Old-Fashioned Butt whuppin'

I know. That was too easy. But it also is very true. Old Fashioned ran the Southwest Stakes today in a visually dominating manner. To put it succinctly, he looked like a Derby winner.

Old Fashioned broke well with Silver City muling* him. Silver City forged ahead and led Old Fashioned around the course until the exact moment you'd expect a champion to make the pass. He did with authority.

Silver City hung on for second, three and a half lengths back.

The field for this race was strong. Poltergeist ran as did Professor Z. Surprising Buzzin and Dreamin' finished third with Flat Out pushing hard in fourth.

*Right on his ass.

!Xabbu

Sometimes a person must speak up. However, it is preferable to sit back and listen. It's taken me several weeks of on and off again study, but I finally narrowed my fantasy stable down to ten horse for the 2009 Run For the Roses Contest.

This year, I've chosen to call my stable "!Xabbu." That name may seem an odd choice for a stable, yet, in fact, it is a special name. !Xabbu is a major character in the Otherland series by Tad Williams. !Xabbu is a Bushman from South Africa and commands the Xhosa language. That language utilizes different clicks and gutteral sounds. In !Xabbu's case, the ! in front of his name represents a postalveolar click. Anyway, !Xabbu's greatest attribute in my estimation, is his ability to thoroughly study and discect a problem or situation. !Xabbu never panics and truly understands his position in the cosmos.

!Xabbu would enjoy studying horses. He wouldn't really understand the whole betting thing, but he would very much enjoy studying their nature. !Xabbu would say that he would not understand what makes them hurry so much. In fact, he would study that exact question until he felt sure that he had a plausible theory.

Unlike !Xabbu, I've been studying the horses that were nominated for this year's Kentucky Derby. From that pool, I've whittled my choices for a stable down to my Big Ten. Here's some of my reasoning for those new to the contest this year. Keep in mind though that others have much more knowledge and wisdom than and have studied the situation far longer.

My sister, The Annoyed Handicapper, believes in a regional strategy to play this game. I've taken her idea and look for horses that play in Florida, California, Louisana/Arkansas, Kentucky and North. If I can plug in some horses from each region, I'll have a balanced stable. I also look to score early. I figure that horses that run this weekend are generally (with one exception) going to be running in perhaps two to three races before the Kentucky Derby. Horse that run in late February or March will run at most twice. I also shy away from the biggest names. For example, Midshipman is on everyone's best horse lists this year. But Midshipman was shipped to Dubai and will evolve out of sight before he might be turned loose on the Derby. Midshipman, no matter how good, will earn few points in our contest.

With all of that in mind, here's my stable:

!Xabbu

1. Chocolate Candy: West Coast...will run our of Golden Gate Saturday/Favorite. They say he's a little slow, but he hasn't lost.

2. Old Fashioned: Arkansas...will most likely run in the Southwest Stakes on Monday...Probably the overall Derby favorite...if there is such a creature these days.

3. Silver City: Arkansas...will race against Old Fashioned Monday.

4. ThePamplemousse: In my estimation, has the coolest story of the horses this year. Named after a restaurant and owned by jockeys.

5. Friesan Fire: Another winner that doesn't look impressive. Likely going to The Fountain of Youth.

6. Pioneerof the Nile: Recent impressive winner. Came from the back on a funky synthetic track. How will he handle dirt?

7. Captain Candyman Can: I almost threw out this horse because of his Sammy Davis Jr. name. I disliked Sammy Davis, except when he played the calvary soldier in some western and got shot with a bunch of arrows. The horse, however, is good and is learning to relax. !Xabbu would approve.

8. Patena: Ran second to Friesan Fire in last race. On many sexy horse lists.

9. Free Country: Tampa Bay. !Xabbu would approve of his name; !Xabbu would reccognize no borders.

10. ThereGoesJoJo: McPeek has a lot of horses. This may be the best.

The horse I waivered on the most was Haynesfield. This horse has run in new York and has won impressively against no competition. I'm thinking he won't get graded earnings wins. I also left off Poltergeist, Danger to Society, Beethoven,Well Positioned, I Want Revenge, Flying Pegasus, Giant Oak, and Vinyard Haven (who lost Thursday in Dubai). Plus, I left off the wonder sprinters. I won't tell you their names in case their speed figures stand up in longer races.

For trainers, I went with a favorite and pure mass. Larry Jones and Kenny McPeek.

I never have any luck with jockeys (that didn't sound right). I've chosen Garrett Gomez again. Gomez completely burned me last year, but I've chosen him again. However, I decided on the wonder jockey Julien Leparoux.



Family and friends are welcome to join our fantasy league in The Run For the Roses 2009 contest. Here are the details you'll need after you choose your stable:

League Name: ARFTCHC
League Identifier: 257130210
Activation Code: 3051488628


!Xabbu would say that I've said too much. I should talk less and listen more.

An Early Look at 2009

With the three year-old season underway, I thought I'd try to compile a list of horses that various people are writing about in the run up to the Kentucky Derby. The list I've compiled is included in the four pictures I've posted here. You can click each picture to enlarge it. If you want an more interactive document, click the link just below the pictures, and it will take you to a website called Drop.io. This site houses the original document on a website where you can click to download the table into your version of MS Word. Easy and Safe.

It seems like everyone was talking about a horse with Brit ties called Square Eddie. However, Square Eddie was defeated yesterday by The Pamplemousse, a horse ridden by Alex Solis and partially owned by his son, Alex Solis Jr.

Two of the horses with the brightest future were recently sold to Dubai, Midshipman and Vineyard Haven. The latter is regarded as the top of the class.

Chocolate Candy won the California Derby impressively yesterday.

Personally, I'm interested in learning more about Professor Z, Point Encounter, Donativum, and Dubinsky. Of course, the whole world will be watching to see if Nicanor, full blooded brother of Barbaro will be in any races leading up to the Derby. Early word was that he's make a play for racing later in the year and be given more time to develop. Barbaro's fans may have other opinions.

View 2009-triple-crown-doc

The Annoyed Handicapper will no doubt be along sometime with her take on this early season. Also, keep an eye on the Run to the Roses Fantasy Contest. Stable signups usually come in late January or early February.


This site has taken a vacation for a few months, but it will be updated fairly regularly at least through the Belmont. we'll see what kind of time I have after that. You may have noticed that I used the site to try out some pictures. When I had a stray picutre or two that I wanted to share on another website, I found that by posting the picture here and then linking to it from the other site, I had a cheap and easy way of having access to the photos.

Late Hit on Tyrod Taylor Analyzed

Cool Radar

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.