The In Crowd (Dobie Gray, 1973)

This is a stretch, for sure, but Ladies Day, or Breeders' Cup Day 1 was all about gray: With absolutely no buzz whatsover (these were championship races?) we were looking for the extra betting edge and went for the Grady Lady-Pick 5. What? We'll it worked: With a total of 5 grays in five of the six Breeders' Cup races Friday, we had two winners and a runner-up: Tapitsfly ($21.60 to win) in the Juvenile Fillies Turf; Beautician ($9.40 to place) in the Juvenile Fillies; Forever Together ($2.40 to show) in the F&M Turf; Informed Decision ($8.80 to win); and Careless Jewel (zip, last in the Ladies Classic). A profit on the day.

On Saturday, we'll go gray again but there's not much: Summer Movie in the Juvenile Turf (these races are so riveting _ lol _ I don't even know if he made the field); Silver Timber and California Flag in the Turf Sprint; Zensational in the Sprint; Mastercraftsman in the Dirt Mile; and Monzante in the Turf. No grays in the Classic, so I'm going with Gio Ponti, with a small wager on Richard's Kid.

Let It Be (The Beatles, 1969): Take A Mulligan, Gary

On the day before the two-day Breeders' Cup commences at Santa Anita, Hall of Fame golfer Gary Player _ he owns a 20,000-acre breeding farm in his native South Africa_ was presented with the Breeders' Cup's newest gimmick (excuse me, "award") for Sports and Racing Excellence.
The golfer then hit his opening drive into the rough with this: ``We need more horses like Rachel Alexandra and Sea The Stars to come and compete. Don’t hide them away. Don’t make excuses about tracks. We need these champions to compete against each other."
C'mon, Gary. Breeders' Cup CEO Greg Avioli put you up to this, right? Why else would you make such a ridiculous statement? In golf, yes, the best show up for the majors. All the time. Every year. You know. You did.
Horse racing? Not the same. You know it. European star Sea The Stars has his own story (breeding, you know), but this is a direct shot at Rachel Alexandra and her owners, wine baron Jess Jackson and his longtime pal, Harold McCormick. To accuse them of hiding Rachel, making excuses about tracks and then saying ``we need champions to compete'' ... well, Gary, you haven't been paying attention.
Rachel Alexandra: 8-for-8 this year, a-race-a-month campaign until her third win over boys (big boys) in the Woodward Stakes in September. And as for her absence from the Breeders' Cup, Jackson's two-time Horse of the year Curlin did not like the surface last year in the Classic, and he made it clear many months ago he did not like ``plastics.'' Anyway, Rachel already has earned the right to be ranked among the best fillies ever (right up there with Ruffian).
So, Gary, how does not running against Zenyatta, a synthetic sensation running on her home track, affect Rachel's accomplishments? Where was Zenyatta when there were several chances to go against Rachel on dirt?
See? Racing has created yet another conundrum with a rush to synthetics despite lack of proof it will cut down on breakdowns. If the Breeders' Cup were on dirt, would Zenyatta take on Rachel? Of course we want champions to compete (the Breeders' Cup tried to lure Rachel to the Classic by increasing the winner's share, remember?). As you say, Gary, you'd never back down from Nicklaus or Palmer, and if you lose you lose. But there is quite a bit more that goes into deciding whether a horse should run in a particular race at a particular track.





So, let's look at what the Breeders' Cup has done to make this one of the least compelling Breeders' Cups ever (and thank you Jerry and Ann Moss for Zenyatta in the Classic, at least). They scheduled the event at the same synthetic track two years in a row without waiting for feedback from owners, trainers, etc. They wanted their two-day event to become a 14-race festival that would bring out the Hollywood stars and create a buzz. It ain't happenin, folks. Of the 14 races that could see a maximum of 190 horses compete, only 3 of the 14 fields are full and 42 starting gates will be empty over the two days. And with racing's No. 1 lady waiting for her 4-year-old campaign, and Zenyatta going against the boys, Friday's Ladies Classic(that's no lady, that's my wife!) will have a field of 8 out of a possible 14.
A thought: When the Cup is held at Churchill Downs in 2010, it should be a one-day event with eight or nine races. Enough buffoonery.

Thank You Girl (The Beatles, 1963): Rachel Alexandra

It's been awhile.
But now it's time to chime in before the Breeders' Cup. I will try to make this short. Rachel Alexandra is Horse of the Year. No matter what happens this weekend.


Zenyatta can win the Breeders' Cup Classic by 32 lengths. It doesn't matter. If one race determines Horse of the Year, the award will be a farce. It was a farce in 2004 when Ghostzapper won _ by a lot _ over Smarty Jones. Are you kidding me? Smarty Jones won every single race in his life except his last one, he was beaten in the final strides of the Belmont Stakes. Not many horses have done for racing what Smarty Jones did until his dramatic defeat by Birdstone. Of course, the owners were villified for supposedly waffling on whether their horse was healthy or not, and then retired him for huge sums of money. Isn't that what horse racing has come to? And then the nearly universally despised Frank Stronach plays the sympathy card, saying Ghostzapper, who had run all of 3 _ count 'em! _ races that year, would not only be in the Classic, but would keep running, unlike that turncoat Smarty Jones. And the voters bought it. They voted Ghostzapper, 4-for-4 and without a race the first half of the year, Horse of the Year over Smarty Jones, a mere 8-for-8 before the Belmont _ , winner of the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness. Get real people. And now, thanks to ESPN/ABC -- oh thanks for televising nationally all the Rachel Alexandra races over the summer -- Zenyatta has a chance to win Horse of the Year if she can beat the boys in the Classic. Sorry, too late. I love Zenyatta, a gorgeous mare who has never lost. She has beaten every female she's faced, sometimes in dramatic fashion. She ventured away from California's synthetic surfaces only once - and won in Arkansas. Woo hoo. However, it has been Rachel who has lifted racing this year, given it the star it so dearly longs for, a filly who may just be the best female horse ever _ EVER! She is expected to run next year as a 4-year-old, too.



Zenyatta has beaten the likes of Lethal Heat, Cocoa Beach and Hystericalady; Rachel has beaten every 3-year-old filly thrown her way _ by a lot; and then beat the Derby winner, the Belmont winner and the likes of Bullsbay, Macho Again, Munnings and Musket Man. She won the Preakness, the Haskell and the Woodward -- three wins over the boys -- and older boys, too. Rachel is 8-for-8 in 2009, and her owner says he won't run her on synthetics because he doesn't like the surface. Zenyatta would be 5-for-5 with a Classic win. It's Horse of the Year, not Horse of the Career. No matter what happens in the Classic, the vote shouldn't be close. It should be unanimous.