Saturday, April 11, 2009

Bluegrass & Arkanasas Review

Well the races were really interesting today. Here is the results.

Bluegrass Stakes
1:49.26, 1 1/8 miles, Track Fast

1.General Quarters
2.Hold Me Back
3.Massone
4.Terrain
5.Join in the Dance
6.Loch Dubh
7.Charitable Man
8.Mafaaz
9.Theregoesjojo
10.Patena
11.Cliffy's Future

Good effort from General Quarters to win. Hold me back did farely well though I wouldn't think of him as a horse with a spot in the gate. Mafaaz was disappointing but, with that automatic in he will probably continue on to the Derby. I really irks me that they did that whole automatic in to the Derby in Europe. Mafaaz does not deserve a spot in that gate in the Kentucky Derby and will now be knocking a more deserving American horse out of the race like Dunkirk.


Arkansas Derby
1:49, 1 1/8 miles, Track Fast

1.Papa Clem
2.Old Fashioned
3.Summer Bird
4.Win Willy
5.Flying Private
6.Flat out
7.Poltergeist
8.Captain Cherokee
9.Danger to Society
10.Ziegfeld


Papa Clem really battled Old fashioned and was able to win by a close margin. I don't think I'll be adding the Clem anywhere on my top 10 but it was a gutsy win. Old fashioned meanwhile might just be dropping like a stone in water. He just doesn't seem to want to relax and I was nervous two strides after the gates opened. He isn't going to win the Derby with that kind of running style. Sorry Old Fashioned but I have to agree with everyone else that you just are not the horse to win the Derby.



Updated top ten

1.I Want Revenge
2.Friesan Fire
3.Pioneerofthenile
4.Dunkirk
5.Quality Road
6.Musket Man
7.Desert Party
8.Old Fashioned
9.Win Willy
10.West Side Bernie

No major changes here. Well only three weeks till the Derby! It's closing in.
Kirsten

5 comments:

  1. What do you think about POTN's chances of winning the Derby? I would love to see a post about polytrack horses and how they fare on dirt.

    Keep up the good work. This is a terrific blog.

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  2. Thanks, as for POTN's chances in the Derby it's hard to say. With him never run on a dirt surface. Also he has been a bit rank in his last two races when the race lost all it's pace up front. The Derby now, with no Old Fashioned or The Pamplemousse lost most of it's pace.Back to the synthetic stuff, not all horses though that switch from synthetics tracks to dirt end up doing poorly. Colonel John won most of his races on synthetics but he ended up winning the Travers Stakes on dirt. For me now I have to say that it's a matter for him, to be able to relax even if there isn't a fast pace up front.

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  3. How do the gradings work, like, I want Friesian Fire to do well. Is the top 10 list odds?

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  4. Oh no, the top ten list is my rankings of the contenders for the Derby. Such as I think I Want Revenge is the best contender so far.

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  5. Oh, okay! I get it!

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