hold

I'm sending Veiled Reference back down to Charles Town, taking a pass on the overnight stakes at Aqueduct. She drew poorly in that race (7 out of 8 with a short run to first turn) and the race in general just doesn't shape up to my liking. Two fillies, La Porta, the likely favorite, and Wonderwho'sbest, Levine's filly, did enter back from the Busanda, which I wasn't really counting on. Both have room to move forward from their last, draw better and hold a seasoning edge. Plus, Servis ships in with a filly that also holds an experience edge on our girl and looks to be coming into the race in good form. We fit in the race (4-1 morning line) and Veiled Reference certainly stacks up with any of the fillies in there, but to have the go would be a very aggressive play and I think it's a little early in her overall development for that kind of move. Aggressive would have been fine, but too many things add up to suggest that we can do this kind of thing a little further on down the line.

So, she'll go down to Charles Town and square off with that filly that nosed her out last time in the WV-bred stakes. I told Tim that whether she's on the lead or sitting just off of it, I'd really like to see her settle better than she did last time. She'll be sure to see plenty of inferior speed in future starts going longer, so she needs to know how to idle that engine of hers, chill and go when the jock gives word. Hopefully, she can work on that tomorrow. Race will go off at around 3:45. You can watch it on-line here. Sorry to disappoint those waiting on the survey monkey link to weigh in on the matter. Just think of me as your favorite, cuddly, horse dictator, working hard to keep the masses down.