|
|
 |
|
#21
08-06-2006, 02:47 PM
|
|||
|
|||
|
|
#23
08-06-2006, 03:55 PM
|
|||
|
|||
|
|
|
#24
08-06-2006, 10:28 PM
|
||||
|
||||
|
Quote:
 (Although I can think of what we could do with the flower pet..... oh, never mind). 
|
|
#25
08-07-2006, 02:32 PM
|
|||
|
|||
|
Who has the mount on your superhorse anyway?
|
|
#26
08-07-2006, 02:34 PM
|
|||
|
|||
|
Quote:
|
|
#27
08-07-2006, 02:35 PM
|
|||
|
|||
|
Quote:
|
|
#28
08-07-2006, 03:19 PM
|
||||
|
||||
|
DO we actually expect The Tin Man to come? Man, would that be a story if he could pull the Million out....nothing like an eight year old Affirmed gelding to ruin everybody's day.
__________________
The world's foremost expert on virtually everything on the Redskins 2010 season: "Im going to go out on a limb here. I say they make the playoffs."
|
|
#29
08-07-2006, 03:21 PM
|
|||
|
|||
|
Quote:
Did anyone else hear the rumour about who got the Ace mount?
|
|
#30
08-07-2006, 03:45 PM
|
||||
|
||||
|
Quote:
|
|
#31
08-07-2006, 03:46 PM
|
||||
|
||||
|
Quote:
|
|
#32
08-07-2006, 03:54 PM
|
||||
|
||||
|
Quote:
|
|
#33
08-07-2006, 03:59 PM
|
||||
|
||||
|
Quote:
Insanity. INNOCENT UNTIL PROVEN GUILTY out the window. Very sad news..... http://www.derbytrail.com/forums/sho...?t=1530&page=3
|
|
#34
08-07-2006, 04:42 PM
|
||||
|
||||
|
Update.....
The eagle has landed! From Arlington barn notes..... INTERNATIONAL STAR PHOENIX REACH READIES FOR ARLINGTON MILLION Winterbeck Manor Stud’s Phoenix Reach, a winner of Group I and Grade I races three different years in three different nations, has come to America and Chicago for the Grade I Arlington Million this Saturday. The Irish-bred’s first trip to North America proved successful when he won the 2003 Grade I Canadian International at Woodbine while still a sophomore. The next season Phoenix Reach captured the Group I Cathay Pacific Hong Kong Vase in December of 2004 at Sha Tin, and was clearly best in the Grade I Dubai Sheema Classic at Nad Al Sheba in March of 2005. However, he has been away from competition since suffering a small fissure fracture in Great Britain’s Group I King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Diamond Stakes a year ago in July, but has been the recipient of a carefully constructed extensive conditioning program begun last spring by his 33-year-old British trainer Andrew Balding. The program began with big hill gallops around Balding’s yard at Kingsclere in Berkshire – which were gradually increased in intensity – and in recent days has seen Phoenix Reach stretching his legs over Arlington Park’s main track in anticipation of his first start in the United States. The 6-year-old son of Alhaarth is scheduled to get his lone serious American work prior to Saturday’s Arlington Million on Thursday morning over the local lawn. “He is fit,” said Richard “Chad” Phillips, Balding’s head traveling lad, on Monday morning when speaking outside Phoenix Reach’s stall at Arlington’s Barn 28A. “He is as ready to run as he ever was. In fact, right now he weighs exactly what he was right before his race in Dubai. He’s had five or six weeks of steady gallops, and now we have one gallop back home we have named the ‘Phoenix Reach gallop.’ “Over the track here at Arlington we’ve picked it up a stride each time we’ve sent him out, but he’ll get one good serious blow Thursday and that should do it,” said Phillips. “Through it all, ever since we started back with him, his joints have been like iron. “Coincidentally, I celebrate my birthday on Saturday,” said Phillips. “That way, we know there will be some sort of celebration no matter what happens in the Arlington Million.” Incidentally, Phoenix Reach is exercised by Steve Woolley, who has returned to Arlington Park for the first time since his lone previous trip in 1985 for the “Miracle Million,” less than one month after old Arlington facility burned to the ground. That year Woolley came with Paul Mellon’s King of Clubs, who finished fourth behind Lord Derby’s victorious Teleprompter in the “Miracle Million.” King of Clubs was trained by Ian Balding, Andrew’s famous father – now retired – who conditioned Mill Reef to win the King George, Epsom Derby and Arc de Triomphe during his own racing career in the early ‘70s. Andrew Balding’s sister, Clare Balding, a sports and racing presenter for the BBC, came to Arlington in 2002 with that network when the Breeders’ Cup World Thoroughbred Championships were held at Arlington Park. AIDAN O’BRIEN TRAINEES ACE, IVAN DENISOVICH ARRIVE AT ARLINGTON Mrs John Magnier, Michael Tabor and Mrs. Harry McCalmont’s Ace, one of the premier European candidates for Saturday’s Grade I Arlington Million XXIV, and Mrs. Magnier, Tabor and Irving and Marjorie Cowan’s Ivan Denisovich, one of the European-based representatives in Saturday’s Grade I Secretariat Stakes, are now on the grounds following their Sunday arrival but are still under quarantine at Arlington’s International Barn. The two Irish-breds are both trained by Irish-born Aidan O’Brien, the conditioner of last summer’s Arlington Million champion Powerscourt, also owned by Mrs. Magnier. They arrived in the care of O’Brien’s traveling lad Pat Keating, who saddled Powerscourt here last year. The Celtic duo is expected to clear quarantine Tuesday and go to the track Wednesday, according Adrian Beaumont of the Newmarket-based International Racing Bureau Ltd. Ace, a 5-year-old son of Danehill, finished second in last fall’s Grade I John Deere Breeders’ Cup Turf at Belmont Park Oct. 29, and was third in Belmont’s Grade I Joe Hirsch Turf Classic Invitational earlier that month when beaten less than a length for all of it. “Ace shipped well and is in very good form now,” said Keating Monday when speaking outside the International Barn. In his most recent trip to the post, Ace was runner-up by a head in Ireland’s Group III Ladbrokes International Stakes July 15 at The Curragh, and before that finished four and a half lengths behind Ouija Board in the Group I Prince of Wales’s Stakes during Great Britain’s Royal Ascot meeting June 21. That mare, owned by Lord Derby, won the Grade I Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Turf at Lone Star Park in 2004.
|
|
#35
08-07-2006, 08:22 PM
|
||||
|
||||
|
Melhor is out, Seaside Retreat staying put.
From DRF... Tough world traveler By MARCUS HERSH ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. - The question remains whether English Channel, among the best U.S. grass horses, will be coming to Arlington Park this week for the Arlington Million, but already here and waiting for English Channel or any other major contender in the 24th Million is Phoenix Reach, an Irish-bred, English-based horse who may have to be reckoned with Saturday. Phoenix Reach was one of 11 horses pre-entered last week for the Million, but the field could be reduced to as few as nine. Pletcher, who pre-entered both English Channel and Go Deputy, still has not committed to a plan of attack, while Ed Beam, trainer of longshot pre-entry Major Rhythm, said he could send Major Rhythm to Saratoga for the Sword Dancer depending on Pletcher's plans and Saturday's weather forecast. As of Monday, the forecast called for dry conditions with temperatures in the low 80's. While all this slowly unfolds, Phoenix Reach has cleared quarantine, having arrived Thursday, and has been putting in regular dirt-track gallops. Trainer Andrew Balding, at Saratoga for the yearling sales, said Phoenix Reach would have a breeze on the turf course Thursday. Phoenix Reach's major work for his run at the Million was done at Kingsclere, the 150-year-old English yard where Balding, 33, and his parents - the renowned trainer Ian Balding, and Emma Balding - have 110 horses in training. The 6-year-old Phoenix Reach is among the best of them. The Million marks Phoenix Reach's first start in more than a year, since the 2005 King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Diamond Stakes, where he finished 10th and subsequently was found to have a small fracture in his leg. Broken bones are nothing new to Phoenix Reach. One start into his 2-year-old season, Phoenix Reach was put away for more than a year with a split pastern, a significant injury to a foreleg that required surgery to insert a metal plate and screws. And, at the end of his 3-year-old season, Phoenix Reach was found to have a hairline fracture, though this injury merely required rest. "Usually, you'd probably give up with a horse, but he keeps coming back from every setback even better," Balding said. "He's very durable and very tough." In between the setbacks, Phoenix Reach - who brings of bankroll of some $3.7 million to Chicago - has won Grade 1 or Group 1 races three straight years. At 3, he captured the Canadian International at Woodbine; at 4, he won the Hong Kong Vase at Sha Tin; and in March 2005, Phoenix Reach easily won the Dubai Sheema Classic. Balding says Phoenix Reach "loves to travel," and with this trip to the U.S., he will have raced in eight different countries - and he is not done, either. "The main target for the season is the Cox Plate in Australia," said Balding, "and we'll take everything from there." * * * Melhor Ainda to miss Beverly D. Melhor Ainda, a close third in the 2005 Beverly D., is officially out of this year's edition of the race with a foot bruise, trainer Bobby Frankel said Monday morning from Saratoga, but Frankel is considering Karen's Caper as a substitute. Group 1-placed in England, Karen's Caper finished second by a nose last fall in the Grade 1 Queen Elizabeth at Keeneland, her first U.S. start, but finished ninth in the Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Turf. In her first start this season, Karen's Caper finished fourth as the 1-2 favorite in a second-level allowance race at Saratoga. Frankel said he worked her a half-mile Monday on the Oklahoma training track, a breeze that did not make the official work tab at Saratoga. If Karen's Caper does come for the race, it will give Frankel a starter in all three Grade 1's Saturday; he has Cacique for the Million, and Proudinsky for the Secretariat. Moscow Burning also is out of the Beverly D., but the race still has an excellent core with Film Maker, Honey Ryder, and Gorella, and could draw as many as 12 entries. * * * Seaside Retreat staying home Seaside Retreat was a good second last out to Go Between in the $1 million Virginia Derby, but he will not get another shot at Go Between in the Secretariat Stakes. "We're going to pass," said Woodbine-based trainer Mark Casse, adding that Seaside Retreat will stay home for his next start. "There's a race in a couple weeks, the Nijinsky, against older horses. He has a little minor foot bruise in a hind foot, and that's actually the determining factor." Showing Up is the likely favorite for the Secretariat, which is expected to draw the shortest field among Saturday's featured stakes.
|
|
#36
08-07-2006, 08:36 PM
|
||||
|
||||
|
Hope EC stays east
really want Major to enter and answer at least half of the owner's dreams. The other half would be winning.
‘RHYTHM’ METHOD: ALL DISTANCES, TURF CONDITIONS AT ARLINGTON Who’s the local horse with a legitimate chance against the world’s best grass horses in Saturday’s 24th running of the Grade I Arlington Million? That would be James Messineo’s Major Rhythm, who was ignored five weeks ago in Arlington’s Grade III Stars and Stripes Breeders’ Cup Turf and stung like serpent with a $73.40 win price. The same Major Rhythm who has won 33 percent of his starts at Chicago’s Northwest oval that include distances from a mile to a mile and a half, and won over Arlington Park courses rated from “firm” to “good” to “yielding.” Oh, by the way, Major Rhythm, trained by Ed Beam, a former Arlington Park outrider, would be ridden in the Arlington Million by Hall of Fame jockey Earlie Fires, Arlington’s all-time leading reinsman and the man who has been Arlington’s jockey champion six different seasons. “He’s always loved the turf course here at Arlington,” said Beam of Major Rhythm, who ran fourth beaten three lengths for all of it in Arlington’s 2002 Grade I Secretariat Stakes, and third beaten six in last summer’s Grade III Arlington Handicap on Million Preview Day. In fact, Major Rhythm loves Arlington so much that he was entered in last Saturday’s $150,000 Sea o’ Erin Breeders Cup Mile (eight furlongs) even though he was coming off a win at 12 furlongs in his previous start here. “There was just too much speed in there for him,” Beam said of Major Rhythm’s Sea o’ Erin scratch off the program. “Tom Proctor’s horse (Sea o’ Erin victor Therecomesatiger, owned by Charles Patton) and that Canadian horse (Sea o’ Erin runner-up Le Cinquième Essai, owned by William Scott) are both real good horses going a mile, and that’s not my horse’s best distance. “So now we’re thinking about the Million,” said Beam. “We’re considering it, depending on how the race shapes up, and what happens with the weather the rest of this week. “Everyone says that English Channel (probable Arlington Million favorite if he runs) is staying in Saratoga (for Saturday’s Grade I Sword Dancer Invitational),” Beam said, “but I’m not sure I believe that. Why would he want to run there for half the money if he can run here in Chicago in a million-dollar race? If he (English Channel) does stay there, we’d probably run here, but if English Channel comes here, we’ll probably try to go to Saratoga if we can make arrangements to get there in time. We have been invited there.” Incidentally, although no Stars and Stripes winner has ever come back to win the Arlington Million in the same year, Leslie Combs II’s Rossi Gold, back-to-back Stars and Stripes winner in 1981-82, came back to run in both those Millions, finishing eighth the first year and 10th the second. Also, 2001 Stars and Stripes winner Falcon Flight, owned by Gary Tanaka, came back to run fifth in 2002’s five-horse photo Million, beaten two necks and two noses for all of it.
__________________
“To compel a man to furnish funds for the propagation of ideas he disbelieves and abhors is sinful and tyrannical.” Thomas Jefferson
|
|
#37
08-08-2006, 09:59 AM
|
||||
|
||||
|
Is it Prado? That was the rumor.....
Might as well (finally) ask if others have heard that one. * * * From Sporting Life... DWYER - PHOENIX CAN REACH HEIGHTS By Keith Hamer, PA Sport Martin Dwyer believes Phoenix Reach can overcome a 13-month absence to run a "big race" at Arlington Park on Saturday. The Vodafone Derby-winning jockey teams up with the Andrew Balding-trained entire in the Grade One Arlington Million. It will be the six-year-old's first race since he suffered a leg injury when unplaced in the King George VI And Queen Elizabeth Diamond Stakes at Newbury last summer. "He's in great order. I galloped him at Kempton a week ago in his last piece of week. He did it very well, it was a good time. I'm very, very happy with him," Dwyer told At The Races. "We took him to Kempton to give him a good gallop round. He went a walk around the paddock and did everything there without having a race. It was the closest thing to it. "He's in Chicago and he's going to do a piece of work on Wednesday morning. It will be his last little piece before Saturday. "Obviously he's been off the track a long time but he loves to travel abroad. He's done us proud and it would be nice if he could run a big race again. "He's a professional - travelled all round the world - he knows what he's doing, so hopefully he'll run well." Dwyer also teams up with the dual Oaks-placed Rising Cross in the Beverly D Stakes on the same card. "John Best's filly is a tiny little thing but she has a big heart and a good engine too," Dwyer added. "She ran very well to finish second in the Oaks and I rode her in Ireland where she ran a really good race.
|
|
#39
08-08-2006, 12:32 PM
|
||||
|
||||
|
Quote:
Johannesburg can give more insight, as can Moodwalker. All I can say is he's okay. He's had some mounts for Dunlop, Jarvis, Sir Stoute but is not exactly their go-to guy. Some stats..... MARTIN DWYER Statistics Current Form Jockey Engagements GB IRE All Races Flat Jumps Any Turf All Weather Last 5 Seasons 2006 2005 2004 2003 2002 2001 By Course Distance Month Horse RaceType Trainer Age WINS RUNS % 2nds 3rds 4ths WIN PRIZE TOTAL PRIZE £1 STAKE 2yo 6 74 8 10 8 10 £35,457.35 £67,734.10 -33.25 3yo 28 253 11 31 32 26 £944,846.40 £1,164,244.10 -69.73 4yo+ 25 229 11 23 23 16 £194,674.17 £402,165.92 -83.19 TOTAL 59 556 11 64 63 52 £1,174,977.92 £1,634,144.12 -186.17 Last edited by my miss storm cat : 08-08-2006 at 05:34 PM.
|
|
#40
08-08-2006, 05:33 PM
|
||||
|
||||
|
From Arlington barn notes.....
(This girl has a huge shot.....)  BEVERLY D.’S BRITISH-BRED RISING CROSS: BIG HEART, SMALL STATURE She’s young, pretty, and visiting the United States for the first time in her life, but she’s no pushover. Her name is Rising Cross, she is a 3-year-old filly owned by Gary Tanaka, and she has come to run in Saturday’s Grade I Beverly D. Stakes – a little lady up against older mares for the first time in her 18-race career. “She’s very small, but she’s very tough,” said Christie Skippen, Rising Cross’s exercise rider and groom, speaking outside Arlington Park’s International Barn Tuesday morning during training hours. “In fact, you can always tell which one Rising Cross is when she’s out on the track, because she is so small. “In fact,” the willowy blonde Ms. Skippen added with a smile, “this (Beverly D.) saddle towel they just gave me might just about cover her. “I broke her as a yearling and I’ve been with her ever since,” said Skippen, who like her charge is young, pretty and making her first trip to the United States. “She has a big heart, but she’s a gentle girl – very easy to ride, but as soon as she sees the track, she gets very excited. She never runs a bad race, and she tries her hardest every race. She can run on the lead if you ask her to, but she settles very easy and prefers to press the pace.” Rising Cross last raced in the Group I Irish Oaks at The Curragh July 1 and finished third, beaten five lengths at the wire. Before that, she was an uncharacteristic eighth in the Group I Italian Oaks at San Siro June 18, but was clearly second best in the Group I English Oaks at Epsom Downs June 2. Her last trip to the winner’s circle came May 6 (Kentucky Derby Day) when she was best by three lengths in the listed Lupe Stakes at Great Britain’s Goodwood. The daughter of Cape Cross is trained by John Best, 44, a former point-to-point jockey as an amateur who now has his yard near Maidstone in Kent in the Southeast of England. Best, who will arrive at Arlington later this week, currently has about 10 jumpers and 30 flat horses in training, with Rising Cross easily the best of the lot. “She’s the only horse we’ve had to go abroad,” concluded Skippen, “but she’s a very quiet traveler. If we do anything (in the way of a morning work) with her here, it won’t be anything serious. She’s fit enough.” ROYAL COPENHAGEN ARRIVES BACK AT ARLINGTON FOR BEVERLY D. Saturday’s 17th running of the Grade I Beverly D. Stakes annually attracts the best world’s best grass running fillies and mares in its capacity as the sister race to the Grade I Arlington Million that same afternoon – and this week’s renewal will be no exception. However, one of the more interesting but unexpected members of the distaff now set for this year’s renewal is the French-bred filly Royal Copenhagen, owned by Richard Duchossois and trained by Laura de Seroux. She is interesting because her owner is the chairman of Arlington Park as well as the man who created this race in honor of his late wife. She is unexpected, because in her last start, Royal Copenhagen finished a disappointing sixth in Arlington’s Grade III Modesty Handicap on July 22 as the final local prep for Saturday’s Beverly D. At that time, her trainer indicated that an excellent Modesty run was a prerequisite for an appearance in the Beverly D. “I had to think about that race (Modesty) and analyze what happened before I decided to bring her back for the Beverly D.,” said de Seroux, speaking over the phone from her Southern California headquarters shortly before noon on Tuesday. Coincidentally, at about that same time, the equine charter bringing Royal Copenhagen and the other California-based International Festival of Racing horses touched down at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport. “If Royal Copenhagen had enjoyed a trouble-free trip to finish sixth, I would not have thought about bringing her back,” de Seroux said. “But she didn’t. She got blocked, she got bumped, she was kept out from the rail and the course favored horses on the front end that day. “I had some collaboration with Rene (jockey Douglas, Royal Copenhagen’s rider in the Modesty) right after the race and he was absolutely furious,” said de Seroux. “He kept telling me how much horse he had left, and he was confident that she belongs with these horses. Then I looked at the chart and saw she was only beat four and a half lengths despite all her trouble. “I shipped her back to our training center in Southern California because she loves it out there and I wanted to miss all that hot, humid weather they said was coming to Chicago,” de Seroux said. “We have these turn-out paddocks out there, and she loves living outside there in that happy environment. The plane ride from Chicago out to Southern California is only three hours and 20 minutes, and it can take us longer than that to get from our place to Santa Anita in traffic, so the length of the trip was no problem. We’ve missed all your hot weather and she has been doing very well the last three weeks. “Also, Mr. ‘D.’ has indicated to me many times that – for obvious reasons – he would rather win this race than the Arlington Million or the Kentucky Derby,” said de Seroux, “and I really think she has a legitimate chance. And in racing, you never know.” * * * From DRF..... Ace out to end long drought in Million By MARCUS HERSH CHICAGO - Trainer Graham Motion mostly cleared up one mystery Tuesday, saying Better Talk Now was all but certain to come to Chicago for Saturday's Arlington Million. The mystery of who Todd Pletcher will send to the Million, English Channel or Go Deputy, is ongoing, though Arlington racing officials believe they are getting one of the two. But how to explain this mystery: Ace, one of the top contenders in the Million, is coming up on the two-year anniversary of his last victory. Ace is one of 11 horses pre-entered in the Million, and was one of two Aidan O'Brien horses - the other is Secretariat Stakes hopeful Ivan Denisovich - to arrive Monday at Arlington. The O'Brien charges, in from Ireland, cleared quarantine Tuesday, and will begin to finish off their final race preparations with a training session Wednesday. Later Wednesday morning, entries were to be taken and post positions drawn for the Million, the Beverly D., and the Secretariat. O'Brien won the 2005 Million with Powerscourt, who had finished first in the previous Million only to be disqualified to fourth for interference. Powerscourt's form seemed to improve whenever he came to the United States. Ace may be similar in that respect. He was coming off fourth- and fifth-place finishes in England and Ireland when O'Brien shipped him last fall to New York, but there he finished a close third in the Grade 1 Joe Hirsch Turf Classic, and later in October was second in the Breeders' Cup Turf. Both were good races, but both losses, and in four European starts this season, Ace still has not found the winner's circle. Better Talk Now still likely Even though Better Talk Now has been pointed to the Million, there remained a chance that he may desert the race for the Sword Dancer. But during a national conference early Tuesday afternoon, Motion termed the chances of switching to the Sword Dancer "very slim." Motion had the same decision to make last summer and at the last minute chose the Million, where Better Talk Now finished a tough-luck fourth. And despite Better Talk Now's win in the 1 1/2-mile Breeders' Cup Turf two seasons ago, and an 0-for-3 record at 1 1/4 miles, Motion believes the Million, with a faster pace likely than in the Sword Dancer, might better suit his horse. There was little other movement in the three Grade 1 turf races carded for Saturday, though locally based Arbuckle Bandit has joined the list of possible Secretariat starters, bringing the prospective field to seven. Last edited by my miss storm cat : 08-08-2006 at 06:55 PM.
|
Linear Mode
