flower ally
 

have they figured out what happened to this horse? is he done?

If I were his connections- If you wanna keep him racing, train him up to the Donn at Gulfstream next year. Give him a month off, and then start serious training again. He seems to be another horse that no one hears about for months, and then all of a sudden the connections say "oh yeah... we retired him..."

you would think they would have decided what they were going to do by now. he just doesn't seem to be in interested anymore.

that's why I'm wonderin if they are just gonna let him chill at the farm for like a month or some, and then maybe in November or December start training him again and see how he reacts.

that sounds like a good plan, but isn't that what they did pretty much this whole year..just minus the farm visit. they took there time getting him "ready" and now he stinks.

good ponit... I guess it's a "wait-and-see" situation. It's another horse whom I wish did do better this summer. Another horse that can stretch out the odds in the BC Classic. But maybe if his connections can find a way to get hime right- they can make 1 more run at it next year. ****, if he were to win the Donn, you could send him to Dubai.

I just got a workout notice for him - it was a bullet!

I doubt that any of his problems have been physical. Hes simply worth too much as a stallion to risk on the track broken down. Hes a grade one winner who placed in the BCC to a horse of the year at age three, and his sire is the hottest thing on the planet.
I think it was also obvious that his problems weren't physical in nature(to the extent that he would run that poorly, may be aches and pains but they aren't the full story) after they didn't immediately retire him after the dreadful performance he put in at Saratoga, the Woodward being just awful for him.
It appears as though hes lost his desire to compete to me. He travels smoothly enough and was working well at Saratoga before both races. He simply didn't show any punch at all on the track. If he did indeed fire a bullet(I have no knowledge of this, hes not in my stable mail) then perhaps they will try the Cigar Mile.

Swap Flip, where was this bullet? I just checked yesterday's works at all tracks I could think of him working at and couldn't find a work on him. I'd appreciate a heads up on when and where he worked if you could do that.

Here's what I found for reason works o-

Flower Alley
10/09/2006 BEL 5F 1:01.24 Dirt Fast B
10/03/2006 BEL 4F :50.64 Dirt Fast B

Thanks Fager. I just looked at the works that day and the work appears impressive. Cowtown Cat, a very fast 2 year old of Pletchers had the 2nd fastest work at the distance and its very likely they went in company. If they did he outworked him by a length or two. This is very interesting. He may indeed run again. Perhaps they found something that had been bothering him? Have to call and ask my man the clocker how he went and what he observed. Shoot, I was on the phone with him last night and could have asked him then. You have me curious.

Scroll down.....

http://www.drf.com/news/article/79472.html

Maybe he could use a new trainer :D

Yeah well, at first I thought maybe they were gonna let him go to the Stones concert but I realized they had already played..... :D

I bet we'll see him in the Clark...

There is this angle too-

He won at the age of 3 at Turfway on the Poly. Between Turfway this winter and then Keeneland in the spring, he could be pointed there if there were any worthy stakes races. Maybe a low-end stakes race to get him back into form might not be so bad at Turfway, since he's won on the stuff in the past.

I think his Turfway win was in the good ole days, i.e. pre-polyjunk

i had him figured out before the start of this year.......severely overrated

Lol. probably a little. It would be interesting to see him face Discreet Cat in the Cigar Mile, or not.

lol a little? alotta people including some on here thought hed dominate the division this year

including some on here

I would say most is a better word Playa. I think hes a good horse but wasnt impressed as most of the others on here. Not sure what he ever did to deserve worthy of being a favorite to dominate any division.

He ran a nice BCC, he wasn't overrated, obviously something was wrong with him...Maybe they have figured it out and he runs in the BCC...If he's right, he's run faster than Bernardini has...It's rediculous to call a horse that obviously had talent overrated when he wasn't running back to his previous form...

There is obviously something wrong with him. He didn't work for over a month after his last race. If the horse was fine he would have been working.

With regard to next year, there is practically no chance that the horse will run next year. They may try to run him one more time this year and that will be it. Right now they are obviously trying to see if they can get him sound enough to run in the BC Classic. I think it's the Classic or nothing.

Rupert,

What did you think of Lava Man's race?

I thought he ran well. I don't know if he's as good as Bernardidni. He certainly doesn't look as athletic as Bernardidni but that doesn't necessarily matter. LM is kind of like a John Henry type. John Henry wasn't all that athletic but he was all heart. He would beat horses that you would have never thought he could beat.

I definitely give LM a shot in the BC Classic.

Thanks Rup...

I think he's got a shot as well, I think the whole shipping thing has been blown out of proportion with him...

Yes, there is obviously something wrong with the horse, and I would expect to see him in one more race (I'm banking on the Clark), and then they will retire him.

I don't think they care about the Clark, it's a G1, but if they were going to wait that long, they would go in the Cigar Mile, like Rupert said, it's the Classic or nothing...I think his stallion value is cemented and the Clark wouldn't do much to help, so why not take a shot at the Classic...

Yes, I agree. I don't think the Clarke does anything for them.

He would go in the Clark because that race comes up lighter than the Classic and it would help Flower Alley's stud value if he won it. Flower Alley hasn't exactly been great this year due to some kind of injury, and he could redeem himself with another G1 win (even if it is the Clark). Also, I would think that the connections would want the horse to go out a winner. He could most likely be competitive in the Clark, and he is not going to want to face Discreet Cat in the Mile off of the layoff. Discreet Cat would chew him up and spit him out. Todd Pletcher is great about spotting his horses, and I seriously doubt that he would want to run FA against that monster in the Mile.

It's possible but I think their goal has always been the BC Classic. I think that if they can get him relatively healthy then he will run in the Classic. If he's not healthy enough to run in there then I don't think they will run him anywhere. I think they will retire him.

Yes, and I think that we have talked about this before. I just don't know if they can get him relatively healthy. We'll see...

No way should this horse go in the Cigar Mile. Discreet Cat would cook him. I think they should train the horse up to the Clark and then to the Donn.