PA Nursery Stakes

[Hard Spun]

Philadelphia Park - December 18th, 2006 - Race 9
Pennsylvania Nursery S. - Grade:
Estimated Local Post Time: 3:50 PM
Race Type: Stakes
Breed: Thoroughbred
Age Restriction: Two Year Old
Restriction: State Bred Purse: $50,000
Distance:Seven Furlongs
Surface: Dirt
Post Horse Name Age Sex Weight Jockey Name
1 Legacy Reserve (PA) 2 Colt 117 Kendrick Carmouche
2 Favorite Valay (PA) 2 Colt 117 Maria Charles
3 All Sails Flying (PA) 2 Gelding 117 Steve D. Hamilton
4 Mr. Boxcar (PA) 2 Colt 117 Victor H. Molina
5 Road to Richmond (PA) 2 Colt 117 Harry Vega
6 Saltie Springs (PA) 2 Colt 115 Josiah Francis Hampshire, Jr.
7 Hard Spun (PA) 2 Colt 122 Mario G. Pino
8 Bound to Be Smart (PA) 2 Gelding 115 Nick Santagata
9 Chase for the Gold (PA) 2 Gelding 120 David Mello
10 Ren Noc (PA) 2 Gelding 115 Dane Kobiskie

Hard Spun for the win, Mr. Boxcar second

[Ponyplayr]

That's a very nice pedigree..I'll put her in my virtual stable.

[Hard Spun]

him

[Ponyplayr]

him
Guess I should READ the pedigree eh?

[OTM Al]

If he runs half the race Smarty Jones did in that one back in 2003 we might have something here. Had some nice ones come out of PA lately.

[Stevie Belmont]

A lot of hype around this one. He would be hard pressed to duplicate Smarty Jones Penn Nursery, that was a sight to behold.

Rick Porter has a lot of groupies all over the net it seems.

[Hard Spun]

A lot of hype around this one. He would be hard pressed to duplicate Smarty Jones Penn Nursery, that was a sight to behold.

Rick Porter has a lot of groupies all over the net it seems.

Do you have a problem with that?

[the little guy]

A lot of hype around this one. He would be hard pressed to duplicate Smarty Jones Penn Nursery, that was a sight to behold.

Rick Porter has a lot of groupies all over the net it seems.


Yup.

This one has quick fizzle written all over him.

[Murph]

... who has never heard of Rick Porter.

Here is some background from his website. (Flash Intro w/ imbedded music.)
http://www.rockportharbor.com/

Here is the stable roster page. He has some well bred yearlings comming next year.
http://www.rockportharbor.com/roster.html

Here is a bit of info on Hard Spun, in case someone else wants to get up to speed. Share the details when you post, please. A simple link to more info would have been helpful for me.

b c, 5/10/2004, Danzig - Turkish Tryst by Turkoman

Races:
11/14/06: 1st, 6f, Port Penn S., $39,140
10/22/06: 1st, 5.5f, mdn, $27,600

Murph
/04, Danzig - Turkish Tryst, by Turkoman

[Stevie Belmont]

Do you have a problem with that?

Not at all. I find the enthusiasm good. Has a following.

[Stevie Belmont]

Believe me, you are not.

... who has never heard of Rick Porter.

Here is some background from his website. (Flash Intro w/ imbedded music.)
http://www.rockportharbor.com/

Here is the stable roster page. He has some well bred yearlings comming next year.
http://www.rockportharbor.com/roster.html

Here is a bit of info on Hard Spun, in case someone else wants to get up to speed. Share the details when you post, please. A simple link to more info would have been helpful for me.

b c, 5/10/2004, Danzig - Turkish Tryst by Turkoman

Races:
11/14/06: 1st, 6f, Port Penn S., $39,140
10/22/06: 1st, 5.5f, mdn, $27,600

Murph
/04, Danzig - Turkish Tryst, by Turkoman

[PriceAnProbability]

... who has never heard of Rick Porter.

Here is some background from his website. (Flash Intro w/ imbedded music.)
http://www.rockportharbor.com/

Here is the stable roster page. He has some well bred yearlings comming next year.
http://www.rockportharbor.com/roster.html

Here is a bit of info on Hard Spun, in case someone else wants to get up to speed. Share the details when you post, please. A simple link to more info would have been helpful for me.

b c, 5/10/2004, Danzig - Turkish Tryst by Turkoman

Races:
11/14/06: 1st, 6f, Port Penn S., $39,140
10/22/06: 1st, 5.5f, mdn, $27,600

Murph
/04, Danzig - Turkish Tryst, by Turkoman

Smarty had a much stronger pedigree. This one looks like another wannabe like Rockport Harbor. Does Servis train him as well?

[Stevie Belmont]

Porter dumped Servis last year for some reason. Larry Jones trains this one.

[Hard Spun]

Not at all. I find the enthusiasm good. Has a following.

Cool

It was a mutural parting on both Mr. Porter and Mr. Servis.

And Rocky was injured so how dare you call him a wannabe PriceAnProbability.

[Murph]

And Rocky was injured so how dare you call him a wannabe PriceAnProbability.You are new here! :D

Murph

[OTM Al]

Rockport Harbor was a nice horse. Unfortunately he was an Unbridleds Song. They don't tend to last very long. Very fast young and usually injured soon after.

[Hard Spun]

He was stepped on in the Remsen. ;)

[46zilzal]

methinks we have a case of "pretty horsey" syndrome here. Can say no wrong or even be objective about someone's NAMESAKE can one?

[Doc]

Cool

It was a mutural parting on both Mr. Porter and Mr. Servis.

And Rocky was injured so how dare you call him a wannabe PriceAnProbability.

Mutual parting? Ok, I guess when enough of your high-priced yearlings and runners get injured it's pretty much a given that an owner would pull the plug and let some other trainers take a crack at it. And if you want to dispute what I say, you can read - straight from Porter's keyboard - a listing of what injuries/problems his horses had when he took them away from Servis. Really an unbelievably high number of his horses had pretty bad problems. Luckily Larry Jones got Hard Spun before anything happened to him.

Yes, Rocky was injured but he generated the same kind of hype after busting his maiden at Philly Park ... was supposed to be the second coming of Smarty Jones. Nice horse, but people were crowning him the next 3-year-old champ too early.

I'm not sure the Pa. Nursery will be a good test for Hard Spun. There's really no other horse entered that appears to be that talented. Mr. Boxcar was life and death to save second in that So. Carolina residency race.

Good luck to Porter and Hard Spun!

Doc

[Stevie Belmont]

Did what he was supposed to do against those. Easy winner. Now he will have to step up.

[Hard Spun]

Yes! I'm happy right now.

[PriceAnProbability]

Yes! I'm happy right now.

Congrats on the win. Since I'm from the area, I don't take the horses very seriously. Totally ignored Smarty Jones.

It's sad we don't have any Derby preps here. A mid-Atlantic series with a $5 million bonus for a sweep of them plus the Derby, and $10 million if they sweep through the Triple Crown, would make us major players and we wouldn't have to go to Florida to watch our stock prepare for the big ones.

If you have a good one, and apparently you do, just throw him on the Derby trail and see how far he goes. That experience seems to give horses a leg up for their entire careers. Remember Skywalker?

[Cesario!]

Impressive yesterday.

But is he that good, or the competition in that race suspect? Onward to Arkansas and we shall see.

[Doc]

Congrats on the win. Since I'm from the area, I don't take the horses very seriously. Totally ignored Smarty Jones.

It's sad we don't have any Derby preps here. A mid-Atlantic series with a $5 million bonus for a sweep of them plus the Derby, and $10 million if they sweep through the Triple Crown, would make us major players and we wouldn't have to go to Florida to watch our stock prepare for the big ones.

I'm from the area, too, and I WISH I could've ignored Smarty Jones. However, he was rammed down my throat by every local TV station, newspaper and radio station in the area. I got to the point where I hated it all.

As for the Mid-Atlantic series idea, the only problem would be where to place the races on the calendar so as not to conflict with other major preps. Too many races, and you begin to dilute the product = short fields. Look at the Haskell/Jim Dandy situation each August ... usually short fields for each. Monmouth may end up with one or two good horses, the rest are just filler.

And besides, until they put down an entirely new racing surface at Philly, what trainer in his right mind would send a valuable 3-year-old there to risk stepping in a hole at the top of the lane?

Doc