Zensational
 

His pace figure will come back sky high anyway.

I just went over my charts for Santa Anita and have the pace figue 51 points faster than the winners final time figure.

Conservatively, this race could wind up with something like a 126 pace and 75 final! . and my pace call is 6fs and not 4fs .. where the number would figure to have been even faster.

In hindsight, the 2/1 second choice in the race was obviously laying way too close when he was 2nd by 10 lengths to Zensational - while 8 lengths clear of the horse racing 3rd.

such interesting posts....such horrible avatar.

On Wednesday, Baffert was wondering whether he had "slowed him up too much."

Zensational and Gomez don't seem to have the greatest chemistry either.
This was a little surprising because the gallop out was so strong in the previous.

They said he somehow was ahead again in the gallop out in this one. Was this the 2nd race off a layoff? If so, for a young horse out here, this is unfortunately the norm (the 2nd race of career, or 2nd off a layoff, is often a brutal one.) I don't know about the rest of the country, but out here it's really common. Actually, I think it's more common out here than it used to be. Seems like O'neil tried to avoid that with a maiden yesterday(gave it like 6-7 weeks to recover from the promising first effort.) I think it still didn't help (couldn't repeat the good first effort.) Not saying (for sure) that's what happened to Zensational. The distance change is primary.

Is there any chance that Baffert could run Zensational back in 8 days as a rabbit for Pioneerof The Nile? Zayat owns both horses, but while he paid $700K for Zensational, Pioneerof The Nile is his homebred. Zensational seems to be a speed crazy nut, and that's just what they need to go with The Pamplemousse.

Bob Baffert is no Barry Abrams. He doesn't have a history of running his horses off of one week, but if Zensational comes out of his race today feeling good, then why not use that speed to help set up his really big horse?

He wants to win the Kentucky Derby. That's the race that's gunna have the pace in it that he wants. A top 2 is good enough in the S Anita Derby. He doesn't do that stuff (run horses back in 8 days etc.) very much. Even Abrams hasn't been doing it quite as much this meet. This track is too tiring for it. Don't get me wrong, he wants to win the race, but not like he wants to win the big one. Horse is competitive, and pulls himself up when makes the front. Don't know why people can't see that. He's not gunna draw off like they want to see him do. He is just now starting to tighten him up. Maybe he likes Churchill, and maybe not. He's a classy horse. If he stays healthy, he's gunna keep winning big races.The race before last should of showed people a lot. The track was against what he did that day. To me, Churchill is very quirky. If he fails there, then he will be tough in the other legs of the T.C. He's classy. He's the type that can rebound quickly from 1 bad race. So, people should watch what they say (when he does run a bad one.)

No.

This March 27th N1X alw race might be the only time in horse racing history that a 3yo who had never even tried stakes company before ... went out and was defeated in a 4 horse field at 1/9 odds going a flat mile... got only a 82 Beyer .. and basically became like arguably the most likely winner of the BC Sprint at that time off of that performance.

The joy of synthetic tracks!

Since that race, Zensational has cut-back to a sprint and comfortably won all 4 in a row with all triple digit Beyers .. the last 3 of which have all been Grade 1 wins.

With Fabulous Strike a no-show on BC day ... Zensational could wind up a prohibitive favorite.

I can't wait to bet against this horse on BC Day.

With who?

Vineyard Haven or a freshened Big Drama would be interesting .. but it's no sure thing they take to synthetic and since Zensational is out of this world fast ... he will fry them.

Both likely won't show in the race.

Nothing in Cal can touch him ... and nothing among the top older dirt sprinters in the East will be there ... save a Benny The Bull .. and his best days are probably behind him.

This is the kind of situation I wish to hell we had BetFair in this country. He is not Midnight Lute.

Midnight Lute was a very fragile deep closer. This horse is just a run-off speedball.

If Reade Baker hadn't inexplicably decided to run Fatal Bullet in the Vanderbilt, he's the kind of horse who would have given Zensational trouble on the lead. The last three times Zensational has won he's gotten away with relatively easy first quarters, especially given his raw speed.

Fatal Bullet hasn't even worked since the Vanderbilt, so there's another potential contender out the window.

You can probably chalk Capt. Candyman Can up on the list of horses who won't go to the BC because of it being on synthetics too as his lone Poly start at AP was the worst race of his career.

NT

I'd draw a line through Fatal Bullet's race at Saratoga, he's a totally different animal on synth.

This would have been one of the better Breeders Cups in many years, if it was run somewhere with real dirt and a really nice turf course...hmmm, maybe Belmont? What a shame.

Last years BC Sprint was only a field of 8.

NT, I heard Baker mention that there weren't any logical spots for FB at Woodbine and other than shipping to Cali he thought he would try him on dirt in the Vanderbilt. Now we know I guess...he doesn't like it.

Yeah, like the Jamaican Track Team utilizing Usain BOLT as a rabbit for one of their very mediocre distance runners a week after he CRUSHED the 100M world record. :rolleyes: