The Breeders Cup

Breeders Cup Day Blog

Running Tally – Hey, they do this on TV Guide.com all the time!

11:58
They’re starting off before noon with Lee Corso and Kirk Herbstreit wearing jockey silks and picking their classic winners, Corso using a bent hangar as a whip. Who made Allen Paulson silks big enough for Herbstreit??? I didn’t know College Gameday cared, but hey, I’ll take it.

12:10 - The Past BC Recap
Personal Ensign beats up on Winning Colors in the 88 Distaff. WC was my girl! And here’s my boy, “the unconquerable, invincible, unbeatable Cigar!” That gives me goosebumps, hearing that call as he wins the Classic. He’s a doll; if you get down to the Kentucky Horse Park, stop by his stall. He’s a ham and he likes the attention.

Pat Day has a buzz cut. Now THAT’s weird.

12:15-12:30 – The Juvenile Fillies
Cash Included is looking out of her stall in the preview and she’s darn cute, her ears forward, head up. That’s the look Luki gets when he hears somebody turning on the water in the guest bathroom. Appealing Zophie has a good name. I’m big on the names, especially this year when I didn’t have a chance to really go through the past performances (didn’t think I should look up the Daily Racing Form at work).

Oh now Jeannine Edwards is interviewing a guy whose horse died a few years ago when she flipped over and hit her head! Do we need to hear this??? NO.

Her Majesty is resisting going into the starting gate and tries to sit down every time the butt push is applied. Why don’t they blindfold her before she hurts herself? Oh, she doesn’t like the blindfold either. Now she’s freaking out in the gate. But I think she’s okay.

AND THEY’RE OFF.

Lots of dust. Did they water the track first? Not a fast pace as Dreaming of Anna takes the lead with her tongue hanging out. Wow, Anna’s running a beautiful race. And she wins on the rail, even after that delay at the gate, without much sweating. Octave second, Cotton Blossom third. Uber-trainer Todd Pletcher gets second and third. Cash Included fifth. I’m not off to a good start.

12:50 - Juvenile
These are next year’s Derby horses, possibly. I always look for a horse who does well for the distance and pace, especially on this track, but not the one who wins. The winner of this race has never gone on to win the Derby. Finally the analysts are saying this race is for the early bloomers. Well, yeah. I figured that out a couple years ago.
Circular Quay is the second favorite, Thunder Gulch’s progeny. Pegasus Wind has a Derby-winnin’ daddy too – Fusaichi Pegasus. Most of these boys are regally bred. But I’m going to go with long shot with Skip Code, whose daddy is Skip Away, a horse I really liked (not a Derby winner but a champ nonetheless). And he’s a long shot, all right. What am I thinking at 53 to 1?
Oh right. A bunch of Derby winning/running sires. Yeah, that’s what I’m thinking.

D Wayne Lukas has ditched the Blue Blockers! He’s chosen a smaller aviator style sunglass. A much better look, there, D.

Skip Code is like seven wide at the first turn. Crap.
A calvary charge with Principle Secret in the lead. Quay is last at the half. Scat Daddy is making his charge. A few falling back.
WOW. Street Sense blew their damn doors off. Biggest margin of victory ever in this race. Quay was all over the track but he tried. He veered in but he looked good coming from behind. I can’t even figure out where Skip Code went. Did he finish? Oh, he finished 9th. Well, Skippy was better as an older horse anyway, so I’ll keep an eye out for him at late three and four.

When you watch the head on view, you can see how young these horses are – they’re veering in and out. When they get older they figure it all out.

1:31 - Ruffian
ESPN is doing a movie on Ruffian coming June 2007 and now promoting it. Watch it. Her story and her tragic ending are heartbreaking but inspiring. Get out the Kleenex.

1:32 - Filly and Mare Turf
How can you not like the name Dancing Edie? Watch Ouija Board, she’s fantastic. Film Maker will hit the board, I think; Honey Ryder’s had a good year; Wait a While has a nice pedigree and a strong record. This is a heck of a race. I’m sticking with Ouija Board because she’s so amazing, with Film Maker to place. I haven’t seen Wait a While run much myself, so I can’t say much about her, but she’s getting a lot of respect from the bettors and analysts alike. Let’s look at her PP – ooh, four straight wins in G1 and 2 races. Yikes! She’ll be tough.
This load is going pretty well. They’re older gals, they’re used to this.
European jockeys actually ‘bounce’ in the saddle. It’s kind of funny. American jocks urge with their hands and arms; European jocks use their whole upper body.
Edie holds the lead, Ouija is in sixth, Film Maker fourth, Wait a While in the first bunch but I missed her position. Ooh, she’s in a good spot ahead of Ouija, when she moves, they’ll go together.
They’re moving now together, Ouija pouring it on, Honey Ryder trying to catch up, but nobody’s going to get her!! I have a winner! I think Film Maker was second too. Honey Ryder third. Wait a While fourth. Not too bad. I had the exacta.

1:42 – Starting Gates
Jerry Bailey goes over the starting gate setup – this is an old program from earlier this year, showing lots of horses breaking through the gates prematurely, flipping over, freaking out, you name it. Even Barbaro’s Preakness breakthrough (before his breakdown) is being shown. I can live without seeing that again.

1:47 – Planes
Now they’re showing how the horses fly. That’s actually pretty interesting. They get individual metal stables that are airlifted onto the plane. Great idea. Sure, it’s a plug for Emirates, but I was always curious about how they got them on and off the plane.

2:07 – Jump
Frankie vaults out of the saddle. It’s a habit. Got to be hard on your knees but the crowd loves it. Ouija looks good going back to the barn – her ears are up and she’s walking well. She’s retiring at the end of this year. I hope she has a lot of fun being a mama.
She’s owned by Lord Derby (say it ‘Darby’) but yes, his ancestors are the reason we have a Derby. When the pronunciation changed, I will never know.

2:10 - Sprint
This used to be the first race on the card, but they changed things around. This whole day is like the Olympics of horse racing, or at least the track and field portion – all the distances, courses, genders and ages. I can’t believe you’re not here watching it with me!

Only five of 22 favorites have won this race. Bettors must love it.

Friendly Island is really checking out the camera. Lewis Michael is 51-1? Are you sure? Henny Hughes is the favorite. A Hennessey boy. Pat Valenzuela is either shaving his head or he’s gone bald. War Front has a whiskery chin. Siren Lure, now that is a cool name. If Pomeroy liked this track I’d go with him, but he’s a Saratoga boy. I’ll stick with Siren Lure but I like Henny Hughes. Let’s go with that exacta.

This is always a fun race to watch because it’s speed speed speed right from the git go. Somebody clipped somebody’s heels. Yikes. Siren Lure is last. Ugh.
Attila’s Storm and Thor’s Echo in the lead. Pomeroy holding close. Henny’s out of it after a lousy start. Thor’s Echo charges forward, and he’s going to win convincingly. Corey Nakatani has won this race four times! Guess he knows what to do.
Thor’s Echo’s silks have the Superman logo on them. That should have told us everything we needed to know. Friendly Island place, Nightmare Affair show.
Siren Lure 8, Henny 14th, dead last. Urk.

2:20 – The Maktoums
The Sheikhs of Dubai (of which there are five, I didn’t know that) have spent over 406 million dollars in bloodstock auctions in the last few years. If they pull out of the racing industry, it collapses. Hey, they have the money, and they spend it. I’m happy they’re spending it on horses. It could be cars, or real estate, or whatever (they’re probably pretty savvy on that stuff too) but they pour a lot of money into the US economy. I just wish they smiled more!

2:56 – Mile
Back to the Turf. We’re getting to the good stuff now – the four biggies. Aragorn is the horse I picked for Angie, based on his name. I hope he does well for her!
Gorella is the tough one. Oops, I didn’t start the VCR up in time, I missed part of that. Crap! I was messing with the blog. Anyway, I think she’s really tough and she’s the one to beat, but Aragorn is having a really good year, and she’s running against boys. If she’d been against girls, hands down, she’s the winner. Don’t count out Araafa either. The Europeans tend to do well on the turf. I almost overlooked him! I’m going with a Gorella/Araafa exacta. I just wish Jerry Bailey wouldn’t call the horse ‘Aragon’. It’s ARAGORN. Don’t you people read?

Some early packing in the race, then stringing out. Araafa about six off lead, Gorella at the rear, Rob Roy in the far back; Aragorn and Araafa are near each other about a half mile in; Gorella hasn’t moved yet. Silent Name is pushing them hard, still a pack with lots of bumping and shoving – Miesque’s Approval setting up a huge upset! Wow! Aragorn second, Badge of Silver third, but how they can tell in that mess I will never know, since it was a herd heading to the finish behind Miesque’s Approval.
ESPN is running the Mile’s post position draw at the bottom of the screen, after the race is over. DUH.
Gorella 7th and Araafa 9th. I really am not having a good day, but that’s typical on BC day. Guess I should have studied the past performances first. Oh well.

3:34 – Married horses?
WinStar Farms asks some kids about how baby horses are made, and one girl says the boy horse stands next to the girl horse and then they’re married. Kenny Mayne makes light of the mating process in only the way he can. Shawklit Lover seems a little concerned about Victory Gallop showing up in the hookup barn, as he called it. Oh boy! They spare us the tawdry details.

3:36 – Distaff
This is a great field – Pine Island, Healthy Addiction, Sharp Lisa, my girl Lemons Forever, Spun Sugar, Fleet Indian, Round Pond, Hollywood Story, Asi Siempre (I LOVE that name, but I don’t know what it means), Happy Ticket, Balleto and a few others. This is a hell of a race. I’m going on sentiment – Lemons Forever and Asi Siempre. This may end up being better than the Classic.
(A shot of Kenny Mayne’s empty chair and Hank putting on his mic, then one of Randy Moss laughing. Oops!)
Todd Pletcher looks focused. He’s wishing he’d done better than second all day.
They’re using the double load, very smart. I watch the little feet in the starting gate. Healthy Addiction sharp, quick pace to start, still dusty. Fleet Indian holding off leaders, Asi Siempre toward the back, Lemons Forever toward the back as I expected, Pool Land looks like she’s fighting, Sharp Lisa third at half, Round Pond fourth, what a field! Who is moving? Pool Land moving on, Fleet Indian eased, oh no, what a charge, Balletto charging, Round Pond fighting ahead, but she was challenged, Lemons is coming on late, but Round Pond gets them - Asi Siempre second.

Pine Island broke down, Javier Castellano laying on the track – now he’s up and it appears he’s going to be fine, which is a relief; Fleet Indian should be okay; but Pine Island apparently broke a leg. Edgar Prado won the race, but he’s watching what happened. He was on Barbaro when he broke down, so you know what’s on his mind. He looks really stricken. I hate it when this happens, and it does. That’s why so many tracks are going to Polytrack – it’s safer. It’s just that the horses don’t like it, or at least aren’t used to it yet. I want all tracks to use it and get the horses used to it. This is why people don’t get into horse racing. They see how dangerous it is and see it as cruel. I could go on about that for a while, but that’s not why I’m here today.

Waiting for the update on Pine Island, but it doesn’t look good. Every year I pray before the races start that they’ll all come through okay.
PI dislocated ankle, damaged skin introduces infection, need x-rays, significant injury according to vet. We’ll know more later. I wish they wouldn’t show her going head over tail again. She was struggling for a while, I don’t know why she didn’t stop sooner.

Edgar Prado looks so stricken I want to hug him. And it’s hard to win a race and be happy about it, when that’s going on.

Michael Matz won the race with Round Pond – he was also Barbaro’s trainer. So this is really hurting a lot of people, not to mention Pine Island. I hope for no pain for her whatever happens.

Asi Siempre disqualified and placed fourth because she ran over Balleto. Where did Lemons finish? Oh, fifth. Joe Pesci is in the winners circle??
PI was euthanized, that’s the update. The vet says this was a hopeless injury. At least she’s not suffering, but this makes me sick. And it seems to be the same for the hosts. I’ve heard it said that the empty stall in the barn upsets everyone. So this isn’t just ‘part of the game’. And the sport is doing what it can to change this. Just one wrong step. It’s what it is. How often do you take a funny step? I nearly took a header over the fan just today. Ugh.

This just sucks all the air out of the room.

4:26 – Turf
Now they’re talking about Polytrack. Synthetic dirt is easier on the legs, it’s softer and easier on their joints, so says Jerry Bailey.
Scorpion is tough at 5-1, but is he healthy? I gotta like Rush Bay just for the name, but Cacique is the one to beat (I always think of underwear, there used to be a store called this that sold underthings). Hurricane Run is also tough, and there’s Better Talk Now who has a MySpace page and hasn’t approved me as a friend yet! English Channel another toughie. I’m going with Cacique, and Better Talk Now in my exacta out of sentimentality alone.

Castellano should have pulled PI up sooner; it looks like the strides before she fell her head was down low and she was struggling a little, and his failure to do that not only cost the horse her life, but almost cost him his. That’s my opinion anyway. He says he didn’t notice anything wrong turning for home, it happened quickly.

English Channel doesn’t want in the gate, but there he goes. Rush Bay up toward front, Cacique close to the pile – Icy Atlantic, the rabbit out front, Better Talk toward the back, English Channel shadowed by Cacique, Hurricane Run behind them, Silverfoot dead last and dawdling, Icy now being shut down as planned, Scorpion eyeing the leaders, Better Talk still trailing, Rush Bay and English Channel take over, Cacique moving, TH Approval following, Hurricane Run no race today, English Channel big run, Red Rocks challenging, Red Rocks, Better Talk Now challenging – Red Rocks knocks them all down! BTN second and Rush Bay fourth! Wow…..that was unexpected. Where did the biggies finish??? Another Frankie flying dismount. English Channel third. Cacique tenth.

PI was a barn favorite, according to Jeanine. The stable is apparently devastated. Now Fleet Indian does not have a fracture like they thought, now the prognosis is good again.

4:56 – Classic
Here’s the biggie, kids. And here’s the one I know the best. I think it’s going to be hard to beat Bernardini, but a full field could do it. Still, I think he’s one of the best this year, and that’s where I’m going. Lava Man I hear doesn’t like to ship out of CA and that’s going to affect his run, but he’s classy. George Washington is one of Europe’s finest, but I’m not sure he’s ready for dirt and American horses. Invasor is really tough too; he should have a great race. Perfect Drift is my sentimental favorite, and I just want him to do well. He’s such a scrappy horse and he’s been around for such a long time; I hope he gets a really great retirement when his career is over.

Now we’re doing a 2003-2006 for PI. I’m out of Kleenex, for God’s sake. But it’s respectful and a little odd.

There’s my boy Perfect Drift! And his odds are 29-1, which is my birthday (reversed)! Maybe this is his year to win! Giacomo is back, back at Churchill since the 2005 Derby. I still think Afleet Alex should have won that race. Dammit!

This is an amazing field. I wish Second of June was there, but he took a bad step earlier this year and had to be euthanized. (The same injury Barbaro had.) I wish Barbaro was here too, but I’m just glad he’s still grazing, and is doing well – could have his cast off soon, actually.

Now after what happened to Pine Island I’m nervous for this race. They’re loading and I’m so nervous my palms are sweaty. Lots of talk, lots of speculation. Just get them through safely.
George Washington is fractious before the starting gate, and the asst starters have grabbed his ear. That hurts, but it works! Bernardini standing well waiting. Time to crank up the sound.

AND THEY’RE OFF!

Who swung wide? Lawyer Ron off fast, Flower Alley close – Bernardini sixth, Lawyer Ron being held tightly, Brother Derek takes early lead, Drift off the pace as always, Giacomo far back; Brother Derek sets some fast fractions, Bernardini in fifth, should be picking up, going wide, George coming through inside, Invasor trying to move up, PD still out there, Derek still leading, Ron second, Bernardini kicks into gear and he’s putting a huge run on, oh my god!!!!! What a move! Hits the front, Derek fighting back, Invasor coming up, Bernardini being faced with Invasor, nose to nose, Invasor got in front of him! Oh my god, he beat Bernardini! Premium Tap third, Giacomo fourth – better than I expected. I can’t believe Invasor won! I mean, I can, but wow! Who is Horse of the Year now? Invasor just made his case. He and Bernardini were supposed to meet in the Jockey Club Gold Cup but Invasor had a cold.

Lava Man no factor. PD of course not, but I do adore that horse. Invasor saw a camera and arched his neck. Showoff! J He’s so wound up he’s dragging his walker down the track! PD finished 8th, Lava Man 7th. I think PD’s best days are behind him, but that’s okay. He’s like 7!

Bernardini will be retired probably, and I’d say he earned it. He ran some nice races this year. Ashley Judd is in the winner’s circle with the trophy. Huh!

Whew! So many ups and downs. I’m tired. And it’s time for dinner.