Weekend Review

Weekend Overview: This weekend was to be the weekend where some good horses emerged. Largely that expectation was unmet. Although Chatain did show himself to be a horse of promise, Declan's Moon, Strong Contender, Out Of Gwedda, Mistical Plan and Sweetnorthernsaint all met defeat. Most of these horse are simply not as good as fans hoped they would be. Some had rough trips and will recover, but overall this was an underwhelming weekend.

Performance of the Weekend: EZ Warrior ran the best race of the weekend hands down. I'd like to see this horse try and rate but so far he's always been given the inside post so he's had little option but to get right to the front. He's a talented horse who could wind up being the top 3yo sprinter this year. His connections have said they'd like it if he were the next Smarty Jones, I think he's more likely to be the next Lost In The Fog.

Race of the Weekend: I think the Hal's Hope takes this honour. Although we had the flops of Strong Contender and to a lesser extent, Sweetnorthernsaint. This was a fantastic race to watch and Chatain is a very exciting prospect. Sweetnorthernsaint basically was too close to a very fast pace. They were going at a sprinters clip and he played his cards too early. Either his connections were looking for a tightner or the jock will have had some words ringing in his ears. Sir Greeley ran a top quality race and while he remains a threat everywhere he runs he needs to start getting his nose down. Chatain could be a very good one, a lone career loss to Showing Up is hardly a black mark. He may not be ready for Invasor but he could be a real threat for the rest of the year.

Flop of the Weekend: How many times does Declan's Moon have to go bust before his connections figure out that he simply isnt very good? This horses record was inflated as a 2yo. He never beat good horses as a 3yo and he is worse now than he was back then.

TCR Movers and Shakers: The TCR is still in its infancy for 2007, however we do have 5 horses over the 20 point threshold. Dixie Meister, naturally is the top ranked horse in the nation since he's won the only open aged G-2 race of the year thus far. Chatain is, at least to me, the most exciting horse to break onto the scene. He is ranked #4 overall.

Tip O'the Cap: This goes to the Breeders Cup commitee and or the NTRA. I think both are partially responsible for the changes to the Breeders Cup program. The additions of the Filly and Mare Sprint, Juvenile Turf and Dirt Mile are excellent. As well as splitting the program into two days. Hopefully this opens up thier thinking and allows for future expansion. Races like a Turf Sprint or a Long Distance Dirt race. I'm am less enamored with the specific races they added than I am with the fact that they made a major expansion to the BC program.Moving it to a two day format means that they can easily add some of these other races in the future.

KC Handicapping: Not a classic week for this space in the handicapping department. with Lifestyle scratching we had selections in 4 races. None of the winners came in on top. But we did have two nice priced winners in the third spot. Classic Campaign and Chatain did quite well and we actually had the Hal's Hope trifecta in reverse order as well as the exacta in the Ft Lauderdale.

Cumulative record of horses selected 9-2-2-1 (Flat bet profit +$15.60)