Question - Zito and Commentator

[Cajungator26]

Good question, Euro...

Didn't he take the rest of the year off last year after the Woodward due to aggravating a shin injury? I'm not sure about his feet.

Cajun, I cannot remember if he did or didn't. The thing about PolyTrack that I do not like is that minor injuries can go undetected because the surface is so forgiving. My horse had a stone bruise and we had no idea until the horse was scratched at the gate down at Mountainner. It just seems odd that he would be at Keeneland.

[Cajungator26]

Originally Posted by eurobounce

Cajun, I cannot remember if he did or didn't. The thing about PolyTrack that I do not like is that minor injuries can go undetected because the surface is so forgiving. My horse had a stone bruise and we had no idea until the horse was scratched at the gate down at Mountainner. It just seems odd that he would be at Keeneland.

I agree about polytrack hiding the minor injuries... IMO, that's not a good thing. I did some research and found the below article on Thoroughbred Times and it appears he did have a layoff last year. Perhaps this is why they're working him at Keeneland...

Whitney winner Commentator out for rest of year

Whitney Handicap (G1) winner Commentator will miss the rest of the year after aggravating a shin injury during his third-place performance in the Woodward Stakes (G1) on September 10 at Belmont Park.

The injury was discovered sometime after the race and, after consulting with Dr. Larry Bramlage and Dr. Joseph Migliacci, connections of the four-year-old Distorted Humor gelding decided to rest him. He is expected to make a full recovery and return to racing in 2006.

Commentator, owned by Tracy Farmer and trained by Nick Zito, has won seven of nine career starts and earned $710,092. He won the first five starts of his career, all one-turn races, finishing his three-year-old campaign unbeaten.

He went to the sideline after his first loss, a disappointing seventh in his two-turn debut in the $100,000 Hal's Hope Handicap (G3) at Gulfstream Park on January 8.

Commentator came back on June 29 with a breakthrough performance, winning an allowance race at Belmont Park by 16½ lengths.

In his next start, he won the 1 1/8-mile Whitney, beating top handicap horse St. Liam by a neck while carrying six less pounds than that rival. Conditions for their rematch in the Woodward were quite different, as the connections of St. Liam ran two rabbits in the race to pressure Commentator, who also carried equal weight. Commentator finished third, 14½ lengths behind the winner, St. Liam.

After the Woodward, Zito said Commentator would return to sprinting. He would have been one of the top contenders for the Breeders' Cup Sprint (G1) had he been able to start in the race.—Pete Denk

[Bystander]

Commentator is the only one of those three Zito horses who has run or had success at CD before, winning an allowance there in 04 (discounting Sun King's Derby.) Not saying others' reasoning is-ugh- unsound, but that may be why...

[blackthroatedwind]

Originally Posted by Bystander

Commentator is the only one of those three Zito horses who has run or had success at CD before, winning an allowance there in 04 (discounting Sun King's Derby.) Not saying others' reasoning is-ugh- unsound, but that may be why...

This makes a lot of sense. Look any horse, such as Commentator, who didn't debut until August of his 3YO year, and has since made 11 starts in 27 months clearly has issues. I would guess it is some combination of what most people have surmised in this thread.

I'll say this about Commentator, and obviously I am biased and will be rooting for him for personal reasons, while he is hard to bet in this race, and trouble at the start or not last time, his ability to rate is dramatically in question, he has a couple of races under his belt that would blow this field apart. Do I honestly think he will win? Not really. However, at the 15-1ish he will be, I think it is fair to say he is one horse in this race who's actual chances of winning exceed his odds. He is very much the forgotten horse.

He was laboring a little down the stretch in his last work.

I'm tossing him. You guys might want to bet him for the win now.

[blackthroatedwind]

Originally Posted by Pillow Pants

He was laboring a little down the stretch in his last work.

I'm tossing him. You guys might want to bet him for the win now.

Believe me, it's hard to make a strong case for him winning, but I feel like I want to have him somewhere in multi-race bets. He has the distinct feel of an all-or-nothing horse as he could win but somehow doesn't feel like he will run second or third.

Originally Posted by Pillow Pants

He was laboring a little down the stretch in his last work.

I'm tossing him. You guys might want to bet him for the win now.

Did you watch his last work? He worked 4F in :47 and he finished up really well. He started off sort of sluggish which I expect is by design, but he finished strong IMO.

Anyway, it will be hard to bet him but at 15-1 like BTW stated it is hard to pass up. Kellys Landing has already been tagged as the wise guy horse. Great....just great. Oh well....

[philcski]

Originally Posted by blackthroatedwind

This makes a lot of sense. Look any horse, such as Commentator, who didn't debut until August of his 3YO year, and has since made 11 starts in 27 months clearly has issues. I would guess it is some combination of what most people have surmised in this thread.

I'll say this about Commentator, and obviously I am biased and will be rooting for him for personal reasons, while he is hard to bet in this race, and trouble at the start or not last time, his ability to rate is dramatically in question, he has a couple of races under his belt that would blow this field apart. Do I honestly think he will win? Not really. However, at the 15-1ish he will be, I think it is fair to say he is one horse in this race who's actual chances of winning exceed his odds. He is very much the forgotten horse.

I've been a huge fan of Commentator for a couple reasons, one being he's probably the most talented NYB of all time, two Farmer is one of the easiest owners to root for out there. That being said, he's got a couple things working against him that as much as I want him to be a key play on the day scare me off: (1) if he misses the break at ALL, he seems to lack interest, and that's no easy task in the world's fastest race, and (2) no wins at 6F, which is a virtual necessity in the Sprint. Not a chance I leave him off multiple race tickets, however- 20-1 is too valuable for perhaps the most talented horse in the field. I REALLY want to see him win this race...

If he runs back to his Belmont sprint races (this year's debut in the restricted stake or last year's optional claimer tour-de-force), watch out!!

[SentToStud]

Originally Posted by blackthroatedwind

This makes a lot of sense. Look any horse, such as Commentator, who didn't debut until August of his 3YO year, and has since made 11 starts in 27 months clearly has issues. I would guess it is some combination of what most people have surmised in this thread.

I'll say this about Commentator, and obviously I am biased and will be rooting for him for personal reasons, while he is hard to bet in this race, and trouble at the start or not last time, his ability to rate is dramatically in question, he has a couple of races under his belt that would blow this field apart. Do I honestly think he will win? Not really. However, at the 15-1ish he will be, I think it is fair to say he is one horse in this race who's actual chances of winning exceed his odds. He is very much the forgotten horse.

Why would you be biased?

Anyway, I agree here. Last year's Whitney was the best route performance I've ever seen a sprinter run (or at least that I can remember seeing). A very, very exciting race. One of Stevens' best.

Just for fun, pull up the replay of his Allowance win at Belmont and watch Channing Hill hold on for dear life as Commentator scorched the track.

[randallscott35]

The fastest NY bred who has ever lived. No other NY bred has ever run a -5 thoro.