He's the only horse in the race that basically has no chance.

There have been many rumors floating around that Mr. Ward and Mr. Oxley are parting company. Dont know the validity of this but I was told by a pretty strong source. I happened to buy a horse off them in the most recent Jan sale and this person brought the subject up after seeing that I had bought the horse.

lol! thanks.
^he's cheap but I like his recent form a little bit, i am considering using him 2nd/3rd in something.
Small field and no world beaters but it is a somewhat interesting race. Portobello Road may actually get in a decent position early, is no lock to finish 9 furlongs. I am not really high on Dr. Pleasure... Maybe Corny/Pleasure wins this with simply a forwardly placed solid run?
Giant Chieftan isn't a bad horse either, but Prado has to keep him in the ballpark and get him up to the wire.

oh yea forgot to bash Ward

I gotta agree with The Bid. Why? I love people being outraged for no good reason.

John Ward? A colossal idiot. He'd make a great politician.

Ward/Oxley
 

I know I was quite surprised when I recently saw a horse owned by Mr Oxley racing at GP not trained by Mr Ward but by Helen Pitts.

what a long .....strange trip its been.........

I don't know how owners, like oxley, that put millions into the game can withstand not getting any real results.

Overbrook still gives horse to Lukas and D. stewart.
Ed Evans still gives Mark Hening plenty of stock. I don't get it.:confused:

Loyalty I guess. And, I respect loyalty, but the John Ward situation is a bit strange. He just never even seems to run any horses. I honestly think he has started like two 2YOs in Saratoga the entire last two meets. They have horses.....why don't they ever run? On the other hand, they had some real success just seven years ago.

Overbrook doesn't seem to even have any good horses....and Ned Evans finally pretty much got away from Hennig. That is one that I could never understand.

Overbrook's racing program should certainly be much better than what it is.

I think we can guess at what the problem is there.

Nepotism?

Seems like a good way of putting it.

Gives New Meaning to the Seven Year Itch ?

McPeek
 

On the other end of the spectrum, I think a guy like Ken McPeek is one who does alot with much less in terms of overall stock. He wins with $7500 claimers as well as stakes-placed horses. His stable has a good number of horses who were purchased for $50K or less at auction and they are productive on the track. He won races at two different tracks today (2 at GP & 1 at TP) and with Stratostar yesterday, a horse he has skillfully managed. He is very good at spotting his runners and they usually are ready to run.

they probably have women there.

They do.

I don't know Ken McPeek at all, and you're right he does seem to win, but he may also have personality clashes with some owners. I seem to remember him losing a few owners before he briefly left the game.

It would be unfair to condemn anyone for this, as it's a two way street, and while sometimes ( I'm sure ) the trainer is to blame, but I am also sure that many owners are difficult to deal with. This is a primary reason that Todd Pletcher has been so successful ( along with having a great staff ). He has done a tremendous job of communicating well with owners.

Ken McPeek
 

You've raised an excellent point with which I totally agree. Communications with owners can never be underestimated in terms of importance. As far as Ken McPeek goes I remember in 2002 owner Jack Wolf fired him before the Belmont (which McPeek won with Sarava) taking Harlan's Holiday away from him after disappointments in the Derby and Preakness and gave that one to none other than Todd Pletcher.

see!

I think McPeek does a good job, across the board. He can get one to fire off any length of lay-off, which I consider an important trait in calling someone a good trainer.
However, nevermind my opinions from afar, just ask McPeek he'll tell you he is the best.:D