What An Allowance Race!!
 

Del Mar Thursday

7th

6 Furlongs | Fillies and Mares | 3 Year Olds And Up | ALLOWANCE | Purse: $85,000


1 Executiveprivilege R. Bejarano 114 Lbs B. Baffert Blk-Off L
2 Magical Band V. Espinoza 122 Lbs H. Palma L
3 Curvy Cat J. Leparoux 122 Lbs J. Hollendorfer L
4 Reneesgotzip G. Gomez 124 Lbs P. Miller L
5 Shumoos C. Nakatani 118 Lbs B. Cecil L
6 Gypsy Robin M. Smith 118 Lbs M. Puype L
7 There Is No Limit K. Krigger 122 Lbs D. O'Neill L

I wouldn't touch this race, Reneesgotzip scratching for this spot makes no sense and Baffert prepping a grade 1 horse in alw race, not his move.

I don't think think Executiveprivilege is much horse, but where was he supposed to run her? The two huge voids in the Dmr stakes schedule are races for 3YO fillies and races for females of any age sprinting. Unfortunately, she fits in both categories. She was also nominated to the Prioress, but her connections have a pretty solid candidate for that race.

I'm also admittedly less familiar with Dmr's racing office, but I don't think they do overnight stakes, which likely left this allowance race as the only option.

What about the Torrey Pines at 1 mile for 3yo fillies?

edit: that's in a month so I suppose the timing is not there. I don't think she is much horse either.

Maybe that's her 2nd objective for the meet, but Beholder's running there because her trainer doesn't want to ship for the Test.

You mean Beholder, the 3YO filly that DRF's ace handicapper has listed as the fifth best filly in her division?

He's the greatest.

Maybe he figures if the connections are choosing the Torrey Pines over the Test her connections aren't that impressed with her, so he isn't either?

LOl, I thought you were joking then I looked, how can you have close hatches ranked ahead of Beholder when she crushed her when they met.

Not to defend Watchmaker much, but wasn't Dreaming of Julia ahead of Beholder on everyone's list after her win at Gulfstream, despite the fact Beholder beat her in the Juvenile Fillies?

Young horses are evolving pretty quickly. A few months ago doesn't matter much if you are judging which is best today.

There are a few back stories as to how this race came about and why certain horses have shown up here. I can tell you that most folks didn't expect a field like this. You are right on about the racing office not having many options.

I think based on body of work Beholder should be ahead of both of those horses, its not like she showed up for the Oaks and ran well at 37/1 to get on the list. In fact as a handicapper I would have her #1 on the list but I can understand having the Oaks winner ahead of her as wins are wins.

But subsequent races have pretty much exposed Dreaming of Julia's performance in the Gulfstream Park Oaks as yet the latest in a long line of performances from Pletcher trainees in South Florida (with its out-dated testing protocols, if you can call them testing protocols) that are not duplicated elsewhere.

I'm a huge fan of Midnight Lucky but putting her, Close Hatches or Dreaming of Julia ahead of Beholder in the divisional rankings when Beholder has two Grade I wins, and a "maybe best" second in the Oaks (beating each of those three fillies) to her resume is pretty silly.

I know she has been exposed, but at the time nobody was complaining that Beholder should be rated ahead of her. We've all seen Triple Crown race winners passed later in the year by other horses that couldn't touch them in April. That is all I'm saying. Maybe he thinks Close Hatches has improved a lot and Beholder has not. I really don't know.

I'm certainly not defending his rankings as they've been off base many times over the years. What are they even supposed to represent?

No argument from me. But what are these rankings, anyway? Are they which horse is better now or which has more accomplishments? I always assumed it was the former, but I don't see it spelled out anywhere.

Executiveprivilege running in the Torrey Pines is just conjecture, the race isn't until September 1. They obviously needed something now, I think she's had 10 works or so in the last 2 months.

I actually meant Beholder.

I'm kinda partial to Paynter being the #3 horse in America off an allowance score and a win in July 2012.

:tro::tro:

Maldonado replaces Gomez on Rennesgotzip.