weekend happenings

Stable mail fired off an e-mail to me for a horse I haven't spotted on the tab in a looong time. It was for Veiled Reference, of course, who had her first breeze back on Saturday at Fair Hill. She went an easy 3/8ths, reportedly in 39 flat. I'll take the time with a grain of salt; Woolley likely makes these up more often than not. If he were like me, it would be to set up a score, or something of that nature, but I think he just doesn't have a clock on her. Sometimes, when Mike comes in, he'll clock 'em from the tower. Now that he's retiring in a month, maybe he'll be able to catch more of the workers. If I can swing it, I'll try to get out for her breeze later this week. She'll probably go another 3/8ths at a slightly quicker pace. If you see 40 seconds up on the tab, you'll know I had them add a few ticks...

Funny thing about Old Fashioned and Ramon Dominguez that I should have touched on earlier, is that they're really not the best jock/horse combo for each other. I know, I know, how can you argue with the record? That's all fine, sure, but my point is that the horse is a really super cruiser, and that's not Ramon's game. He's got an awesome, really fast cruising speed, but no real gears, no big burst of acceleration. And, Ramon, his strongest suit is riding horses with gears, whether for 5000n2l, or a Grade 1s. The guy is just really good at using a little bit of speed at the right time to gain position during key parts of the race. Once he's gotten the speed, he's adept at gearing horses back down and sitting tight. On the lead, he's fine, better than fine, but he doesn't get to do what he does best. Not to be cute, but they'd be better off with Chuck Lopez on Old Fashioned. Colt is not winning the Derby, anyway, never was, but Lopez would be better suited to using that high cruising speed of his, doling it out as needed.

I mentioned Lopez, and I'm rambling here a bit, but how ridiculous was that General George a month or so back at Laurel when Fabulous Strike sat off an opening quarter in 23 4/5? How could that possibly happen? Well, I'll tell you how. It was Edgar Prado up! I mean, c'mon, if speed is your horse's best weapon, what are you doing naming Prado in that spot? Awesome rider, best in Maryland, nation, world, I get it, but on Fabulous Strike? The second you named him, you knew True Quality and Chuckie Lopez would get away. Prado is just not going to use Fabulous Strike's speed early, even though it was his only chance of winning. A real head-scratcher in a pretty big spot.

Don't give up on Bon Jovi Girl after that last at Oaklawn. She wants longer and more pace. That race turned into a sprint - slow early, fast late - and the Jones filly will win that every time. At 1 1/8m+, she can cruise, grind and out-stay most fillies out there. 35-1+ in the Oaks futures pool was pretty generous.