Oskar
10-01-2012, 10:28 PM
A look backat the first four days of the GC meet at The Red Mile:
The most controversial occurrence during the first four days of Lexington—Sept 27 through Sep 30—was the disqualification of 1/5 shot Odds On Equuleus in an $85,800 division of the Bluegrass for two-year-old pacers. 75/1 shot, Teresa’s Beach, and 95/1 shot, Visa Viper, were credited with interference breaks, which the judges claimed were the result of John Campbell backing into the field with O O E. The splits were :29; :56; 1:24.4; 1:51.2. Rockin Amadeus (4/1) with Gingras was placed first. Trainer and part-owner, Robin Schadt, has already appealed the decision. A hearing will be held on a yet to be determined date. A reversal on a 1/5 shot in a high profile race like this would piss off a lot of already angry bettors.
I believe presiding judge Milt Taylor, with the backing of Jim Lynch, was the first one to hand three day suspensions out to drivers for sitting down in front of the field; it was a pet peeve of his. This was at Liberty Bell and Rosecroft back in the 60s and 70s, as well as at Yonkers when Taylor took over as presiding judge there.
Up until that time a driver was free to crawl to the half and motor home. In the 1964 Yonkers Futurity, John Simpson took Ayres to the half in 1:03.4 and came home in 57.4. Billy Haughton’s Speedy Count had no chance in the race. It’s a standard tactic today and only seems to result in a fine or suspension when confusion/breaking occurs. Taylor would dish out three days for it, regardless of confusion and breaking horses. He didn't like seeing horses at the back of the pack being forced to qualify because the pace was so slow.
Campbell had four winners on that card that did stand up. He beat Romantic Moment and Big McDeal with Shelliscape in a division of the sophomore pacing filly Bluegrass and he won a colt counterpart to that one with the Ponder colt Thinking Out Loud. Sears crawled to the half in 57.1 with Pet Rock in that race. They went the third quarter in :28.2, and Thinking Out Loud came on to win in a :25.2 final quarter. His own last quarter was in under :25. JC also won an $86,000 division of the Bluegrass for 2-year-old colt and gelding pacers with the Panderosa colt, Twilight Bonfire, at 12/1; and he won a $10,000 LC with the Panderosa gelding Fresh N Fast. It was a fine Saturday night, despite the DQ.
Putting the10K late closers aside and looking only at the high-dollar stakes races, Tetrick had six wins, Gingras and Campbell four each, Sears three and Pierce two. David Miller won a lot of races at the Jug meet, where he’s right at home, but he only had one in the first weekend of the stakes race portion of the program at Lexington. The same goes for Andy, Palone, Zeron and JJ. Again, there were a number of 10K LC on the program in addition to the GC stakes.
George Brennan, the 2011 driver of the year, had no drives during the first four days of the Lexington GC meet. Also, he had no drives on Jugette day and was replaced on his four scheduled drives on Jug day. He won two Friday and four Saturday at Yonkers.
Even though Ray Schnittker has already stated that Check Me Out will pull a Duer and not race beyond the first heat in next week’s filly Futurity, the Donato filly’s WR 51.2 win in yesterday’s Bluegrass, in which she broke her own record, puts her at the head of the pack when it comes to HOY honors. With the exception of Captaintreacherous, all of the other candidates have too many warts. The latter has only started seven times, but he has wins in the Wilson, Nassagaweya, Metro and Bluegrass, and will probably complete the season with starts in next week’s International Stallion Stakes and the BC. Unless there’s a backlash against CMO for checking out of the Futurity early, the SBSW colt probably won’t have enough to overtake her.
American Jewel, who had lost five of her last seven starts, asserted herself as the top pacing mare, as she brushed to the top at the quarter in her Bluegrass division and cruised home from there for a three length win. Second choice, EconomyTerror, went on an interference break, but she wasn’t going to threaten Jewel anyway.
Mel Mara,came first up at the half and blew away Sweet Lou, Bolt The Duer and company with a :53.3 last half. It was his first open stakes win and he paid $14.80 forTetrick. The extreme speed he's been showing since day one finally paid off.
Jimmy Takter finally won a race with Guccio. It was one of those can’t miss from the rail starts. However, two races later he left a ton with Superstar Hanover, with Pierce inside him driving Win Missy B. They hit the quarter in :26.4. Pierce let Takter go and retook as they got to the half in :54.1. Race over for Jimmy, while Pierce finishes three lengths behind Chilitodayhotamalie. If he didn’t drive for Takter on a regular basis he might have looked over at him and said, "WTF.” Between Takter and Schnittker, a lot of good young horses are the victims of some very bad drives.
The only “possible”competition for Chapter Seven in the $7,500 open was Arch. Chapter Seven blew by him on the last turn and left him six back at the finish. The third, fourth and fifth finishers were 19, 23 and 27 lengths back. Herbie hasn’t been heard from for three weeks and Daylon Magician for five. I know Hot Shot beat Chapter Seven in the Credit Winner, but only because Tetrick tried to get too cute. That won’t happen in the Allerage.
Looks like at least three divisions of the Allerage could leave something to be desired. Cheddar has already been eliminated from the aged pace due to injury, so it’s Foiled, Bettor Sweet, Aracache, We Will See, Golden Receiver and their supporting cast. The trotting mares aren’t very good. The aged pacing mares, which is a strong division, will probably be missing Put On A Show, who isn’t staked tothe Allerage, but Drop The Ball, Rebeka, Anndrovette and Rocklamation should be present.
The most controversial occurrence during the first four days of Lexington—Sept 27 through Sep 30—was the disqualification of 1/5 shot Odds On Equuleus in an $85,800 division of the Bluegrass for two-year-old pacers. 75/1 shot, Teresa’s Beach, and 95/1 shot, Visa Viper, were credited with interference breaks, which the judges claimed were the result of John Campbell backing into the field with O O E. The splits were :29; :56; 1:24.4; 1:51.2. Rockin Amadeus (4/1) with Gingras was placed first. Trainer and part-owner, Robin Schadt, has already appealed the decision. A hearing will be held on a yet to be determined date. A reversal on a 1/5 shot in a high profile race like this would piss off a lot of already angry bettors.
I believe presiding judge Milt Taylor, with the backing of Jim Lynch, was the first one to hand three day suspensions out to drivers for sitting down in front of the field; it was a pet peeve of his. This was at Liberty Bell and Rosecroft back in the 60s and 70s, as well as at Yonkers when Taylor took over as presiding judge there.
Up until that time a driver was free to crawl to the half and motor home. In the 1964 Yonkers Futurity, John Simpson took Ayres to the half in 1:03.4 and came home in 57.4. Billy Haughton’s Speedy Count had no chance in the race. It’s a standard tactic today and only seems to result in a fine or suspension when confusion/breaking occurs. Taylor would dish out three days for it, regardless of confusion and breaking horses. He didn't like seeing horses at the back of the pack being forced to qualify because the pace was so slow.
Campbell had four winners on that card that did stand up. He beat Romantic Moment and Big McDeal with Shelliscape in a division of the sophomore pacing filly Bluegrass and he won a colt counterpart to that one with the Ponder colt Thinking Out Loud. Sears crawled to the half in 57.1 with Pet Rock in that race. They went the third quarter in :28.2, and Thinking Out Loud came on to win in a :25.2 final quarter. His own last quarter was in under :25. JC also won an $86,000 division of the Bluegrass for 2-year-old colt and gelding pacers with the Panderosa colt, Twilight Bonfire, at 12/1; and he won a $10,000 LC with the Panderosa gelding Fresh N Fast. It was a fine Saturday night, despite the DQ.
Putting the10K late closers aside and looking only at the high-dollar stakes races, Tetrick had six wins, Gingras and Campbell four each, Sears three and Pierce two. David Miller won a lot of races at the Jug meet, where he’s right at home, but he only had one in the first weekend of the stakes race portion of the program at Lexington. The same goes for Andy, Palone, Zeron and JJ. Again, there were a number of 10K LC on the program in addition to the GC stakes.
George Brennan, the 2011 driver of the year, had no drives during the first four days of the Lexington GC meet. Also, he had no drives on Jugette day and was replaced on his four scheduled drives on Jug day. He won two Friday and four Saturday at Yonkers.
Even though Ray Schnittker has already stated that Check Me Out will pull a Duer and not race beyond the first heat in next week’s filly Futurity, the Donato filly’s WR 51.2 win in yesterday’s Bluegrass, in which she broke her own record, puts her at the head of the pack when it comes to HOY honors. With the exception of Captaintreacherous, all of the other candidates have too many warts. The latter has only started seven times, but he has wins in the Wilson, Nassagaweya, Metro and Bluegrass, and will probably complete the season with starts in next week’s International Stallion Stakes and the BC. Unless there’s a backlash against CMO for checking out of the Futurity early, the SBSW colt probably won’t have enough to overtake her.
American Jewel, who had lost five of her last seven starts, asserted herself as the top pacing mare, as she brushed to the top at the quarter in her Bluegrass division and cruised home from there for a three length win. Second choice, EconomyTerror, went on an interference break, but she wasn’t going to threaten Jewel anyway.
Mel Mara,came first up at the half and blew away Sweet Lou, Bolt The Duer and company with a :53.3 last half. It was his first open stakes win and he paid $14.80 forTetrick. The extreme speed he's been showing since day one finally paid off.
Jimmy Takter finally won a race with Guccio. It was one of those can’t miss from the rail starts. However, two races later he left a ton with Superstar Hanover, with Pierce inside him driving Win Missy B. They hit the quarter in :26.4. Pierce let Takter go and retook as they got to the half in :54.1. Race over for Jimmy, while Pierce finishes three lengths behind Chilitodayhotamalie. If he didn’t drive for Takter on a regular basis he might have looked over at him and said, "WTF.” Between Takter and Schnittker, a lot of good young horses are the victims of some very bad drives.
The only “possible”competition for Chapter Seven in the $7,500 open was Arch. Chapter Seven blew by him on the last turn and left him six back at the finish. The third, fourth and fifth finishers were 19, 23 and 27 lengths back. Herbie hasn’t been heard from for three weeks and Daylon Magician for five. I know Hot Shot beat Chapter Seven in the Credit Winner, but only because Tetrick tried to get too cute. That won’t happen in the Allerage.
Looks like at least three divisions of the Allerage could leave something to be desired. Cheddar has already been eliminated from the aged pace due to injury, so it’s Foiled, Bettor Sweet, Aracache, We Will See, Golden Receiver and their supporting cast. The trotting mares aren’t very good. The aged pacing mares, which is a strong division, will probably be missing Put On A Show, who isn’t staked tothe Allerage, but Drop The Ball, Rebeka, Anndrovette and Rocklamation should be present.