Meadowlands Pace Elims & Saturday Notes

Here are a few things that caught my eye this Saturday.

The Meadowlands Pace elims go tonight (next week's is the $600k final, yes $600k) and they are a puzzle. This year, unlike many others, there are no standouts up until this point, and this Final can go any number of ways, in my opinion.

In elim one, there are in-form horses, capable of 148 type miles, including Bettors Edge, Allstar Legend, State Treasurer and A Rock n Roll Dance. There are two freaky speed horses, Sweet Lou and Hurrikane Kingcole. Who shows up? It's a guess.

If we are trip handicapping, the horses who will likely show speed are All Star Legend and Sweet Lou. Hurrikane King Cole will likely head to the back, or mid pack, and A Rock n Roll Dance will want some sort of covered trip I would guess. I surmise Sweet Lou is my most likely winner, but I wouldn't be betting much if he was under 8-5.

In elim two, it's as - or even moreso interesting. I mean, you've got a horse like Heston Blue Chip that has not shown a bottom yet, and he's 9-2ML. You've got a talented horse like Bolt The Duer, who fires all the time and people consider a bit of an also ran. This crop is so deep. For good measure, this field also includes the first and second place finishers in the North America Cup, and another horse who just won by 5 in 49 for a tune-up. Wow.

I think Pierce may try Hillbilly Hanover, so I'll use him underneath in some exotics. Otherwise, it's a tough, tough race for this cat.

Notes:

Crist wrote a cool column on So You Think. The horse's trainer, Aiden O'Brien said the following:

“Basically, it’s taken me a year and a half to learn how to train him properly, and up to now I’ve made a right dog’s dinner of it. What was I doing wrong? Working him too long, too often, and too hard. Yes, three big ones. “There’s loads of horses we destroy as trainers,”

I'm sure you can think of many who were compromised with crazy decisions. But you won't find many who admit it.

How good a mare was Kikikatie? She was a Real Artist, a $37k yearling purchase, and she won 19 of 31. She was a good horse. But how many of the great mares fail in the shed with records like that. She is not one of them, and she is becoming one of the more underrated production mares we've seen in awhile. Her last yearling colt just qualified in 154 and looked good. Her previous foal is Time To Roll, and she has also thrown the superfast Gram's Legacy and the nice Rockin Image.

The Betfair/BHA deal was a good one for all parties. Punters get their low rake protected, purses get some money and life goes on. That's the way it is supposed to happen.

Have a great day everyone.