Weekend Review

Weekend Overview: So the Europeans dominated the grass again, what's new? It's a good thing the US has a winning streak going in the BC Mile otherwise this might get a bit depressing. Perhaps the most interesting story is that none of the three G-1 winners are definite for the Breeders Cup. Doctor Dino in particular is downright unlikely. Frank Stronach is seemingly so averse to the notion of supplementing that he has Bobby Frankel considering running Ginger Punch back in the Beldame. Although 3 weeks separate those two races it would be pretty short rest for a Frankel horse. Bobby likes to have at least 5 weeks. This would be a huge loss for the Breeders Cup and a real slap in the face for the ludicrous "Win And You're In" initiative. I'm almost glad a horse like this emerged in the first year of it's inception to outline its flaws. Hopefully it will be a short lived idea.

Performance of the Week: If you haven't seen the Prix de Moulin you need to. Darjina looks like the latest greatest thing as she improved her record to 6-5-0-1. She beat Finsceal Beo early in the year when that horse looked impossible to beat and now she's taken out top older milers Ramonti and George Washington. This 3yo filly is now a 3 time G-1 winner and all of the sudden there does not seem to be a miler in Europe that can handle her. Winning margins for these kind of races in Europe are often tight but Darjina won by an easy 2 lengths and this race never looked like a struggle for her. Despite her preference for firm ground a trip to the BC looks unlikely as her trainer is not a fan of shipping to America.

Race of the Week: Despite the injury induced no show by Rutherienne the Garden City BC it was a fantastic race to behold. Slow paces in dirt races usually make the race a yawner but on the Turf it becomes a short sprint to the finish. Virtually every horse had a chance in the lane. It was a great performance by Alexander Tango to come from next to last to nail them all on the wire.

Flop of the Weekend: Take D'Tour was made for one turn route races where she could control the pace but she did not seem ready to run at all in the Ruffian. She stumbled at the break which could just be unlucky but she never looked good once getting to the lead and the fact that she could not even beat Teammate suggests that she did not run very well. Her connections are pretty brave going to the BC off of this race. Especially since she's less effective around two turns. I wish her the best but I'm expecting the worst.

TCR Mover’s and Shakers: Ginger Punch was the biggest winner this weekend taking over control of the Older Female division from Nashoba's Key. Miss Shop is benefiting from a decent run of form and simply a lot of racing. She is third right now but I don't think many people believe that she is better than Balance. Salute The Sarge continues to be the top ranked juvenile but that is mostly a function of the plethora of graded stakes on the west coast for 2yo's early in the season. Over the next two weeks we'll have big stars like Rags To Riches and Any Given Saturday in action. So hold onto your hats, competition for the overall top spot is going to get hot.

Tip O’the Cap: This tip o'the cap goes to Wayne Catalano, ET Baird, Frank Calabrese and the "Dream girls". Dreaming of Anna is a champion who looked nothing like one earlier this year but she has come good again and is really having a solid season. She is not going to be a champion again but she's the kind of racehorse you would love to own. She certainly owned the Pucker Up field. Dreaming of Liz is perhaps a horse that might be able to duplicate Dreaming of Anna's feat last year. She does not appear to be a total freak but there really is not much to be scared of in the 2yo filly division. Her race in the Arlington-Washington Lassie suggested that she is much better than the fillies she was facing and still should have some improvement in front of her.

KC Handicapping: A tough week for handicapping. Take D'Tour and Rutherienne both performed well under expectations. It seems that Rutherienne was injured in running so that's a decent excuse for her. My advice would have kept you off of Missvinski and Shamdinan however I hated Doctor Dino and he came and got Sunriver like a champ. I was pleased with the effort Bit O'Whimsey put in at 14/1 but we don't get paid for that one. You can't win them all and some weekends you can't win any.

Cumulative record of selected horses: 6(3)-0-2-0 (-$12.00 -100.00% ROI)
Overall record: 350(150)-64-56-54 (-$62.20 -8.94% ROI)