cait
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Post by cait on Jun 26, 2013 8:23:59 GMT -5
can't believe the big deal over128lbs - he is the reigning hoty and it's not that much weight - imo - all weights need to be raised - maybe jocks would be a little healthier if they didn't have to make 114 or so
Wise Dan set to tote 128 pounds in Firecracker Handicap By Marty McGee
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Conceding the 128-pound assignment is acceptable, trainer Charlie LoPresti said Tuesday that Wise Dan is a very likely starter Saturday night in the Grade 2, $175,000 Firecracker Handicap at Churchill Downs.
With entries for the one-mile turf race due Wednesday, LoPresti said he does not necessarily agree with the weights, particularly as they portend for handicaps for the rest of the year for Wise Dan, the 2012 Horse of the Year. But he did say he is willing to “give it a try,” mostly because of how the Firecracker will set up Wise Dan for the rest of the year.
“This is a good race to get him ready for Saratoga and what we’ve got in mind schedule-wise through the Breeders’ Cup,” he said. “If we win, it’s not good for any other handicap we run in later on. But we’re going to go on and try.”
LoPresti said he has been oblivious to criticism on social media sites for not recently trying Wise Dan outside his preferred niche, that being middle-distance turf events. Wise Dan has won his last six races, ending with five straight Grade 1 events, and 9 of his last 10. His two races this year were the Maker’s 46 Mile and the Woodford Reserve Turf Classic.
“I don’t pay attention to any of that,” he said. “That’s why I don’t do Twitter or any of that other stuff. People can say what they want. They don’t train this horse.”
Wise Dan, with John Velazquez back to ride, will spot his prospective rivals 11 to 15 pounds in the Firecracker, the anchor of an 11-race Downs After Dark program. The other probables include Corporate Jungle, 117; Lea, 117; Daddy Nose Best, 116; Seruni, 115; Laurie’s Rocket, 114; and Dimension, 113.
Perhaps the most interesting opponent is Lea, the 4-year-old colt who returned from a 6 1/2-month layoff earlier this month with a Churchill allowance victory to run his career record to 4 for 6. Trainer Al Stall Jr. initially indicated he would avoid Wise Dan by running Lea instead in the Poker next week at Belmont Park, “but with him giving us 11 pounds, I thought it’d be worth taking a shot,” Stall said Tuesday.
Wise Dan won the 2011 Firecracker before developing into a horse of major scope. Saturday’s program also will include the Grade 3 Bashford Manor Stakes.
DRF
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afleettreet
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GOOOOOOOOOOOO SEATTLE SEAHAWKS! ALL THE WAY BABY!
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Post by afleettreet on Jun 26, 2013 18:59:37 GMT -5
Methinks he is the TOTAL class of this field and despite carrying significantly more than his adversaries I hope we see the same Wise Dan we saw on BC weekend. He is one neato torpedo horse! GO WISE DAN!
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cait
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Post by cait on Jun 26, 2013 19:33:20 GMT -5
am a big lopresti fan - also think he should win - but then think of royal delta and julia lol that's what makes racing fun! wiz - whatcha think about daddy knows best? DRF reporting Corporate Jungle unlikely to start www.drf.com/news/churchill-downs-wise-dan-likely-face-six-firecracker-handicapChurchill Downs - Saturday, June 29, 2013 Race 9 - 10:11 PM STAKES Firecracker H. (Grade II) Purse $150,000. For Three Year Olds And Upward. One Mile. (Turf) PP Horse Virtual Stable A/S Med Jockey Wgt Trainer 1 Corporate Jungle (KY) 5/H L A Garcia 117 T F Proctor 2 Wise Dan (KY) 6/G L J R Velazquez 128 C LoPresti 3 Dimension (GB) 5/G L V Lebron 113 C Murphy 4 Lea (KY) 4/C L B J Hernandez, Jr. 117 A M Stall, Jr. 5 Finnegans Wake (KY) 4/C L J L Castanon 116 D L Romans 6 Daddy Nose Best (KY) 4/C L R Napravnik 116 S M Asmussen 7 Seruni (KY) 6/G L C J Lanerie 115 P J Oliver 8 Ol Army (KY) 4/G L J K Court 114 C Peery Owners: 1 - Gary and Mary West ; 2 - Morton Fink ; 3 - Riverside Bloodstock, LLC (Conor Murphy) ; 4 - Claiborne Farm (Seth W. Hancock) and Adele B. Dilschneider ; 5 - Donegal Racing (Jerry Crawford) ; 6 - Bob and Cathy Zollars ; 7 - G. Watts Humphrey, Jr. and St. George Farm Racing, LLC (Ian Banwell) ; 8 - Roger Braugh, Jr. Breeders: 1 - Blandford Stud & Harty & O'Rourke; 2 - Mort Fink; 3 - Cheveley Park Stud Ltd; 4 - Claiborne Farm & Adele B. Dilschneider; 5 - Jerry Crawford; 6 - Patricia Ann Elia Trust; 7 - G. Watts Humphrey Jr., John P. Cline II& Robin P. Cline; 8 - Roger S. Braugh Jr.
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Post by byanose13 on Jun 27, 2013 7:11:41 GMT -5
I think Lea and Seruni are two to watch in the Firecracker, not saying they are going to win because WD ,I think is way to classy for this bunch.
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Post by mrdelmarwasmybitch on Jun 27, 2013 7:28:00 GMT -5
have to see the pp's first cait, but if he is no better then what I remember last year, I doubt it. I heard there is talk of a macth race after the last race on the card saturday night. crap daddy, javas snore, and now possibly a late entrant .......... black ruby coming out of retirement!! 5 furlongs on the dirt.
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Jon
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Post by Jon on Jun 27, 2013 22:08:23 GMT -5
have to see the pp's first cait, but if he is no better then what I remember last year, I doubt it. I heard there is talk of a macth race after the last race on the card saturday night. crap daddy, javas snore, and now possibly a late entrant .......... black ruby coming out of retirement!! 5 furlongs on the dirt. LMAO
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Jon
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Post by Jon on Jun 28, 2013 0:02:27 GMT -5
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Post by mrdelmarwasmybitch on Jun 28, 2013 1:13:07 GMT -5
cait I am looking at the pp's right now. I have a question. are you smoking that stuff again? lolol. this guy isn't related to frac daddy is he? I don't see anything even remotely close to a reason to give him any chance at all in there. I agree with byanaise that lea definitely has a shot. I mean, if the weight doesn't stop WD I doubt that lea will beat him. but lea is definitely the up and comer with unforeseen potential, and figure to make an easy lead unless they gun dimension ala frac daddy just to say they had the lead. not sure how CD turf is playing now as I haven't watched them the last two weeks but I will watch all the races there tomorrow and check it out. if speed seems to be holding, I would play lea if I could get 4-1.
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Post by mrdelmarwasmybitch on Jun 28, 2013 1:55:09 GMT -5
oops. I just realized there was a 3rd page of pp's. so much for the easy lead. lol
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Post by byanose13 on Jun 28, 2013 18:58:16 GMT -5
60% chance of rain tomorrow so that changes things a bit but WD won Derby day on soft turf. Trainer of Corporate Jungle says he'll scratch if WD runs so there is one down.
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Jon
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Post by Jon on Jun 29, 2013 1:10:52 GMT -5
wiz - Both "Daddys" sired by Scat Daddy. She was joking, right? LOL
Wise Dan should win easy but then there were the girls who should have "won easy"!
byanose - This was in DRF a few days ago Trainer Tom Proctor entered Corporate Jungle in the Firecracker but said Wednesday it was only in case Wise Dan doesn’t actually make it to the starting gate.
“I don’t want to run against him, but if something happens between now and then, we wanted to be in there,” said Proctor, who trains Corporate Jungle for Gary and Mary West.
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Jon
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Post by Jon on Jun 29, 2013 1:12:20 GMT -5
Huffman defends weight assignment for Wise Dan
It isn't easy for a racing secretary to hang 128 pounds on a star horse in a handicap race such as Saturday night's Grade 2, $150,000 Firecracker Handicap (Grade II), but Churchill Downs' Director of Racing Ben Huffman relishes the opportunity.
"I did 128 (pounds) here with Wise Dan and 128 on Curlin in the (2008) Stephen Foster," Huffman said. "I've done several 125s, but for horses that have actually shown up in the entries, 128 is the most."
Reigning Horse of the Year Wise Dan heads a field of eight entered for the Firecracker, one of three stakes races to be run at Churchill Downs on Saturday as part of the "Downs After Dark" nighttime racing program.
Wise Dan, who was made the 2-5 favorite by Churchill Downs' oddsmaker Mike Battaglia, will give between 11-15 pounds to his six rivals. The next high weights at 117 pounds are Grade 3 stakes winners Corporate Jungle and Lea.
A handicap is a race where the racing secretary assigns weights to all nominated horses with the theoretical goal of creating a dead-heat at the finish.
"It's a judgment call," Huffman said. "It's not an exact science. Some people say a length is a pound and others say a length is three pounds. A lot of components are involved in assigning the weights."
Wise Dan carries a six-race win streak into the Firecracker, including five Grade 1 races. In his two races of 2013, he won the Maker's 46 Mile at Keeneland and the Woodford Reserve Turf Classic at Churchill Downs on Kentucky Derby Day.
"You also look to see who horses have been running against and what they've carried in the past," Huffman said. "Wise Dan is a multiple Grade 1 winner, he's the Horse of the Year and he's the highest-rated horse in training in the world. He's not running against horrible horses in here, but they are inferior when compared to the best turf miler in the world. Not the best turf miler in the United States...in the world."
Some are of the opinion that handicap races are a thing of the past and top horses should not be forced to carry more weight in a race due to their previous accomplishments. Huffman doesn't subscribe to that belief.
"I know handicaps are kind of going out of favor a little bit, but if you're going to do them then I think you ought to do them right," Huffman said. "When you have champions running here for equal weights, I personally don't think we could fill the races. I like doing handicaps for route races and I think they serve a purpose. We don't weight horses to get them beat. We weight horses to give other horses a chance, especially against champions."
Champions like Wise Dan have been known to scare off other horses from entering, but Huffman believes it is important to feature the best horses possible at Churchill Downs.
"We are Churchill Downs and we are in a racing town with racing fans that love and appreciate horse racing," Huffman said. "Sometimes these champions cause us to have some short fields, but I know true racing fans appreciate Horses of the Year and Eclipse champions racing in Louisville, Kentucky. Who wouldn't want to come out and see the Horse of the Year Wise Dan and horses like Curlin and Rachel Alexandra and Royal Delta and Fort Larned? I'll sacrifice a couple of runners to get the best horses in the world here for our racing fans in Louisville."
Wise Dan, who won the Firecracker in 2011 in his turf debut, will break from post 2 under Hall of Fame jockey John Velazquez. A six-year-old gelded son of Wiseman's Ferry, Wise Dan is looking to become the first two-time winner of the Firecracker.
Brisnet
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Post by mrdelmarwasmybitch on Jun 29, 2013 1:57:42 GMT -5
I hope frac wins a race soon for caits sake. she gets a lot of ball busting over that horse............... maybe they can sneak him in against Arabians somewhere down the road. change his name to............ IBN FRAC DADDY a?
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Jon
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Post by Jon on Jun 29, 2013 1:59:41 GMT -5
LMAO
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cait
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Post by cait on Jun 29, 2013 16:08:47 GMT -5
wiz - oh ha ha ha at least you didn't say bar j frac daddy it's going to be so cool when i cash that huge ticket (IF he gets a few sessions with a horsey shrink lol)
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Nostradamus
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man man your time is sand, I am the eyes of Nostradamus all your ways are known to me.
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Post by Nostradamus on Jun 29, 2013 18:10:44 GMT -5
There is not much in the race except Wise Dan. I think the #3 looks like ready to run big.
Exacta box 2-3.
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Nostradamus
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man man your time is sand, I am the eyes of Nostradamus all your ways are known to me.
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Post by Nostradamus on Jun 29, 2013 18:34:35 GMT -5
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Post by mrdelmarwasmybitch on Jun 29, 2013 18:58:27 GMT -5
late pick four at Churchill....... been watching for a few weeks now, along with Belmont, and I can tell you one thing at Churchill at least this week. you either have to show speed on the dirt, or IF your going to close, it better be up the rail in the lane. anything outside of the 3 or 4 path in the lane is like quick sand there. meanwhile, the turf is basically the exact opposite.
.50 tickets 1235/2/568/25891011= 36.00x1 5/2/568/25891011=9.00x2 1235/2/5/25891011=12.00x2 5/2/5/25891011=3.00x4 5/2/135678/25891011=18.00x2
total $126.00
I hate singling a chalk and told someone earlier in the weak not to, but I am. the only horse I see possibly beating WD would be lea, and its not like hes any huge price either. plus when I said that I thought lea was lone speed, but then I realizes I hadn't seen ol army in the race. I think even with the weight dan beats this overmatched field.
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Jon
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Post by Jon on Jun 29, 2013 19:38:34 GMT -5
It's now pouring at Churchill. Will that be a factor?
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Jon
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Post by Jon on Jun 29, 2013 19:42:13 GMT -5
HRTV - Michelle likes Debt Relief. I like Michelle. Will put something on it. Jon White likes the 3 but I don't care what White picks LOL
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