Great start to the Road to the Roses. Let's get right to it.
Risen Star-Mark Valeski ran a nice race, but I really think El Padrino (Beyer of 98) is a class above. From my amateur eyes it looked at if Rosie Napravnik went to the whip on Mark Valeski about eight times in the stretch. Javier Castellano showed whipped, but only used twice. Not really any other horses to talk about from this race. A quick search reveals El Padrino is translated in English to The Godfather. So that's pretty cool.
Fountain of Youth-Too bad Algorithms scratched, but Union Rags was probably going to beat just about anybody yesterday. Discreet Dancer looked very comfortable on the front end and I thought with those modest fractions he could pull away. Alas, he didn't have anything for the stretch run and Union Rags blew by him.
Two big performances this weekend. Which one do you think was better?
There are 21 individuals in our league so I've changed our Old Friends donation goal to $210. Please donate so we can achieve our goal by Derby Day.
Standings-Things were really tight at the top after the Risen Star, but People of Iowa's Stable raged in front after the Fountain of Youth. I'm guessing that stable 'power horsed' both winners. Nice work. Four Roses Stable (love me some Four Roses Small Batch and Single Barrel) currently stands in stalking position. It was a good start and there's plenty of racing ahead.
I'm from small county in Kentucky. Growing up in the 1980s you had to really search for music outside of country, pop, and classic rock (seriously, jazz just didn't exist). This song came out when I was 15 (yeah, I just dated myself...so what). Looking for wannabe angst-filled music you had few avenues to explore: MTV (I didn't have cable OR satellite), older siblings of friends who were into cool music (few and far between), and....Columbia House Record Club. It was like iTunes pre-Internet. I bought The Cure's Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me along with 11 other similar albums around this time. Best penny I ever spent.
I remember this being really cool back in the day. Now, not so much. Kinda cheesy isn't it?
WHATEVER! You just don't understand! Leave me alone! I'm going to my room!
Gotham and John Battaglia Memorial are up next. Talk to you all on Friday. Have a great week!
So we are finally here to the start of the Road to the Roses fantasy horse racing challenge. Really excited about this season.
Currently my favorite Derby prospect
Make sure you sign up and finalize your stable by tonight.
If you are new to the league or just fell into this blog and want to join-welcome! Feel free to be part of the fun.
League information is in the top right of this blog. Make sure you enter that after you get your stable together.
Read over the league rules. Really the most important thing to remember is to activate three power horses every week.
Remember we are a charitable league so make sure you donate $10 to Old Friends in the donation box to the right. It's quick and easy to do and supports a very worthy cause. Thanks to everyone who has already donated (including me).
Really interested to see what El Padrino can do in the Risen Star. Nearly picked the colt named Mark Valeski for my stable because I
actually worked with a guy out here in the City of Roses with that same name. Weird. He's owned by a former Kentucky governor and trained
by a Kentuckian. I hope I don't regret not taking him.
I have to say the Fountain of Youth is the real excitement. Algorithms and Union Rags have been buzz horses for a while and rightly so. I got chills when I saw Discreet Dancer's last outing. I realize it was an allowance/optional claimer race, but he looked sharp (as he did in his 2YO race in December). Likes to get out front and this might be his downfall. Really looking forward to this race.
No luck on getting Kenny Mayne, Rex Chapman, Bobby Flay, Gene Simmons, and Bryan Cranston to join our league as of yet. There's still time.
I've done just about every fantasy sport there is, but to me nothing compares to this. It's by far my favorite. Race entries for this weekend's Risen Star and Fountain of Youth are after the song of the day.
So you are going to click on this song and wonder what's the connection. There is a connection. I really hope I'm not disappointed next time I check the stable names in our league. Good luck to everyone!
$300,000 Risen Star Stakes (gr. II, Race 11, 4:55 p.m.), 3YOs, 1 1/16 Miles PP. Horse, Jockey, Weight, Trainer
1. Afford (KY), S Bridgmohan, 116, G Geier
2. Optimizer (KY), C H Marquez Jr., 116, D W Lukas
3. a-Mr. Bowling (KY), R Albarado, 120, J L Jones
4. Z Dager (KY), S J Sellers, 116, S M Asmussen
5. Ted's Folly (OK), R Zimmerman, 120, W L Brown
6. b-Adena's Chance (FL), R E Eramia, 116, G Dorochenko
7. b-Hero of Order (KY), J Graham, 116, G Dorochenko
8. El Padrino (KY), J Castellano, 116, T A Pletcher
9. a-Mark Valeski (KY), R Napravnik, 116, J L Jones
10. Shared Property (KY), L R Goncalves, 120, T M Amoss
11. Tizanexpense (KY), M Mena, 116, M J Maker a - Brereton C. Jones coupled entry
b - Gennadi & Irina Dorochenko coupled entry
$400,000 Fountain of Youth Stakes (gr. II, Race 11, 5:13 p.m.), 3YOs, 1 1/16 Miles PP. Horse, Jockey, Weight, Trainer 1. Neck 'n Neck (KY), J Lezcano, 116, I R Wilkes
2. Algorithms (KY), J Castellano, 120, T A Pletcher
3. Fort Loudon (FL), R Maragh, 120, S I Gold
4. Casual Trick (KY), C S Nakatani, 116, N P Zito
5. Discreet Dancer (FL), J R Velazquez, 116, T A Pletcher
6. News Pending (KY), K J Desormeaux, 116, D L Romans
7. Union Rags (KY), J R Leparoux, 122, M R Matz
8. Csaba (KY), P Lopez, 116, P A Gleaves
Make sure you go to Road to the Roses to sign up your stable. First race is Saturday so make sure you get everything in by Friday night.
If you were referred here by a friend or just fell upon this site then welcome.
League code information is listed on the top right of this site.
Not sure what horses to pick? Check the links a little further down on the right side for info of top prospects to choose from.
If you are new to this and feel like a complete novice don't worry. We just want to have some fun and this is a great way to gear up for the first Saturday in May. By Derby Day you will have a really great idea of all the horses entered.
We've made a lukewarm attempt to persuade Kenny Mayne to join our league. Rex Chapman was also asked (great call there O). No response yet. I suggest adding Bobby Flay in the mix too.
You know how Bob Geldof got people to join in the Band Aid song? He went to press and gave names of everyone who was going to be involved without actually asking the artists. Geldof told artists afterward if they wanted to back out then go ahead and see what happens. Not saying we should go full Geldof here, but it might be a good idea to utilize some meme to go viral re: the above three dudes. Worth a shot right?
Bull Inthe Heather (not a typo)
Finally and most importantly we play this league to have fun. But we have fun and try to do some good in the world at the same time. Again we will be raising money for Old Friends. So a suggested league donation again will be $10. To streamline things and give us some visual reminders I've set up the donation widget you see to the right. It's fast, it's easy and it will keep us on track of our goal. Every little bit helps. We'll support cool old Thoroughbreds like 1993 Florida Derby winner Bull Inthe Heather.
That easily leads us to our song of the day. So the story goes Bob Nastanovich (of Pavement and Silver Jews) gave Kim and Thurston of Sonic Youth a bumper sticker with the horse's name on it. The rest is genius indie song history (gotta love Kathleen Hanna in stealing the show in the video). Bob's a horse racing nut. I've gathered over the years that:
He had short lived racing blog called Lonely at the Rail
He once lived in a house across the street from Churchill Downs on Central Avenue
According to Wiki he is currently employed as a chart caller for Equibase and works at Prairie Meadows in Altoona, Iowa.
It's Presidents' Day weekend. Kentucky bred Abraham Lincoln has got to get his props on this blog. LaRue County baby! Reprazent!
Next weekend you will need set you stable of horses along with a couple of jockeys and trainers. We will then be counting up points on a weekly basis. Until then you have some time to think about your picks and watch a few good prep races this weekend.
The El Camino Real welcomes California Derby winner Russian Greek along with stable mate Lady of Fifty (filly in the house!)
2YO sensation Creative Cause makes his 3YO debut in the San Vicente @ Santa Anita. It's a seven furlong race and you know how fond I am of distances under a mile this time of year.
Southwest Stakes is on Monday in Hot Springs. Entries aren't out at yet. Reckless Jerry is an entry and is owned by 'country music' 'star' Toby Keith. His stable is called Dream Walkin' Farms. Didn't think Toby could get any more annoying, but with that farm name he just out did himself.
We need to get a celebrity to join our fantasy league. We can just send messages via Twitter (this is the real value in this medium-access to famous people!) until someone relents. We need to shoot big, but not too big and find somebody with an interest in horse racing and a sense of humor. Hmmm... Easy. BOOM. I'm happy to send the first begging, badgering, harrassing plea. I'll need you all to follow up. Who's with me?
We again will play for our favorite charity Old Friends. We'll set things up a bit differently this year to honestly just make things easier on me-more about this later.
Would love to hear how some people pick the horses in their fantasy stable. Maybe a blog post will spark some banter. Maybe not.
Heading to Portland Meadows for racing Oregon style on Presidents' Day. I'll try to remember to tweet some photos so you can see what that looks like. Expect some cowboy hats and large belt buckles.
OK, time for music. Let's see, San Vicente Stakes so how about some Saint Vincent?
Great song, but was that too much of a stretch? How 'bout some Black Keys off their latest release El Camino? Thought about putting a deep album cut here, but the man dancing in this video will get your weekend rocking by noon today. If you aren't drinking by 5:05PM you obviously didn't watch the video.
El Camino Real
1. Daddy Nose Best (KY), J R Leparoux, 121, S M Asmussen
2. Senor Rain (IN), K Krigger, 121, P Miller
3. Cahill Chrome (CA), J J Hernandez, 121, R W Hansen
4. Russian Greek (KY), A T Gryder, 121, J Hollendorfer
5. Unveiled Heat (CA), F T Alvarado, 121, S Specht
6. Lucky Chappy (IRE), A Garcia, 121, H G Motion
7. Handsome Mike (KY), C S Nakatani, 121, D F O'Neill
8. Rockinarz Recruit (CA), A Cedillo, 121, L C Mason
9. All Squared Away (KY), K John, 121, P Miller
10. Lady of Fifty (KY), R A Baze, 116, J Hollendorfer
San Vicente Stakes
1. Let's Get Crackin (KY), V Espinoza, 118, C Dollase
2. Creative Cause (KY), J Rosario, 123, M Harrington
3. Drill (KY), M Garcia, 123, B Baffert
4. Smoking G (KY), C S Nakatani, 118, P Miller
5. American Act (KY), M A Pedroza, 118, J Carava
6. Captain Obvious (IRE), M Gutierrez, 118, B D Cecil
Thunder Moccasin won the Hutcheson Stakes. Ever So Lucky scratched the morning of the race which gave opening for Thunder Moccasin to win as the heavy favorite. Pletcher and Velasquez connections at work again and the colt earned a 93 Beyer Speed Figure over 7 furlongs.
Oddly familiar game offered by Winstar Farms is up. You need to enter by February 18th and Derby tickets are the grand prize. Apparently, this is the third year of the contest. How'd I miss that?
Nice video update from Jill Byrne @ Churchills Downs. Love the setting in the paddock with the snow falling. Hope they keep these coming. Love Jill.
There's a lot of current press about horses under the radar. This is a great way to add some greenhorns to your stable that others might not know about. I have my eyes on a few but I'll never tell.
The field (I miss the field bet on Derby day, don't you?) is top choice in the first Kentucky Derby Future Wager @ 9/5 while Algorithms (awesome name) is top individual choice @ 8/1. Castellano deciding to ride him in Fountain of Youth over Union Rags probably had something to do with that.
Three pretty good prep races this next Presidents' Day weekend with the El Camino Real, St. Vincente, and Southwest. Should be interesting. I'll be spending Monday in the pastoral confines of Portland Meadows. Keeneland's got nothing on that place.
The wife and daughter are out of town until Friday. You know that means...I get to watch sporting events on television in real time. Seriously, between fatherhood and living on the Left Coast it's almost impossible to see things as they happen. Without Twitter I probably would still be ignorant of Whitney Houston passing away. First live viewing of the week was my beloved Louisville Cardinals falling to the Syracuse Orange for the first time in 37 years (kidding). Not a fun watch. Can the Trail Blazers beat the Wizards in the Rose Garden tonight to balance things a bit? Surely, right?
I picked up some of those elementary school-type valentines at Target featuring NBA players (complete with tattoos) just because I thought they were cool. Really have no idea what I'm going to do with them. I'll leave you with this haunting rendition of an old standard to get you in the mood for love. Happy St. Valentine's Day.
The 2012 Road to the Roses website is up and running. First race weekend starts with the Risen Star (Feb. 25th) and Fountain of Youth (Feb. 26th). Start thinking about your stable. I'm looking forward to this again.
Short post today, but more to come on Monday. The Hutcheson Stakes is the only 'prep race' this weekend. Quotes mean it is a prep in theory, but really this race hasn't been too relevant for a while in regards to leading up the Kentucky Derby. It definitely has some history with Derby winners Spectacular Bid ('79) and Swale ('84) using it as a spring board. Occasionally, there is a Derby horse in here, but they generally come up short in the big dance. The race was named in honor of labor leader William Levi Hutcheson, who served as a member of the Gulfstrem Park Advisory
Board (love me some Wikipedia). Horse race naming is one of the coolest things in sports.
Hutcheson Stakes
1. Tarpy's Goal (FL), J Castellano, 116, D L Romans
2. Wildcat Creek (FL), A Serpa, 116, E Plesa Jr.
3. Thunder Moccasin (KY), J R Velazquez, 116, T A Pletcher
4. Quick Wit (KY), R A Dominguez, 116, D L Romans
5. Il Villano (KY), E Trujillo, 118, S L Crowell
6. Ever So Lucky (KY), J R Leparoux, 116, J E Sheppard
Really couldn't think of a good song to go with this so I stretched the limits a bit. Here's one of the three greatest vibraphonists of all time (other two being Milt Jackson and Kentucky's own Lionel Hampton. Press play around 3PM today and I guarantee you'll make to the end of the work day with a bit more pep. Plus, Blue Note record covers are just awesome. Enjoy.
If you read that post title and this was the first time you've clicked to read on then 1) you are not very familiar with horse racing and 2) you have a dirty mind. Stop it.
So we had a trio of interesting prep races this weekend. Unfortunately, I can't seem to find a good way to post videos of all the races (some Google/YouTube conspiracy I'm sure) so you'll have to click on the links to see yourself.
Withers Stakes-Alpha was much the best at Aqueduct. Generally in these prep races I'm looking for how the winner finished and if the horses behind were fading or coming on strong. Didn't see much coming on strong in this race, but a lot of fading. We'll see if Alpha stays in New York for the Gotham Stakes or heads to warmer climates.
Robert B Lewis Stakes-Really not sure what to make of this one. An outlier for Liaison or has he now been exposed? Not sure. Race was way too crazy to tell anything. With all the trouble in the stretch it's hard to tell if any following the winner I'll Have Another would have shown more finish under more ideal conditions.
Sam F. Davis Stakes-The most intriguing of all the weekend prep races in terms of watching the horses behind the winner. Battle Hardened came from well off the pace and looked regal and confident in the win. Reveron looked green in the stretch, but could still have big things to come with some quick maturity. A few of colts were flying late including Ravelo's Boy and Neck 'n Neck. Will be interesting to see the top five next time out.
Did you see that yesterday? Of course you did. We all watched. It's our duty as Americans.
Aberdeen should have won MVP of Puppy Bowl VIII. Fumble was MVP? I mean he played hard and had a lot of intangibles, but the stats just aren't there. Really a travesty Aberdeen didn't win having 4 TDs in the game. Shameful.
How 'bout Madonna with Nicki Minaj AND MIA? Really made my day with those guest appearances. Love those girls.
And how many more twists and turns can we take at Downton Abbey? Currently a big fan of Kitchen Maid Daisy. She's noble and deceivingly quite fetching.
Oh yeah, the New York Giants won the Super Bowl.
We've had sunshine the last few days here in the City of Roses (I took that shot to the right just yesterday). You have not idea how awesome that is. We have to deal with days/weeks/months of grey overcast skies and rain is possible at any second. Then that giant yellow ball shows itself in the sky for a brief period of time and suddenly anything is possible. And it's supposed to be sunny for a couple more days. Like Teddy Duchamp said, "I cherish these moments".
So I'll leave you with a song to celebrate lovely days on this start of the work week. My goal is to at least have these songs somewhat relevant to topics discussed, but there are no gaurantees (bonus relevancy-Bill Withers-Withers Stakes. Nice, eh?)
There's a trio of decent prep races this weekend. All these are at 1 1/16 miles which means we are slowly getting closer to that magical distance of 10 furlongs.
Oh yeah, Road to the Roses hasn't started yet so don't panic. I just thought I throw the entries in here so everybody gets familiar with some names and the blog concept (There really is no concept. I need to hire someone with branding expertise). Honestly don't know much about these horses yet. Anybody have any thoughts on these races? No? Great. OK. Remember to sign up for blog updates via e-mail and follow me on Twitter to get your quasi-methamphetamine needs met. I'm @BredInKentucky. Thus far I have nine followers. Nine. Nine including the Mayor of the City of Roses and Overlay Apparel, 'the official supplier of apparel for Derby contenders Hansen and El Padrino'. Go figure. Big prize coming to the lucky person that pushes me into the double digits.
I had a request of more cowbell. I hope this doesn't disappoint. There's a good chance I'll throw in quite a few songs in these posts. If somehow I landed in a fascist country (for those of you already thinking, 'We ARE living in a fascist country', I'll go ahead and just nod in passive agreement and slowly walk away backwards) with a ruthless dictator who took away all pleasurable things except music I might just say, 'Soooo, we still get to listen to music? Cool.'
ENJOY
Robert B. Lewis Stakes $200,000
1. Isn't He Clever (KY), C S Nakatani, 118, H Dominguez
2. Liaison (KY), R Bejarano, 123, B Baffert
3. Groovin' Solo (KY), V Espinoza, 118, M K Cho
4. I'll Have Another (KY), M Gutierrez, 118, D F O'Neill
5. Sky Kingdom (KY), M Garcia, 118, B Baffert
6. Rousing Sermon (CA), J Talamo, 118, J Hollendorfer
7. Empire Way (KY), J Rosario, 118, M Harrington
8. Chips All In (KY), A Quinonez, 118, J Mullins
Sam F. Davis Stakes 1. State of Play (KY), A Garcia, 122, H G Motion
2. Holy Highway (FL), A Serpa, 116, D S Ryan
3. Battle Hardened (KY), J R Leparoux, 116, E Kenneally
4. Ecabroni (KY), J Castellano, 116, T A Pletcher
5. Moroccan Brew (FL), R Feliciano, 116, D Ward
6. Neck 'n Neck (KY), J Lezcano, 116, I R Wilkes
7. Fox Rules (NY), H Villa-Gomez, 116, M A Ferraro
8. Ravelo's Boy (KY), J Sanchez, 116, M J Azpurua
9. Burning Time (FL), L R Goncalves, 120, D Fawkes
10. Reveron (KY), F Jara, 120, A C Bezara
11. Prospective (KY), L Contreras, 120, M E Casse
Withers Stakes
1. Hakama, 118, J Pimentel, M Trombetta, 5-1
2. Speightscity, 118, D Cohen, G Contessa, 20-1
3. Swag Daddy, 120, J Alvarado, R Dutrow Jr., 10-1
4. King Kid, 116, M Luzzi D Romans, 4-1
5. How Do I Win, 116, C Velasquez, T Pletcher, 10-1
6. Tiger Walk, 118, H Karamanos, I Correas, 6-1
7. Alpha, 120, R Dominguez, K McLaughlin, Even
