Wow it's been awhile since I've posted here. Still haven't buckled down enough to post at least every week. LOL. Ah well.
AsI watched on Calracing the warmup before the Clement Hirsch there was one horse that stood out to me besides Zenyatta. It was an Irish bred five year old who had group placed in France beforehand by the name of Anaaba's Creation. She was looking good and I had a twinge of fear that if one horse was going to beat Zenyatta today it would be her. And I was almost right. An overconfident ride by Mike Smith along with the short stretch of Del mar was almost the undoing of Zenyatta's 12 race winning streak. It was a pulsating stretch drive. I doubt that she could have gotten beat by the way she still had her ears pricked in the photo. It was the way Mike Smith rode her that almost got her beat. Zenyatta, being the big muscled mare she is, takes awhile to get going and Mike didn't give her enough time to rev up. Hopefully he won't underestimate the competition next time out. Including the terrible ride he gave Mine that Bird and now Zenyatta? Three strikes and you're out.
Now this weekend's racing isn't as exciting but it does have some familiar faces.
Just Jenda looms large in Monmouth Oaks.
Sword dancer features some old favorites.
Awesome Gem favored in Longarces Mile.
John C. Mabee looks wide open.
Goldikova expected in Jacques le Marois in France.
Also Rachel puts in Rachelesque work and Summer Bird hates the grass.
Can't say I'm not surprised that Rachel's connections are considering the Woodward and going against older males. If she doesn't go to the Breeder's Cup then winning the Woodward would be a great place to go to lock in Horse of the year honors.
Charitable Man unsure on Travers.
Thorn Song out with foot abcesses.
Also check out Thorn Song's last race in the Eddie Read. It's a wild one on the first turn.
NTRA is a great place to watch videos on races your missed as well.
Whew! It's hard to catch up on all of the news when you've been gone. Now I'm going to start my picks and get back to you guys later! Have a great day!
Kirsten
Are there any free websites that stream live races...ESPN didn't televise the Haskell and I'm not sure what they're gonna do about the Woodward
ReplyDeleteAs for Smith...he occasionally makes mistakes but he's better than the majority of riders out there.
Some tracks live stream races if you check their websites. Monmouth does but the website was down on Haskell day probably because of all the people going onto it to see that race. Calracing also shows all of the California track's races live. That's where I watched the Clement Hirsch. I don't hate Mike Smith or anything but he has seemed to let things get to him lately. I guess every jockey is allowed screwups.
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