Top Three-Year-Old Has to be Oxbow

The three-year-olds have taken up half of our year, haven’t they? It seems like yesterday Itsmyluckyday upset Shanghai Bobby in the Holy Bull. Then, in a blink, it’s June. It’s fitting the sophomores take up most of our attention as they carry us through a winter wrought with despair and an extra ten pounds of “insulation

There was a momentary second when Oxbow beat Orb where the wind was knocked out of our lungs in Baltimore, but when we had a moment to catch our breath we realized it wasn’t all bad. There are silver linings around every turn. There’s always another race.

I might be in the minority here after the Triple Crown dust has settled and turned into mud that Oxbow is the top three-year-old.


There’s a molasses-like momentum around changing allegiance from Orb to anyone else. Being graced in roses has that effect. It’s time to breakdown, c’mon, now, give it to me.

There Will Be Blood

"DRRRAAAAAINAGE! DRRRAAAAINAGE, Eli, you boy!" yells Daniel Plainview, a fictional character from the great movie There Will Be Blood.

There’s a lot of Plainview in Massachusetts, a lot of Massachusetts in Plainview. It appears that the airplane that is horse racing in the Bay State has blown an engine and continues its maddening descent into national irrelevance. But, hey, the casinos are coming! The casinos are coming!

As a refresher, here’s the news. Suffolk Downs, the flagship of horse racing in Massachusetts, now withholds 5 percent of winnings from any bet that pays out $600 or more. This is, of course, on top of every other cream-skimming that turns a once delicious whole milk into watered-down drivel.

“If you have a milkshake … And I have a milkshake … And I have a straw. There it is,” says Plainview.

We Are Family

SARATOGA SPRINGS, NY, June 15, 2013—It’s a terrible irony that Ramon Dominguez, one of the game’s great family men, gets to celebrate Father’s Day on the ground when other fathers will be enjoying the races at Belmont Park.

Ordinarily, this would be a normal day for Dominguez, riding in about seven races on the nine race program, five or six of them favorites, half of those the public’s choice just because Dominguez is the jockey.

For fans of the sport in general and Dominguez in particular, Thursday’s announcement was not a major surprise but was as devastating as it was unwelcome. It was what insiders feared. His progress had been steady, but very slow and not good enough.

The brain injury happened at Aqueduct this winter, the result of a spill in which Dominguez was kicked in the head by a trailing horse. How badly was he hit? Hard enough to crack the helmet jockeys wear to protect themselves from serious injuries like this.

Dominguez probably should not have been at Aqueduct at all in January, but filling engagements on the good-horse circuits instead and maybe pick up a winning classics mount.

For all his dominance, he has only a placing in the Derby and Preakness and a show finish in the Belmont in what be any other measure is an astounding career. Fate’s finger is fickle alright, but this clearly was the cruelest cut, one he was fortunate to escape alive.

With Malice Aforethought

ELMONT, NY, June 8, 2013--After Wayne Lukas upset the Preakness with Oxbow, the Coach got a lot of credit for teaching his tough colt to get set for his best, relying on old partner Gary Stevens to help him find the hole card.

Stevens promptly put Oxbow to sleep right out of the Arkansas Derby starting gate and they learned something: They learned to let Oxbow use his high cruising speed, a tack that subsequently would work to perfection.

Meanwhile, one of the Coach's brightest pupils, Todd Pletcher, was doing some experimenting and learning of his own. He always thought highly of Palace Malice--and this guy's no cheerleader when it comes to assessing Thoroughbred talent---but the promise of morning never was realized in the afternoon.

When Palace Malice failed to show any speed going two turns in the Risen Star after coming out of a sprint, the effort left him shaking his head, even if the horse was a very willing third.

Pletcher soldiered on to the Louisiana Derby but the colt never had a chance to run, bottled up the entire length of America's longest homestretch.

And he needed graded points to get into the Derby so Pletcher, no big fan of synthetic surfaces, had to run him back in the Blue Grass--not that longtime patron Cot Campbell would mind. He came up a neck short but it was good enough to qualify for the Derby.

Breeders’ Cup good intentions zero out in Triple Crown

Not a single horse from last fall's Breeders' Cup Juvenile made it to the starting gate of the Kentucky Derby, Preakness or Belmont this spring. It's probably not coincidental that this was the first BC in which Lasix was not allowed in 2-year-old races. The result was an atypically small field. Moreover, the BC Juvenile Sprint drew only 5, an embarrassment that led to the race being discontinued. The same rule will remain in effect this November. The BC is to be commended for trying to take a leadership position but it picked the wrong spot. It probably has made another misstep in awarding Santa Anita a third straight BC in 2014 with the strong possibility the BC will be back on the West Coast in 2015.

One loss is no reason to jump off the Orb bandwagon

The Orb bandwagon emptied quickly after his dull Preakness but I'm staying aboard. All the factors that made the Derby winner look like a potential champion are still in place. He has the pedigree and style for the grueling mile and a half. Shug McGaughey is a master at getting horses good, then keeping them good. Joel Rosario is too fine a jockey to put in another ride like the one in Baltimore. What's more, there should be no walking on the lead in the third jewel of the Triple Crown. Orb's disappointing showing in the Preakness was a bummer for those yearning for a Triple Crown winner. But the upside is, he should be a generous 3-1 or so, rather than 1-2 or less had he won in Baltimore.

For California Racing, Now What?

HOLLYWOOD, June 5, 2013--With Hollywood Park’s closure, the stabling situation in California will be a negative at best. Disgruntlement among owners and trainers will reach its zenith. There conceivably could be a huge traffic jam heading East.

The new concept ofered only serves Del Mar and Santa Anita. How shortsighted could the power brokers be? When people are looking for comfort and convenience, they spread the field out. I get it: TVG or HRTV will save the day.

Trainers are sure to have nightmares dealing with an ever-changing labor force. How will they be able to get jockeys to regularly work their horses? They’ll have to add payroll, something they can ill afford. Heaven help them if they have to pay stall rent, too.

There will be much haggling over vanning expenses. Will they have to pass the cost on to already reluctant owners? The added food, lodging, and gas cost of commuting will be significant. I pity those on the fringe.

I can see it now: seasoned trainers car-pooling to and from Del Mar for the short meet. Days will be long; bodies tired. Heck, I can even see trainers meeting in the Santa Anita parking lot in the dark of morning before going to train at San Luis Rey Downs.

California Racing: Trying to Make Sense of What Happened

HOLLYWOOD, June 4, 2013--Have you ever found yourself sitting, watching a movie, refusing to turn it off if only to see how bad it can get?

At the moment, this is what California Thoroughbred horse racing has become; a train wreck in progress.

For the longest time I have been playing the role Paul Revere, West Coast racing style. But nobody listened. It’s gotten so I’m almost happy to boast “I told you so!”

But time has come to turn off the television. As the late Dandy Don Meredith would sing on Monday nights: “Turn out the lights, the party’s over.”

It is not by the stretch of any imagination do I suggest that California race tracks padlock their gates. The nature of the beast, the gamblers, is the tracks’ best ally.

There will always be gamblers but no end in sight to the free fall that quality Southern California racing is enduring. In that regard, the racing programs will more resemble Santa Rosa than Saratoga.

We often hear how California is an “island.” Never do we hear how about the benefits of racing out west. Now, without betting dollars from the east, those padlocks might come in handy