Shadow Play won the Little Brown Jug easily today. It was a fine performance for a horse who has not gotten much respect. I have said a few times here that I thought the Confederation Cup was much tougher than the Cane Pace, and many other races, since this colt was a part of it. I think that is true. He is a good horse.
Phil made a comment after the elim that if Art Official is anywhere near favorite status in the final that he would be loading up the truck. He was right. I for one can not believe that Art Official was anywhere near 2-1. He would have had to improve by around 20 lengths to win that final. He had virtually no shot on paper.
When Art broke scoring down I took a sizeable shot on Santanna and pitched Art from the exotics. As well I bet Santanna to show, as Art had a full $50,000 on him to show. I can not believe that Sanatanna could not pace away there. He only paced 52.3, which for him is a terrible mile. Jeff Gillis posts on the Harnessdriver site from time to time, so maybe we can find out what was bugging him. Santanna is far too fine a horse to not be able to pace at least 51.
All in all a fine day of racing. I think we learned a few things today: 1) Somebeachsomewhere is a clear favorite for 3YO of the year (he should be a slam dunk for horse of the year too, but we are tired of trumpeting that) and 2) These are horses, not machines. Even horses like Art have a bad day.
As Phil mentioned in his comment that Art was flat in the Cane, we thought so too. I am actually not surprised he raced poorly today. I had a feeling that after the Cane something was not quite right. He is far too good a horse to be life and death to come home in 56 seconds like he did in the Cane.
Will Art and Beach meet? Let's hope so, and let's hope they are both at their best. In racing, especially in the 3YO division it is pure murder. These horses, week in week out go hard against each other and they have to withstand adversity. Very few do. Right now the Beach has, and believe me, we are watching history.
I am glad Shadow Play got to show what he can do, however. He is a nice horse, and in any other year he would probably be the horse. Just not this year.
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4 comments:
I wanted to bet my house but couldn't bet Shadow Play at 3-5. I thought Lonestar Legend, Rudy Rednose and even Mystery Chase offered some value but couldn't see how any of them could get involved.
Art actually raced better than I thought he would in the 2nd heat.
The reason Shadow Play doesn't get the respect he should be getting is he is not racing in the NY/NJ or Ontario circuits. Out of sight, out of mind to the voters of the top ten lists.
Hi Allan,
I would say that is not the fault of Shadow Play, that is the fault of the voters. I am a fan and I know about horses that race in New Jersey, or New York, or Del or Ontario. Why can't the voters?
The Internet is here and has been for some time. There is absolutely no excuse for anyone who follows the game not knowing about a World record holder like Shadow Play.
PTP
Don't take me wrong, it is not Shadow's Play fault. It is the same way in Baseball or any other sport, if you play in a major market you get the recognition. The votes should be able to recognize talent.
Though as a gambler this works to our advantage. I have noticed horses shipping in to the Meadowlands from tracks like Hoosier Park, Chicago, Hazel Park and Saratoga that get overlooked because they are coming from 'minor league' tracks. There are good horses that ship in from these tracks but there is such a NYC metro area mentality that some of these get overlooked (thought the people don't realize the Meadowlands quality is not what it once was).
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