Archwarrior
 

A whole lot of hype coming in on this Pletcher debuter tomorrow at Saratoga. He's been entered a few times before but failed to draw in.

In his August 12th workout at Saratoga -- he worked in company with Stay Thirsty and started off 2 lengths behind him -- he bested him in hand with Velazquez reportedly through splits of 25.2, 37.2 and finished in 101.2 getting his gallop out in 114.2

Archwarrior came out of the OBS March 2yo sale and brought $375,000 there.

My notes on him:

"Not the type of pedigree that normally does well here. Arch on top and the dam failed to break her maiden until her 7th try when she rallied from 7th early to win at 11 furlongs. The 3rd dam was a champion in South America and the tail female family is all Argentina bred. Very stamina slanted pedigree in general, extremely so for a 1f performer under-tack.

The undertack drill was far from a disaster though -- good long fluid stride and average speed for a 1f drill at this sale while blinkered. Hartley/DeRenzio. Maybe not on debut sprinting -- but very good look in an elongated one-turn race when stretched out. Sold VERY well. 8f one-turn look"

I think the horse is obviously training well -- but I sure didn't see a quick footed precocious sprint type -- if he doesn't do something impressive tomorrow -- Stay Thirsty is going to look like a huge bet-against to me.

His mere presence is going to be impressive.

There may be a walkover as everyone else may scratch.

Churchill Downs called a special board meeting today to determine how many points towards the Derby tomorrows maiden race will be worth.

The Hall of Fame has cleared out a wing for him.

Zenyatta has already set a date with him for the Spring.

NYRA may change rules to have short fields in 2 yo maiden races so owners can "evaluate" their horses....oh yeah they already did that...

Wise Dan is already ducking him

The real reason Frankel isn't coming for the BC is he wants to avoid being on the same continent with him.

Gary Stevens said he is the greatest horse he never rode

Dam of the super horse.. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qIeBiRMF58w

I like those.

When they hang in there and be fairly competitive with Doctor Chit, bury some terrible MCL bum, and outwork Stay Thirsty... that's the stuff such hype is made of.

Even with the hype, if people expect to see some Kauai Katie like fractions and figures I think they will be disappointed. You can learn a lot from watching two horses going 25 under a hold and gradually picking it up -- but sprint races are run by busting out of a starting gate, running hard right away, and decelerating throughout.

I am not so sure Stay Thirsty isn't a huge bet-against even if Archwarrior does perform to his hype. His next work on 8/26 was very uninspiring as well, as he was tiring very badly towards the end and had little for the gallop out. Archwarrior will be very interesting as I know they are lining up with blank checks already looking to buy him before he has even cooled out. Any guesses what O/U of this field size will be? I make the total 5 1/2.

Press conference scheduled for 11:00. He's retired.

what time does this race go off?

I hope he loses.

You can almost see the ad now...

"Handily defeated G1 Travers winner..."

I'm always baffled as to why people ask questions like this. Why not just check the entries at Equibase? That is a lot faster than asking here and waiting for a response.

b/c im at work cmorioles and my work blocks all websites dealing with gambling.

Fair enough, 2:10 EDT. And unlike Delmar, the post times actually mean something.

FWIT...Keep checking those sites, sometimes updates cause that to change. Mine did and I love it, still won't bet at work, but I can at least get to Twinspires now to download PP's.

Will you be playing against?

I don't see anything in there to play against him with.

To make him even more unlikable, someone started a Twitter account and is "speaking" for the horse. Ugh.

I agree, I might try to use the #6 a little in doubles if they are paying enough.

Given the hype, I am a bit surprised that they didn't just unveil him in the Hopeful. And if he wins today, I will not be shocked if his second start is in the Breeder's Cup.

Paul

http://www.drf.com/news/saratoga-sta...odward-workers

So is this guy blind?

If Stay Thirsty is a bet against what does that say about the chalk in that race given this workout report from 8/26 and what your saying?

funny, but true