Weekend recap

This morning, after getting up and viewing my TiVo-ed recordings of yesterdays races I blinked, shook my head in confusion, and seriously reconsidered the amount of time I spend updating this blog. Well, not seriously...Actually, my husband will tell you that I screamed, "What the Hell!" at the screen, waking him from his otherwise peaceful slumber. Let's just get on with the torture why don't we.

Bluegrass Stakes
Photo: AP Photo/Ed Reinke
Monba proved that he did have a stakes caliber race hiding in him, and although he didn't entirely disprove my belief that he should be running on grass (seeing as how polytrack is almost but not quite completely unlike grass), he did manage to smack me in the face and simultaneously cement himself firmly on the Derby trail. Do I think he has a chance at the roses? Hell no (warning: If you haven't figured it out already, there's likely to be significantly more profanity in this most recent post than you're likely to find in most of my less angrily written diatribes. Cover your young children's eyes). Cowboy Cal wasn't that huge of a surprise to come up for second, making it a Todd Pletcher exacta....which was pretty much the only good thing about this race. The Toddster has been sitting in my RttR stable all year twiddling his thumbs and finally earned a little of his keep. Mind you, he had to do it beating two of my Derby favorites....the bastard.

Photo: Jeff Haynes

Pyro, of course, is the story of the day, finishing 10th in the twelve horse field. Tenth. My initial reaction to that finish (other than the screaming) was to think, "How on earth could a good horse like that finish 10th?" My incredulity was soon echoed by Jerry Bailey, who appears to firmly believe that you can draw a line through this race and blame it on the surface. I have to admit, it had looked to me early on as if Pyro was struggling a bit with the synthetic surface, but then what do I know about how a horse should look running on synthetic versus dirt? Nothing. Having Jerry, who must be an expert at such analysis, echo my instincts made me feel better, but not significantly. My other picks for the race were equally unimpressive and I now officially hate the Bluegrass and the horse it rode in on.

1. Pyro- 10th
2. Halo Najib- 7th
3. Visionaire- 5th
4. Medjool- 8th

Final analysis of the race? Forget it. I still like Pyro. I am willing to believe, despite all my screaming instincts to the contrary, that this was just a fluke. That the horse just really didn't like the surface. I stayed a fan of War Pass after his Tampa Bay debacle, and he paid his fans back with, if not a win, then at least a high quality finish in the Wood. I will stick with Pyro. He is officially, for better or worse, my Derby horse.

So mote it be.

Arkansas Derby

Gayego proved that he could get it done on real dirt this weekend and took the Arkansas Derby for all it was worth. One wonders how Georgie Boy might have taken apart this field. Regardless, Gayego had to hold off a late close from one of my early favorites Z Fortune, who, had he not been held waaaaay wide on the first turn, might have put in a much nicer performance. Tres Borrachos stayed in the mix, just holding on for third. Everybody else pretty much just let me down.

1. My Pal Charlie- 5th
2. Liberty Bull- 12th
3. Z Fortune- 2nd

Photo: Coady Photography

Holy Bull Stakes

Hey Byrn grabbed himself a few more graded earnings and may now be headed for Kentucky. However, this race was not exactly full of class, and represented a significant step down for the horse. Needless to say, the competition on Derby day will be a lot fiercer. Plus, having bounced back into this race only after a 2 week layoff from the Florida Derby, Hey Byrn's Triple crown future will look like this:

Florida Derby - 2 weeks-Holy Bull- three weeks - Derby- two weeks - Preakness - three weeks - Belmont

That's - count em- 10 weeks and 5 races in stiff company. Yeah, the iron horses of the past might have managed that kind of campaign. Not so Hey Byrn. At least he's got me spelling his name right this time.

Dream Maestro and Famous Patriot advanced from their maiden only ranks to a little blacktype of their own, and Bipolar Express proved that naming isn't everything.

1. Famous Patriot- 3rd
2. Hey Burn- 1st
3. Bipolar Express- last

Photo Adam Coglianese/AP

In other news

- Despite articles claiming, after her nice, but not stunning, win over Pure Clan in the Fantasy Stakes that Eight Belles (Unbridled's Song-Away, by Dixieland Band) would be pointed towards the Kentucky Oaks, it now appears as though she might be headed to the Derby after all. Although I would like to see this girl take it to the boys (she does so remind me of the late Winning Colors), I don't seriously think she would be a real contender for the roses. Rather, I would see her move as leaving the way all that much clearer for my Oaks favorite, Bsharpsonata.

- In similar news, Adriano (A.P. Indy-Gold Canyon, by Mr. Prospector), whose connections insisted that they really weren't thinking roses, now also appears to be pointed for the Kentucky Derby. Note to those horses on the graded earnings bubble? Don't hold your breaths.

- In The Bloodhorse special Kentucky Derby preview edition this week there was a story where an old handicapper talked about "visceral handicapping" and how the only way he seems able to pick out Derby horses is by figuring out which one would have the best human interest story upon winning. This interested me because I have absolutely zero luck picking Derby winners and am always looking for an insider's perspective. If the article's author is correct, I think I've found this year's "Best Story" horse. Recapturetheglory, who burst on the Derby scene last week while wrestling the Illinois Derby away from highly favored Denis of Cork. Trained by Louie Roussel III, who co-owns the colt with Ronnie Lamarque, this horse was purchased with the intent of...ummm...recapturing the glory the two old horsemen had exactly twenty years ago, way back in 1988, with a little horse called Risen Star. One of the most famous offspring of Secretariat, he was taken wide that year in the Kentucky Derby, and finished third behind the grey filly Winning Colors and the tough colt Forty Niner. He then went on to win the Preakness and the Belmont stakes by an impressive 15 lengths. He went on to win top three-year old honors and would forever be one of the "what might have been" Triple Crown horses. Could his former owners do it again this year? Only time shall tell.

- I've decided to do a day by day chronicle of all the Derby entrants in the days leading up to the big race, for my own entertainment, and also for the benefit of my friends who I'm trying to encourage into racing fanatics (that is, if they can get past all the jargon). Look for my first installment tomorrow.