The rush to win whatever they can before Beholder returns to take names and break hearts begins in earnest on both coasts Saturday when older fillies and mares meet in Grade 2 events at 1 1/16 miles worth $200,000.
At Gulfstream Park, the Royal Delta offers the accomplished turf mare Sandiva a chance to take another water-related event – she’s won the Marshua’s River and the Suwannee River – but this time, she will have to do it on the main track. Only five are in opposition.
Submitted for consideration – an open letter to a certain group of horse racing’s most ardent followers:
Dear Phans,
It’s okay to fall in love again. No one is keeping score. He’s gone, and he’s not coming back. Turn the page. Close the book. Linger over those selfies, sure. But don’t expect the pulse to rise at the sight of headlights in the driveway, or that knock upon the door. He is gone.
Hers wasn’t the most important, richest, or fastest race of a stakes-rich Saturday. But for me, Songbird’s dominating victory in the Las Virgenes was the event of the day. By far.
Yes, Songbird, the undefeated 2-year-old filly champion of 2015, was 1-10 in the Las Virgenes, so she was expected to overwhelm her five game but outgunned opponents. Still, it was awesome to watch Songbird run away with the Las Virgenes in isolation, as if her only current frame of reference is herself.
Everyone has their favorite, but for my money, the most dramatic – and hilarious – intersection of horse racing and football came on the final turn of the 1996 Preakness Stakes when some liquored-up yahoo in the Pimlico infield launched a spiral in the general direction of the favored Cavonnier, running fourth at the time under Chris McCarron.
“… a [bleepin’] football!” yelled McCarron, perfectly audible beneath Dave Johnson’s call on the ABC telecast.
The Experimental Free Handicap was started in 1933 by the Jockey Club’s legendary handicapper Walter S. Vosburgh as an “experiment” to predict 3-year-old performance based on 2-year-old form. Eight decades later, it sometimes seems like a work still in progress.
The most recent iteration of the Experimental came out on Jan. 28, and while there were no major surprises at the top of the two lists – one a rating of juvenile males, the other of juvenile fillies – the weights in some cases were a bit puzzling to say the least.
My daughter asked her mother one of those questions you dread.
“What’s the Super Bowl?”
Then, later, she wanted to know:
“When does California Chrome run again?”
Clearly, my work here as a parent is done. Her priorities have been properly aligned, and all the rest of the answers – regarding boys, booze, choice of hybrid vehicles – will fall neatly into place.
With dominant champions such as American Pharoah, Beholder, and Runhappy commanding most of the racing world’s attention last fall, it is entirely possible that insufficient attention has been paid to the 2-year-old champions of 2015. That is about to change quickly, with Songbird making her season debut Saturday in the Las Virgenes Stakes at Santa Anita and Nyquist scheduled to make his nine days later in the San Vicente.
A big win in a regional horse race can be exciting – just ask the backers of Sen. Ted Cruz – but you never know how it will translate to the national stage.
It feels strange, therefore, to suggest that no fewer than three and maybe even four of the five winners of Cal Cup races at Santa Anita Park last Saturday could be heard from in large ways down the line.
LAS VEGAS - Moments after winning the 17thDaily Racing Form/NTRA National Handicapping Championship here Saturday afternoon at Treasure Island Las Vegas, and a first place purse of $800,000, Paul Matties had this to say: “Whenever I meet someone and they say they are a horseplayer, I automatically like them, and know they are smarter than anyone else.”
Obviously, we all can feel very good about our new NHC champion.
