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Stars to shine on both coasts Saturday (Kentucky Derby trail)
thoroughbredtimes ^ | April 03, 2009 | Jeff Apel

Posted on 04/04/2009 6:05:40 AM PDT by gate2wire

Pioneerof the Nile and I Want Revenge, familiar foes on the California circuit, will start on opposite coasts on Saturday in two graded stakes races for three-year-olds that serve as important preps for the Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (G1) on May 2 at Churchill Downs.

Grade 3 winner I Want Revenge was installed as the 4-to-5 morning-line favorite in a field of eight entered in the $750,000 Wood Memorial Stakes (G1) at Aqueduct. California-based trainer Jeff Mullins said his decision to enter I Want Revenge in the Wood Memorial Stakes has nothing to do with Grade 1 winner Pioneerof the Nile’s presence in the $750,000 Santa Anita Derby (G1).

Pioneerof the Nile outran I Want Revenge en route to winning the CashCall Futurity (G1) on December 20 at Hollywood Park and the Robert B. Lewis Stakes (G2) on February 7 at Santa Anita Park.

(Excerpt) Read more at thoroughbredtimes.com ...


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To: ml/nj

The way he got through traffic was even more amazing than the way he recovered from the poor start, I thought.


21 posted on 04/04/2009 4:16:09 PM PDT by Moonman62 (The issue of whether cheap labor makes America great should have been settled by the Civil War.)
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To: ETL
Pretty good, huh? It might even make me rethink Friesan Fire. The Derby is frequently about overcoming adversity and traffic and I think one would have to say the =I Want Revenge= did just that today. To be sure this Wood field was symptomatic of the fields made mostly of NW1X entrants we see in this era of dispersed Derby Preps, but it was still a $750,000 race.

ML/NJ

22 posted on 04/04/2009 4:21:22 PM PDT by ml/nj
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To: ml/nj; supremedoctrine; ETL
Wow, where to start?

"...not just the stretch run that the NBC schmucks chose to show."
That was pathetic. NBC won't let TVG show the race, yet they only show the last 200 yds. Thanks to ETL, I just watched the whole race. IWR is for real. Very disappointed in IC.
To Keeneland. Why in the world was Stardom Bound so far back? ML, why is this filly under Dutrow now? Take the filly from Frankel? That makes a lot of sense.
Strange race at SA. Once again, Pioneer forces the pace. Still kind of slow.
I don't know. I'm kind of shaking my head right now. Strange day.

23 posted on 04/04/2009 4:37:53 PM PDT by gate2wire
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To: ml/nj

“...I Want Revenge= did just that today.”

With both FF and Pamplemousse (if he runs) training up to the Derby, I can’t bet either to win. For the first time in years, I don’t have a solid pick to win. I’d have to say Revenge and Quality Road are my only two win contenders.


24 posted on 04/04/2009 4:48:09 PM PDT by gate2wire
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To: ml/nj

Oh my...what a strong move by Summers...


25 posted on 04/04/2009 5:07:16 PM PDT by gate2wire
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To: gate2wire
I think I'll avoid Quality Road and Dunkirk. (I hope he gets in because he would take a lot of money.) These two could be the best or they just could be ordinary. I'm going to hope for the latter.

ML/NJ

26 posted on 04/04/2009 5:55:35 PM PDT by ml/nj
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To: gate2wire

I’m still a little foggy aboutthe eligibility requirements for the Derby, but is West Side Bernie NOT a possibility , even though he had a close-up 2nd place finish to IWR.
I don’t recall seeing his name among Derby contenders lists anywhere lately. I guess he was never nominated/
Is it too late? And wonder what his Beyer number is, coming out of the Wood, because, trips notwithstanding , it is right behing IWR’s/
I thought yesterday,and still think now, he is first rate, and might indeed have won the race today had he not swung so wide in the stretch, or coming down the stretch. Yeah, I was watching the HorseRacing Channel, expecting to SEE the race there, and literally TWO minutes to post, as the horses were loading for the Illinois Derby, a notice flashed on the screen saying the Wood would not be shown in real time. So I frantically channel surfed thinking it would be of WW of sports, or ESPN,but found it on MSG network, just as they were starting to load. That isn’t the first time it’s happened. Big pain in the butt, the politics of horse racing.


27 posted on 04/04/2009 6:03:29 PM PDT by supremedoctrine ("Time is the school in which we learn that time is the fire in which we burn"--Delmore Schwartz)
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To: gate2wire

I’ve watched the WOod three times now, and I gotta be a bit of a naysayer with IWR. It was a good race, but I still think WSB is his equal. We may never know that, because Bernie will not (?) be in the Derby, and IWR probably will. However, looking at the race again on that link, it looks like IWR was able to maintain contact with the small field pretty quickly out of the gate, certainly within a quarter mile he was already getting position-—
this was helped enormously by the sluggish pace of the race. WSB was hidden for most of the race and seemed to be behind the same wall of horses that Tom Durkin said IWR was. WSB had to swing much further wide than IWR, who found a hole and shot through it.
Not to take anything away from him, but I think this was due to a tremendously skilled jockey, more than the horse. Yes, I am a sore loser.


28 posted on 04/04/2009 7:22:46 PM PDT by supremedoctrine ("Time is the school in which we learn that time is the fire in which we burn"--Delmore Schwartz)
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To: gate2wire

Results chart for the Wood Memorial on pdf file:
http://www.kentuckyderby.com/2009/sites/kentuckyderby.com/files/wood.pdf


29 posted on 04/04/2009 9:18:23 PM PDT by ETL (ALL the Obama-commie connections at my FR Home page: http://www.freerepublic.com/~etl/)
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To: supremedoctrine

Bernie is nominated to the TC and has plenty of Graded Stakes earnings. You probably haven’t heard about him much because his first two races this year were a bit disappointing. Clearly a better horse on dirt than synthetics. Beyers are a bit light. Fractions were similar to the Gotham, but I’ll guess they’ll get a Beyer somewhere in the high 90s.


30 posted on 04/05/2009 3:08:35 AM PDT by gate2wire
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To: supremedoctrine

“WSB was hidden for most of the race and seemed to be behind the same wall of horses that Tom Durkin said IWR was. WSB had to swing much further wide than IWR, who found a hole and shot through it.”

Well, I’ll have to respectfully diagree with your analysis of the trip. Revenge started his move at the beginning of the turn (I love good turn times.) He was inside Bernie and went by, only to have to wait. Although wide, Bernie never had his momentum stopped, had clear sailing at the top of the stretch. Passed Revenge briefly. Revenge had to wait, bumped the horse inside him, then easily passed Bernie when the hole opened up. Not taking anything away from Bernie but I contend Revenge was much better. FWIW.


31 posted on 04/05/2009 3:21:32 AM PDT by gate2wire
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To: supremedoctrine; ETL; ml/nj
Now that I've watched the Wood several more times, I'm getting more and more impressed. Revenge got a hand ride as far as I can see. Might have a lot left.

Interesting quote from Talamo:“I thought today was a fairly easy race for him," Talamo continued. "To be honest, he only ran the last eighth of a mile, so I don’t think it took too much out of him. He just keeps getting better and better. That was the first time he got real dirt in his face and he took it like he’s had it before 100 times. He’s such a smart animal, and he’s real mature for his age.”

And Doctrine, as far as Bernie goes, "West Side Bernie, who earned $150,000 for second, will also be pointed to the Kentucky Derby, said trainer Kelly Breen."

32 posted on 04/05/2009 3:42:13 AM PDT by gate2wire
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To: gate2wire

http://www.bloodhorse.com/horse-racing/articles/50043/i-want-revenge-sensational-in-wood


33 posted on 04/05/2009 3:42:46 AM PDT by gate2wire
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To: gate2wire

Okay, you’ve convinced me.
But the points I was making were suggested by classical
concepts of pace, and what’s possible for ANY horse when
the pace is to his favor. A slow pace is something a speed horse can quickly take advantage of, and dominate wire to wire,(especially in situations of going from 6f to 1 mile Plus) if he and his jockey can read it right. A quick pace
will set up a race for closers, if both horse and jockey can read that right, and time their moves judiciously. Assuming there are no closers, even at a mile and an eighth, “pace may (also) make the race”, and a grinder may win. Or horses that never were closers may find opportunities for themselves to close. AND once again
it’s obviously easier for a horse to maintain “contact” with a field that’s gotten away from him (I know that’s a harness concept)if that field is from front to back not really burning up the track, like the Wood field. But now I’m even starting to bore myself. But it’s good to know WSB may be in the Derby. Which, you’ll remember, offers an entirely different distance and pace scenario altogether.


34 posted on 04/05/2009 8:30:38 AM PDT by supremedoctrine ("Time is the school in which we learn that time is the fire in which we burn"--Delmore Schwartz)
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To: supremedoctrine

Remember the old saying “class laughs at pace”? I think this was a perfect example. The more I look at it, the more it pisses me off. I hit this exacta fairly hard but should have CRUSHED it. Revenge and Bernie were the only two black type winners in the race and should have run 1-2 regardless of pace. Look at the field again. Claiming horses and n1X and that includes Imperial Council. I need to move on now for my own well being. After all, lots of racing today. :-)


35 posted on 04/05/2009 8:54:34 AM PDT by gate2wire
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To: gate2wire

Yes. In closing, I will quote James Quinn, from one of the first truly sophisticated handicapping books, from about 25 years ago, THE HANDICAPPER’S CONDITION BOOK. So much in that book opened my eyes, and remains with me to this day, MORE than 25 years ago, I think. One thing in particular: “Grade One races are only won by Grade One horses.” So , the implication of Quinn’s was “don’t go jumping on flimsy bandwagons following flashy looking on paper but underqualified nags that you want to think have a chance at long odds”, etc.
The only exception to this occurs when you have foreign horses, always hard to gauge, mixed in with our own. That’s how Arcangues won the BC race, I suppose, and paid , what $200??


36 posted on 04/05/2009 9:18:11 AM PDT by supremedoctrine ("Time is the school in which we learn that time is the fire in which we burn"--Delmore Schwartz)
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To: supremedoctrine

“Grade One races are only won by Grade One horses.” A very useful thing to keep in mind. Read that book on a flight from John Wayne airport to Balto. back in ‘89. Still have it around here somewhere.


37 posted on 04/05/2009 9:21:45 AM PDT by gate2wire
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