Most Impressive Winner of Sunshines Millions
 

SHAGGY MINE

That was sick!!

Smokey Stover draws an outside post and beat a very good feild of top level sprinters. He is owned and trained by the team that brought you "Lost in the Fog." Very Impressive race.

Is Shaggy Mane the Chatlos piece? If so I agree with you for sure, that was sick.

Mane is the Chatlos.. and it was stunning... But speed isn't stopping at Gulfstream; it hadn't all this week.. Witness McCann's Mojave as Exhibit B. Hadn't run a race good enough to win against that group in 18 months. For that reason, I'd have to add Storm in May's win to the list of impressive winners... Pace was insane in that 7th (21.2, 43.4), yet Idiot Proof and TX Voyager managed to hang on for PL-SH...

The outside post is/was an advantage there... Stover was terrific, and the key to nabbing the lucrative P4..

AGREED ..THAT WAS NICE..byk tuned me into that 107...time in his pps..thanks steve..

I was at Santa Anita just to watch Smokey race. I have lost and won money on him and yesterday was a very good day. Bordonero has to have the lead and Mig was going to play him off PT2 and I knew when Mig pushed the button that Bordonero would hang and Smokey would eat them up if he didn't bounce from his last race. I played Icy Atlantic to beat Lava man and didn't play any place money on him. It still was a good day.

Shaggy Mane & Miss Shop because I had them both! ;)

I thought Icy Atlantic had a pretty bad trip; got no room until the bitter end and still only lost by a little.

I thought Go Between's trip was MUCH tougher. While Icy Atlantic may have had to wait for room he also saved all the ground while not only was Go Between wide he was also steadied, while wide, on the far turn.

If you think Icy Atlantic ran well then what did you think of May Night's trip?

Andy, I'm trying to figure out if May Night got stuck inside of Memorette, or did Gomez just run out of horse, and that's why he couldn't get through? When he stayed inside, and began to swing out at the top of the stretch, I thought he would win by open lengths.

I agree, it's confusing, and one could say she just didn't have enough horse to explode through the possible hole. But, she may have been intimidated and never really had clear room. It's a debatable situation.

I suppose she not that good and considering she saved all the ground she was hardly impressive either way. Why was Durkin all worked up about her break? She bobbled very slightly and he delivered a monologue as though she broke five slow.

They both had bad trips, however I dont think any horse in the field had a worse trip than Lava Man, he lost a ton of ground going wide and was still under mild urging to win. Hes a better grass horse.

Go Between's trip wasn't the best, but I was busy watching Icy Atlantic (in fact I though he wasn't going to be in the number at the top of the stretch) but once he found room I though his kick was impressive.

I really have no opinion on May Night's trip. Nothing caught my eye (doesn't mean nothing happened). Reading the chart it insinuated the horse had a rail trip and "flattened out" in the stretch.

I'll have to beg to disagree. I thought Lava Man had an absolutely perfect trip and dominated a very weak field. While it might be entertaining to see him take on some tough turf horses, or even decent ones, I think he's a better horse on dirt.

The price on Icy Atlantic was insane. One of the keys to winning at this game is to find reasons to go back in a horse's PPs. Isn't being a rabbit a pretty darn good reason? I never thought he could beat Lava Man, but certainly the rest.

In my opinion the Lava Man you saw yesterday was what you could call "Dull". He hasn't been showing the normal intrest in his works lately. That's the reason I took a shot at beating him in this race.

Not knocking your comment about him appearing "dull". But i would assume that the old guy is getting smart enough to know that the morning works are just that. Nothing to get pumped up about without the race atmosphere of the afternoon.
I remember when Tiznow just didnt give a crap about training anymore. And this was just weeks prior to the BC. He gave McCarron and Robbins heart failure a few times refusing to work.

I have seen alot of Lava Man and when he came out to the saddle ring he didn't go up on his toes and he always does. The referance to being dull is just that, he wasn't sharp yesterday and still managed to win.

I thought you were referring to his works in the am. Anyway, doesnt hurt trying to beat a heavy favorite who doesnt look as sharp as he normally does. Unfortunately even when he doesnt bring his A game, he can handle the kind of field he faced yesterday..

Looked pretty sharp being hung 4 wide around the course and winning by 3 under mild urging. Nothing in the race, and it may not have been his A game, but it was good enough to get the money.

I love when Denman said Lava Man calling on his class, gives me goosebumps and I dont even like Lava Man. Just a good racecall

Denman made the same "call on his class" in last year's Sunshine Millions Classic that Lava Man won by about 3. It's an annual ritual.

While not, in my mind, the most impressive performance yesterday, I was very impressed with Lava Man. I will be very interested to see what he can do in Dubai... I thought the Mane was clearly the "Mane Event" yesterday; damn that was F*&^in' awesome

Asked about his next race: “The Dubai turf course ($5 million Duty Free, $5 million Dubai Sheema Classic, each on March 31) is still a potential spot, so we’ll kind of see how the champagne goes down . . . “ Asked if the Santa Anita Handicap (March 3) is a consideration: “Oh, for sure.” (source: stakes quotes santaanita website)

I love the horse, but O'neil must have been freebasing Vueve Clicquot on the walk to the winners circle if he thinks thats a prudent option. LM has trouble shipping in the continental U.S. and he thinks Dubai is worth consideration? I don't think anything other than running in the Cali trifecta (Big Cap, Hollywood GC, Pacific Classic) is even worth discussion.

I guess the feeling is there are not any great spots for him between the SA Handicap and the Hollywood Gold Cup so why not at least consider taking a shot. On the other hand, is it worth going to Dubai and risk screwing him up, though I think the " Dubai ruins horses " thinking is flawed.

On another note....how do you freebase champagne? Just curious.

pen torch, champagne flute, 1 inch diameter plastic tubing. Apply tools in the usual fashion and enjoy.

Once again, McCann's Mojave fools me. I thought he was staggering at the end of the Cal Cup when he won it, just barely beating lesser horses. Thought he couldn't use his sprinting class against the field in Florida. Guess what? He looked the same way on Saturday as he did in the Cal Cup, like he might pack it in at any step, but he kept on going. It must just be his style of running.

Why was Durkin all worked up about her break? She bobbled very slightly and he delivered a monologue as though she broke five slow.

Very easy answer. Because he bet her. I catch him and Imbriale doing some very biased laced calls some times. Guarntee Tommy boy had a wad on her and 3 hours later was drunker than a skunk in a Miami night club doing the cha-cha-cha (if ya know what i mean).

Ive heard him make the call a few times fairplay, I just like that call. I dont know why.

Smokey Stover's win clearly the most impressive to me.

If anything, Lava Man may have been a little lackluster in victory. Both of his turf races last year were FAR more impressive! O'Neill might be best suited to keep this horse away from the turf until Hollywood Park. He was a terror on HP's turf course last year.

And your failure to bet him, as you have touted him for going on a year, was the least impressive performance of the day.

I don't think it was a particularly great race overall, but I was pretty impressed with Miss Shop's performance...they came home pretty quick and she looked good.

I dont remember any of the races...

LMAO

I was in the same boat as Lori. :o

Brian,
I'm with you on Miss Shop. I talked with one of my friends last night and it seems like all the backstretch people have nothing but good things to say about H A Jerkens. Hobeau farm! Daughter of Deputy Minister...
Miss Shop!!!

May Nights trip was good until the field turned for home. The hole disappeared and I believe she got bumped by the winner. Not only that but there were horses in front of her so she was locked in really w/nowhere to go.

You can't find anyone at the track with anything bad to say about Jerkens. He has probably, from what I've heard both directly and indirectly, helped more people around the racetrack than anyone ever. To me nobody represents all that is great about this game as well as the Chief does.

Hell, he even worked with Cannon Shell, and if that isn't magnanimous I don't know what is.

Hes ridden some pretty obscure jockeys on some very good horses. Cant think of anyone else in the game who just doesnt care which jockey is on his horses.

Blackthroat,
Well said!
I don't know Cannon Shell (yet), but the Chief is a once in a more than a few.

He gave me a tremendous vocabulary to work with.