Whither Randy Moss?

Pity poor John Servis – he had a brush with possible greatness (or at least Very Goodness) with Smarty Jones, had a rough ride with Rockport Harbor and lost Hard Spun to Larry Jones after picking him out for Rick Porter. Now he has a truly thankless task ahead of him – he must attempt to get Coat the Cubes, a half-sister to The Green Monkey, to the winner’s circle. To be fair, she’s at least done more than her hapless sibling, but can someone send some decent horses in Servis’ direction?

We’ll get to the exciting Derby trail races shortly, but we should not overlook a great day of racing all around on Saturday – Indian Blessing is taking on Proud Spell again at the Fair Grounds and Grasshopper meets my perpetual crush Brass Hat in the New Orleans Handicap in a field that includes Magna Graduate and Circular Quay.

But on to the Derby Trail — Giant Moon finally takes on something of a higher-quality field in the Gotham, but all eyes will be on the Louisiana Derby: Pyro is deservedly the favorite, but I am most looking forward to seeing Tale of Ekati (right, in a particularly lovely Barbara Livingston photograph) and Majestic Warrior making their 2008 debuts. If they live up to the promise they showed briefly last year, we should have quite a race.

In case you were wondering why Monba didn’t fire in the Fountain of Youth, apparently he cut his foot and ‘pulled a gluteal muscle‘ – given the record The Green Monkey had with that particular ailment, one wonders if it is somehow contagious in the Pletcher barn…

But before we go, one question for the NTRA — where has ‘Stretch Drive’ gone? I need my Randy Moss fix, and I’m getting nothing. It’s not even listed on the NTRA podcast page any more. Here’s a tip: a recording of a ‘weekly teleconference’ doesn’t get to be called a podcast — that’s just listening to someone stuck at their desk. Given the fact that most of these races aren’t even on non-HRTV/TVG television, a weekly podcast is really scraping the bottom of the barrel as far as providing content. Can someone just hand the man a webcam?