Weekend Review

Weekend Overview: Light weekend with just 3 graded stakes on offer. Congaree's half brother, Sangaree, made his debut at Hollywood Park and finished a good looking second for Bob Baffert. He may be one to watch for the future. Criminologist continued her streak with a nice score in the Cardinal. This filly might be ready to take on the top level Turf distaffers when we see her next.

Performance of the Week: True Metropolitan was Canada's Top Older Horse last year but his reign as the best main track horse on the grounds looked to be in serious danger as he was facing Leonnatus Anteas in the Autumn Stakes. Leonnatus Anteas has been growing in stature with every start. Last year's champion 2yo got off to a rocky start but has gained momentum throughout the year and looked to have all the momentum at the eighth pole of the Autumn. But the gutsy True Metropolitan stayed on to the line and broke the track record to win his 7th start from 10 races this campaign. He looks certain to retain his crown as the top older horse in Canada.

Race of the Week: If you haven't heard of Daiwa Major you should look him up. He has been somewhat lost in the shadow of Japanese stars Deep Impact, Hearts Cry and Admire Moon. But for several years now he has been the best miler on the planet and this past weekend he turned in another sparkling performance to take the Mile Championship at Kyoto racecourse. He had to dig deep to hold off Super Hornet who came with a strong challenge but the champ confirmed his status as the best miler in Asia and likely the world with yet another G-1 win.

Flop of the Weekend: Barcola was supposed to get an easy lead in the Stuyvesant and kill the field off with his speed. He did make the lead rather easily but faded tamely when the real running began.

TCR Mover’s and Shakers: No major moves this week as there was a shortage of graded stakes and a lack of top class runners in the minor stakes that we did have. Thanksgiving weekend will offer some tasty match up's though. The one division that is still wide open in my opinion is the Female Turf division and Precious Kitten and Cittronade still have a chance at taking top spot among the grass girls. Although they would likely need to win big in order to get much voting support.

Tip O’the Cap: Shug deserves some kudos for his stakes sweep this weekend but I'm going to step outside the world of racing for this week's Tip O'the Cap. The Saskatchewan Roughriders of the Canadian Football League have earned a spot in the Grey Cup. This is an underdog franchise who hasn't won a thing since 1989 and they go into the league championship game with a real chance to win it. What makes the Riders the most special team in the league is their fan base. In a tiny city of under 200,000 people over 2,000 fans showed up at the airport last night at 1:30am to greet the heroic returning team. If they manage to win the Grey Cup there will be mayhem. Go Riders Go!

KC Handicapping: Small profit this week from Criminologists romp in the Cardinal. Luckily the public didn't bet her down too much as her win ticket paid for the loser on Love Handles. Love Handles swung out at the head of the lane and made some headway but just didn't have enough punch against this class.

Cumulative record of selected horses: 2(1)-1-0-0 (+$1.00 +25.00% ROI)
Overall record: 415(185)-75-71-59 (-$46.20 -5.57% ROI)