-This past weekend saw the return of reigning "Horse Of The Year" Rachel Alexandra in Saratoga's Personal Ensign Stakes. Sent off at a "tepid" 2/5 price, she ran a credible, if not solid second to longshot Persistently. In doing so, questions have manifested into outright concerns as to her ability to get the classic ten furlong distance, and against what level of competition can she get it. She ran another quality race in defeat, but she did seem to "hit the wall" that final eighth.
My gut feeling is we may have seen the last of the "princess", and we will most certainly never see a matchup against the true Queen of racing Zenyatta in the Breeders' Cup Classic. If her connections do allow her to make the Breeders' Cup, the nine furlong Ladies Classic is the safest, and most likely spot for her always P.R. conscious connections to enter her. Will Messrs. Moss and Shirreffs call an audible? We'll see!
-Discreetly Mine has stamped himself as not only the best three year old sprinter in the country, but possibly this year's favorite for the Breeders' Cup Sprint. His performance in last Saturday's Grade 1 King's Bishop can only be described as scintillating! He was pressured most of the seven furlongs through fractions of 21:4, and 44 flat by Bob Baffert's aptly named Bulldogger. After disposing of that one turning for home, he had to hold off momentous charges from Bank Merger and Latigo Shores. Going seven eighths and enduring the ferocious fractions he faced, he would have been excused if he relented to the oncharging duo. Instead he fought through and held them relatively at bay. Admittedly the horses he faced Saturday wouldn't necessarily be considered top notch sprinters, but the way he did it was quite astounding!
-Another disturbing trend has risen up again. Talented young jockey Paco Lopez and his lawyer has found a way to delay his eight day suspension handed to him by the New Jersey Racing Commision. The suspension would have lasted through the final two weekends of the Monmouth meet.
Arguing before a New Jersey Supreme Court Judge, who obviously doesn't know a horse race from a tennis match, Lopez's lawyer was able to convince the judge that the Monmouth summer meet, with it's bloated purses, is horse racing's equivalent to......are you ready for this......you sure......the World Series, the Super Bowl, and the Stanley Cup therefore if he were to serve his suspension and miss the rest of the meet, the punishment would be "unduly harsh".......WHAT THE???? This is surely another case of people within the industry trampling the rules and regulators within the industry to weaken the overall integrity for self gain. Knowing that a less knowledgeable, more sympathetic ear can be found elsewhere.
Is that what society has come down to? Have we lost all integrity when we can be so self absorbed, and self concerned that it's ok to manipulate anyone and anything as long as we don't have to accept the consequences of our actions. How dare Paco Lopez and his lawyer manipulate the obviously ignorant judge with such a disingeuous argument as this.
-Saturday saw the renewal of two one million dollar races across the country. The Travers Stakes turned out to be the race of the day as Afleet Express held off Fly Down in a desperate finsh to the 141st running of the "Midsummer Derby".----The west coast's top older horses convened on Del Mar for the Million dollar Pacific Classic. The Usual Q.T. sent off as the 9/5 favorite, tired in the lane to finish a disappointing fifth while Bob Baffert's Richard's Kid won his second straight Pacific Classic.
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