Opinions and Observations
In this area of our website you will find opinions and observations about California racing and sometimes the National scene.
6/09/2010 Acclamation and his connections after multiple tough trips (which really hid his true ability for awhile) have turned to a catch me if you can style. He is capable of setting a strong pace and still holds together most impressively in the stretch. Very few over the years are capable of doing this and they are difficult to beat. He reminds me of the outstanding Chicago based marathon runner Bucks Boy and the more recent East Coast star Presious Passion. Hope he feels good come Breeders Cup time next Fall.
6/09/2010 Very surprising that none of the on air talking heads from TVG, HRTV, or NBC (when I was listening) talked about how unimpressive the favorite looked in the post parade and warm-up for the Belmont. One of these days we will use the twitter account that we have established, and yet to use, for helping out in these kind of situations with a few “tweets” regarding the appearance or behavior of a given horse. Anyway, it was easy to turn to our 2nd pick considering he hovered around 13 or 14 to 1 most of the time. Good to hear from many of you that scored big in the Belmont. He was clearly the best running wide the whole way. Way to go Bill Mott, a class act.
4/02/2010 When I was a young man in my mid 20′s and I would fly in to L A for a big race weekend I used to get goosebumps over the beauty and excitement of multiple fields of fine horses. Only being live at the Kentucky Derby can bring out those bumps these days but I sure still love the Southern Cal race scene on the big days even if it is from my television screen
3/21/2010 It has been awhile but Southern California finally has a new turf marathon star, Bourbon Bay, who once again crushed his competition going 12 furlongs. He earned a substantial figure on Top Turf Today chasing a fast pace and only missing the track record by 6 clicks. The combination of strong pace and final time at the marathon distances is very rare and difficult to beat. And oh, by the way, some guy named Drysdale trains.
3/13/2010 Derby chase ! Sidney’s Candy did little wrong in wiring the the field in the Grade 2 San Felipe but then again he still has plenty to prove going a route of ground when a strong pace is involved as is usually the case in the Kentucky Derby. Twenty horse fields with quality jocks trying to get their horse’s on over to save some ground most often leads to a more then honest pace up front.
3 /10/2010 First ever topic posted in this section is about the resurgence of jockey Mike Smith. Your handicapper has been covering the Southern California racing circuit for three years and has been able to witness the rebound of a Hall of Fame rider. I wish it was possible to post my trip notes of every race run in which Mike Smith was involved, or as was the case a few years ago, not so involved. In those notes over the three years you would find a steady progression of getting back to what he used to be, a very physically strong, difficult to beat, Hall of Fame caliber jockey. Even up to a year ago if he wasn’t riding a speed horse or riding in a Stakes race he was awfully easy to play against. These days he’s riding top notch on mid pack runners and closers and he has been exceptionally good on speed types. I doubt anyone in the U S of A is riding any better on speed types when it comes to synthetic racetracks. He often outbreaks the field out of the gate and few seem to want to challenge him on the front end. It is great to see Smith back as one of the best riders in Southern California and the Nation. Keep up the stellar riding Mike Smith. He is a great interview and good for racing.
