Smokie last in stakes but no disappointment

[geowarrior]

Citi Smoke (smokie), one of my partnership horses, came last in the GIII Lecomte Stakes today, but it was a thrill just to see him run in this company.

If you saw my separate thread in this section handicapping the Lecomte, Hard Spun did live up to expectations with a very convincing win going away against a very good field. Hard Spun has to now be considered a very serious Triple Crown contender as I have no doubt he can get the Classic distances (todays stakes was 1 mile). Izzie's Halo was second, and will also stay on track for the Triple Crown I imagine. Teuflesberg was third. I really think that Teuflesberg, who stumbled yet again at the start (see my brilliant handicapping noting his tendency to trip coming out of the gate), doesn't get the Classic distances but could be a big factor in the sprint division. I do think Teuflesberg is a horse with heart and that he squeezed out the best decision he could today at this distance. The result today may not stop his connections from trying him again at the routes. The two most disappointed sets of connections are likely those of Makeithapencaptain and unbeaten Tony Terrific both of whom failed to live up to hype. The time for the mile was 1.37.87, just over 2 seconds off the track record.

As for Smokie's run, there was lots to be encouraged about. There were continued signs of increasing mental maturity. He behaved well in the paddock, during the post parade, and going into the gate (although he was sweating slightly going in). He broke better than he has been doing and although jostled slightly after the break, held his ground fairly well. He also held his ground much better on the first turn, drifting only very slightly. After the first turn, however, when he usually starts to make up ground, he began to lose it instead, and although he didn't lose touch with the field, he 'showed little'. That was quite uncharacteristic for him. I haven't got a report from our managing partner as to whether Smokie was o.k. physically after the race or whether perhaps he likes the turf better than the dirt, maybe this was just too high class for him, or he is not mature enough. Also, as the TVG commentators pointed out, the horses are still going through growing pains and are just babies at this stage and so an off day doesn't necessarily mean that much. Although Hard Spun is a May foal like Smokie, I noticed that in the paddock Hard Spun looked like a big bruiser compared to Smokie. I haven't seen Smokie in person since August, but he was relatively slight (except for very muscular hind quarters) then, and he still seemed a little underdeveloped compared with some of the others today.

The important info that I'm waiting for is the result of the post-race vet check to see that he's o.k. Smokie's already given me more thrills than I could ever have hoped for, and if he's o.k. he'll unquestionably have more successes in the future. I just couldn't find it in myself to be disappointed at the result. I'll post again when I find out how he is.

[BenB]

Geowarrior, I hope he do came out ok.

In a minor company it is very much easier to show a good turn of foot than in these more or less top compagnie look at the setting from the time frames of the races and compare them you will notice the difference.
Also study the racing weights and comparing them.

Next time out wishing very much luck in advance.

[geowarrior]

Hi Ben. Yes, I think Hard Spun is the real Triple Crown deal, with several other very good horses in the race also, so I agree about class. This was a very very high quality race. Smokie was joint low weight (as well as 22-1 long shot in the betting), but there was only about five pounds between low and high weights here.

I still haven't heard if he's o.k., but if you want to see pictures of him during his one of his early workouts last July go to this url. http://www.daretodreamstable.com/photoshows/rosesmokehtml/data/index.html . To watch a slide show to music of both Oriental Rose and Smokie (about 8 minutes) click 'view slide show'. If you just want to see a few individual pictures of Smokie, scroll down the index of thumbnails on the right hand side. Smokie's pictures are towards the bottom after Rose's pictures.

[geowarrior]

Well, I have the update on Smokie. He came out of the race fine, but our trainer/m.p. were disappointed in his performance, as they don't think that it really reflects Smokie's talent. Although he scoped out o.k., the vet noted that he had an awful lot of dirt in his lungs. During the race, the no. 2 post position and the relatively good break actually harmed him, because he carries his head very high and since he was up with the field he got a lot of dirt in his face and breathed it in. We've known for a while now that he hates to get dirt in his face, gets very angry and won't run (I went to visit him after his first race, when the same thing happened, and a crabbier horse you never did see), which is apparently what happened here. Several of his better races have been when he got left at the start or didn't make the first turn and so was clear of debris. There doesn't seem to be a problem with the way he actually travels over the dirt surface, but the upshot is that we won't be seeing Smokie racing over dirt again any time soon - it will be back to the turf for him. There are lots of great turf route races over the year and several of them are at our home track, Arlington Park, so I still think that he has thrills to provide.

Our m.p. did remark that Hard Spun is a gorgeous looking colt in person and is, in his view, a legit Derby contender.

[Barbaro06]

Keep us posted on Smokie...his broodmare sire is Citidancer, a Country Life stallion (now pensioned). I regret not seeing him run in the Lecomte.

[geowarrior]

Thanks Barbaro. I know, I LOVE Citidancer.. Smokie's mother, Citi Pearl, did not race much, but when she did she broke a track record.

You can still see the Lecomte run (although from a Smokie perspective it's not his best) if you go to the Fair Grounds race course site. http://www.fairgroundsracecourse.com

If you are not a member, you need to register, but it's free. Once you have registered, you can login, and near the top right of the screen there is a video archives tab. Press that then for the Lecomte select January 13th and select race 9. Even although Smokie's race is not good you'll get to see Hard Spun, a real contender.

To see a good Smokie race on the turf, select the 8th December 06, then select race 8. This is the one where he came with a blazing run down the final stretch and almost caught the heavily favored Tony Terrific.[url][/url]

[geowarrior]

Smokie's likely next race is February 11th in a 1 & 1/16 mile turf allowance at Fair Grounds.

[BenB]

I enjoyed the photo,s and the video very much.
Smokie seems to have a bit of troubles settling in the race.
In our country races with standardbreds they race with a kind of "muzzel" for protecting face and mouth.
My former racefilly was having the same happening, racing at a yielding turf track while snokered for almost nine furlongs. A kind of coughing afterwards because of the mud in the nose mouth troat and all over
Next time out more luck

[emmad]

Started a reply yest and got side tracked by work lol.

Hope he does better for you on the turf. It's the best surface We don't have dirt tracks so couldn't comment on the coughing and lung thing but doesn't sound condusive to a good run.

Sometimes on a really wet track we have had occasions where trainers are allowed to remove the blinkers off horses as a safety issue. If the track is wet enough mud can get kicked up into the blinkers and cause a vision problem.
Only seen it get that bad a few times though.

Look forward to the next race.

[geowarrior]

Ben, so glad you enjoyed the photos and video. I always get a chuckle out of the photos, with Smokie jumping around, he almost looks like he's ready for a hurdle.

Yes he does have trouble settling, but he is improving. As far as I know, his dirt breathing hasn't been bad enough to cause a cough, but it is noticeable enough that the vet sees it in the scopes after the race. If he breaks well and settles well he gets dirt in his face and then he gets angry and nobody likes Smokie when he's angry. I found his sulking behavior quite humorous when I visited him after his first race. But that's because he wasn't actually successful in taking a chunk out of my arm, I'm quite sure it wouldn't be so funny if I actually had to take care of him. The flip side is that if he gets left in the gate and misses the first turn so he's ten lengths behind, then he gets no dirt in his face and he's happy as a clam but he has to run a quarter mile more than the rest of the field and put on one of those daft but amazing final stretch runs to catch up.

The improved behavior at the start in this last race bodes well for the return to turf as does the extra 1/16 in his next race. Emmad, I'm from Britain originally so a lot of these happenings with dirt are new to me too. With dirt surfaces, I'm just glad when they come back safe, I prefer the turf. So I'm quite happy to see Smokie back on the turf.