Thursday, July 19, 2012

Del Mar's opening day lacked oomph

You could have missed Del Mar's opening day without really missing anything. The Oceanside races had a number of respectable runners, particularly in the first division, which ironically ended up the slower. The 2010 Oceanside did showcase Twirling Candy, but the race restrictions against stakes winners in the Oceanside tend to have the effect of creating what looks like your typical overnight stake, but for 3-year-olds only. As for the rest of the card, two of the three non claimers or maiden claimers were for Cal-breds, and the other was at 5f on the turf, reducing its likely relevance.

If a good horse emerges from the card, it could be Ballard Ruler, who was a good ways the best taking a 2-year-old Cal-bred maiden special weight. In fact, he looked better than most of the open 2-year-old winners I've seen in California this year. Then Lakerville, the winner of the previously disparaged turf sprint, is now 3 for 4 with a 2nd. Running at 5f yesterday, he doesn't seem on the path to a stretch-out, but given my study of come-from-behind horses often transitioning to distance races well, and the distance-possible sire, Unusual Heat, I wonder why he isn't.

I just think Del Mar's management missed the boat with this card (even though Boat Trip was the favorite in the first Oceanside). When I see cards like this on special occasions, such as on the opening day of one of the year's premier meets, I just feel like the management doesn't understand racing, and sees it as mere facilitation of betting. The impression is that the quality of racing didn't even cross management's mind, or maybe that they don't understand what good racing is.

I look at opening days the way families and companies might look at having very important guests visiting. You're on display, and you should showcase the best product. If you're not going to run a couple of graded stakes, at least put some thought into the card, rather than giving the impression it's the product of a random-race generator.

Monday, July 16, 2012

Time to take a serious look at Wesley Ward's raced 2-year-olds

Wesley Ward's 2-year-olds used to not have much relevance after extremely impressive debuts, but this year I see his horses building and improving in their 2nd and 3rd starts. The latest is The B's and E's, who had a surface he should have been able to handle May 21 at Woodbine on the synthetic, but could do no better than a 3rd and a 39 Beyer. Going 7f on the turf at Belmont Sunday, he was never threatened in the stretch, and paid $22.60. If Ward has changed his goals and is now making good on the alteration, that is not an easy thing to do. He's shown himself to be innovative, and being able to adjust seems a similar skill. It's also certainly possible that my previous impression of his horses and training, or the limitations I perceived, were not entirely accurate. If that is true, I'm happy that at least I've noticed they were not right.

Dynaformer has a career in a day

Easing back into regular blogging....Not only did the recently deceased Dynaformer have three graded stakes winners on Saturday, but they came at the rare American distances of 12 furlongs (Ioya Bigtime in the Stars and Stripes) and 11 furlongs (Point of Entry in the Man o'War; Starformer in the Robert G. Dick). All of these races were on the turf. Stallion owners would probably prefer their stallions to be known for some other specialty, but all graded stakes wins where the winners emerge healthy are unambiguously good. It's the same when you win a race as an owner; the habit of maintaining objectivity can become so ingrained that it's hard to observe a moratorium on the straight analysis until the next morning.

As far as turf routers go, these Dynaformer graded stakes winner are young (Point of Entry and Starformer are 4; Ioya Bigtime 5), so it's worth asking how they will do going forward.  Point of Entry is now a star, but I like the other Phipps' turfer, Boisterous, slightly better. Prime contenders Newsdad and Treasure Beach didn't contend in the Man o' War, leaving Point of Entry with less daunting horses to beat, and the pace was so slow early, the final 3/8ths were run in 33.85. Point of Entry was in position to take advantage of the slow pace. Yes, the Phipps had Point of Entry in the $600,000 race on Saturday, and Boisterous in the $200,000 Arlington Handicap, where he was 2nd, but stables have been wrong about horses before. I think they are both good horses, and they are close enough that I would expect them to reverse decisions if they faced each other much. Boisterous's banishment to Arlington might not have been such a negatove statement, either, not with the Arlington Million upcoming.

Starformer I really like. This was her first stakes win, but she'd never run a bad race in America on turf before, and she was classy in France, too. Since her other try going really long produced a three-length win in a Gulfstream allowance, it's possible the 10-furlong+ races are the only places she can be truly outstanding. (She is a Dynaformer, after all; wasn't their distance proclivity the original point of this post?) If she needs more than 10 furlongs, I don't know how many opportunities she's going to get at that in stakes competition as a filly. She might have to take on the boys.

The Ioyas just cannot be denied, so it was in a way not that surprising to see Bigtime step up, even while he paid $84,00. His time came out to be very fast in my judgment, too, although I won't state that with confidence, since I don't follow Arlington that much, or see that many 12 furlong races. Watching his race, I have to say that he still looked more like an $84.00 horse to me than a horse who is going to have this kind of success again.

It's interesting that after so many years of Dyaformer as a sire, his ability can demonstrate itself so unmistakably that I feel like I never properly appreciated it before.