zooey

500 Days of Summer

the other bird...

Summer Bird gets a patient ride for Kent Desormeaux's Belmont revenge and trainer Tim Ice's 35th birthday present...not to mention the second $200+ score (win + trifecta) of the day for yours truly. I had to sit through inquiries/objections on both of my wins today. That's very taxing on the soul and I could feel months slipping from my life. It's been a while since I had a winning day...would you believe January 3rd? That's gambling for you...another round?


Cheers,
B

Austin City Limits Festival 2009 Lineup

ACL 2009 Lineup

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a few things...

OK kiddies, the Belmont is just 2 (count 'em) days away and in my cursory glance through the past performances I noticed a few things:

1) There isn't much speed in the race (except Charitable Man)
2) Summer Bird is adding blinkers
3) D. Wayne Lukas is insane (ok, there...now he'll win for sure)
4) Gomez is riding Chocolate Candy, NOT Dunkirk!

Right now I'm leaning toward boxing the two birds (Summer Bird, Mine That Bird) with Charitable Man. Won't pay a ton, but...you never know. It's supposed to pour at Belmont on Friday and be clear on Saturday, so the track will likely be hard as I-5...at a mile and a half, that's gotta hurt. I'm going w/my 3 horse combo because the all have Belmont-winning daddies (Birdstone and Lemon Drop Kid) who have a special place in my heart after their 30:1+ Belmont wins to deny/defeat Triple Crown wannabes.


More later,
B



PS. Did you see that lightning last night??? Whoa...

the bird is the word...

...just wait.

by request...

here's the overhead video of the final turn and stretch of the Derby...look at that hole he squeezes him through on the rail...nice horse, even better ride!

Damn...

mine that f$#%ing bird...

Ok, my hat is off to Calvin Borel. That was a fucking amazing ride yesterday. I know they say it's more about the horse than the jockey, but I feel safe in saying that Mine That Bird would not have won without Calvin calling the shots. Borel had an amazing weekend, winning on Rachel Alexandra in the Oaks by 20 lengths and then coming back and uncorking his patented rail-skimming move to win the Derby. Nice payday(s).

I was bitching before the race about how I had bet MTB in the Breeder's Cup Juvenile last October and he finished up the track (12th place). Perhaps that extra 3/16 of a mile was just what the doctor ordered...

There were a lot of comparisons to Calvin's great ride of Street Sense to win the 2007 Derby, but think about this...Street Sense was the favorite coming off a win the previous year in the BC Juvenile, Mine That Bird was 12th in the BC Juvenile and 50:1. Mine That Bird's last race had him 4th in the Sunland Park Derby, not the most prestigious of Derby prep races.

So now the question becomes "can he win the triple crown?" Might seem odd to ask that of a 50:1 shot, but he had the largest margin of victory in 60+ years. My take on it is that he may have a tough time with the Preakness, given that he seems to be a closer and the Preakness is not kind to closers, historically speaking. His daddy won the Belmont, so maybe if he can win the Preakness, he has a shot. Hope that guy has enough gas in the van to get him from track to track.


B

schoolin'

I learned a valuable lesson today...or I'm in the process of learning it anyway. It's been a while since I had seen Buckaroo Banzai...apparently I had forgotten:

"no matter where you go, there you are."


On an unrelated note, I think they picked the wrong race for Rachel Alexandra.

the track is currently sloppy at Churchill and the forecast is for a 40-50% chance of rain for most of tomorrow. This may not bode well for my choices...time to take a closer look at Friesan Fire and a few others...including Nick Zito's curious last minute entry, Nowhere to Hide, who has the highest mud breeding figure I've ever seen (480?!).

betearlybetoften,
B

we are the pigs...

who needs swine?

Hmmmm...kinda puts it in perspective now, doesn't it?