Racehorses in History March: Ta Wee
1966-1980
Why: A half-sister to Dr. Fager, Ta Wee won 15 of her 21 starts, including the Vosburgh and the Miss Woodford; her victories came despite imposts of up to 142 pounds. She was the granddam of Holy Bull.
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 Was Polyphemus in pursuit? The Tampa Bay Derby was, perhaps, last Saturday’s most dramatic race, and one can look at Odysseus’ win two ways – as a horse who gets himself into trouble (but still manages to win), or as a horse who fights to win despite the odds. The latter is a more interesting story, so we’ll be sticking with that one; it’s hard to recall a more exciting finish to a Derby prep. Of course, the horse also highlights the apparent lack of classical knowledge in modern America – why should it be so difficult to pronounce his name? Did no one ever read The Iliad or The Odyssey? I don’t demand that they be read in Greek or even in a boring Loeb or Chapman edition, but come on – at least the CliffsNotes of another English translation? I have a sneaking suspicion that the Latin version, Ulysses, would be just as complicated, despite a president so named being pictured on the $50 bill. Sigh.
That aside, I am thrilled that Odysseus seems to be the real deal – now I can refer to him undertaking Sisyphean tasks, or I can point out that Heinrich Schliemann dug through Homeric Troy (or, if you prefer, Ilion), or that Charles Maclaren identified Hisarlik as Troy long before Schilemann…the possibilities are endless! I don’t get to use my archaeology degrees very often, so this is a rare moment of excitement – if someone would name a horse after something Minoan, Mycenaean or Hallstatt-related, that would be lovely; I’d have a lot more sympathy with race callers having difficulty with a horse named Býčí Skála (although I would secretly enjoy it).
Of course, he was not the only promising 3-year-old in action last weekend; Lookin At Lucky’s win in the Rebel demonstrated that he’s back this year in good form – trainer Bob Baffert joked:
“It’s got to make you [Turf writers] feel better for voting for him for champion two-year-old. We watched Rachel Alexandra get beat, and you think, ‘Oh, I hope that’s not us.’ It’s horse racing, so anything can happen. That’s the beauty of it.”
It was encouraging to see him win on conventional dirt at Oaklawn, but the California race he defected from, the San Felipe, was very interesting as well. Sidney’s Candy was a deserving winner, but Interactif and Caracortado both had wide trips but finished well; American Lion looked like the distance was perhaps a bit much for him. The question remains how they will all fare on traditional dirt, but hopefully we’ll get a chance to see them give that a shot before May.
We’ll look more at the Florida Derby later this week - Eskenderya is out to try the Wood Memorial instead, and Rule is looking to take his place as the Big Horse in the field, which will also include Lentenor, with Alan Garcia aboard…
 This means you, NTRA Let’s begin with a basic premise: getting a check for second is not a failure, but a non-working website is. With that in mind, let’s examine the events of the past weekend. For some reason, American racing at the highest level is hung up on success or ‘failure’ in an individual race – while this is most likely because our best horses simply do not race as often as their counterparts in Europe, Australia and Japan do, it serves as a useful reminder that we might take a longer view.
Let’s look at Goldikova’s career – it took her four races to get her first win for the year in 2008, and in her initial 2009 race (seven months after her first Breeders’ Cup Mile triumph), she finished a dismal seventh. Yet there were no calls to send her to the breeding shed or wailing and gnashing of teeth that she was past her best – she just went back to tougher training, returned to the races again about two months later and won her next three races. There was minor upset when she finished third in her prep race immediately before she came to defend her Breeders’ Cup title, but her connections simply took it as a sign that she needed the race; and, indeed, she put in another sparkling performance at Santa Anita.
Watching Rachel Alexandra’s performance on Saturday, I certainly did not see a wannabe broodmare (and I’d love to see it demonstrated that life as a broodmare is somehow ’safer’ than life on the track for a top-level filly or mare – that certainly does not ring true anecdotally) – just a horse at sub-optimal fitness. She could easily follow Goldikova’s example and be back to her usual freakish self by May or June – and I’m pleased to see her connections are heading in that direction. While it’s a shame for everyone at Oaklawn who worked to make a showdown in the Apple Blossom a possibility, I would rather see them meet further down the line, when both are at peak fitness – although I am hopeful that Zardana will take on her stablemate, Zenyatta, in the race.
And so to Zenyatta, who is being rather overlooked simply because ‘Zenyatta wins‘ is less of a story than ‘Rachel finishes second’ – as expected, she’s still perfection personified (although it was a less ‘pretty’ race than we might normally see from her, but that’s more down to the way things unfolded). It’s wonderful to see her unbeaten streak continue (it’s churlish to argue with 15-0, unless we’re talking about Pepper’s Pride), but I know I’m not the only one wondering if the seam that opened for her on Saturday would have been found at another track – had she been running at, say, Belmont, she would have had quite a target on her back à la Smarty Jones. That’s not to say she would not have overcome it, since great horses make their own luck, but it would have been a real test for her – hopefully we’ll see her travel further afield (beyond Oaklawn and, one presumes, Churchill Downs) this year.
But before we leave Zenyatta and Rachel Alexandra news, we must address the massive NTRA FAIL in their webcast of both races. One wonders what sort of traffic they were expecting if the other ten people complaining about it on Twitter could not get in – and it should have been simple enough to scale up the bandwidth in any event. After all, we were able to keep the Penn Vet server running when Barbaro was put down (despite no warning, not that we expected one) just by farming some predictable high-traffic items (e.g. photos, video) out to another server. It’s not hard. They would be wise to follow the #runserverlessbiz tweets from #SXSW – or just compare clouds and make a decision. And here’s a little more free consulting advice (I do normally charge a lot for something this straightforward, but I’m making a nice exception) – putting the video stream behind a login is a huge turnoff to casual or would-be fans. Sure, you want to gather data on users, but why not do it after they are already invested? I’m sure the stats should a huge dropoff between clicking on the ‘live’ link and actual signups – and that’s not surprising. The call to sign up needs to be somewhere else – unless the whole point of the login was to deter potential users. In that case, well done!
Check back tomorrow, when we’ll get back to reviewing the 3-year-olds, especially Odysseus, Lookin At Lucky and Sidney’s Candy…
Rachel Alexandra and Zenyatta are both in action on Saturday, which means racing fans will be torn between sheer excitement at seeing them on the track again, and nail-biting concern that the slightest bobble could keep one or both out of their planned showdown in the Apple Blossom next month. Ed DeRosa calms fans’ nerves through the power of statistics, while the Blood-Horse just goes for raw data (and pretty pictures) with their enthusiastic Tale of the Tape. So, what can we expect to see from each mare?
 Rachel Alexandra, now with extra muscle Of the two, Rachel Alexandra should have the tougher task in the New Orleans Ladies, despite the small field – her long layoff means she’s likely to be overeager to go (not that it should matter much), and John Sheriffs trainee Zardana is something of an unknown quantity – the Brazilian-bred has proven she’s effective on synthetics in the US, while this will be her first start on dirt Stateside. But Rachel Alexandra was also busy growing over the winter; let’s recall she’s only 4. She certainly needed time off after the Woodward to regain a little weight, and now she looks more powerful than ever. She’s never going to be as massive as 17-hand Zenyatta, but Rachel Alexandra has filled out and grown into her frame – that despite the fact that she’s still not at peak fitness. If she does have another one of her runaway wins, it may be just the workout she needs to get ready for Oaklawn.
 Yes, she even does that when schooling Zenyatta kept in light training after the Breeders’ Cup, and so she just needs to keep her fitness topped up – she’s coming into the Santa Margarita with her usual perfection apparent. Her high weight assignment won’t come close to making the race even – she’s won carrying two pounds more – but it’s not really the point, is it? Ben Cecil, trainer of Gripsholm Castle, admits that barring something very odd happening, everyone else is running for second (and I’m all for Pretty Unusual getting a G1 placing on her record). It should be fun to see her hanging back and then doing her usual power sweep at the end (if all goes well).
It is encouraging to note that the Powers That Be at both Santa Anita and the Fair Grounds worked together to ensure that fans could easily catch both races:
Saturday’s New Orleans Ladies is Race 10 on Fair Grounds’ 11-race program and will go off at 5:15 p.m. (CST), a time that was set in cooperation with Santa Anita Park, where champion older female ZENYATTA (Street Cry [Ire]) will make her 2010 debut in the Santa Margarita S. (G1) at 5:40 p.m. (CST).
“Everyone involved agreed it would be best to have both races within the same hour,” Fair Grounds Vice President and General Manager Eric Halstrom said. “There is such intense interest in these two great females and we want to make it easy for racing fans all over the country to see both of them run.”
In another indication of someone in the industry actually paying attention (I know, it is shocking), the NTRA will be webcasting both races, with the always-welcome Randy Moss keeping things moving. A slight aside: our friends at Post Parade bemoan the lack of a weekly recap show, and his was always worth watching for the racing fan – can we at least get his podcast back? Fans who pay too much for cable sports packages can watch on HRTV; I suspect I will be doing both while Twittering – it’s multi-tasking at its finest. Regardless of how well the webcast and broadcast turn out this weekend, I hope these positive steps forward mean that a major national broadcaster will cover the Apple Blossom – but it’s understandable that no announcement would be made until after Saturday.
In one aspect, this weekend will be easier for fans than the Apple Blossom (now with 45 nominations) itself will be – we can actively root for both Rachel Alexandra and Zenyatta to win. It won’t be so simple next time – but it will be a great thing to see. Fingers crossed.
 Is another Bickersons triumph in the making? We’ll save Friday for Rachel Alexandra and Zenyatta, so let’s take a look at this weekend’s 3-year-old races today. The Tampa Bay Derby may be one of the most exciting Derby preps so far this season – it features the highly-hyped Super Saver, Uptowncharlybrown and wise-guy horse Odysseus. I admit a keen interest in Odysseus and am looking forward to see how he steps up to this level of competition, but it’s a tough group all around.
Meanwhile, at Santa Anita, the San Felipe has also drawn an interesting field, including American Lion, Caracortado, Sidney’s Candy and Interactif, who makes the switch from turf to synthetics. Caracortado is unbeaten as is shaping up to be the feel-good story of the Derby trail, with trainer Mike Machowsky eschewing big-name jockeys to keep regular rider Paul Atkinson aboard the chestnut gelding. It should be a very interesting race.
Lookin At Lucky will leave California to make his 2010 debut at Oaklawn in the Rebel – and this time, he gets blinkers. He should be tested by Dublin, Noble’s Promise and Cardiff Giant – and if he’s not, one imagines that his burgeoning bandwagon will swell even further. Here’s hoping for good weather.
The 3-year-old fillies also have a good weekend on tap – Bickersons looks very strong in the Cicada at Aqueduct, while She Be Wild is aiming to improve on her last start (in which she finished well behind Bickersons) in the Florida Oaks. Local favorite Diva Delite may be tough to beat – or She Be Wild could bounce back, erasing fears of The Halfbridled Effect.
Of course, as useful as these will be for Derby and Oaks trail handicappers, these races are all something of a taster – the real excitement is reserved for later Saturday afternoon…
 Game on Here’s a conspiracy theory for you – while Crisp certainly looked fine in her upset victory in the Santa Anita Oaks, it was a race Blind Luck ‘had to lose’ to stave off Derby fever – hence the change to her usual running style (and the troubled trip overall). An easy victory would have made it harder to argue that she should stick with her own sex (for now), and this keeps her on the road to the Kentucky Oaks, rather than the Derby. In all seriousness, the top three finishers all looked good – and Blind Luck, in particular, looked like she’d relish some extra distance. There’s always the Belmont…
I’m not entirely sold on the colts who ran last weekend (yet) – I liked Awesome Act’s performance in the Gotham, but I’m not quite ready to add him to my top list at present (although I have no good reason for that – I like a versatile horse who can perform on different surfaces); however, he definitely merits further consideration. The same goes for Sham winner Alphie’s Bet, the subject (along with his trainer, Alexis Barba) of a fine article by Joe Drape – I want to see how both horses look in their next starts.
The fact is that the Derby trail is simply not as compelling as what’s happening next Saturday – Zenyatta and Rachel Alexandra are both making their yearly debuts. Zenyatta (pictured) has been assigned 127 pounds in the Santa Margarita at Santa Anita; while she’s carrying the high weight, she’s won with more, and the field should not offer her any trouble – she worked another bullet on Friday in preparation, and on paper, it’s another paid workout for her on Saturday.
As for Rachel Alexandra, not many have elected to take her on in the New Orleans Ladies; although she won’t be 100% fit, the field of four other mares should (in theory) still be easy pickings, even with the addition of John Sheriffs’ talented Brazilian trainee Zardana. Still, as this race is really a prep for the Apple Blossom (and it looks as though Rachel Alexandra has been bored with her layoff and needs a race), we’ll wait to see how things pan out – her last work was impressive. We’ll have more on both races as well as Lookin At Lucky’s 3-year-old debut later in the week.
Finally, while things did not pan out for St Trinians in the Big Cap, nicely won by Misremembered, another mare went against the boys and came away with a win – Proviso took home the Kilroe Mile in the final strides, becoming the first filly or mare to win the race. Formerly trained by Bobby Frankel and now in the care of Bill Mott, the British-bred bay has a starry pedigree (by Dansili, so she’s a grand-daughter of Hasili) and has finished within striking distance of Goldikova in France – perhaps she’ll prove a bigger threat in the Breeders’ Cup Mile this year…
 Come get some. We’re rather overcommitted here at Superfecta HQ this week, so updates are short and snappy (in theory).
The Breeders’ Cup is still toying with the asinine idea of holding the event at Santa Anita (or perhaps somewhere else, but they really want Santa Anita) forever and ever, amen. I would probably be excited about this if I still lived on the left coast, but as I don’t and certainly cannot afford to travel that far to said event, I hate the concept from both a business perspective as well as from a person convenience one.
Flanders, who famously beat Serena’s Song despite a broken leg, was put down as the result of a paddock accident. Oddly, it seems to have happened a few weeks ago, but the news only got out a few days ago. As ever, it’s hard to keep track of great racemares once they head to the farm (can’t someone in Kentucky make a sweep every few weeks, taking photos of Miesque, Personal Ensign and the like, so that we know what they are up to – even those who have been pensioned?), but it’s unfortunate that no one thought to let her fans know about her fate until several weeks later.
Bill Finley would like Blind Luck to follow the Winning Colors path to the Santa Anita Derby, and perhaps the one in Kentucky. So would I. She’s third on the graded earnings list – take the shot!
One distaffer definitely going against the boys will be Life Is Sweet – she will get to take a step out of stablemate Zenyatta’s shadow by running in the Dubai World Cup. You may recall she has run well in mixed company before, finishing a creditable third (especially given the traffic trouble) in the Hollywood Gold Cup last year. The last horse she finished second to, St Trinians, is also still aiming to take on the boys, but without the long trip to Dubai – she’s on track for the Santa Anita Handicap, despite ‘her curious, crab-like action‘ and uncommercial bloodlines. Both mares are set for good storylines – and, of course, Japanese star Vodka does that sort of thing all the time.
But back to the 3-year-olds – it’s hard to see how Christine Daae will pick up any graded earnings by winning allowance races, but she could meet up with Amen Hallelujah, the impressive winner of the Davona Dale, in the Bonnie Miss. It’s certainly an interesting possibility.
The 3-year-old colt picture did not get much less murkier last weekend; Radiohead proved he can run on real dirt (feel free to insert a joke about ‘fake plastic trees’ here), but beyond that, things are still a mystery. And, quite frankly, they are not (yet) as exciting to watch as the preparations for the Apple Blossom – Rachel Alexandra and Zenyatta both continue to work toward their seasonal debuts on March 13th. Let’s hope Santa Anita does not have to cancel another card for rain – we’re going to have enough drama leading up to the race in April as it is…
Bickersons: because sometimes you don't have time to find an image of Christine Daae Sure, the Sham is this weekend, but the real race of interest as far as 3-year-olds are concerned is the Davona Dale – who needs colts? Christine Daae, she of the recent bullet-work and considerable buzz (I’m still waiting to see her ‘distinctive markings‘ in a still), will face off against some formidable foes at Gulfstream Park, including champion She Be Wild and speedy Bickersons. Amen Hallelujah and Sassy Image are also strong competitors – it has the makings of a great race, and we can decide whether it’s an Oaks or Derby prep at some point in the future.
Las year’s Davona Dale winner, Justwhistledixie, returns to the scene of her former triumph for a shot at the Sabin Stakes. A good effort here could snag her an invitation to the Apple Blossom – she’s one of ten runners nominated so far, eight of whom will get the call to take on Rachel Alexandra and Zenaytta (and a big check for third, if both come – or perhaps fourth, if Bambera stays true to her Latin American form).
And as for the older guys, Presious Passion is at work in the Mac Diarmida stakes, also at Gulfstream. His goal is a start in the Dubai Sheema Classic next month. There is some potential competition from Winchester and Imawildandcrazyguy (remember him from the ‘07 Triple Crown trail? I believe he has yet to win a race), but I have a soft spot for the Jimmy Jerkins-trained Thou Swell – who doesn’t like a horse named after a Rogers and Hart song?
 Eskendereya gets a paycheck for someone We finally had a weekend of real Derby preps! Eskendereya put in the fine performance we expected to see last week – and then some. His runaway win in the Fountain of Youth earned a 106 Beyer – the highest by a 3-year-old so far this season, and his bandwagon seems to have picked up at least a few passengers. Buddy’s Saint has no real chance to show off – he was bumped around considerably before the first turn, and essentially taken out of the race. Meanwhile, the ongoing legal tussle between Fifth Third Bank and Eskendereya’s owner, Ahmed Zayat, continues apace – but it would seem that Eskendereya’s win was good for somebody, somewhere in that tangle.
While not as visually impressive, Bob Baffert’s second-stringer, Conveyance, took the Southwest in style; Lookin At Lucky is still a few weeks off from his 3-year-old debut, but Baffert should feel quite confident that, barring injury, he’s got at least one Derby horse in the barn. Dublin was a close second in the Southwest, with blog favorite Cardiff Giant in third. Conveyance and Cardiff Giant have finished in the top three in two Derby preps, now, and Dublin seems to be moving forward – the California contingent looks strong (at least from this late February vantage point).
Discreetly Mine also marked himself as one to watch in the Risen Star, while D’Funnybone and A Little Warm went one-two in the Hutcheson. Like Eskendereya, Discreetly Mine is trained by Todd Pletcher, who also had a win over the weekend in the El Camino Real derby with Connemara – that’s one way to kick off a ten-day suspension!
But the 3-year-old fillies are at work as well – Christine Daae worked a bullet at Gulfstream today, and Bickersons and Amen Hallelujah are aiming to take her on in the Davona Dale on Saturday. There is much to look forward to in their division.
Things did not go as expected in Older Horse Land – Friesan Fire and Gio Ponti both missed out on the winner’s circle. Friesan Fire battled with General Quarters in the stretch of the Mineshaft, but both were outrun by Stonehouse, a little-heralded 6-year-old with 10 wins out of 38 starts (and another 11 finishes in the money). General Quarters managed to hang on for second (which seems to have become his preferred finish), but Friesan Fire ended up fourth behind Giant Oak. Things did not go as expected for Gio Ponti either – he acted up in the gate and ended up second (by a nose) to Karelian at Tampa Bay Downs. However, as it’s his first race after a bit of a layoff, the fact that he still managed to pick up a check is encouraging – this race was more of a prep than a ‘must win’ for him.
Finally, there’s some entirely awesome news – yes, there will be Apple Blossom trading cards. I can see some quality eBay time in my future as a result of this announcement. For all Apple Blossom news, continue to check out the official website, but also visit the coolest horse racing tumblr site (well, OK, the only horse racing tumblr site) I’ve ever seen: RA-Zen hell blog. It’s all good.
 Gaining 100 pounds can be good for some Road to the Roses kicks off this weekend, and while I have no idea why the Turf Paradise Derby and the El Camino Real Derby are scoring races (although at least the latter is graded), the rest should be very interesting indeed.
First up is the Hutcheson at Gulfstream Park, which includes a little potential owner/trainer/owner drama. You may recall that Paul Pompa sold most of Big Brown to IEAH, and that his participation in the horse’s career seemed more marginal after that (not surprising, given the amount of cash involved). He’s back this time with D’Funnybone, trained by Rick Dutrow. Also trained by Rick Dutrow is British-bred Radiohead – now (mostly) owned by IEAH. As neither horse excelled in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile, it’s hard to separate the two at this point – so I am more interested in A Little Warm and Wildcat Frankie, despite the opportunity Radiohead presents to continually drop in lyrics. Will the Karma Police be on hand if things go all ‘Jersey Shore?’
Also at Gulfstream, the Fountain of Youth features the hyped Buddy’s Saint as well as Jackson Bend. Eskendereya and Aikenite are both horses I would enjoy watching much more if they were not trained by Todd Pletcher, which essentially guarantees that one of them will finish last in the Derby. But despite the jinx, I have a lot of time for Eskendereya and expect to see a good performance from him.
Moving to the Fair Grounds, the Risen Star has also attracted an interesting lineup. I’m not sold on Ron the Greek yet; it will curious to see how he takes on Tempted to Tapit and Drosselmeyer. If nothing else, Tempted to Tapit will be carrying the banner for the Jockey Club’s inability to identify modern slang. One presumes they at least recognized Drosselmeyer’s name from their ballet season tickets.
While it won’t ‘count’ for Road to the Roses, the Southwest is back on at Oaklawn Park for this Saturday with the same field – post positions are a bit different, but it should still be a good test for Dublin, Dryfly, Conveyance and, of course, Cardiff Giant.
Oaklawn is to be commended not only for pulling the Rachel Alexandra-Zenyatta Apple Blossom together, but also for actually marketing the event with a decent website and Twitter account. The news that they’ll be opening the infield for the sold-out race is equally encouraging – it’s nice that someone in this industry actually gets how to do this. Here’s hoping for an announcement about a traditional media partner in the very near future. And given that both mares had great workouts yesterday (Rachel Alexandra looks pretty fabulous in today’s picture), it seems that we’re all systems go – for now.
But there’s another top older horse at work, too – although in this case he’s flying somewhat under the radar. Gio Ponti is making his 2010 debut on turf in the Tampa Bay Stakes with a view toward the Dubai World Cup. He’s the overwhelming standout in the field, so it should be an easy return to racing for the 5-year-old.
Remember to update your active horses (I find it too shameful to call them Power Horses this year)!
Finally, in parting, please enjoy this link to a photo of Zarkava and her Dalakhani filly. It’s like an adorable basket of kittens, only better – no need to feed them!
 Alastair Sim and a pink horse While we’re not normally in the Behind the Name business, the news that St Trinians is aiming to take on the boys in the Santa Anita Handicap (rather than face Zenyatta in the Santa Margarita – which does seem a wise move) was too compelling to ignore – and this move fits what might be called the ‘St. Trinian’s ethos’ perfectly.
For those who have not spent enough time living in the UK to know that the same thirty or so films are on television throughout the year, the name may sound like a harmless parish church or quaint village – but it’s nothing of the sort. St. Trinian’s began life as a cartoon by Ronald Searle in 1942; the subject was an all-girl boarding school whose pupils have an amusing penchant for pranks, a little violence and some crime. St. Trinian’s-themed books continued to be released during the 1940s and 1950s, and in 1954, the first film, The Belles of St. Trinian’s, was released, featuring Alastair Sim in a classic dual-role performance as headmistress Miss Fritton and her bookie brother, Clarence. More interestingly, from our perspective, the plot revolves around horse racing – and not unlike modern racing, the horse in question is owned by a sheik – in this case, the father of one of the students. Hijinks ensue when groups of students bet on (and against) the horse, with the usual fighting and kidnapping elements swirling around.
While the modern remaking of the franchise puts the girls (naturally, in particularly short ‘naughty schoolgirl’ uniforms – although those were also a staple of the original series) front and center, the original films revolved around Sim and the other adults, with the girls appearing onscreen to cause mayhem (or to sell Flash Harry their homemade gin) every so often. Despite his prominent role in the films, Sim might best be known to some for a role he did not play – Alec Guinness essentially ‘did‘ Alastair Sim when he played Marcus in The Ladykillers.
But back to the girls of St. Trinian’s – their school song seems appropriate enough for a filly looking to stomp on a few colts:
Maidens of St Trinian’s, gird your armour on.
Grab the nearest weapon; never mind which one.
The battle’s to the strongest; might is always right.
Trample on the weakest; glory in their plight.
St Trinian’s! St Trinian’s! Our battle cry.
St Trinian’s! St Trinian’s! Will never die.
Stride towards your fortune boldly on your way,
Never once forgetting there’s one born every day.
Let our motto be broadcast: “get your blow in first!”
She who draws the sword last always comes off worst.
I’m hoping for a horse named after a character in The Wicker Man next.
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