Hard to believe it, but 2012 is halfway done. Half empty? Nah, let’s go with half full … though it is half empty if you were to look at it literally. Nonetheless, it’s one of those times where it’s fun to see who are our mid-year MVPs.
This could, in and of itself, be premature. If I’ll Have Another wins the Triple Crown in little over a week, he’s Horse of the Year. There cannot be an argument against it, though I’m sure there will be. What scenarios could be in place to unseat the 12th Triple Crown winner in the history of horse racing?
He has three more starts and finishes last, last, last? Bodemeister wins the Haskell, Travers, and Breeders’ Cup Classic?
Since I’ll Have Another hasn’t won the TC yet, I’d go with Shackleford for the mid-year Eclipse. After his electric win in the Churchill Downs Stakes on the Derby undercard, he followed that up with the Grade 1 Met Mile setting Fabulous Strike-fractions. Shackleford is proving tough to beat due to his classy front-end spend. Nothing cheap about this speed at seven-eighths to a mile. I’d like to see this horse keep sprinting with races like the Forego, Vosburgh and the BC Dirt Mile.
I wrote back, “!”
The combined losing margin for Caleb’s Posse this year could fit into a Snickers wrapper. The problem with deep closers is traffic and not staying close enough to a speed ball, especially when that speed isn’t cheap. Still, it must be irritating to be second best with speed figures like that leaping off the page.
“These two have had a good rivalry,” trainer Dale Romans said. “It’s their fourth time against each other, and they’re 2-2. Caleb’s Posse is a great horse, and it’s a good rivalry. Let’s see each other again. It was the race of the year, and it’s exciting to have been part of it, win, lose, or draw, with all of those good horses. And it lived up to its billing. To be a nose apart at the wire, I think it lived up to the hype.”
And it was the race of the year. It proved that even a six-horse field makes for an outstanding sporting event.
Even beaten favorite To Honor and Serve’s trainer was eloquent, long-winded, and not the least bit sour after the race, “I don’t think the inside post helped us, that’s all.” That’s Bill Mott for you. That’s just how he rolls.
(That inside post is a killer in a six-horse field when you have the known-pace setter sitting to your immediate right. That’s all.)
The only older filly and mare I know is Havre de Grace and Royal Delta and the former retired and who knows what’s up with the latter (still recovering from Dubai). I’ll Have Another is a lock for champion three-year-old today, irregardless of the Belmont Stakes (unless Bodemeister does what I mentioned above).
For now the colts and horses have seized the reins back from the fillies and mares of the past three years and they look good, damn good, and fun as hell to watch.
01 Jun 2012 at 07:34 am | #
B, Wake up from your nightmare, put on your nasal strip and go back to bed.
If IHA wins the TC he’s HOY, game, set and match. To think otherwise would be as crazy as an Andy Kaufman skit. It would be like believing that we never put A MAN ON THE MOON. It would be like writing a book about Rachel A. instead of Zenyatta.
Now the game of horseracing can make any turf writer go insane. There have only been 11 TC winners since they started in 1875. That’s 136 years, no easy task. We have not seen a TC since 1978. That’s 33 years, a missing generation or two. To think that any turf writer could come up with another scenario for a TC winner to not win HOY is cuckoo. Like a lifetime horseplayer, just nuts.
Alydar, Calumet and the game of Life (Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah)
Andy Kaufman in the wrestling match (Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah)
Spectacular Bid and the safety pin (Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah)
The Facebook IPO was another ripoff (Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah)
Steve Crist, Charlie Hayward and the email exchange (Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah)
The mayor of New York says you can’t drink soda anymore (Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah)
Now, Andy did you hear about this one
Tell me, are you locked in the punch
Andy are you goofing on Elvis? Hey, baby
Are we losing touch
If you believed they put a man on the moon, man on the moon
If you believe there’s nothing up his sleeve, then nothing is cool
Big Red lost to Onion at Saratoga (Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah)
Another Senator cheated on his wife (Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah)
Top Turf Teddy gave out a hundred to one shot(Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah)
So horses really wear nasal strips (Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah)
Now Andy did you hear about this one
Tell me, are you locked in the punch
Hey, Andy are you goofing on Elvis? Hey, baby.
Are you having fun
If you believed they put a man on the moon, man on the moon
If you believe there’s nothing up his sleeve, then nothing is cool…
01 Jun 2012 at 09:07 am | #
In total agreement, he is Horse of the Year if he wins the Belmont, but the Devil needs an advocate and I need a few hundred words to write! I’m sure there’s someone jonesing for a chance to slice down the Triple Crown winner. Just give IHA the bronze statue if he can hold off the Fresh Legs.
Weeeeeee’ll see.
01 Jun 2012 at 11:25 am | #
Mr. Cat. 109.40-1 but whose counting. And that Senator, that was my wife. Oh yeah!
TTT
01 Jun 2012 at 11:26 am | #
who’s
01 Jun 2012 at 06:55 pm | #
B, It’s all good, just goofing on ya, besides any turf writer who is a Metallica head is allright in my book. 1___1
Tabasco Cat, Jeff Lukas and the game of Life (Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah)
Andy Beyer and the speed figure (Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah)
Pricci and Sisti are the tallest cappers in the biz (Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah)
Mike Watchmaker and Steve Crist still have long hair (Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah)
Nick Kling’s on record as no Pletcher fan (Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah)
Indulto is a better lyricist than Lava Man (Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah)
Ahmed Zayet should not run his horses on the Sabbath (Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah)
Top Turf Teddy still has Big Red’s Belmont two dollar win ticket (Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah)
Doug O’Neil gets his vanilla milkshake supersized at Mickey D’s (Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah)
Brendan O’Meara should be a Yankees fan (Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah)
See you heaven if you make the list (Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah)
Now, Andy did you hear about this one
Tell me, are you locked in the punch
Andy are you goofing on Elvis? Hey, baby
Are we losing touch
If you believed they put a man on the moon, man on the moon
If you believe there’s nothing up his sleeve, then nothing is cool
01 Jun 2012 at 07:01 pm | #
“Shackleford is proving tough to beat due to his classy front-end spend.”
Mr. Speedthrift urges that “spend” be revised in favor of…
Teddy, at a loss for words, after all these years!
Lousiana Downs today, start of race, race caller: “A very slow staert for Lost Opportunity.” (!)
The race was won by I Love Pickles. He won the photo. Betcha THAT went in someone’s racing scrapbook, after he cashed his tickets.
No, I’m not rooting for IHA (reasons, tiresome, not offered). With 82% of a Paulick report poll voters going with IHA, it would be illegal to pass up this opportunity to be a contrarian. Probably a broke contrarian, but still.
Yes, if he wins, it would be great to have just one year in which, regarding the annual & often annoying debate about HOTY, silence would not only be golden, but mandatory.