Virginia Derby Day at Colonial Downs

Virginia Derby Day at Colonial Downs

The drive back to Roanoke from Colonial Downs took about four hours this evening. As we were sitting under our shaded tent bench seat in front of the grandstand, a lady asked my sister where we were from. When she found out it was Roanoke, the lady was amazed that we had traveled that far to see the races. Personally, I thought it was no big deal.

Colonial is a beautiful place to watch a race. The turf course is pristine and the viewing is easy.

I didn't have an especially fine day at the races; however, I did manage to pull a mild upset in Race 3, a filly and mare 1 1/16 allowance for 3 year olds and up. I had a win/place bet on winner Kitty Cat Express and a Place/Show bet on second place finisher Stirrup Cup. So I cashed in about $40 on my $8. I didn't think at the time to do an exacta box on the two. If I had, I would have netted $169 on my $2 bet.

The big races of the day were the Kitten's Joy Stakes, The Virginia Oaks, and The Virginia Derby. Nine year old Midwatch, ridden by Edgar Prado, won The Kitten's Joy. Midwatch is an old horse, but he held off Hunting Print, ridden by Kent Desourmeaux, at the line. That was the beginning of Prado domination.

In the Virginia Oaks, Julia Tuttle, ridden by Special K (Horacio Karamanos) leaped out to a commanding lead that kept growing all the way until past the final turn. That's when Prado blasted the favorite, I Lost My Choo, up through the pack and into to a solid half length win at the wire over Kent Desourmeaux's mount, Namaste's Wish. Julia Tuttle held on for a solid third.

In the feature race, The Virginia Derby, the anticipated duel between favorites Sailor's Cap and Gio Ponti was interrupted by Kent Desourmeaux aboard Court Vision. Prado was mountless for this race when his horse scratched, but Garrett Gomez flew in for the race to put Desourmeaux in his place. Actually, the race turned out to be quite a duel between Court Vision and Gio Ponti. Down the stretch, they bumped and banged with Gio Ponti winning by a nose. I spoke with Garrett Gomez after the race and jokingly asked him if that #4 horse (Court Vision) sneaked up on him at the finish. He snarled, "What? He bumped me the whole way down the stretch." I guess Garrett didn't catch my sarcasm. He did sign my program, however, and I observed him a moment later giving a rose from his winner's bouquet to a nice older lady standing by the rail. Court Vision almost won this race, which I find ironic. All spring, I waited and waited for Court Vision to win a race leading up to the Kentucky Derby, but he never did. He was in my fantasy stable and earned me exactly no points. Even more ironic was the fact that Garrett Gomez was one of my fantasy stable jockeys and earned me zero points all through the contest. Saturday in one race, both of those demons were exorcised (or exercised).

All in all, I had a marvelous time at the track. Some old friends from Northern Virginia showed up and we reminisced and chatted. I ate a delicious Philly Cheesesteak and learned how to bet and lose a Double and a $0.10 superfecta.

Colonial Downs Virginia Derby

Tomorrow, I'll be visiting Colonial Downs for the 2008 Virginia Derby (Grade II $750,000)

Court Vision tries the turf again hoping for better results. Many of the top national jockeys will be there: Desormeaux, Johnny V, Prado, and Albarado, as well as local track god Special K.

Final Standings

ARFTCHC

Final League Standings

Final Scoring through the KENTUCKY DERBY (05/03)

League Rank	Score	Stable Name	Player
1	156	Creasy Greens	Thomas Ryder
2	155	Miracles	Thom Ryder
3	144	Walkin' Tall	Andrew Ryder
4	143	Antilles Stable	Elizabeth Ryder
5	141	SCHANUCI	John Ryder
6	139	APACHE_ROSE_PEACOCK	Andrew Ryder
7	118	Princess Shea	philip martinez
8	84	Yes We Can	John Wallace
9	70	Clifton Pond Stable	Rebecca Ryder

Folks, with humbleness and humility, I accept the crown of top stable owner in the 2008 ARFTCHC. Seriously, it was quite a winter and spring. This year’s group of horses were generally considered to be weaker than average. Big Brown came on late with huge wins in few races. Few horses ran in many races making picking a stable of horses that would actually run and earn money very difficult.

My original stable wasn’t much different than every other competitors’ stables. In fact, it was mediocre. However, I made my move in the mid-season horse adoption window. I looked at and chose Hey Byrn in the supplemental draft to race in the Holy Bull that following weekend. That horse won and those eight points were pivotal in our contest. I also owned two stables that had many horses running in the Kentucky Derby. Thankfully, I chose Denis of Cork (another supplemental pick) for both stables. Yet in my first place stable, I did not start Denis in the Derby. But in my weaker stable, I did.

So in the end, another fantasy year has passed. Now we have to watch and see if Big Brown can make the trifecta.

According to the website, there is a new Breeder’s Cup Fantasy challenge. We will have to try that out! Check your account for details.

Newt

Breeder's Cup 2007 Photo Gallery

Here is a collection of pictures taken by The Annoyed Handicapper's sister of many of the BC winners. The pictures of horses towards the end of the display are more grainy and out of focus because daylight was rapidly ebbing.

As you can see, the track was rather messy. War Pass and Midnight Lute were certainly two very impressive looking horses, as was Curlin.

Click on the pictures for a larger version.

Juvenile Winner: War Pass

Sprint Winner: Midnight Lute

Filly & Mare Turf Winner: Lahudood

Mile Winner: Kip DeVille

Distaff Runner-up: HoneyRyder

Distaff Winner: Ginger Punch

Turf Winner: English Channel

Classic Winner: Curlin


Big Winners of the Day: Patti and J.O.

The Annoyed Handicapper:
Who Made the Whole Trip Possible

Live From New Jersey

The following selection was constructed on Sunday morning following the 2007 Breeder's Cup Championships at Monmouth Park in New Jersey.

Live from New Jersey

It’s Sunday morning, and I’m just slowly coming back to the living after a whirlwind 72 hours. As some may recall, after the football game Thursday night, I got home to Roanoke at about 2 in the morning. Then it was up at 5:45 for work. I left work around 11:30 and hit the road heading for New Jersey, specifically the Breeder’s Cup Championships at Monmouth Park.

For those who aren’t initiated, The Breeder’s Cup Championships are a series of races over a two day period that pit the best and most proven horses against each other in different classifications and distances. Horse racing in America shuts down for this weekend just so these races can have the undivided attention of the racing world. ESPN gave up an afternoon of Saturday football just to cover these races on their number one channel.

I really hadn’t been to Jersey for any length of time before, and in my little spot in the road called Cranberry, NJ, I’ve found the people to be very nice, although I really haven’t come across too many that speak English without a foreign accent. Sometimes it’s hard to tell a true Jersey accent from English spoken over Spanish.

Another thing about this part of Jersey is that there are a lot of deer on the roads at night, and they are very fast. Thankfully, one was just fast enough to dart safely across the road in front of me and the car that was passing me last night as I was traveling RT 33. That deer flashed across from the median as a brown blur like a horse making a move down the stretch. It missed the front of my car by about 6 inches.

Roads in Jersey are unusual for a Virginian. The road signage in this county is severely lacking. There are seemingly street name signs posted in the center of traffic light standards; however, those signs always look bleached out at night. Another odd thing is the whole idea of making any kind of turn. Basically, you can’t do it. To make a left turn, you have to get in the right lane, exit, and loop around. Also, you can’t make a right turn at a traffic light intersection. Instead, you have to know that there is a right turn exit hidden directly behind the sign telling you that you can’t turn right at the light ahead. An out-of-towner doesn’t have a chance.

The races yesterday (Saturday) were amazing. My two sisters and I brought the torrential rains with us from Roanoke. So I pulled out my still soggy football rain gear and put it on. Our seats, although extremely expensive ($100…for the cheap seats), were located far into the first turn. Before I saw them, I thought that was such a rip off. Once there, however, I realized that I would have an incredible view of the whole place. We were sitting in nice, chair-backed bleachers located within ten yards of the outer dirt track. We had a perfect and close-up view of the horses jostling for position on the first turn and accelerating through to the backstretch. They had trucked in lots of port-a-johns and betting machines for us folks in the far turn. It was like we were segregated from the main grandstand and had our own track just to ourselves. Many people didn’t show for the races because of the rain and the extremely steep ticket prices, so we pretty much sat where we wanted.

The races were all awesome over a most sloppy mud track and a boggy turf course. Obviously, the head-liner today is Curlin’. That horse just exploded on his stretch run in the championship mile and a quarter classic and tossed aside my favorite horse, Hard Spun. Hard Spun had the best first turn of any horse that raced yesterday. He was dug in to the slop and made the sharp turn with power and perfection. Thanks to Hard Spun rabbiting around at incredible fractions, Curlin’ ended up tying a track record that had stood since 1963. The field in that race was the strongest I ever remember seeing in one race before. Five true champion contenders: Curlin’, Street Sense, Hard Spun, Any Given Saturday, Lawyer Ron.

There were some other massive performances. Two horses with Virginia connections won two major races. Kip Deville, who once visited Colonial Downs and ran in the Turf championship there two years ago surprisingly, won the Mile. English Channel, the greatest horse to ever race in Virginia (VA Derby winner), blew away the touted field in the B.C. Turf. Especially enjoyable was how Channel won powering away from the field led by heralded Dylan Thomas from England/France. Another performance worth noting was Midnight Lute in the Sprint Championship. This is one massive horse and he plodded through the extreme slop with seeming ease to smoke the tough field. If you are looking toward the future, keep your eye on War Pass. This two year old dominated the Juvenile championship. Juvenile winners don’t always head to the Triple Crown races next spring/summer and do well, but it will be very hard to overlook this horse now.

As many of you know, I really don’t bet much at the track. I went in yesterday and placed bets on 8 races. My bets totaled $60. I ended up doing respectably well and came out roughly even for the day. My sisters both did very well. They probably bet about $100 a piece and came out with double that.

We were also joined by our family’s long time friend who we all met at Virginia Tech many years ago. He was a perpetual student, so he came to know our whole family as we cycled through the school. He and his wife are real students of the racing game. They own/rescued three thoroughbred racehorses and care for them beside their tenant home on a 6,000 acre horse farm in NOVA. Our friend is especially savvy with his wagers, and rarely loses big, but he sometimes does hit big. Anyway, yesterday, he was commenting that all of his handicapping skills were pretty much thrown into the muck. Soggy turf and mud is a great equalizer. It can also bring out stunning performances from horses that just get it and stinky performances from horses (Lawyer Ron) that despise it. So our friend started goofing around with some cheap exotic picks. Just before the Turf Championship he placed four Superfecta Quick Picks. That’s similar to a lottery ticket where the computer makes the picks. English Channel powered to his win and my friend realized that he lost his regular bets and began double checking his Quick Picks…that’s when a goofy smile came over his face. His last Quick pick had the correct four numbers in order…and he had accidently placed $4 bets on each pick instead of the usual $1…so he won 4X the amount. That Superfecta paid $1,280 X 4. Amazing stuff. To see that look of shock and surprise come across his face made my whole trip worth every penny I spent on the $6 foot long hot dog.

Win Money...HAVE FUN!

Win Money…HAVE FUN!

That’s what the official Colonial Downs program says in its Grand Slam of Grass edition for July 21, 2007.

I was there to see the Grade II Virginia Derby and to have some fun visiting with my sister The Annoyed Handicapper, my brother Joe, and his chum - Brenda. Joe and Brenda had never been to a track before; however, Brenda, knows quite a lot about horses and was able to offer unique insights. Rarely do I win money, and this visit was no different. I know how to limit my losses, however, and keep it all in proper perspective.

By the time the 9^th race came along, the trend was definitely set had I been paying real attention. Horacia Karamanos, the leading local track rider, was on a torrid run. He had won several races already, but with many of the big boys in the jockey club in residence, Karamanos had no mount in Derby until he gained a 37-1 long shot, Red Giant, the morning of the race.

The field was very strong with Strike A Deal, Duveen, Summer Doldrums, Love Dubai, Soldier’s Dancer and Circular Quay (Key), famously lethargic favorite and looking the part, all entered to run the 1.25 miles over the outer turf.

Inca King led early, but was passed in the turn by Strike A Deal. Circular Quay seemed to be struggling at the back while Summer Doldrums, winner of the first leg of the Grand Slam of Grass was lurking, waiting to move. Inexplicably, Red Giant held the stalking second position through the turn and into the stretch. The Karamanos encouraged the horse to exert a bit more and pass Strike A Deal who had opened a two-length lead. Red Giant took the lead and tried to extend, but Strike A Deal, ridden by Ramon Dominguez, covered the move. The two battled down the stretch bobbing noses in front. No force came from behind. Quay was in mud. Summer Doldrums moved too late to come up to fourth at the line.

In the end it was the 37-1 Red Giant winning by a bob of the head. Strike A Deal was second. Soldier’s Dancer finished third. Another victory for Karamanos. He really does love winning at Colonial.

I lost money, limited my losses, and had fun. All in all, a delightful cool summer day at the track.

Perhaps we’ll add a photo later... perhaps one of my mates has a photo of a horse that ran.