It's Preakness Day

Bode...Bode...Bodemeister! Well, I agree with how this race looks on paper. I think that it is a race that is almost a walk for Bodemeister. And Creative Cause has his best chance here. I'm not sure that come from behind horses are going to get a good set up for them. And, so the only question for any of us is about my horse, "I'll Have Another."

I think he's HORSE enough for this. He looks great today. I think he's a true little man, with enough heart to win. And if he gets a shot at Bodemeister, I think he will beat him. But I can't deny that Bode looks like a wire-to-wire cinch. A lot depends on how Bode rates in this one. Can he be rated, slowed down? And was the 100 yards in the Derby a factor? I don't know. I just hope that I'll Have Another doesn't need it to be a nail-biter and can, in fact, run that rabbit down. Here we go!

And now for the TRIPLE...I'll Have Another!

Truly, I loved Barbaro. Losing him broke my heart, because I thought he could win it all and would have. But I've not been THIS excited about a horse in a very long time. I love I'll Have Another, because he has more than natural talent. He has grit and intellect and heart. He reminds me a lot of another great Santa Anita Derby winner, Affirmed. Back when everyone was high on Alydar, who was a magnificent animal, I never stepped off of Affirmed, because he wanted it more. Look at how both horses dig in there for the win. I'll Have Another just eats up the ground in the stretch. He and Bode are pulling away from a horse that had to be going 35 miles an hour.

As I said in my last post, give him a chance and he will run anyone down. This race was so great. My throat hurts from all that screaming. GRIN

Watch it under this cut ( Read more... )

Now, about The Belmont...

First, he has to come of this race sound and fit. Then, he will need Mario to have a cool head in that long turn in New York. I can't tell you how many jockeys lose the Belmont because they move their horse too soon. On any other track that's what you do, but at the Belmont you have America's longest stretch run ahead of you, and you need to sit chilly on the horse, relaxing him just when he wants to switch leads. Keep your horse relaxed until you enter the stretch. At that point, with the long stretch ahead of him, Dullahan and a few other fresher horses will be making stretch runs and they might barrel past us. I'll Have Another will be required to hold off challengers, which he hasn't had much experience doing. Usually, he is making a run at a leader. This time he may well be the leader. Then the question is, can he keep his head, hold on to the lead and make history?

I'll Have Another! Just one more...please!

100 Things I've Learned--As I Learn Them #9

Today, during the Preakness Post Parade, the announcers talked a little bit about Lava Man, a former race horse who was acting as I'll Have Another's pony. The pony's job is to keep the nervous young horses quiet and calm. Lava Man is a gelding, so he can't be put out to stud, but it is interesting that he has a second career as a pony for a great horse, because Lava Man is, himself, a great horse.

I had checked out of racing for a bit around 2004-2007, so I didn't realize how great until I did a little research.

Lava Man started out somewhere below the bottom of the barrel. He was well-bred but not well purchased and at 2 years old he was racing in a $12,500 dollar maiden claiming race at a Fairgrounds track. Claiming races are when every horse in the race is for sale at that price...in this case...$12,500. This is where your cart horses come from...and where the "make them into dog food" fears arise, too. It's a hard grind for a horse at this level, because nobody cares about you, you make little, if any, money and you are raced until you drop or someone takes you off your owner's hands. But Lava Man lucked out when he fell into the hands of O'Neill, and got a shot at stakes races in California.

And not just any Stakes races...but GRADE 1 races in great company. O'Neill is, apparently, a crazy man or a good judge of cheap horse flesh. I'll Have Another cost him $11,000. At four years old, Lava Man was fitted with blinkers and he got his mind on his job and started winning Handicap races, while carrying the heaviest weights in the field.

Here he is putting away the best in the land in the Hollywood Gold Cup in 2005 in a record shattering win...

He won again the next year. In 2006, he won The Santa Anita Handicap, The Hollywood Gold Cup and the Pacific Coast Classic all Grade 1 races. He was the first horse to ever do that in the same calendar year. He is the all time leading Stakes race winner in California history. He is the only horse to ever win a major race at every California race track. He is the third highest money earner in the history of California racing. He has won on dirt, grass and artificial surfaces. He was California Horse of the year in 2006 as well as Older Horse of the Year and Turf Horse of the Year. He has been compared to Seabiscuit and is arguably the greatest claiming horse of all time. You can read all about his amazing career on wikipedia here...http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lava_Man

Oh, and he walks I'll Have Another to the post, to keep him calm. And I bet he gives him a few tips, too, just like an old coach with a promising new recruit, "Get your nose in front, son! That's what they expect of you. Win big and you don't have to find a new home."

To Learn More About the 100 Things Challenge...go here...http://jdbracknell.livejournal.com/165714.html