Quote:
Originally Posted by ScottJ
Several unrelated factoids which I put out for consideration after only 14 days of racing.
[1] Jockeys : Discussed in another thread, Eric Cancel has lost numerous mounts throughout this meet and his 36-1-3-1 record is a shame. From a betting perspective, you just cannot go forward with him at this point. Javier Castellano at 42-11-3-3 is riding out of his skin and while I thought at one point that time had passed him by, I could not have been more wrong. The Chad Brown and Todd Pletcher factor has impacted the standings based on who is riding at different times. Ricardo Santana, Jr. has looked passive to me in way too many spots with this 52-4-7-7 record. Personally, I have never been a fan of Julien Leparoux, but I am showing bias there.
[2] Trainers : You can do the obvious ones, but Ian Wilkes has turned my head this season. Wesley Ward's 2yo stock has been well documented as short of the mark. Rudy Rodriguez has been empty. I thought that Christophe Clement might have emptied the holster at Belmont, but nothing could have been further from the truth.
[3] Shippers : Has there been anything more "dead" than the GP shippers? I would need to collect the final numbers on this one, but we have reached the auto-toss mode at this stage. Do not give me anything out of the midwest tracks or PEN/PRX. CD shippers have been just marginal thus far. Monmouth training shippers have run well in spots and should not be overlooked.
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Thanks for all of this info. It should be interesting over the next week as we will see a lot of horses coming back for a second start at Toga. The track surface doesn’t seem to favor any type of running style either. Looking ahead the upcoming weekend looks like a washout. That will surely keep them off the turf and trigger a boat load of scratches.
