Kudos, Loyalty Rewarded, An Invitation

In these days of managing our champion racehorses instead of letting them race, it is time to issue an official 'View From the Racetrack Grandstand' Kudos to the connections of Well Said. Well Said, fresh of his impressive victory in the Meadowlands Pace is heading out to Pittsburgh to race this Saturday in the eliminations of the Adios stakes. Assuming he qualifies (it is a horse race after all), one would expect him to race the following week in the Adios Final. After that, he heads to back to the Meadowlands for the Oliver Wendell Holmes. That makes it four races in four weeks. In addition, one of the owners, Jeff Snyder has indicated that while it is too early to commit, they have the Little Brown Jug circled on their calendar. That means we will see Well Said on all size tracks and if he goes in the Jug, racing heats.

Wow, a horse taking on all comers. What a concept. It is refreshing.

I am very happy for Greg Peck, trainer of Muscle Hill, and owner Jerry Silva. Jerry Silva is the original owner of Muscle Hill. Last year before Muscle Hill was syndicated, there were offers to buy a significant interest in Muscle Hill but those offers were turned down as the potential owners wanted the horse transferred to a 'name' trainer. Jerry Silva could have jettisoned the trainer in a pursuit of a big deal as is often done but he remained loyal to the trainer that brought him to the dance. When Muscle Hill was eventually syndicated, part of the deal was Hill would remain with Greg Peck during his racing career. It is nice to see loyalty be rewarded.

Lastly, there is plenty of great racing occurring all through out the country. Yes, their stake races may not be the level of the Meadowlands Pace or the Hambletonian but to their fans, these stakes races are still special. Let me offer an invitation to publicity people at these tracks. If you have a special race coming up at your track, let me know. I'll be happy to post a guest blog entry regarding your race so it may be brought to the attention of others.

"Well Done Well Said", The Lucky Jim Parade Rolls On

What is there to say about last night's Meadowlands Pace? This was perhaps the most dominating effort ever seen in the Meadowlands Pace. For Well Said, it was more like a time trial; the others were racing for second. After floating on the outside to let the field settle down, Well said easily got to the lead. Once he reached the lead, it was a race against the clock.

The fractions for the race were amazing: 26.1 53.4 1:20.2 1:47.3. Other than one crack of the whip against the wheel disc in the stretch (Well Said has a habit of slowing down to wait for the other horses) Well Said did this all on his own without urging. If this race was held on Hambo Day, Well Said would probably be waking up as the fastest pacer of all time.




Some people are claiming Well Said is better than Somebeachsomewhere based on his Meadowlands Pace victory (something SBSW did not do). While Well Said appears to be at a peak right now, there is no comparison; Somebeachsomewhere and Niatross are in a league of their own. Each of them were undefeated as 2 year olds and Niatross lost two races as a three year old (once he fell over the rail) with Somebeachsomewhere losing only one race. Well Said won four starts of twelve starts as a two year old. In addition, Niatross and SBSW dominated on all size tracks; Well Said has not raced on the half mile track. Let's just enjoy this super horse for what he is.

Last night was the first time there was not a Meadowlands Pace consolation race as not enough elimination entrants entered. Instead, a $50,000 three year old open was carded. No, the lack of a consolation race is not a sign of the ongoing problems with getting horses to race at the Meadowlands, it is due to the Adios eliminations being raced this week. The Adios which traditionally been raced the second week of August has been moved up due to the Hambletonian final being moved.

Lost in the Meadowlands Pace frenzy is the amazing fifteen race win streak by Lucky Jim. Lucky Jim won an elimination of the Maple Leaf Trot last night at Mohawk Raceway in 1:51.4. This was the fastest of the three eliminations raced. It will be interesting to see how Lucky Jim does next week in the final as he will be racing against Copenhagen Cup victor Triton Sund who finished second in his elimination. Being this was Triton Sund's first start after being in quarantine I expect him to be a threat next week. This promises to be an exciting race. Make sure to catch the final next week.

Here is Triton Sund's effort in the Copenhagen Cup: