Well it’s a great day in Colorado but from what I hear it’s going to be a rainy day at BEL. Hardly seems to be worth posting before I get all the scratches and off the turf races. No analysis except for the feature.
Race 1 5-1-3-7
Race 2 1-5-4-8
Race 3 1-3-4
Race 4 6-10-9-1 OFF TURF 4-10-1A-5
Race 5 9-7-1-5 OFF TURF 7-12-11
Race 6 9- 2-6-3
Race 7 10-3-1-4
Race 8 The Knickerbocker Grade 3 7-6-4- 2
(From the official site of the NY Knicks) For those of you not familiar with early history in Manhattan, the word knickerbocker traces its origin to the Dutch settlers who came to the New World – and especially to what is now New York – in the 1600s. Specifically, it refers to the style of pants the settlers wore…pants that rolled up just below the knee, which became known as “Knickerbockers”, or “knickers”.
In 1809, legendary author Washington Irving solidified the knickerbocker name in New York lore when he wrote the satiric A History of New York from the Beginning of the World to the End of the Dutch Dynasty under the pseudonym Diedrich Knickerbocker. Later known as Knickerbocker’s History of New York, Irving’s book introduced the word “knickerbocker” to signify a New Yorker who could trace his or her ancestry to the original Dutch settlers.
With the publication of Irving’s book, the Dutch settler “Knickerbocker” character became synonymous with New York City. The city’s most popular symbol of the late 19th and early 20th centuries was “Father Knickerbocker”, complete with cotton wig, three-cornered hat, buckled shoes, and, of course, knickered pants.
At the same time, the term “Knickerbocker” became indelibly linked to anything and everything New York…from Jacob Ruppert’s Knickerbocker Beer to the 1938 Broadway musical Knickerbocker Holiday (which starred Walter Huston and featured the haunting “September Song”) to famed society gossip columnists Cholly Knickerbocker (the nom de plume used by Maury Paul and Igor Cassini) and Suzy Knickerbocker (Aileen Mehle).
- 1 Plainview – has all the early speed and figures to use it from the inside post. A mile and an eighth seems to stretch the limits of the horse and on a track that is likely to be tiring he may be up against it.
- 2 Winning Cause – Pletcher trainee beat Plainview in the Grade 3 Cliffhanger but came back in the PTHA President’s Cup to weaken in the stretch and finish third. He’s been close in graded stakes all year and should be contending in the stretch, but I’m looking at others for the win slot.
- 3 Za Approval – scratch
- 4 Speaking of Which – won the Grade 2 Monmouth Stakes in June and has been given time off by Clement. He ran a good race in the Colonel Bradley Handicap on the yielding turf at Fair Grounds in January. Hasn’t won over the BEL turf yet but he should run well off the bench.
- 5 Easter Gift – MTO scratch
- 6 Legendary – Hasn’t run a bad one since rolling in from England, although he hasn’t met a field with graded winners yet. Still, he’s got competitive figures and owns a win on a yielding turf at BEL where he is 2 for 2. Should be perfect at 9 furlongs and at 8-1 ML he’s pretty attractive.
- 7 Up With the Birds – didn’t disgrace himself in the Arlington Million; prior race was a win in the Grade 2 Nijinsky at WO. He’s won on the soft turf at Fair Grounds and he’s one for one over the BEL turf. While Malcolm Pierce isn’t well known in New York, he’s a first rate trainer of Graded winners like Aldous Snow and Overheard and stakes winner Deceptive Vision and he’s 26% running in a lot of high quality races in Canada. I like that Pierce engaged regular NY rider Cornelio Velasquez. Up With the Birds is being pointed at the BC Mile and whether he goes depends on how he emerges from this race. On the one hand, Pierce won’t want his runner to leave it all on the track, but he needs to run well enough to justify the trip to California. Lot’s of up side with this horse.
- 8 Tricky Hat – scratch
- 9 Mshawish – was running nothing but Group 1 and 2 races overseas, and Pletcher has not tested him since coming to the states until this race. He’s mostly run at shorter distances – all his wins have come at a mile. You have to trust Pletcher to know his horses, but on paper Mshawish seems a step behind the best in this field.
Race 9 8-12-10-7 OFF TURF 12-4-7
Race 10 5-2-1-11 OFF TURF 2-10-12-11