cait
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Post by cait on May 4, 2015 12:33:17 GMT -5
divining rod may be a good ls for underneath - good stable and trainer
Preakness Could Be Rematch for Derby Top 3 By Ron Mitchell Bloodhorse
Trainer Bob Baffert said May 3 Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (gr. I) winner American Pharoah and third-place finisher Dortmund would both run back in the May 16 Preakness Stakes (gr. I) at Pimlico Race Course.
With trainer Simon Callaghan also committing Derby second-place finisher Firing Line to the 1 3/16-mile Preakness, it would be another showdown among the Derby top three.
"As of right now, I don't see why not," Baffert told a media horde at Churchill Downs after showing off his Derby winner. He said Zayat Stables, which owns American Pharoah, and Dortmund's owner, Kaleem Shah, deserve the opportunity. "We'll see how they train next week."
The Derby represented the first career defeat for Dortmund, who was making his seventh career start.
Trainer Simon Callaghan said Arnold Zetcher's Firing Line, who got a head in front of front-running Dortmund in the stretch before eventually finishing a length behind American Pharoah, could find the shorter distance of the Preakness better-suited to his running style.
"There was a point in the stretch when I thought we could win," Callaghan said. "I'm really proud of the way he ran. I couldn't ask for any more. He came out of the race great. Our team had him spot on to run. We got a very good ride from Gary (Stevens), and in the end, there were no excuses. We got beat by a very good horse.
"You'd have to think, if all is well, that he's earned that right (to run in the Preakness)," Callaghan said. "We were glad we finally got to best Dortmund, after he'd beaten us twice (in photo finishes), and we believe we can be right there with American Pharoah. We'll walk him here for the next three or four days and monitor him. We'll then train him with the Preakness in mind. Maybe we'll breeze him, or maybe we'll just gallop him. We'll let the horse tell us. If we go, we'll probably ship up there at some point next week." The horse will stay on with assistant trainer Carlos Santamaria and exercise rider Humberto Gomez.
Trainer Mark Casse said he would evaluate the Preakness status of Danzig Moon, who finished a troubled fifth, but also said his main target for the colt is the $1 million Queen’s Plate at Woodbine July 5.
"We'll look at the Preakness," Casse said. "I was happy with how he ran in the Derby. He got knocked around. You have to give him credit for how well he ran." Danzig Moon was steadied after exchanging bumps with Bolo going into the first turn, recovered and made a five-wide move rounding the second turn. "He broke sharper than we thought he would," said Mark's son, assistant trainer Norman Casse. "He got caught in the rush to the first turn. He just happened to be caught in the middle of it. A lot of horses would have spit the bit there, but once he got clear, he got comfortable."
Godolphin Racing's Frosted exited his late-closing fourth-place finish in good order, but is unlikely to run in the Preakness, reported trainer Kiaran McLaughlin.
"He ran the best race of his life I think," the trainer said. "He ran a winning race. Congratulations to the winner and their connections. It was 1-2-3 for California. We were the only ones closing ground." McLaughlin said Frosted is scheduled to ship back to New York May 4.
Todd Pletcher, who had returned to New York, said he has not determined plans for his three Derby starters—Materiality (sixth), Itsaknockout (10th), and Carpe Diem (11th).
Two new shooters on the list of possible runners are Lexington Stakes (gr. III) winner Divining Rod and Federico Tesio winner Bodhisattva.
Trainer Arnaud Delacour said the Preakness would be next after Divining Rod took the Lexington at Keeneland April 11. Divining Rod, bred and owned by Roy and Gretchen Jackson's Lael Stables, is stakes tested. He was second in the Sam F. Davis (gr. III) before finishing third in the Tampa Bay Derby (gr. II).
Bodhisattva, a son of Student Council trained by owner Jose Corrales, was second in the Private Terms at Laurel Park and won the Federico Tesio at Pimlico April 18.
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cait
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Post by cait on May 4, 2015 12:37:19 GMT -5
another toast of ny?
Mubtaahij Staying Stateside, Will Contest Belmont Stakes PR
Sheikh Mohammed bin Khalifa al Maktoum’s Mubtaahij, who finished eighth in the G1 Kentucky Derby, will remain in the United States and be pointed to the G1 Belmont Stakes June 6.
The Daily Racing Form reports that connections of the colt had originally planned on sending him back to Newmarket for some time off. However, they decided to give Mubtaahij another shot at a Triple Crown race.
Trevor Brown, assistant to trainer Mike de Kock, told the DRF that Mubtaahij will stay at Churchill Downs for at least one week before shipping on to New York.
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lt1
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Post by lt1 on May 4, 2015 15:31:31 GMT -5
Don't be surprised if Dortmund doesn't go. The last thing Baffert wants or needs to see is one of his clients lose a triple crown chance to another horse in his barn. Look for Robert to do some arm twisting and smooth talking.
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Preakness
May 4, 2015 19:18:09 GMT -5
via mobile
Post by mackdaddy on May 4, 2015 19:18:09 GMT -5
A conflict of interest?
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on May 4, 2015 21:53:08 GMT -5
yeah hes in a tough spot lt1. if it were any other owners then these two im sure he could strong arm or at least convince owners of dortmund not to run in favor of an easier spot where they would get an easy payday. but these two guys are not about to be strong armed or back down. i think he almost has to run both horses unless he wants to lose a dream owner like shah. its great to have great horses, but when a situation like this comes up its not easy. personally, i like the shahs more then the zayats anyway and always seem to land on their horses. i was a fan of dortmund from the start whereas it took me until pharohs 4th start before i realized what kind of horse he reaaly was even though bob said from the start he was better. bot after that 4th start, i could see he is better then dortmund.
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Post by Evelyn on May 4, 2015 22:23:40 GMT -5
CC - Divining Rod is by Tapit! YES!!!
Divining Rod On Target for Preakness Stakes' Bloodhorse
Lael Stables' Divining Rod, winner of the Coolmore Lexington Stakes (gr. II) April 11 at Keeneland, remains on target to make his next start in the Preakness Stakes (gr. I) May 16 at Pimlico Race Course, trainer Arnaud Delacour said.
Based at the Fair Hill Training Center in Maryland, Delacour told Maryland Jockey Club officials May 4 the 3-year-old by Tapit is doing well and is expected for the Preakness, which at this point is expected to draw the top three finishers in the May 2 Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (gr. I): American Pharoah, Firing Line, and Dortmund.
"The horse is doing very well," Delacour said. "He breezed (May 2), and right now I am leaning toward the Preakness. I think he's great. I don't want to jinx myself, but at the moment he's doing very well. He has matured quite a bit and he understands more now what's going on."
Second by a neck in the Sam F. Davis Stakes (gr. III) and third in the Tampa Bay Derby (gr. II)) this winter at Tampa Bay Downs, Divining Rod rated off the pace before drawing away to a three-length victory in the 1 1/16-mile Lexington, his first stakes win.
"The race in the Lexington was a very good confidence booster for him," Delacour said. "I think he put it all together, that he needed to relax and finish, and I think that really helped him."
Divining Rod has had two works at Fair Hill since the Lexington, both at five furlongs, including a breeze on the dirt track in 1:00 4/5 May 2.
"He started nice and easy, he was relaxed and he really kicked on at the end," Delacour said. "That's the kind of work that you like to see when you go to a race that's going longer. I was very pleased with it."
Delacour said Divining Rod will work once more May 9-10 at Fair Hill for the 1 3/16-mile Preakness.
"The first three horses (in the Derby) I would say are going to be very tough to take on, but the thing is they all had a pretty hard race," Delacour said. "They all had to fight for it. I didn't see any of them having to do it easy, so I hope that they're going to maybe be a little bit tired coming back in two weeks."
Meanwhile, Laurel Park-based owner/trainer Jose Corrales is leaning toward running Bodhisattva, by Student Council , in the Preakness. The colt won the Federico Tesio Stakes at Pimlico.
"If the possibility comes, I think I will probably run," Corrales said. "I will not run a horse just to run the horse. If I don't feel a horse can run in the first three, why run? That's the way I think."
Corrales entered and scratched Bodhisattva from the $75,000 Parx Derby at Parx Racing in Pennsylvania May 2 and instead breezed the horse seven furlongs in 1:29 at Laurel, his first work since winning the 1 1/16-mile Tesio by 1 1/2 lengths over Noteworthy Peach.
"I think this horse improved from that race," Corrales said. "He just keeps improving every time. I think now I've got him where I want him. The reason why I scratched him at Parx was because it was too early to run him back and I wanted to work him before I decide what's going to happen."
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Post by Evelyn on May 9, 2015 11:51:44 GMT -5
More on Divining Rod. For those that don't remember - these are Barbaro's owners. Personally I'd love to see him win - sort of poetic justice.
Jacksons to Open New Chapter in Preakness Bloodhorse
Nine years after Barbaro broke down in the Preakness Stakes (gr. I), Gretchen and Roy Jackson are returning to Pimlico Race Course for the 140th edition of the race May 16 with another homebred colt, Divining Rod, who will run in the colors of their Lael Stables.
Divining Rod, winner of the Lexington Stakes (gr. III) April 11 at Keeneland, will be the 27th Lael starter at Pimlico and first Preakness contender since Barbaro suffered catastrophic leg injuries early in the running of second jewel of the Triple Crown in 2006. Barbaro, the decisive winner of the Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (gr. I), was rushed from Pimlico to the University of Pennsylvania's New Bolton Center in Kennett Square, Pa., where Dr. Dean Richardson and his team repaired the fractures in his right hind leg. However, the colt developed the hoof disease laminitis during his recovery and was euthanized on in early 2007 after veterinarians determined that he could not be saved.
The Jacksons recently said they have no misgivings about running Divining Rod in the Preakness. "We've moved on from Barbaro," Gretchen Jackson said. "Barbaro was deeply loved. I'll never go through a day probably when I don't think about him, but this is a new horse, new chapter, new everything. So I don't approach it with worry."
Roy Jackson agreed that he and his wife could not be prisoners to history.
"From my standpoint, and I think Gretchen feels the same way, we were very lucky to have him," he said. "There were two roads you take. You could sort of sit there and dwell on it, and go over and over the thing, or you could go on with life, to better things and happier days. I think we chose to look at the positive and go on with our lives and really haven't spent a whole lot of time dwelling on the subject."
Two weeks after Barbaro provided the Jacksons with their greatest success in racing, they were central figures in what became an international story about the valiant effort to save their colt.
"It was incredibly stressful, because you second-guessed yourself every morning when you got up or when you saw him," Gretchen Jackson said. "One day, he was great, and two weeks later, you were considering putting him down. It was a real roller-coaster ride. It was very stressful, being in constant contact with press and people you didn't know, and being asked to deal with facts and deal with emotions all the time. It was hard."
The Jacksons had nothing but kind words for everyone involved with Barbaro, from those who rushed to his aid at the track to the staff at New Bolton Center.
"They were fantastic. We wouldn't do anything different than what was done," Roy Jackson said.
Due to their many years as breeders and owners, the Jacksons understood that racing's highs and lows can come in quick succession and were better equipped to face the tragedy.
"We've been in it so long, thank God, and we've lived with horses on the farm so long that we were somehow baptized into dealing with it," Gretchen Jackson said. "Not dealing with all the amount of press and attention it got—that was really new for us. But dealing with horses and tragedies, we had some experience with that."
Roy Jackson said they have fond memories of the public support that flowed to them for Barbaro.
"Going through it, there was so much positive," he said. "The number of people we heard from—I think we heard from people in every state in the country and 14 foreign countries, and the amount of kids who sent us things was unbelievable. An awful lot of positives came out of the whole thing."
While Barbaro had a regal air about him, Divining Rod is a character.
"He's a high-energy horse. If he was a person, you would say he is boisterous," Gretchen Jackson said. "He puts a lot into everything he does. And he's very, very high on himself. He likes himself a lot. When he comes out of the gate he just wants to zoom and do everything."
That need-the-lead running style did not serve him well at Tampa Bay Downs, where he tired to finish second in the Sam F. Davis (gr. III) and third in the Tampa Bay Derby (gr. II) for trainer Arnaud Delacour.
Without warning, a different, more tractable Divining Rod showed up at Keeneland and beat favored Donworth by three lengths in the Lexington. "The transition that was made in the Lexington was that he didn't come out of the gate and have to be on the front end, streaking around the racetrack," she said. "He was able to be brought back and kept close to the pace, but then he ran on and he showed tactical speed. He showed relaxation and a certain maturity. He stunned us all."
As it turned out, Divining Rod did have enough qualifying points to make the Derby field from the also-eligible list. However, the Jacksons and Delacour had already decided not to run the colt back three weeks after the Lexington triumph and pointed him to the Preakness. The son of Tapit out of multiple grade I winner Precious Kitten has been getting ready for the Preakness at the pastoral Fair Hill Training Center in Elkton, Md.
Rachel Alexandra in 2009 is the most recent new shooter to win the Preakness after bypassing the Derby. Gretchen Jackson acknowledged that her colt faces a difficult assignment, but noted that American Pharoah had to work hard to defeat Firing Line and Dortmund in the Derby.
"It's a good group. It's tough," Roy Jackson concurred, "but I think Divining Rod deserves a chance to see if he can compete or not."
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Jon
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Post by Jon on May 9, 2015 15:05:04 GMT -5
FOR CC! Danzig Moon Confirmed for Preakness Bloodhorse
Danzig Moon, John Oxley's fifth-place finisher in the Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (gr. I), will continue down the Triple Crown trail to Baltimore for the May 16 Preakness Stakes (gr. I), his connections confirmed May 9.
"We are going," said Norman Casse, assistant to his father, trainer Mark Casse. "He came out of the Derby really well and deserves one more chance."
Second in the April 4 Toyota Blue Grass (gr. I) prior to his Derby run, Danzig Moon finished 6 1/2 lengths behind Derby winner American Pharoah. Julien Leparoux was aboard for both starts and will retain the mount for the Preakness.
"We made the decision last night, but we wanted to give him another day to train before making the announcement," Casse said. "He trained great this morning going a mile and a half in the first set."
Casse said the Malibu Moon colt would have the day off May 10 and then gallop the next three mornings at Churchill Downs before shipping to Pimlico Race Course May 13, after training hours.
Three other colts from the Kentucky Derby also confirmed for the Preakness galloped after the morning renovation break at Churchill.
Zayat Stables' Derby 141 winner American Pharoah galloped a mile and three-eighths with exercise rider Jorge Alvarez up. Third-place finisher Dortmund galloped a similar distance with Dana Barnes in the saddle for owner Kaleem Shah.
Both colts are trained by Bob Baffert, who is scheduled to return to Louisville from his Southern California base May 10 to watch them train the morning of May 11.
Arnold Zetcher's Firing Line, the Kentucky Derby runner-up, galloped 1 1/2 miles under exercise rider Humberto Gomez for trainer Simon Callaghan.
Two other horses under consideration for the Preakness, Zayat Stables' Mr. Z and Charles Fipke's Tale of Verve, galloped before the break.
Mr. Z, trained by D. Wayne Lukas, galloped a little more than a mile under exercise rider Edvin Vargas. Thirteenth in the Kentucky Derby, Mr. Z is expected to be part of a Lukas continent headed to Maryland May 12.
Tale of Verve, trained by Dallas Stewart, galloped a mile and five-eighths under Kortez Walker. Stewart said the colt may work Sunday or Monday.
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Jon
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Post by Jon on May 9, 2015 15:26:33 GMT -5
Thankfully, Zayat says Mr Z is "unlikely to run". Thought this was the best shot at a TC in years but man, that Derby was slow and he didn't win by many lengths - I thought he would. Preakness should be interesting.
Zayat expecting great things from Pharoah Bob Ehalt ESPN
Less than a week had passed since that magical first Saturday in May when American Pharoah gave owner Ahmed Zayat the Kentucky Derby victory that had been so frustratingly elusive. Yet the magnitude of the accomplishment was only beginning to set in for the grateful 52-year-old New Jersey businessman.
"It has been absolutely surreal. I'm not on cloud nine, I'm on cloud 29," he said Thursday evening. "It's so historical; it's such a big achievement that it didn't sink in right away. We're beyond tickled pink. Think about it, it doesn't get better."
In a sense, though, it just might.
Two weeks after his triumph at Churchill Downs, Zayat Stables' American Pharoah will head to the starting gate at Pimlico as a strong favorite in the Preakness, the second jewel in racing's famed Triple Crown.
A victory there and, well, there will be glorious thoughts that Zayat prefers to put on hold for now.
His focus is the $1.5 million Preakness, and he's approaching it with the same confidence he and Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert have placed in American Pharoah since those early days at the farm when Zayat's homebred colt stood out from every other youngster around him.
"American Pharoah was a freak on the farm," said Zayat, who was born in Egypt and moved to the United States in 1980. "There was no one close to him."
The finish at Churchill Downs was different. It was closer than any of American Pharoah's previous four wins. A 5-2 favorite, he won by a length over Firing Line, with 4-1 second choice Dortmund, who is also trained by Baffert, another two lengths behind in third.
Both Firing Line and Dortmund are expected to test American Pharoah once again, and much has been made of the scenario in which Baffert will saddle one of the top threats to beat his own Kentucky Derby winner. Zayat, though, said he's unfazed by facing Kaleem Shah's Santa Anita Derby winner once again and believes the result at Pimlico will be the same as it was at Churchill Downs.
"Dortmund is a very nice horse, but we beat him in the Derby and we'll beat him again. It's as simple as that," Zayat said. "In my opinion, he [Pharoah] has the talent to beat the horses he's already beaten, and the fresh horses [running in the Preakness] who did not run in the Derby are not as tough as the Derby horses.
"Honestly, I believe American Pharoah is the best horse of his generation. I normally don't like to speak like that. I want to be humble and let the horse speak for himself." Part of Zayat's confidence is fueled by a belief that he has as good a trainer as he could ask for in Baffert.
"I believe Bob Baffert is the best trainer. Period. I've been fortunate to have and still have other Hall of Fame trainers working for me, but Baffert is an incredible trainer," said Zayat, who has been involved in beverage and glass-making businesses. "It's not just breezing horses. Bob micromanages everything. He's an absolute perfectionist, an incredible manager and developer of horses. It was natural when I had my first Pioneerof the Nile colt, who was showing brilliance on the farm, that we gave him to Bob. No one can make a slow horse fast, but if there's potential there, Bob can bring it out."
Zayat also believes quite firmly that the best is yet to come from American Pharoah.
In some ways, the 141st Derby had the potential to be much like the Run for the Roses in 2009, 2011 and 2012, when Zayat suffered through a trio of runner-up finishes. American Pharoah, the reigning 2-year-old champion, arrived in Louisville with just two 2015 races -- lopsided wins in the Arkansas Derby and Rebel at Oaklawn Park. They were his lone starts since Sept. 27 because a hoof injury ended his 2-year-old campaign after a win in the Grade 1 FrontRunner, forcing him to miss the Breeders' Cup Juvenile.
Those romps left American Pharoah virtually untested in the four straight wins he compiled after a surprising loss in his career debut, and no one was quite sure how he would handle a stiff challenge.
He was also agitated by the large crowd at Churchill Downs on Derby Day and had a wide trip.
Still, in spite of all that, a Derby field as good as the sport has seen in decades could not defeat him, and perhaps his fellow 3-year-olds' best chance to beat him has come and gone.
"I think the Derby will move American Pharoah up," Zayat said. "I think he breathes different air than everyone else. In spite of some things going against him, he won the Derby, and I think he'll be better in the Preakness."
A time of 2:03.02 for the mile and a quarter, with a slow final quarter-mile in 26.57 seconds, and a relatively small margin of victory disappointed those who expected yet another a brilliant and decisive victory from such a heralded colt. Yet Zayat says it's better to focus on the end result as opposed to the manner of victory.
"I don't think the track at Churchill Downs was conducive for him," he said. "The track was loose and deep. Some horses can struggle on a track like that, but the good ones find a way, and that's what he did. He didn't win by six or seven lengths like some expected. OK, fine. It was his first time at a mile and a quarter. It was the deepest field in at least 20 years. He was wide the whole way and he still won. I know the time was slow, but the track was very screwed up. It was funky. It's as simple as that. So I'm not making a big deal about time. On Ragozin and Thoro-Graph speed figures [he ran his best race] in spite of that final time. All I can say is he beat 17 horses."
One of the 17 horses he beat was another of Zayat's horses, Mr. Z, who finished a troubled 13th. Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas listed Mr. Z as a possibility for the Preakness, but Zayat said Thursday that he was "unlikely" to run. Which seems quite apropos.
Zayat's focus in the Preakness deserves to be centered on the horse that helped him to finally put aside several well-documented chapters of Derby heartbreak in what has been an otherwise amazingly successful run during his 10 years of involvement as an owner. In 2009, Pioneerof the Nile finished second to 50-1 shot Mine That Bird. In 2011, Nehro was second to a horse who had never raced on dirt before. In 2012, 4-1 favorite Bodemeister, named for Baffert's youngest son, set a blazing pace and enjoyed a three-length lead at the eighth pole, but was collared by I'll Have Another, a 15-1 shot. Bodemeister settled for second.
In between, there was the anguish of 2010, when Wood Memorial winner Eskendereya was considered the favorite for the Derby but never made it to the starting gate due to a career-ending injury.
It was a string of tough luck, depressing enough to test anyone's mettle. That Zayat never allowed it to overwhelm him has resonated with Baffert.
"To endure that, it's just incredible," the now four-time Kentucky Derby-winning trainer said. "And he's still in there and he's got such a passion. ... These losses, it really brings out the true character in a man, and he's taken these horrible losses. He knows, he understands. He's always telling me, 'You know what? You did a great job.'"
Zayat said he has never viewed the Derby as a glass half-full experience, even after coming so close so often.
"How much can you expect? The race did not owe me anything. This is the hardest race for anyone to win in America, and perhaps the world. There are so many variables, like traffic and jostling and bad post positions. I had no illusions that I could win it," Zayat said. "We only started in racing in 2005. Our record was already insane. When I look at what we've done in the Derby, we've had seven horses: three were second, one won, and we had a favorite who was scratched. The record is humbling. All in all, this has only made it so much more fun and the near misses special."
So special that emotion caught up with Zayat and his family during their celebration after the race.
"It was an incredible high to see everyone's reaction. My wife [Joanne] was crying; my son Justin [an NYU student and racing manager for Zayat Stables] threw up. He was so nervous and excited that his stomach was turned upside down," Zayat said. "It was such a euphoric feeling. You can't script it. It was an incredible rush of emotions and the most beautiful thing to experience."
Yet there could be even bigger thrills ahead. Aside from being only the second 2-year-old champion to win the Derby since 1979, the past four Triple Crown winners possessed the same element as American Pharoah: They were all 2-year-old champions. They were very good at 2 and even better at 3, traits that equate to greatness. American Pharoah seems to be heading in that direction, and Zayat said he could not have picked a better horse to take him and his family on the ride of their lives.
"If I ever wanted to see one of my horses win the Kentucky Derby, it was him," he said. "He's a homebred. He's by a stallion of mine, Pioneerof the Nile, who I bred and was my first Grade 1 winner. He was second in the Kentucky Derby and now, in his first crop, here's his son winning the Kentucky Derby for me. American Pharoah is also out of a dam that raced for me and is named after my youngest daughter, Emma [Littleprincessemma]. I'm enjoying the ride. I'm basking in the high he gave me, and hopefully it will continue.
"I've never seen Bob Baffert this excited about a horse from day one. He told me early on, 'This is the horse I have been waiting for all my life.' That says something because he's not one to speak like that."
Come May 16, more indeed will said about American Pharoah, and if that tone sounds anything like it did at Churchill Downs, not just Ahmed Zayat but racing as well will have a rather amazing adventure ahead at Belmont Park in June.
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Jon
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Post by Jon on May 9, 2015 16:20:15 GMT -5
CC will like the last sentence. Maybe Chris? LOL
DIVINING ROD BREEZES HALF MILE AT FAIR HILL TRAINING CENTER Pimlico Notes
Lael Stables’ Divining Rod worked an easy half-mile in 51.60 seconds at Fair Hill Training Center Saturday morning in preparation for a scheduled start in the Preakness Stakes.
Trainer Arnaud Delacour said the four-furlong work at the Elkton, Md. facility went according to plan.
“He just stretched his legs out there, and that’s kind of what we wanted. He had a good breeze last week,” Delacour said. “Everything has been going well with him. He’s happy and came back in good shape.”
Gretchen and Roy Jackson, who bred and own the Tapit colt, watched the work during their weekly visit to Fair Hill.
Delacour said the winner of the Lexington Stakes (G3) at Keeneland in his most recent start on April 11 is ready for the Preakness.
“I am happy with him,” Delacour said. “It’s been a pretty uncomplicated preparation. We’ve had no setbacks, no major issues, so I feel good about it. Of course, it’s a big race. It’s a step up. It’s not an easy race, but as far as the preparations and the way he looks I’m very happy with everything.”
Delacour said he is looking forward to his first Preakness.
“It’s fun to be able to be a part of it,” he said. “We’re going to enjoy the day, try to give our best shot and hopefully have a good outcome.”
The Jacksons and Delacour were in the process of securing a jockey for Divining Rod, who was ridden in the Lexington by Julien Leparoux, who has the mount aboard Danzig Moon.
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Post by Deleted on May 9, 2015 16:20:57 GMT -5
BUT HE ALSO STILL WON DESPIT A BAD POST AND WITHOUT AS GOOD A TRIP AS OTHERS HAD. ITS NOT A SURE THING BUT I THINK HE HAS A LOT BETTER CHANCE THEN OTHERS HAVE HAD RECENTLY. BUT I WILL BE BETTING AGAINST MORE THEN LIKELY IN THE PREAKNESS AT EVEN MONEY.
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Jon
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Post by Jon on May 9, 2015 16:31:03 GMT -5
Because of scratches post wasn't that bad. He avoided all the bumping to the 1st turn. Yeah - Think he wins too.
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Post by Deleted on May 9, 2015 19:08:46 GMT -5
YEAH DANZIG MOON MAY BE THE PLAY NOW. MUSH OFF!! STRONG PLAY. LOLOL.
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Post by Evelyn on May 9, 2015 21:31:51 GMT -5
uh-oh lol
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