VFTRG contributor Joe F. provides his random musings as another month comes to an end....
We’re in the
early stages of a fierce public relations campaign the aim of which is to
convince us that the Hambletonian is the greatest race on the planet.
Unfortunately, the sophomore trotting brigade is, for the most part, an
ordinary group. The Road To The Hambletonian is indeed a rocky one.
Wheeling N
Dealin looked like a budding star when he crushed the opposition in the BC in
the fall, but his only two starts against a mixed bag of locals at Mohawk have
been underwhelming. Some still speculate—quietly, more quietly with each
passing week—that this is all part of Dustin Jones’ Machiavellian plan to have
a fresh horse primed to tackle heats on race day. Hugh? He drew the nine in a
Meadowlands open for Habletonion eligibles on Saturday.
Royalty For
Life may be the fastest of all but one doesn’t have to look too far back in his
pedigree to find Noble Gesture, who was as crazy as he was fast, and he was
very fast. Royalty For Life is this year’s MOMM…..Smilin Eli is a nice colt,
but he’s at the center of a seedy backstretch soap opera, and besides he hasn’t
raced since finishing out as the even money favorite from the nine in the Beal.
That was on June 29. He’s in to go in that open at M1 Saturday night, with a
new trainer and the same driver—TT…..Corky, another Muscles colt, won the Beal
for Jimmy Takter. That’s the problem: Takter likes to drive him. Maybe he’ll drive
Dontyouforgetit…..Spider Blue Chip, an Andover Hall colt, has really come on
since the middle of June and Chuck Sylvester knows how to win this race…... Aperfectyankee
is a possibility but he comes as a package deal with Oscarsson.
Check out
the weak field vying for 450K in the Yonkers Trot. Yikes! By the way, Dewey’s
offspring are seven months into their sophomore year. Do you see any hope at
all for them? Sure they’ll make a little dough in the OSS, but he’s already
moved on to New York. Are we being overly generous if we refer to Dewey as a
regional stallion? His race record and introductory fee of 20K scream GC—afraid
not. And what about Donato? Can you imagine any of his sons winning the
Hambletonion, Colonial, Kentucky Futurity or BC? Take away Check Me Out and
what do you have? He’s running as fast as he can in the PASS but occasional
successes in that program won’t get it done. Maybe they can get a reduced rate
if they send Dewey and Donato together on the same plane to Europe.
On the
distaff side, many believe that Bee A Magician would beat the boys if she switched
to the Hambletonion (the decision was made to race against the fillies). We were hearing similar talk about Check Me Out last year
at this time, and the eliminations and final were separated by a week back
then. Regardless, Bee stands above the rest in the Oaks; although the Broadway
Hall filly, Frau Blucher, is no slouch. The latter is out of a Muscles Yankee
mare. And Motown Muscle, who won the CDC final a couple of days ago, is
Muscles’ granddaughter. Spider Blue Chip is out of a Muscles mare, and Corky
and Smilin Eli are both by Muscles Yankee. Muscle Hill may have seven of the
sixteen going in Saturday’s Peter Haughton eliminations, but he hasn’t forced
the old man out to pasture yet.
You know
this isn’t a memorable year for three-year-old filly trotters when To Dream On,
Time To Kill, Fashion Athena and Royal Assets are a combined two for
twenty-seven a week before the Oaks.
The same sort
of reservations can be expressed with regard to the sophomore pacers where you
have Captaintreacherous and I Luv The Nitelife on top of their respective
divisions and the rest down below. That blah morning line for the Adios in
conjunction with the lack of anticipation surrounding the race tells the tale.
Toss the numbers in a jar, shake it up and choose one. Nitelife was not staked
to the Adioo Volo; she goes in the Miss New Jersey Prep instead.
**********
Heston Blue
Chip is five and one at Yonkers Raceway; it looks like Linda Toscano is going
to abandon the TVG and head back to the four-year-old pacer’s more comfortable roots.
He drew the deuce in Saturday’s open at Yonkers and will probably have Brennan
sitting behind him. Dan Patch winner, Heston, and his O’Brien counterpart,
Michael’s Power, are off to very slow starts. The four-year-old pacers have
certainly made their mark on the FFA division, but no thanks to HBC and
Michael’s Power. The latter is a gelding but the old saw about diminishing the
value of a stallion by coming back at four is surely in play with HBC. Losing
to the anonymous open bunch at Yonkers would take him down a notch or two. We
heard a lot about how great he is last season. Any older pacer that aspires to
greatness should be in the USPC eliminations this week. After all, Our Lucky
Chip is in there with the big boys—again.
**********
After
consecutive second place finishes, Maven is not entered in the second leg of
the Ima Lula for four-year-old mares. CMO, Win Missy B, Real Babe, Personal
Style and Maven should provide a real boost to the perennially pathetic older
trotting mare division.
**********
The
introduction of SBSW, in concert with Dragon Again, Western Terror and the rest
had already transformed the PASS into an open stakes environment that was in a
class of its own, but now with Western Ideal coming online, Bettor’s Delight on
the horizon and the addition of Well Said and Art Official it’s going to get
ridiculous…….Is this is the last year the Bettor’s Delight offspring are
eligible to the NYSS? What a loss that will be. BD and Art Major do the heavy
lifting in that program…….Shadow Play, the new star of the Ontario program, had
his stud fee cut from 5K to four from 2012 to 2013, before any of his colts and
fillies hit the track. The only pacing stallion to have his stud fee increased
last year was SBSW. The conflation of a successful Shadow Play and the
perpetually unsettled situation in Ontario will be fascinating to follow. I
believe Blue Chip calls the shots on him. Does he stay or does he go? I f he
stays what happens with that fee? Royal Mattjesty stands for that same 4K fee.
Sportswriter is at five and Badlands Hanover is $5,500. Something has to give. They
hustled Bettor’s Delight back across the border. Will they do the same with
this son of The Panderosa?
**********
Last year
the USPC went to post with a twelve horse field, none of whom were
four-year-olds. It was a much weaker contingent than the one that lines up for
two eliminations on Saturday. Eleven of the nineteen entered on Saturday are
four-year-olds—a 58% increase.
**********
Hattie is
the latest broodmare to be granted automatic admission to the HOF based on
outdated standards. A mare gets in if she’s produced a HOY plus one other 500K
winner, or, produced a million dollar winner and two other 500K winners. Fred
And Ginger is a few thousand from one million; Ginger And Fred is at 1.8
million; WWS is beyond 2.5 million; Silent Swing is close to two million;
Casimir Camotion is at 1.7 million; the money standard is out of date.
Aside from
Holborn Hanover, Hattie gave us Hyperion and Hillbilly Hanover. She also
produced Haverford and Hatsoff. HOF?
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