Super Saturday Prep Preview

by TCI 235 days ago

The TCI Boys breakdown Super Saturday — a critical day of major preps in California and New York that will undoubtedly have huge implications on this year’s Breeders’ Cup at Santa Anita. Does the strength among North American contenders lie on the West Coast or East Coast this year? We’ll tell you what we think.

Watch it. Comment.

TCI Top 5 Ladies’ Classic

Rank Name Comments
1 It’s Tricky Classy, honest, tactical, and doesn’t have to take her racetrack with her = No. 1 in this division
2 Royal Delta It’s worth noting that her wins/races away from Churchill Downs haven’t been nearly as good
3 Awesome Feather One of two undefeated 2yo champs pointing for this; May be favored off her explosive BEL win
4 Questing (GB) Still prefer her deadly speed over undefeated champ My Miss Aurelia, who beat her in a thrilling Cotillion
5 Include Me Out Top local distaffer will have home field advantage, but this division is probably deepest of any

through 9/27/2012


- More posts: 2012 Breeders' Cup, Featured Horse Racing News, Whats Hot in Horse Racing

Discussion

  • Joe Polander

    Joel – I had a blast today watching some major BC preps on Super Saturday. Next Saturday and Sunday promise to bring home more key win and youre in BC races. Jersey Town was a monster in the Kelso, if he keeps his form he looks like a major contender. Nonios put in a strong race at SA finishing a distant second to Superstar Game On Dude. It looks like Nonios likes the SA track and he looks to be a major player in the BC dirt Mile should his connections send him there. Very impressive performance by Point of Entry in his turf race. I know you are high on the Euro’s Joel, Snow Fairy, St. Nicholas Abbey, Acclamation may also run, but I believe that Point of Entry has a real shot at an upset. His trainer Shug Mcgaughey believes the firm turf at SA on Bc day will let Point Of Entry’s star shine bright that day, I know that I am sold on him, he will be one of my picks, along with the top Euro’s in the race. Power Broker looked awesome at 1 1/16 at SA in the FrontRunner. He looks to be one of the favorites and could be the one to beat, seeing how he likes the track. He blew away Know More, a quality juvenile. Finally, Game on Dude stamped himself as the one to beat in the BC Classic. The #1 PP did not hurt him at all. He loves SA and has tactical speed, stamina, and a very good jockey. I know you really liked Flat Out last year. he dissapointed in the 2011 BC Classic at Churchill Downs. Flat Out sure looked good at 1 1/4 miles in the Jockey Club race. He was absolutely flying at the top of the stretch to get up for the win. 5 weeks rest should do him good. Right now my 2 picks for the Classic are Game On Dude and Flat Out. Joel- What are your views on Jersey Town,Nonios,Point of Entry,Power Broker, and Flat Out.

    • Joel Cunningham

      Looks like Snow Fairy is out, but I do like Danedream, St. Nicholas Abbey, Sea Moon, Nathaniel, etc (depending on which ones come over) on raw class at 1 1/2 miles. We’ll see. I do think if you look at history, the Americans have done best in the turf when the weather was warm and the turf courses were shorter types of grass and very firm. So with that said, I do give our speed horses an outside chance if they run well…horses like Little Mike (who clearly hated the bog at BEL yesterday), Turbo Compressor and, of course, Acclamation, who has the best shot due to his class and experience over that turf course.
      I have been waiting (along with Baffert) on Power Broker to get on real dirt. I think he showed that he’s really the only strong contender in that Juvenile division from California. I like 2 Pletchers in the Juvenile – Micromanage and Archwarrior. Both are workmates and both impressed me most so far in terms of showing quality in their debuts, but also having the pedigrees and styles that make me believe they’ll be even better going around two turns. We’ll learn much much more in the Champagne S.
      As for Flat Out, I wasnt surprised at all to see that performance knowing how much he loves Belmont..he’s just a different horse there than anywhere else IMO. The problem is he seems to disappoint me everywhere else he runs. Frankly, I’m tired of chasing him outside of BEL and won’t be betting on him at Santa Anita :) I think the Classic is almost guaranteed to have Game on Dude in the Exacta. And (without knowing of any Euros or other foreign horses that may come) I frankly don’t think there are many active horses out there who can beat him right now at Santa Anita UNLESS he gets caught up in a quick pace that will set the stage for him to worry about the deep closers coming late…a horse like Ron the Greek..but the pace will have to be fast IMO

  • Joel Cunningham

    Joe, this weekend is almost action overload…a lot to process. Glad you enjoyed it as much as we did, and hope you made a few bucks along the way. More importantly, I hope it really wet the appetite for the Breeders’ Cup…I know I’m pumped moreso, and I’m hoping to make some money wagering on it based a lot on notes from racing this past weekend.
    You mentioned Jersey Town. He showed signs at Saratoga that he was rounding back into his better form, and the slingshot move he made to run by 3 high-cruising-speed horses (Shackleford, To Honor and Serve, Trickmeister) was impressive. BUT he’s a niche horse in that he wants to close into a fast pace around one turn…so I just cannot see him replicating that performance around two turns at Santa Anita in the Dirt Mile. I do, however, love Shackleford’s return effort, and really believe he’s one of the horses to beat in the Dirt Mile now off of that prep. THAS will never win a race where he must make up a ton of ground…it’s not his game…he has to lay relatively close and over-power horses in the lane with his high-cruising, grinding style.
    Nonios is THE best 3yo dirt horse in training. I felt that way despite his subpar performance in the Travers. I do think he can be on the board in the Classic (I think they go in Classic and not Dirt Mile), but not sure he’s as good as the 4yos right now to be able to win it. Game On Dude did what was expected, although it wasn’t excessively good…but I’m sure Bob didnt want him to run TOO hard this weekend to save the A+ effort for Nov.
    Point of Entry has really emerged out of nowhere and is on an incredible roll. But I think he’ll be out of his element and over-bet facing Euros in California…I’d give him a chance if the BC were in NY, but not in Cali IMO.


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