Weekend Review

Weekend Overview: Lawrence the Roman raised a few eyebrows when he stepped up and won the Damon Runyon in fine style. Another impressive 2yo to run this weekend was Johannesburg Star. He got a 102 Beyer for destroying a field of maidens at Aqueduct. He has a modest pedigree and races for a small trainer. But you never know he may go on and continue to improve. Boboman won the biggest North American stakes race of the weekend with a nice coming of age type effort in the Hollywood Turf Cup. Magna Graduate finally won a race, his performance in the Queen's County doesnt make up for his bust of a year though. All it does is give his connections a reason to bring him back next year, which I suppose is a good thing. The real racing this weekend happened in Hong Kong. Congratulations to all those winners. There were some fantastic finishes and some memorable performances. I dont think much was decided by way of international supremacy. The two most exciting horss to emerge from the day were Admire Moon and Armada. Both could develop into powerhouses next year, unfortunately in North America we wont see muhc of them.

Performance of the Weekend: Lawrence the Roman is now 3 for 3 lifetime, no one has gotten near him yet. His smallest winning margin is 4 1/2 lengths. Now granted he has only faced NY statebreds thus far so he needs a class test. But he has already shown the ability to rate and he moved up big time when going 2 turns. Dutrow may have himself a nice Derby contender.

Race of the Weekend: Hong Kong Gold Cup for sure. It was everything the organizers could have hoped for. Hometown hero and defending champion Vengence of Rain hits the front inside the last quarter mile and strikes for home as Pride produces her run and sweeps past and narrowly holds off the run of the charging Admire Moon. Three horses from three different countries at three different stages of thier careers all running superbly and treating the fans to a classic.

Flop of the Weekend: This has to go to Dance In The Mood. TH Approval got some thought but Dance In The Mood basically just didnt show up at all. She looked poised to crown herself the finest female miler in the world and she failed miserably.

TCR Movers and Shakers: With a lack of graded stakes this weekend there wasnt much by way of movement in the TCR. In the international version of the TCR Pride and Collier Hill moved in 2nd and 3rd respectively on the strength of thier Hong Kong victories. They are still behind leader Ouija Board though.

Tip O'the Cap: Tough call this week. Collier Hill deserves some mention. The old warrior has been everywhere and has won some nice races but he's also training on so I'll get a chance to laud him later on. This weeks tip o'the cap goes to fantastic mares Ouija Board and Pride. Ouija Board was denied a chance to go out in style but she deserves an enormous amount of credit for the career she put together. Pride has more been a revelation of this season. In June of this year I pegged her as Europe's top hope to capture the BC Turf. Although she didnt contest that race her form this fall more than justified my high opinion of her. Never flashy but tough and consistent. She is a fantastic racemare and it really is a shame that we wont see her or Ouija Board next year.