9/1 (Wed) -- BEST OF THE BEST HORSES IN THE WORLD ARE RUNNING IN BREEDERS' CUP RACES ON 11/3 (Fri) AND 11/4 (Sat.) AT SANTA ANITA PARK! It's that time of the year to prove which horse deserves to be '2023 Horse of the Year'! This is just one of the objectives of the 2023 Breeders' Cup races! Horses compete in millions of dollars races in several categories: Juvenile Filly and Mare races, Juvenile Dirt and Turf races, Juvenile Mile and Sprint races, and the Breeders' Cup Classic.
8/27 (Sun) -- ARCANGELO PROVED TO BE THE BEST IN THE TRAVERS! It's dejavu all over again! trainer Jena Antonucci and jockey Javier Castellano won the Belmont Stakes back in June. Now, they managed to do it again in the Travers! This time, with more ease! Undoubtedly, Jena is an amazing trainer with great focus, and she is a very good at what she does! I'm sure Javier was confident going into the race that he would win. After the race, Javier stated, "On the backside I had so much horse I felt I could blow by and win by 10"! Now, that's pretty impressive!
Javier won two Triple Crown races (Kentucky Derby and the Belmont Stakes) AND the Travers! Now, that's quite a feat! Consider the fact that Javier couldn't even get a mount in the prior year or two. He finally ended up riding at Monmouth Park. Moral of the story is that...Even being a most experienced jockey can find it difficult to stay in the game, get mounts, and keep riding! A jockey always has to work hard not only to keep in shape, but to market himself/herself on so many different fronts.
POST-ANALYSIS OF THE RACE - First, it was a sad day that another horse went down and sadness prevailed the rest of the day. Let's hope that a root cause can be found and preventing any tragedies from occurring.
Travers Stakes was an incredible race. Clearly, Forte was made the heavy favorite at 7-5 odds, and most bettors expected him to win the race whether easy enough or not. Unfortunately, as I predicted in my selections, Forte just didn't have the umphh and had to settle for fourth position. His hard-fought prep races did him in and just ran out of steam. Clearly, Arcangelo was the best in the race.
Speed held up most of the day. As in the Preakness Stakes, I thought National Treasure would give a similar performance. Ran well, but just faded to fifth. Disarm did surprisingly well. The fact that he got lot of rest helped the situation as well. Although I was disappointed by Tapit Trice's recent races, he did better this time around. As I stated in my analysis, he could benefit from a wet surface, and he did...to get third. Mage had a lackluster performance and didn't have any high expectations from Scotland.
8/24 (Thurs) -- Flavien Pratt rides Mage. Sadly, another horse passed away this past week at Saratoga. Luis Saez, a top jockey, was hurt in a spill and broke his collar bone. Thus, Flavien Pratt is the new replacement on Mage. Flavien is a very good rider too. Stay tuned for my Travers selections.
7/30 (Sun) -- Forte wins the Jim Dandy with some luck from the racing stewards! Irad Ortiz Jr., who rode Forte won the race with an aggressive ride AND simultaneously impeding Angel of Empire AND Saudi Crown (in my opinion). However, the racing stewards (judges who confirm the final standings and official results) didn't think Irad did anything wrong and they didn't disqualify Forte in the race!
The controversy surrounded the fact that Forte squeezed in between Angel of Empire and Saudi Crown, and bumped Angel of Empire in a big way...causing AofE to shift three lanes further out. This wasn't a good situation and clearly impacted AofE's or Saudi Crown's possible win. In 2019, this kind of situation happened in the Kentucky Derby, and Maximum Security was disqualified...which happened for the first time ever in Derby history. Racing fans (including me) who played Maximum Security got screwed in a major way. By all means, it was the WRONG decision to take Maximum Security down.
Bottom line...Racing stewards MUST solve the above issue by defining EXACT number of lanes that a horse is allowed to be shifted out by another horse (who causes the bumping/impeding) from being disqualified. Hopefully, we can get an answer ASAP!!! Otherwise, bettors are being screwed BIG TIME with "wishy-washy" decisions by the racing stewards.
Jockeys of both Angel of Empire and Saudi Crown should have objected to the order of finish. Perhaps then, the racing stewards could have taken the situation MORE seriously! Perhaps, my exacta below could have been a winner! I had the Win bet correct!
By the way, I will give credit to Saudi Crown for having stepped up in a major way and having run an amazing race! We all knew he had major speed, but didn't think he would be able to hold on anywhere close! Also, I wish Angel of Empire had a bit more zip. He is a GREAT horse. Wish Forte had won the race more cleanly instead of being rough around the edges!
7/29 (Sat.) -- Jim Dandy is a nice prep race for the Travers! Above are my selections for the Jim Dandy. Two full weeks of Saratoga races are already in the books. Now, we slowly start gearing up for the Summer Derby: Travers Stakes! Above are my selections for the Jim Dandy. It's a small, but competitive field of five horses!
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JOCKEY RICARDO SANTANA JR.
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7/13 (Thurs evening) -- A great start at Saratoga! Opening day worked out well overall. During the course of the day, it was not only sunny, but breezy as well. It actually felt nice, cool, and refreshing! Some hats were blown away, but it was worth the breeze! Rain held off until after the last race! There was a mix of favorites, medium prices, and a long shot in the BIG race. Having no turnstiles in the clubhouse area was interesting. People were able to walk thru from the grandstand area and enter directly into the clubhouse area. In summary, it looked like everything went without a hitch! Yay! :-)
7/12 (Wed) -- Another most exciting Saratoga Racing season is here! It's hard to believe that the BEST RACING IN THE WORLD will begin shortly in Saratoga Springs, NY!
--What's new this season is that...on each racing day, the post time of the first race is at 1:10 p.m.; not 1:00 p.m., as in the past. Exceptions are posted on the home page.
--Club House area will be combined with Grandstand area where anyone can come over to the club house area without a special club house ticket. I'm curious to see how this will pan out!
--Opening day tip: It's a long racing season: 40-days to be exact! Don't feel that you have to win big 'all at once.' There will be many racing opportunities to win! Be patient and focus on the races that YOU love and think you have a good chance to win! Some races will be easier to win tha others! :-)
--Stay tuned for lots of horse racing info. here! I will be providing my analysis and selections on some major races.
--BEST WISHES and win BIG!
6/13 (Tues) -- Post Belmont Stakes analysis! It was helluva race and the BEST horse won; namely Arcangelo! Frankly, the race was run differently than what I expected. Do you know why the top horses didn't win? The answer is simple...they didn't have a ground-saving trip. They ran wide most of the race.
We all knew that National Treasure would most likely go out to the front and play catch me if you can. He had another alternative where he could just sit off the pace (stay second or third) and come out running at the end. But, considering that he went out straight to the front, I figured trainer Brad Cox would use a strategy where Tapit Shoes would challenge National Treasure "nose to nose", get NT tired out, and then, set up Hit Show or or Angel of Empire to take it all. When trainers have two or three horses in a race, usually, they use such tactics.
I have to give National Treasure lots of credit. He had stamina to go much further than what I expected. Having had only 3 weeks of rest, he tried hard and did well overall. Of course, trainer Jena Antonucci gets all the credit in the world for working super hard to train Arcangelo, and her super hard work paid off great dividends! I do admire for her super hard work and dedication. Javier Castellano gave an amazing ride where he let Arcangelo run on the side (closer to the rail) and saved lots of ground. Surely, Angel of Empire, Tapit Trice, and Forte ran wide and hurt their chances of winning. At the same time, considering that Forte didn't race for 70 days (disqualified from running in the Derby), he did well and just nipped Tapit Trice to get second.
I used my top two horses (Angel of Empire and Tapit Trice) for first and second in my exactas with my A and B horse selections. I had Arcangel on top, but needed Angel of Empire or Tapit for second. Got first and third. Close but no cigar!
Now that the Triple Crown races are over, our next focus is Saratoga racing! Be sure to stay tuned here for lots of horse racing information and my analysis and selections for major races! :-)
6/11 (Sun) -- Stay tuned for my Belmont Stakes Post-Analysis! First, CONGRATULATIONS TO ARCANGELO, JAVIER CASTELLANO, JENA ANTONUCCI, THE OWNERS, AND TO ALL THE WINNING CONNECTIONS! I'll provide my post analysis comments shortly!
6/10 (Sat.) -- Today marks the Test of a Champion! Luckily, we have nice sunny skies AND much better air quality compared to an orange-ish look in NYC the other day! Today's Triple Crown race should be an AMAZING one! This is the only time that these horses will ever run such a grueling distance of 1-1/2 miles. Thus, it sets the stage for the test of a champion! May the BEST horse win! Below, compare your picks with mine! GOOD LUCK! :-)
