Harper has ran Baffert off at the WRONG time

[bdw0617]

Baffert is freaking


L O A D E D

this year. With the whole lack of stars, lower handle, less attention that the socal circuit is getting in comparsion with their counterparts on the other side of the country in new york, the LAST thing, the VERY last thing they needed to do was to curse out the owner who might have the hottest 2YO barn in the country right now from an owners perspective.


It was bad enough when Maimonides won his maiden at the spa in impressive fashion, creating enough buzz for a week.


but my gosh... he has an even BETTER 2YO colt than that

did anyone catch the 2YO win by J BE K?

you didn't miss much... just BROKE THE TRACK RECORD IN HIS FIRST RACE, that's all.

It's getting beyond who is right and who is wrong. It really is. As a president or owner or general manager of anything, your first prority is to make sure your customers are getting the best quality product they possibly can get.

We've seen 2 horses, one who will probably win, and should win a grade 1 tomorrow.

Don't tell me for one second that somehow there is a good silver lining that Baffert was not in SoCal for these colts for the public to see.

I'm in arkansas, and I would be pretty peeved if the owner of the track found a way to run off Midnight Cry stables (curlin) before he got a chance to race there.

at the end of the day, stars bring people to the track. with no stars you have the equivalent of Mountaineer park, with no slots to keep you afloat

[bdw0617]

then as a partin shot, Indian Blessing wins by 5 in 1:03 and 2 at first asking.

[ageecee]

Disagree. Del Mar will attract the horses and fans wether Baffert is there or not. remember baffert is still there its his owner who picked up his ball and left.



Where did J BE K break its Maiden?

[bdw0617]

Baffertt is still there correct, it's not him he really ran off. It's the owner which he trains for, who took all of his talent with him. he "took his toys and he's playing elsewhere" so to speak.

The west coast over the last couple of years has dealt with the lost of the lewis family (at least bob lewis), the throughbred corp, and alot of other big named owners. owners bring talent. talent is trained by owners.

right now socal looks like a bunch of high priced claimers because well... they ARE a bunch of high priced claimers. it's not a knock on them... but i'm just calling what i see.

There is a reason why every 6 or so months someone is taken a mid level claimer and running all the way to the top with them.. Lava man, but less noticabley horses like On the Acorn who in December of last year was coming in last place in mid level claiming races.... By April he won the freakin San Juan Capistrano, probably, at least in my eyes, the 3rd most important race at Santa Anita park and won a free trip to the Melbourne Cup in the process.

truth be told about lava man... it wasn't the 'blinkers' that made him better.. Doug O'Neil just figured out that hey... there isn't a hell of a lot of difference between the races this gelding is running in now. if I can win a 100k OC in SA, with the way the talent pool is... I can at least be ITM in a Graded stakes race. the rest is as we say, history.

CITRONNADE couldn't even win an allowence race back at belmont late last year... Frankel ships her to soCal and she's a mutliple graded stakes winner.

I am pretty passionate about horse racing. I'm EXTREMELY passionate about SoCal horse racing, in the sense that it deserves to be the mecca of american horse racing. There is NO REASON why people who live in california should have to look at the NYRA tracks to see top quality racing. What are the days of Alysheba, Silver Charm, AP Indy, Real Quiet, Point Given, Congergee, silverbulletday, Sunday Silence, Sky Jack, Sharp Cat, Sweet Catomine, etc.... The weather, the population, the tradition, everything... socal is what hooked me to horse racing in the first place.

Gulfstream has taken the place as the "winter resting spot" for the top 3YO's.. Notional, Adore the gold, stormello, Liquidity, Cobalt Blue all had to go out of the state to find top quality races (shoot.. that's a nice grade 3 right there for ya)


the point again isn't the poly anymore. if we are going to go with poly fine, let's go with it. for better for for worse.

my point is, if you are going to stick with it, you have to, it's essential, that you do a better job of showing your owners, espically the ones like Zayat, why it's in their best interest to not ship their "toys" 3k miles away to play with.

10 years ago, Cigar shipped to Del Mar race in the Pacific Classic.

Today that's the equivalent of say.. Invasor picking Del Mar over run his next race. when is the last time a top class horse has done that?

And it's not necessarly the poly.. that's what I'm trying to say. It's that no one is doing a good job of keeping the owners HERE or recruiting new ones


to showcase my point, as everyone knows, the MassCap is at the end of the month.

they want Street Sense to come and race there so bad, they are going to give him an additional 200k if he wins on TOP of his the winning earnings. Needless to say, it's a very, very good chance, his course of action is going to be the MassCap/BC Classic

The Super Derby is willing to double, DOUBLE their purse if either Curlin, Rags to Riches or Street Sense enters the race, from 500k to 1 million.

they all understand a very basic premise that no one in southern california seems to understand. Betting attracts handicappers. Horses attracts fans who turn into handicappers.

Where did J BE K break its Maiden?

Saratoga, Wednesday August 29th, race 2

[Sysonby]

There's always someone in the crowd who rags on California racing.

It's interesting that many of the horses that Zayat and/or Baffert are freaking with at Saratoga (ie Maimonides, J Be K, Midnight Lute, and today Moon de French) were all West Coast horses sent East because of the dustup.

They look pretty competitive to me.

[bdw0617]

There's always someone in the crowd who rags on California racing.

It's interesting that many of the horses that Zayat and/or Baffert are freaking with at Saratoga (ie Maimonides, J Be K, Midnight Lute, and today Moon de French) were all West Coast horses sent East because of the dustup.

They look pretty competitive to me.

well there is always someone ragging on socal racing because well.. it's not revelant int he grand scheme of things anymore

It's been since 01 since the last time a legit horse (i.e not one that benefited from a pace meltdown) won the kentucky derby from a SoCal base

same with the Preakness and the belmont.


Look at the Breeders Cup races... how long has it's been since California has been revelant:

Classic: 03
Turf: 03
Distaff: 00 if you count D Wayne lukas, if not 92
Mile: 01
sprint: 06
filly and mare turf: never
filly juve: 03


Now i"m not saying that socal racing has fallen off the map.. however if you look at it, it's taking a huge plunch from the late 90's and the very early 00's.


In this year's derby the lowest odd horse from SoCal was 25 to 1.

And they ran accordingly


thoose are pretty hard facts to argue with

And I'm not ragging on socal racing. I LOVE socal racing. so much so I want EVERYONE ELSE to love it and it peeves me to see pissfests that drive


away owners.

They look pretty competitive to me

any race looks competitive. Student Council should show you just how compeitive SoCal racing has become. Right now the going rate for a Grade 1 in SoCal is about a 100kOC elsewhere. and that's not the horses faults, they are what they are. it's no reason SoCal shouldn't be the mecca of united states horse racing.

[Tucumcari]

Ahem... Hystericalady....

[louis finochio]

BB has accomplished his victories with the best bred horses that this owners purchase for him. They were not California breds.

[Playwithfire]

I think the California based horses will have something to say about the results of the Breeders Cup this year. The contenders this year aren't half bad. Maybe it'll lead to a renaissance of top runners coming from out west.

Classic: Tiago, Buzzards bay
TUrf: The Tin Man, After Market
Distaff: Hysterical Lady, Balance
Mile: Kip Deville, Crossing the Line, Out of Control
Sprint: Smokey Stover, Greg's Gold, Surf Cat, Bilo
FM Turf: Cittronade, Precious Kitten, Valbenny, Nashoba's key

I wouldn't be surprised if a couple of the above BC races are won by West Coast based horses.

[Rokeby Forever]

Bill Mott has been on FIRE with Zayat stock at Saratoga. It'll be interesting to see how Zayat apportions his future stock between Baffert and Mott.

[bdw0617]

BB has accomplished his victories with the best bred horses that this owners purchase for him. They were not California breds.

Yes, Skip Away, Silver Charm (a horse who you could have had for 16k in a claimer before he won the kentucky derby) and others were all million dollar babies.

[bdw0617]

I think the California based horses will have something to say about the results of the Breeders Cup this year. The contenders this year aren't half bad. Maybe it'll lead to a renaissance of top runners coming from out west.

Classic: Tiago, Buzzards bay
TUrf: The Tin Man, After Market
Distaff: Hysterical Lady, Balance
Mile: Kip Deville, Crossing the Line, Out of Control
Sprint: Smokey Stover, Greg's Gold, Surf Cat, Bilo
FM Turf: Cittronade, Precious Kitten, Valbenny, Nashoba's key

I wouldn't be surprised if a couple of the above BC races are won by West Coast based horses.

1. Please don't tell me you think Tiago or Buzzards bay will have any say in the classic. I love tiago (which has been noted on this forum) and I will tell you the horse has no shot in hell.. at least this year int he race. Buzzards Bay?.....

the rest I will agree with you

[madelyn]

Um. Skip Away was trained by Sonny Hines. And certainly was no million dollar baby. He was purchased for $30K as a 2yo.

[bdw0617]

shot, I'm getting my horses mixed up. I meant to say Real Quiet







he took 2 horses you could have probably claimed and won 2/3ds of the triple crown with both

[Rokeby Forever]

BB has accomplished his victories with the best bred horses that this owners purchase for him. They were not California breds.

Silverbulletday was purchased for only $175,000, but she was as Rokeby as a filly can get. Had Mr Mellon not disbursed his broodmares prior to his death, Silverbulletday would have been a Rok-bred - nature's finest!

So, I think it's fair to say that Baffert's people have purchased very well bred stock for him to train.