Flower Alley ??

[Secretariat]

any works from this horse.

he must have been injured, is he a gelding ??

those who own horses, is it unusual to be off for 7 months without any activity. i think he has an injury and they are being quiet about it.

[Skip away]

I agree. Something is up with this horse. 7 months and no racing? Its all fine and dandy to rest a horse and get him ready for a vigorous 2nd half of the year campaign focusing ultimately on the BC Classic, but it is now June and no races yet?

Pletcher usually doesnt operate this way. He tends to be greedy and wants purse money. This kind of move is more like Frankel or Clement, or Dutrow with Saint Liam.

[kentuckyrosesinmay]

I agree. Something is up with this horse. 7 months and no racing? Its all fine and dandy to rest a horse and get him ready for a vigorous 2nd half of the year campaign focusing ultimately on the BC Classic, but it is now June and no races yet?

Pletcher usually doesnt operate this way. He tends to be greedy and wants purse money. This kind of move is more like Frankel or Clement, or Dutrow with Saint Liam.

I agree. Seven months is way too long although I do think the horse has been working. I'll go see. I can't wait to see this horse back. He was awesome last year, although he will have to face a tough group of three year olds later on this year if he does come back.

[kentuckyrosesinmay]

Here are his recent workouts from the DRF.

http://www.drf.com/workoutsForHorseAction.do?rNo=02039558

He's working well enough.

[Secretariat]

he was off for a good five months from november till mid march.
he is at belmont, if he where healthy, he would have run a race there, if he skips this one

Churchill Downs: Stephen Foster H (gr. I), $750,000a, 3&up, 9f .

on 6-17-6 then its an issue.

this is a direct prep for the BCC at Cd 11-4-6

[1st_Saturday_in_May]

dont be surprised if he partakes in an allowance oc race before going against Gr. I company

[Crown@club]

Everybody remembers Pleasanty Perfect right? He was being pointed to 2002 Classic in Arlington, and the last race before it, he bled. Illinois rule declared him inelligible to race for 60 days, which caused him to miss out.

Then the following year he didn't start racing again until August. (I may be wrong on this though).

I think Pletcher is pointing him toward a Saratoga warmup for the Classic.

[oracle80]

Honestly I think this was planned, I really do. The Breeders Cup Classic is the goal with this horse, because its really a big leg up on HOY.
I think they are taking a planned path that will go through the Whitney, then one more prep, then the BC. Lets face it folks, if he were injured he wouldnt be working, they would have retired him. Owner is already a billionaire, and he has a tremendous future at stud at a big price.

[Secretariat]

no your right, but i think he got injured in his leg after the AP problem. AP doesn't allow him to race, its the single most impressive horse to run there in 20 years and they wont let him run, typical AP. PP sits at number 4 on the all time top ten money earners list with $7,789,000 behind only cigar, skip away, and fantastic light.

sometimes the people at AP make me so mad i just want to....
there arrogance at not allowing this great animal to run here is something that can never be forgotten.

[jp96stang]

Wasn't there something posted on FA about him taking more time than expected to get into shape? Seems like someone saw him at CD during Derby week and commented on his weight.

[Secretariat]

that could expalin his times, and now that you mention it, he started to look heavy in his last one, i remember because he seemed to have gotten very broad in the front.

[jpops757]

Couldnt Pletcher have as many as 1-15 horses running BC day? He has turf, dirt, sprinters Males,and fillies. Looks like he will need both of his ridders that day. Im sure he want have a hard time finding a rider for any of the posibilities.

[Skip away]

Flower Alley is a nice horse but he is no Pleasantly Perfect. Thats as bad as comparing Silver Train to Ghostzapper.

[oracle80]

Flower Alley is a nice horse but he is no Pleasantly Perfect. Thats as bad as comparing Silver Train to Ghostzapper.
OH REALLY???? Perhaps you could tell us how many grade one wins PP had at this stage of his career. NADA, ZILCH< ZEROOOOOOOO!
Its premature to compare the two at this stage. But FA sure is off to a better start.

[Pointg5]

Flower Alley is a nice horse but he is no Pleasantly Perfect. Thats as bad as comparing Silver Train to Ghostzapper.

Is this Gander?

[Skip away]

Who? :confused:

[Pointg5]

Who? :confused:

Gandertim, he posted on the ESPN board.

I remember him saying he liked Skip Away and something you said on the Belmont Undercard thread sounded exactly like something he would say. If you are not him, sorry, I thought maybe he showed up over here and I didn't know it was him.

[Thoroughbred Fan]

First of all, I am sure he is sound if he is working. Secondly, I also believe this was planned. In fact, I am almost certain Pletcher said FA would start at Saratoga a while ago. This is a very good horse that they plan to start about five times this year. I believe he had a very tough campaign last year and needed the time off. Remember, he is just 4 years old.

Lastly, PP is a Pleasant Colony line horse. They typically get better with age. So to slight PP for not having a G1 by this time of his career is kind of overlooking the bloodlines. Flower Alley on the other hand is a very good young horse. To compare his lifetime earnings to PP who had a longer career is just wrong. Wait and see, but ultimately and who was better is a subjective argument.

[boldruler]

I just looked at todays works.

Flower Alley worked today.

1:13.52 b 1/1

[Skip away]

Flower Alley has been working a bunch. Just does not fit the usual Todd Plecther profile. He likes to run his horses a lot. I cant think of any horse he has ever done this with, can you guys?

Sorry, not even sure I remember what I say about the Belmont undercard except for I hope its not a chalkfest, many of these big showcase days are. You can get 8/5 shots any day of the week. I dont need 500K stakes to get $5.20 win payouts on horses like English Channel. Also I dont get what all the fuss is about horses like Too Much Bling or Lost in the Fog who win almost every time they run but pay like $3.00 and run in 4-5 horse fields. To me thats not entertainment or a logical way to try and win money gambling.

[Crown@club]

Flower Alley is a nice horse but he is no Pleasantly Perfect. Thats as bad as comparing Silver Train to Ghostzapper.

The only thing that I was comparing PP to FA was the fact that both had over 8 months off from racing. THAT's IT! If this makes it a bad comparison, then I'll shut my typing off from this post!

[zippyneedsawin]

I think this was planned too.. I thought I read somewhere( a while ago) that pletcher would plan a summer/fall campaign for FA.

[zippyneedsawin]

I'm still waiting for Point of Impact to get his act together!

[Skip away]

Sorry Zippy dude, I overreatced and got your point the first time I read your post. You were only comparing the time off and maybe if it worked for Pleasantly Perfect, which it did very nicely, it would work for a horse like Flower Alley, who someday may even be better than PP, who knows. Sorry Oracle, you have a point on Flower Alley still being very young. ;)

[Thunder Gulch]

Can't wait for Flower Alley to get back on the track. Still grinning about cashing nicely on the Travers