but he got lucky and went wide to win.  I do not know a great amount about the field entering the World Cup, considering there is so much going on in American racing that following other countries would in fact make my head explode.  But this is a 2000m race (one mile and two furlongs), and we have seen GOD win at this length from taking the lead early, and following with the pack and then breaking away.  In his last start, in the San Antonio, Chantal had him relax a little bit with a couple of horses and then at the end he increased on his lead.  I think Baffert and Chantal are turning this gelding into a much more versatile horse.  So You Think is currently the favorite in the World Cup, does anyone remember that Chantal and GOD finished ahead of So You Think in the Breeder's Cup Classic?  SYT came in fifth place, and I understand that he had eight group one wins, but he just did nothing to impress me.

Chantal is no joke of a rider, and contrary to what I used to believe, she does not get her mounts just because she's pretty.  Even though I loved the reality series "Jockeys" I think it hurt some of the riders involved because it made the viewer to interested in the personal lives of each jock as opposed to their actual athletic ability.  In a way, it portrayed Chantal as the woman who did not want to quit her career just yet to have a baby with Mike Smith.  And of course, Mike Smith is "America's Sweetheart Jockey."  He was Zenyatta's jockey (and if you don't love Zenyatta, you my friend, are heartless), but as a viewer, you almost got so sucked into the drama that you were mad at Chantal for choosing her career.  As, the viewer, we made Chantal the antagonist because she was being a feminist, this is when the finger is pointed at me for being a hypocrite.  Chantal has over 7,100 starts and over 900 wins with $45,602,970 in total earnings, over $480,000 being from this year alone.  Basically Chantal is bad ass, and her career really just keeps getting better and better.  She reportedly is leaving for Dubai on Monday, and hopefully kicking a lot of ass on Saturday.

Win or lose, Chantal is making history next Saturday.  I will be watching, provided I can figure out the whole time change!   Good Luck Chantal & Game On Dude!!

Dubai

all American horses (Game on Dude, Royal Delta, The Factor, Lucky Chappy....etc)  have now left for Dubai.... World Cup countdown: 10 days

What's going on with these 3 year olds

I would consider myself an avid horse racing fan, but really my brain is just scrambled right now on trying to keep track of all of these damn three year olds.  Between New York, Florida, Louisiana, California, and Kentucky its like I need a damn spreadsheet to keep track of everyone and how their doing.  Let alone keeping track of those who are now off the derby train (which its safe to say if its a Todd Pletcher horse, probably going to be on the injured list, sooner rather than later).

March 31st, is the $1 Million Florida Derby (Grade 1) - the confirmed horses are Union Rags, El Padrino, Take Charge Indy, Neck'n Neck, News Pending, Reveron and Fort Loudon.  Union Rags has already faced Neck'n Neck, News Pending, and Fort Loudon all on this track in the Fountain of Youth back in February.

The Louisiana Derby at Fair Grounds is on April 1st

April 7th, at Aqueduct, is the Wood Memorial which will be Hanson's next start.  April 7th is also the Santa Anita Derby

SO MUCH TO WATCH....


....to be continued

Havre de Grace

It was an easy win for Havre de Grace, by 41/2 lengths.  There is some criticism from the media about her debut for the fact that she had minimal competition, but this was her first start since the Breeder's Cup in November.  Horses can be sensitive, this was an easy win, but I think that it got HdG back in the swing of things, it geared her up to know that its time to start racing again.  Her stablemate Joyful Victory finished third in the Azeri at Oaklawn Park.  I believe that both of these horses will be pointed to the Apple Blossom Handicap at Oaklawn Park.  HdG is the reigning champ of this race and the year before it was won by none other than the Great Zenyatta.  I think that HdG is prepared to have a great campaign this year, but I think she is going to be facing tougher competition than ever before.

my girl returning to the track...

Saturday will be a great day in New Orleans considering that my girl Havre de Grace will be making her 5 year old debut in the New Orleans Ladies.  Her morning like odds are at 1-5, she has minimal competition in the field.  Juanita who is going off from the 5th post position at 5-1 morning line odds may give HdG a slight run for her money.  Juanita has already had two starts this year, both at Fair Grounds on January 14th in the Marie G. Krantz Memorial Handicap where she got 2nd place and on February 11th, in the Tiffany Lass Stakes where she placed 3rd.  Not a bad horse, but still probably not good enough for the reigning Horse of the Year.

1) Sterling Madame 8-1
2) Havre de Grace 1-5
3) Annabel Lee 30-1
4) Distorted Love 12-1
5) Juanita 5-1

There is no set schedule for this year with Havre de Grace, but the $150,000 purse will be a nice little bonus to add to her total earnings of $ 2,496,175.  A more defined route will most likely be established depending on how HdG's stablemate, Joyful Victory does in the Azeri Stakes at Oaklawn.  Can't wait until Saturday!

image source: google

Hiatus is over...

Well I was on a brief hiatus in my blog world, well frankly due to work, but I am back now and better than ever!  ahhh, not really.

In most important news, Zenyatta had her baby last Thursday, March 8th, and 10:10 pm.

A very adorable 130lb colt by Bernadini.  Now people are already talking that he is going to be the Triple Crown winner of 2015, but I am not so sure he will even make it to the Triple Crown races.  Assuming that the Moss's will keep the Zenyatta connections with 12Zenyatta, John Sherriffs will have no problem taking his time on making sure the colt will be in top shape before racing.  With the reputation that this colt already has, the training needs to be meticulous and at his pace, not the pace of the media.  Zenyatta did not make her racing debut until the end of her three year old year.  Bernadini colts are currently dominating every age bracket, Alpha, Algorithms, Gamilati, Stay Thirsty's post Derby year was great, which leads me to believe that the need to wait and mature before racing comes from Vertigineux.  Zenyatta's half sister, who is by Bernadini, Eblouissante, is three right now and has yet to race. This little guy has big hoofs to live up to, good luck to his opponents on the racetrack.

How about Ghostzapper-Zenyatta 2013 Baby???