Post Mortem

Juvenile Fillies: Basically this was the only race I nailed all day long. Dreaming of Anna won like she should have and the plucky little Octave gave her a shot but wasnt good enough. I was impressed with the way Appealing Zophie stuck on for 4th. That was a sneaky good performance from her.

Juvenile: I had some good ideas in this one and 3 of my 4 contenders hit the Superfecta. However the horse I keyed on top ran last and I never saw the winner coming. Street Sense ran a fabulous race.

FM Turf: Very good race and good result. I felt bad for Wait A While but she just wasnt handling the course. She'll be dominant in California next year. Ouija Board is all class and Film Maker is all heart. It's been a pleasure watching those two for the last 3 years. I was basically on the right track with this one. All my keys finished up top, I was just hoping for a good price from Film Maker.

Sprint: I totally bombed this one. I saw Thor's Echo and thought he might be useful underneath. Then he got the inside draw and I dropped him. Too Much Bling was squeezed from the start and is always better coming from the outside. Bordonaro just got run into the ground.

Mile: Toughest loss on the day. The race that is usually my strongest was a flop because of a lousy head. I liked Miesque's Approval for this race, I liked him since September. However I ceased liking him after his 4th in the Shadwell. I todl myself prior to the race that he needed to be top 3 and he was 4th by a head. So I didnt use him. Araafa actually was my best bet of the day and he didnt seem to like the going at all. He got into a good position and just never fired. Classic sign of not handling the ground.

Distaff: I would never have had Round Pond. I didnt think she could win this race. Perhaps the inside bias helped her. She had never shown form good enough to win. Happy Ticket ran gallantly and with the DQ she became my 7th Distaff selection to run second in just 11 runnings. Its like some sort of jinx I've got. The DQ was borderline because I dont think Asi Siempre cost Balletto a place. I suppose they'll keep Asi Siempre on dirt from now on.

Turf: This race has trash and fluke and all over it. Red Rocks won the race but look at the performances of all the keys. You telling me that Rush Bay is better than Cacique? This was just one of those days.

Classic: I want to start by saying that Invasor was the best horse on the day. However if they ever had the chance to meet again I'd take Bernardini. He never seemed to handle the track and his difficulty in handling the track made Castellano panic and he put him into a drive way too soon. That left him as a sitting duck for Invasor. I dont think Castellano should have been on him. Javier even took off his mounts on Sunday because of the fall, how could he have been ready both physically and emotionally to ride Bernardini if he wasnt recovered enough to ride the next day? Shock and Adrenaline masked the pain but he was unfit to ride and it may have cost Bernardini the race. Or perhaps he didnt handle the track to the point where it wouldnt have mattered. In any case I think the Invasor crew can consider themselves fortunate for tackling Bernardini on that specific day.


Overview: The Breeders Cup was rather painful for me this year. Just one winner on top and a cumulative record of 8-1-3-1. The ITM percentage of my singles was pretty good but just didnt get the winners on top. At any rate I had a much better BC than my Profile of a Winner project which had 1 winner in 7 races and cumulative record of 15-1-3-3. Its is the first BC in the last 11 that this profile didnt have at least 4 winners on the card. I'll have to review some of the factors to see if anything should have been changed.

One of the strengths of my day (fishing for silver lining) was that all the big horses that I opposed failed to win. Cash Inlcuded, Circular Quay, Henny Hughes, Gorella, Aragorn, Fleet Indian, Pine Island, Hurricane Run and Lava Man. Too bad you couldnt get odds on horses losing. I think a proposition that none of them would hit the frame could have paid nicely.