February 7, 2010

Very High Quality

Quality Road's powerful runaway in the Donn Handicap Saturday earned a Beyer Speed Figure of 121, the highest awarded to any race since Midnight Lute's 124 in the 2007 Forego and the highest in a race longer than a mile since the Commentator-Saint Liam Whitney of 2005. (Update: Revised from a preliminary 122 to a final 121 Sunday morning.)

Breaking his own track record of 1:47.72, set winning last year's Florida Derby, Quality Road won by 12 3/4 lengths in 1:47.49 over a track that was not particularly quick in the day's other five dirt races. The only other dirt race on the Saturday card at the nine-furlong distance was the opener, where $6250 older-filly claimers were timed in 1:53.18. Three one-mile races went in 138.04 (older males $25k claimers), 1:38.44 (3yo Alw N1x) and 138.51 (OF N1x) and the day's lone dirt sprint, for 3-year-old maidens, was run in 123.22.

Quality Road's performance looked as good as it comes up on paper. He stalked Past the Point through six furlongs in 1:09.87, shot past and extended his lead from 5 lengths after a mile in 1:34.78 to more than a dozen at the wire. Granted, he was the only Grade 1 winner in the Donn, but the second- and third place finishers had each won four graded stakes including the G2 Suburban (Dry Martini) and G2 Ohio Derby (Delightful Kiss). It was a huge effort against a respectable field, one worth savoring:

Quality Road is an E.P. Evans homebred son of Elusive Quality, who himself ran stratospheric Beyers of 122 and 123 in seven-furlong races at Gulfstream in 1997 and 1998.

In other years, the Donn peformance would have sent Quality Road to Dubai as the heavy favorite for the rich Dubai World Cup. but that race is being run over a new synthetic Tapeta track at Meydan this year. Trainer Todd Pletcher told reporters after the Donn that the current plan was instead to point Quality Road for the Met Mile and other dirt races in New York leading to the Breeders' Cup Classic at Churchill Downs.

Posted by Steven Crist on Feb 7, 2010 at 12:45:42 AM | Permalink | Comments (33)

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February 4, 2010

Apple Blossom Time?

News reports about the proposed $5 million showdown between Rachel Alexandra and Zenyatta in the Apple Blossom April 2 make no reference to an insurance policy covering the additional $4.5 million Oaklawn will put up if both of them run. If you were an actuary (which you already are every time you accept a price as a horseplayer,) what would you charge for such a policy -- that is, what price would you make it that the showdown actually happens?

On the positive side, the venue is perfect. Rachel Alexandra and Zenyatta both have run and won impressively at Oaklawn, and the Apple Blossom is a race of appropriate stature and history. The giant purse strokes any egos that need stroking. On the downside, trainer Steve Asmussen said today that "From a timing standpoint, it's less than optimum"  for Rachel Alexandra. She's been off for five months and had her first published workout just last Sunday. It's extremely unlikely she'd make the Apple Blossom her season debut off a seven-month layoff, and it's way too soon to tell if she'll be ready for a prep race three or four weeks hence.

Oaklawn tinkered a bit with the Apple Blossom, extending the distance from 8.5 to 9 furlongs and changing it from a handicap to a scaleweight race. At least that spared someone from having to weight the two of them, which could have been tricky in both an absolute and relative sense.

Let's say Zenyatta returns in the Santa Margarita Handicap March 13 and wins under the 130 pounds she might be assigned for that race. (She won the Vanity under 129 and then won the Breeders' Cup Classic, so how can you drop her?) So now you'd give her 131 for the Apple Blossom and where would you peg the filly who just beat her for Horse of the Year?

I think you'd have to make them equal weights, which is what they'll carry under the new conditions of the Apple Blossom -- but they'd both be at 123 instead of 131.

And as long as we're at it: If we get that far, who's the morning-line favorite?

Posted by Steven Crist on Feb 4, 2010 at 9:20:57 PM | Permalink | Comments (62)

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January 31, 2010

NHC XI

Brian Troop had a pretty lousy day at the races Saturday: $60 in bets and only a $33.40 return. The net result? A check for $500,000. 

Troop, coming off the best Day One ($232.60) in the history of the DRF/NTRA National Handicapping Championship, had the worst-ever Day Two ($33.40) by an eventual winner but held off the closers to win NHC XI. As he later said, his performance reminded him of one by Presious Passion -- open up a huge lead on the field, dig in late, and just hang on. Even so, Troop’s total of $266 was the third-highest winning score in NHC history behind Steve Wolfson Jr.’s $279.60 in NHC VI and Richard Goodall’s $272.30 in NHC IX.

Troop and everyone else had to scramble a little when Laurel and Oaklawn cancelled their cards and Aqueduct cancelled after its third race. (The Laurel cancellation also meant the scrapping of the year's inaugural Magna 5, because Laurel hubs the bet and Magna had no backup plan.)

"I never look at Golden Gate," Troop said, "but today I had to."

This year's field of 300 (down from 302 after late scratches), included 7 of the 10 previous NHC winners, but as a group they underperformed. Judy Wagner (NHC II) rallied to finish a fine 21st, but the six others ran 78th, 145th, 223rd, 235th, 243rd and 296th.

The top finishers reflected racing's mature demographic -- the first five finishers were all between 53 and 61 years old. On the other hand hand, three of those five qualified in online tournaments. So I guess a few of us with AARP cards can actually also operate computers.

Troop, an accountant from Ontario, does not seem likely to quit the game and sit on his winnings. As he was surrounded by photographers and well-wishers on the racebook floor after his victory was certified, he had two requests. First, he asked someone to bring him a Heineken. Then he wanted to know where he could get tomorrow's Racing Form.

Posted by Steven Crist on Jan 31, 2010 at 1:55:54 AM | Permalink | Comments (24)

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January 29, 2010

Contest Eve

LAS VEGAS -- This is one of the best parts of my job: On Saturday night, I'll be handing some horseplayer a check for $500,000 -- whichever one of the 302 finalists in the DRF/NTRA National Handicapping Championship does the best in 16 mandatory and 14 elective races over the next two days.

In addition to the winner's (not the lion's) share of the $930,000 tournament purse, the victor will be honored as the Handicapper of the Year at next year's Eclipse Awards ceremony.

The NHC is sometimes compared to the World Series of Poker, but it's a fundamentally different event. The NHC is more of a tournament of champions, because you have to qualify by taking one of the top (usually) four spots in one of 85 NTRA-sanctioned qualifiers during the past year. So everyone's already won some prize money in a qualifier and now gets a complimentary trip to Vegas for a free roll at half a million. That gives the event a different feeling from one where people can walk in off the street and buy an expensive seat, as in the WSOP.

Obviously, any horseplayer can have a good or bad 30-race stretch, and you have to be lucky as well as good, but good plays a huge part: There were 120,000 entries in the 85 qualifiers, but 7 of the previous 10 winners are back this year -- six of them qualified while last year's winner, John Conte, gets a free pass to defend his title. Of the 302 finalists this year, 140 are first-timers but 162 have been here before.

I got here Wednesday to squeeze in a day of poker before the tournament begins, and Conte was one of the first people I ran into at the Red Rock Casino, where the tourney is held in the race and sports book. Conte, a New Yorker who used to write a grass-picks column called "The Grass Is Greener" on the racing page of The New York Post, collected his Handicapper of the Year award 10 days ago in Los Angeles. He saw no point in going all the way back home between events and thus has been playing horses and roulette in Vegas to pass the time. He hasn't given back the $500,000 yet.

The Red Rock seems livelier than when I was here in September for the NTRA Marketing Summit, and casino business has stopped its freefall of last year, but the town is still struggling with high unemployment, stalled projects and a particularly hard crash in the housing market: Homes and condos that were selling for $750,000 and up 18 months ago are languishing on the market for less than half that much. Whoever wins the tourney might want to look into local real estate.

Posted by Steven Crist on Jan 29, 2010 at 12:45:07 AM | Permalink | Comments (10)

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January 24, 2010

Weekend Notes

While the first steps on this year's Derby Trail were in the spotlight Saturday, it was a pair of last year's classic candidates who turned in the day's top performances.

Friesian Fire and General Quarters ran 1-2 in the ungraded $75k Louisiana Handicap at the Fair Grounds, a race that came up 14 Beyer points faster than the featured Grade 3 $100k LeComte for 3-year-olds three races later. Friesian Fire swept last year's Fair Grounds preps, winning the LeComte, Risen Star and Louisiana Derby, then finished 18th as the 3.80-1 favorite in the Kentucky Derby. General Quarters won the Sam F. Davis and the Blue Grass, then ran 10th as the 10.30-1 fifth choice on Derby Day. Both colts returned in the Preakness, running 9th and 10th, then both went to the sidelines until losing their seasonal debuts in separate Fair Grounds allowance races last month.

Perhaps those losing returns is what made these graded winners 3-1 and 6-1 respectively on the morning line for the Louisana Handicap (behind a pair of locals with a combined record of 0-for-11 in graded stakes), but they were bet down to 9-5 and 2-1. Both improved sharply second-time back and crushed the competition -- Friesian Fire scored by 1 1/2 lengths and it was 7 1/2 lengths back from General Quarters to ML favorite Good and Lucky in 3rd. The time for the mile and a sixteenth was 1:43.39, which translated to a Beyer of 104.

Friesian Fire, trained last year by Larry Jones, is now in Steve Asmussen's stable, and the trainer said he thinks the A. P. Indy colt still has room for improvement. The question now is whether he stays at Fair Grounds or goes to Gulfstream to take on Quality Road in the Grade 1 Donn Feb. 1.

As for this year's LeComte winner, Ron the Greek is an exciting colt who drops way back and makes one run, but his winning time of 1:40.09 for a mile and 40 yards translated to Beyer of only 90 -- no disgrace for a 3-year-old in January, but he'll have to improve. He also got a perfect set-up in the LeComte, benefitting from a sharp and contested pace. Maximus Ruler, who was sent off the 2.30-1 favorite, ran very well in just his third career start to win the pace battle and still hold second to the last-to-first winner.

Saturday's other graded Derby prep, the G3 $150k Holy Bull at Gulfstream, earned a 91 Beyer for the victorious Winslow Homer, but the entire race may have been better than it looked on final time, given an unusually strong pace in which most of the leading contenders were involved. Early fractions of 23.86 and 45.76 may not sound blazing, but they are for Gulfstream's oddly-timed (virtually no run-up) one-turn miles. The opening halves in the day's two other races at that distance were run in 48.23 and 48.18.

In the Holy Bull, there were five horses just heads apart through the opening quarter, including Jackson Bend, who was under pressure from start to finish and arguably ran as well as the winner. Winslow Homer was just off the hot fractions, moved well to the lead, and outlinished Jackson Bend by three-quarters of a length in 1:35.97. The final quarter of 26.33 doesn't immediately make you smell roses, but the pace took a toll. IF you believe the posted fractions, the entire field ran sub-22 second quarters.

---Meanwhile back at the local ranch, Aqueduct is dark until Friday after running races for 11 of the last 12 days. There was a $118k pick-six carryover in Saturday's sequence, but it looked too tough to me to get involved, and it was. Only two players came up with the winning combo and rewarded with $190,629 apiece. Only 6 of the 12 horses were covered in the finale, from 1 to 4 times each.

It was harder than the win mutuels ($4.60, $26.00, $15.20, $3.80, $27.60, $18.00) might make it look. The second and fifth winners both were much longer than their 12-1 win mutuels in the other multirace payoffs, and went off as the 6th and 7th choices in their fields.

Saturday's card also featured the return of Saturday guaranteed pick-4's, at $250k through the end of the current meeting. The guarantee drew a Saturday pool of $379, 838, up from $225k a week earlier.

Posted by Steven Crist on Jan 24, 2010 at 9:09:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (18)

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January 21, 2010

The Icon Project Vote

Put down the pitchforks and torches: That lone Eclipse vote for Icon Project over Zenyatta turns out to have been a simple case of human/mechanical error.

The DRF editor who cast the errant vote meant to select Zenyatta in the Older Filly or Mare category -- he in fact did vote for her as Horse of the Year. But when putting in his choices in the online balloting on deadline, he inadvertently typed his second choice into the first-place box and his third choice into the second-place box.

"I'm so sorry," the voter said. "There is no way I meant to do anything but put Zenyatta on top."

Given the voter's obvious (from his HOTY vote) intention to cast his ballot for Zenyatta, the Eclipse Award Steering Committee is in the process of re-certifying the results so that history will properly record that Zenyatta was in fact a unanimous selection as the champion Older Filly or Mare of 2009.

--The voting for Outstanding Owner was by far the most fractured, with the victorious Godolphin Racing receiving just 26.5 percent of the vote. Eleven different people or entities received votes, though only four candidates received more than 20 votes.

Each of the three voting groups went in different directions. The National Turf Writers gave 39 votes each to Godolphin and the Mosses; DRF chose Godolphin; and the NTRA picked Juddmonte narrowly over WinStar:

 

Posted by Steven Crist on Jan 21, 2010 at 11:13:35 AM | Permalink | Comments (30)

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January 18, 2010

And the Winners Were...

BEVERLY HILLS -- The 130-99 tally in Rachel Alexandra's favor was the closest Horse of the Year margin since the one-man/one-vote system replaced an electoral-college scheme seven years ago, but still not the widely expected squeaker:

The outcome would have been the same under the system that was used from 1972 to 2002, where the winner was chosen on a 10-5-1 system awarded to the top three choices of each of the three voting groups -- the National Turf Writers Association, Daily Racing Form and the National Thoroughbred Racing Association (or TRA prior to 1999.), This year, a majority of each groups' voters went for Rachel: the NTWA by 71 votes to 51, DRF by 31-23 and the NTWA by 28-25.

The voting for the other 16 Eclipse Awards (full breakdowns will be posted below later tonight) was in general suprisingly lopsided. The only vote closer than Horse of the Year was the one for Outstanding Owner, where Godolphin Racing edged Jerry & Ann Moss by a 61-56 tally in a category where 11 different people or entities received votes.

Other categories that had been widely considered close calls weren't: Goldikova over Ventura for Turf Female was 172-41; Kodiak Kowboy over Zensational for Male Sprinter was 118-54; Steve Asmussen took the trainers' award 130-57; and Julien Leparoux was voted Outstanding Jockey over Garrett Gomez 122 to 46, with Ramon Dominguez just one vote back in third with 45.

The results are sure to be widely interpreted along several different lines. Zenyatta's most ardent fans were visibly disappointed and will feel that the national electorate is biased against horses who do not race outside of California. (Several tables of California racing officials and local horsemen appeared to stare at their silverware and fail to applaud when Rachel was announced as the Horse of the Year.) Others will regard the decision not to give the award to a Breeders' Cup race winner for two years running as a repudiation of that series' claim to be the sport's definitive championship, and in particular of the organization's controversial decision to run the last two Cups on a synthetic main track at Santa Anita .

Here are the winners and the percentages of the first-place votes they received:

 

(Note: Chart revised 1/21/10 to reflect the reallocation of the vote mistakenly cast for Icon Project as champion Older Filly or Mare, which has now been officially reallocated to Zenyatta.)

Here are the complete voting totals:

2-Year-Old Male: Lookin At Lucky, 209; Vale of York, 17; Buddy’s Saint, 2; Noble’s Promise, 2; D’Funnybone, 1; Jackson Bend, 1.

2-Year-Old Filly: She Be Wild, 171; Blind Luck, 41; Hot Dixie Chick, 17; Awesome Maria, 1; Biofuel, 1; Tapitsfly, 1.

3-Year-Old Male: Summer Bird, 225; Mine That Bird, 4; Blame, 1; I Want Revenge, 1; No Vote, 1.

3-Year-Old Filly: Rachel Alexandra, 232.

Older Male: Gio Ponti, 184; Einstein (BRZ), 18; Kodiak Kowboy, 16; Macho Again, 5; Furthest Land, 2; Rail Trip, 2; Well Armed, 1; Voter Abstentions, 4.

Older Female: Zenyatta, 231; Icon Project, 1.

Female Sprinter: Informed Decision, 222; Ventura, 6; Game Face, 1; Indian Blessing, 1; Music Note, 1; Diamondrella, 1.

Male Sprinter: Kodiak Kowboy, 118; Zensational, 54; Dancing in Silks, 43; Fabulous Strike, 9; California Flag, 6; Vineyard Haven, 1; Voter Abstentions, 1.

Male Turf Horse: Gio Ponti, 206; Conduit, 22; Presious Passion, 3; Court Vision, 1.

Female Turf Horse: Goldikova (IRE), 172; Ventura, 41; Magical Fantasy, 7; Midday (GB), 7; Pure Clan, 3; Forever Together, 1; Voter Abstentions, 1;

Steeplechase Horse: Mixed Up, 209; Red Letter Day, 3; Voter Abstentions, 20.

Horse of the Year: Rachel Alexandra, 130; Zenyatta, 99; Voter Abstentions, 2; No Vote, 1.

Outstanding Owner: Godolphin Racing, 61; Mr. and Mrs. Jerome S. Moss, 56; Juddmonte Farms, 40; WinStar Farm, 38; Stonestreet Stables and Harold McCormick, 15; Augustin Stables, 7; Michael Gill, 6; Darley Stable, 3; Zayat Stables, 2; Heiligbrodt Racing Stables, 1; Midwest Thoroughbreds, 1; Voter Abstentions, 2.

Outstanding Breeder: Juddmonte Farms, 157; Adena Springs, 44; Dolphus Morrison, 16; Maverick Productions, Ltd., 3; WinStar Farm, 3; Eugene Melnyk, 2; Darley Stable, 1. Voter Abstentions, 6.

Outstanding Trainer: Steve Asmussen, 130; John Shirreffs, 57; Jonathan Sheppard, 19; Bob Baffert,10; Saeed bin Suroor, 5; Bobby Frankel, 4; Jerry Hollendorfer, 2; Hal Wiggins, 2; Todd Pletcher, 2; Voter Abstentions, 1.

Outstanding Jockey: Julien Leparoux, 122; Garrett Gomez,46; Ramon Dominguez, 45; Calvin Borel, 13; Mike Smith, 3; Kent Desormeaux, 2; Russell Baze, 1.

Apprentice Jockey: Christian Santiago Reyes, 93; Luis Saez, 48; Luis Batista, 47; Inez Karlsson, 8; Michael Straight, 4; Omar Moreno, 3; Jose Vega, 3; Tony Maragh, 2; Casey Papineau, 1; Angel Serpa, 1; Voter Abstentions, 21, No Vote, 1.

Posted by Steven Crist on Jan 18, 2010 at 11:23:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (50)

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January 16, 2010

Better than HOTY

ARCADIA -- The wonderful news of Zenyatta's unretirement earlier today takes a lot of the steam out of Monday's looming Horse of the Year announcement, and that's only a good thing for racing. Instead of an apples-and-oranges popularity contest being the final word on Rachel Alexandra and Zenyatta, we can look forward to seeing them both on the racetrack again, and perhaps their paper rivalry can become a real one.

The way the news trickled out today was a publicist's nightmare -- no staged press conference, no gathered and breathless audience, no scripted announcement -- but it had its own charm and contributed to a palpable wave of giddiness you rarely see take hold of a racetrack.

I got to witness the scoop unfold. Just after the first race at Santa Anita, I was chatting with DRF's Brad Free near the paddock when trainer John Shirreffs caught his eye and summoned him over. As I cooled my heels, I saw Shireffs point Free over to Jerry and Ann Moss, who were standing nearby, and I watched them chat briefly before Brad took off for the press box. A few minutes later, the news flash was up on the drf.com website. A few minutes after that, Moss repeated the news in an interview on HRTV.

Only those patrons near television sets tuned to the station heard it, but over the next half hour you could almost see the buzz spreading throughout the track, and within an hour it had been announced over the public-address system and everyone knew. For the rest of the day, two months of interminable and polarizing bickering over which of these future Hall of Famers should be the 2009 Horse of the Year completely disappeared, and all that anyone wanted to talk about was where Zenyatta might make her season debut and when she and Rachel might finally lock horns.

Horses (even these two) being fragile, it still may not happen. While Zenyatta has been working half-miles and looking like she could race the day after tomorrow, Rachel has not resumed really serious training after a draining 2009 campaign. It's tempting to circle the first Saturday in April for the showdown of the new millenium in the Apple Blossom at Oaklawn -- a race that Zenyatta won in 2008 in her only career dirt start, and at a track that's both relatively close to Rachel's winter quarters in New Orleans and one she won at last year -- but you miight want to hold off booking your own passage to Hot Springs just yet.

While the Mosses showed no particular enthusiasm when asked about taking Zenyatta to Dubai for the World Cup a week earlier, that's not entirely out of the question. One at least has to consider running in the richest horse race in the history of the planet if you might be even-money to win the front end of a $10 million purse. Even sooner, there's a Santa Anita Handicap to ponder. And both camps might want to delay a showdown until later in the year than April, perhaps even until the fall.

The timing of the Zenyatta announcement at first seemed odd -- why not make it under the spotlight of the Eclipse dinner? -- but makes perfect sense the more you think about it. The Mosses would have been second-guessed for their motives if they had made it after either a victory or defeat at the ballot box. Much better to say you're going to keep running her regardless of how it turns out.

It still will be interesting to see which name is pulled from the envelope at 10:30 ET Monday, an announcement that will be televised live on ESPN News and HRTV as well as part of TVG's coverage of the entire Eclipse Awards ceremony. But instead of half the voters and rooters and participants walking away with the bitter taste of a final verdict on a rivalry between horses who never met, I think the reaction will be more along the lines of -- yeah, whatever, but this story isn't over. 

Posted by Steven Crist on Jan 16, 2010 at 9:25:49 PM | Permalink | Comments (43)

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January 15, 2010

Westward Ho

BEVERLY HILLS -- Got out here a couple of days early for Monday night's Eclipse Awards, and as long as I'm in the neighborhood I''m making my way out to Santa Anita tomorrow, when they're running the G3 San Rafael, G2 Santa Ynez and G2 San Fernando. I'll be doing a seminar with handicapper Jerry Antonucci near the paddock at 11 a.m. and "signing" some dvd's at the Champions! gift shop from noon to 1, assuming I can figure out how to sign something that's a)got a black cover and b)is shrink-wrapped in plastic.

The trip out west from New York today was uneventful. Airport security seems no different in the wake of the Christmas Day Underpants Incident, and they didn't notice or confiscate the two Bic lighters in my carry-on. The supposedly 18-minute drive from LAX to the Beverly Wilshire (site of Monday's dinner) took more like 78 minutes, but that's what you get for landing in LA at 5 p.m. on a Friday.

The only hitch came at the hotel, where I checked in, went up to the room, opened the door and sensed I was not alone. Just as I was noticing a clearly lived-in room, a boy of about 12 stuck his head out from around a corner and let out something between a yelp and a scream, understandably: If you think I look a little scary under normal circumstances, you should see me after 10 hours on the road and a few days without shaving. I tried to reassure the tyke that the front desk had made a mistake, but I'm not sure he was convinced. In any case, happy ending: When I went back to the front desk they were so mortified by what had happened that they insisted on upgrading me to a suite with a little smoking balcony for the four nights I'll be here. Sweet.

Anyway, if you're out at Santa Anita tomorrow, say hello, and if anyone has any brilliant insights on the SA card I'm about to start working on, feel free to post them.

Posted by Steven Crist on Jan 15, 2010 at 11:58:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (27)

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January 11, 2010

Ten Days In

Okay, time to get back on the horse(s). We're 10 days and 10 graded stakes into 2010 and my handle for the new decade stands at $0. I know, it's a disgrace. I'll try to do better the next 355 days.

Here's the graded-stakes summary to date:

The most impressive performance of the new year, however, belongs to Eightyfiveinafifty, who is officially on the Derby trail after a 17 1/4-length maiden victory at Aqueduct last Saturday that earned a Beyer Speed Figure of 105.

Eightyfiveinafifty was a well-kept secret (i.e., 27-1) when trainer Gary Contessa unveiled him at Saratoga last Aug. 1. He dueled odds-on favorite Discreetly Mine into defeat through sensational fractions of 21.74 and 44.21, understandably tiring late to finish third in a race won by Dublin, who took the Hopeful in his next start. (Discreetly Mine also won his next start, and later ran second in the Futurity and Champagne, and fourth in last Saturday's ungraded Spectacular Bid at Gulfstream.)

A hock injury in the fall kept him Eightyfiveinafifty sidelined until last Saturday, when he returned at 35 cents on the dollar and trounced a well-regarded Bobby Barbara firster and six others. The Aqueduct inner track was slow on Saturday but consistently slow throughout the day, and Eightyfiveinafifty's big Beyer was legit: His 1:10.85 was nearly two full seconds faster than the next best of the day's three other sprint races, which fell right into line with his huge performance:

 

I can't blame anyone for thinking that a son of Forest Camp who's spending the winter at Aqueduct is not exactly the embodiment of a classic winner, but Eightyfiveinafifty is a freakishly fast talent. Next stop: Stretching out to a mile and a sixteenth in the Whirlaway Feb. 6. 

Posted by Steven Crist on Jan 11, 2010 at 9:24:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (26)

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