Friday/Saturday BELMONT WEEKEND card...

[CollegeKingRex]

OK fellas. I'll give you a Belmont writeup shortly.

The 9th and 10th today at Belmont are stakes races. Should be interesting.

I bet a few earlier. Too chalky for me to make any money.

The sixth, I love the '7'. Cannot lose. Too bad he's 3-to-5 with 15 to post. Pass.

Will post thoughts of today's card in a bit...
:cheers:

 

[CollegeKingRex]

It's been only four years since Smarty Jones won the Preakness easier than Big Brown won the Preakness, stretching his lead from five lengths to 11½ in the stretch.

Birdstone won the Belmont at 36-1, in part because he finished eighth in the Derby, beaten by nearly 14 lengths. I was there with him on Belmont Day (actually, I was at my brother-in-law's bachelor party up in south central Indiana, camping out and relaxing, instead of going to the titty bar, despite my urges that it would be okay to go there even though he was marrying my sister).

The difference between this year and previous TC runs is the weak competition. Of the eight opponents Smarty Jones faced in the Belmont, four of them had a triple digit Beyer figure. Birdstone did not, but he had a 99 and was a G1 winner. All of his competitors had at least two wins. All but three had a stakes win - one of those that did not was a lightly-raced Rock Hard Ten with seconds in the SA Derby and KY Derby, and another was Eddington, with thirds in the Gotham, Wood, and Preakness.

The field Big Brown just beat in the Preakness had 11 foes. Only one of them has ever had a triple digit Beyer (Gayego). Five foes have only one maiden win to their credit.

This Belmont field has turned up close to being as weak as the Preakness field. It's just the kind of soft opposition that would've made Triple Crown winners of all of the recent "failures." Being fresh of that Preakness "Stakes" (if you want to call it that) win will help, too.

They cannot beat this horse. It's not because I like him. It's because I dislike the rest of them. Let him get a crack at Curlin later in the year, and the 4-year old will get my money.

Back with more thoughts later...

 

[Streakin]

Rex-

you making any plays on the last two races today at Belmont? Good luck this weekend; i look forward to seeing your thoughts tomorrow.

For what it is worth, I totally agree with you on BB being the winner tomorrow - just wish there were a way to make some $$ on him.

 

[CollegeKingRex]

8th - passing. Too chalky.

9th - I'll get back to at 4:50 Eastern time or so - when I first see the toteboard.

 

[CollegeKingRex]

My three favorite horses are the three chalks, in order. Passing the ninth and 10th and waiting until tomorrow. Back in the morning. GL folks...

 

[wearo dog]

Casino Drive out.
Casino Drive scratched from Belmont

49 minutes ago

• <B><FORM class=buzzvote action=http://buzz.yahoo.com/vote/ method=post target=_new><INPUT type=hidden value=orion name=from> <INPUT type=hidden value=article name=assettype> <INPUT type=hidden value=urn:newsml:sports.yahoo,st:20050301:rah,article,txbelmontcasinodrive:1 name=guid> <INPUT type=hidden value=y_sports name=publisherurn> <INPUT type=hidden value=bM3NQbtJr23 name=.crumb> <INPUT type=hidden value=1 name=votetype> <INPUT type=hidden value=/article/y_sports/urn:newsml:sports.yahoo,st:20050301:rah,article,txbelmontcasinodrive:1 name=.done><BUTTON type=submit>Buzz Up</BUTTON> </FORM></B>
• Print

<SMALL>ELMONT, NEW YORK (TICKER) </SMALL>—Casino Drive has been scratched from Saturday’s Belmont Stakes due to a bruised left hind hoof, according to the Schenectady Gazette.
Considered the main threat to foil Big Brown’s bid at winning the Triple Crown in the final leg, Casino Drive seemed to be healthy during Saturday morning’s workout. But according to the report, the horse appeared to be favoring the hoof after returning to the stables.
“This morning we check and he is OK,” Nobutaka Tada, racing manager for Japanese owner Hidetoshi Yamamoto, told the Gazette. “We send him to the main track and he had cantering, and he came back to the yard OK, no problem. Then, (again) he just (started) carrying his hind (leg). We checked again and it became warm.”
The 3-year-old Japanese-bred was listed as “questionable” after skipping his morning workout on Friday after trainer Kzuo Fujisawa noticed the colt wasn’t walking normally.

Casino Drive was listed at 7-2 on the morning line and was coming off an impressive win in the Peter Pan Stakes at Belmont on May 10.
Despite making his debut on the Triple Crown trail, Casino Drive comes from championship stock as he is the half-brother of the last two Belmont winners, Jazil (2006) and Rags to Riches (2007).
Big Brown, who is attempting to become the first Triple Crown winner since Affirmed in 1978, had an acrylic patch applied on Friday to repair a slight quarter crack in his left front hoof.

 

[Streakin]

Looking at Prado on Desert Key in the first today - the #1. Good luck today.

Can't wait to see the odds on the field (other than BB) in the Belmont.

 

[bjorks]

Rexy, I'm all chalk in the 12th...I'm talking a test today and can't watch it, but I like the Derby horses.

Big Brown
Denis of Cort
Tale of Ekati

Not much to be made today...

 

[CollegeKingRex]

Have been taking it easy so far.

Tough to make money today.

My Pick-6 ticket is

7/8/4, 1/5/10, 2, 6/5/2, 3/5/6, 1



One leg down.

To the seventh - Gonna be tough to beat the '1' here if she's right. Ran less than 1 1/2 lengths behind the winner in a G-II at Keeneland in her first start of the year.


I am using the 1 and 5 on top of the 1,5,3,10 in exactas and tris...

 

[CollegeKingRex]

Better check your mutuals there, Bjorks. The aforementioned horses are running in the 11th.

GL fellas...

 

[CollegeKingRex]

Never saw the '4' there.

Skipping the Acorn. No value in a four-horse field.

 

[CollegeKingRex]

OK to the 10th...

The '5' looks like the best horse to me. He just got beaten by multiple-GI-winner [SIZE=-1]Einstein last out by a length. He had a win in the G2 Oak Tree Mile and a second in the G1 Eddie Read out west, but can this Frankel entrant get the extra distance?

I see value with the '6' and the '9' here. Also will consider using the '3' underneath, if you can throw out the Dixie, where he was the chalk on a giving ground, with confidence.


Back with Belmont plays in a moment. I don't like the race at all...

[/SIZE]

 

[bull]

Back with Belmont plays in a moment. I don't like the race at all...

<!-- / message -->I'll second that. I did not bet the race. And I was not heartbroken by the result.