After the Damascus, I thought Smart Bid would be the horse to beat in the Malibu. But I kept checking the work tab and he didn't have any works so I assumed he had gotten hurt. Now I see that he just started working again, so I assume he will run in the Malibu.

I wouldn't be surprised to see Coronet of a Baron in there. I think that Monolingual is even a possibility. It will be interesting to see if Hunch ends up running. It would be a fairly tall order to come back in 15 days. But I do know that the connections were pointing him for the race. It will probably just depend how he came out of the allowance race the other day.

It's not unlike Motion at all to wait 4 weeks to work a horse after a big race.
He seems to prefer to train them instead of racing them.
Especially since he just ran big at SA and the G1 Malibu is at SA.
If I was Smart Bid's trainer I would be tempted to take down one of the 4 horse fields at HWP to fill the time gap.

In this case, you wouldn't think that Smart Bid would have needed a break after that race. He hadn't run since April. The Damascus was his first race in over 7 months. It doesn't surprise me that Motion would have skipped Hollywood. There weren't really any great races for him over there. But it does surprise me that he didn't work the horse for 4 1/2 weeks after the Damascus. As I said, that was his first race in 7 months. If the horse came out of the race in good shape, wouldn't that be unusual for Motion to wait that long for a work considering that the horse was so fresh going into the Damascus?

Motion is somewhat different when it comes works and spacing of works and races.
I read on his blog that Smart Bid was being pointed for the Malibu or the Sir Beaufort on the same day. I don't take that as a huge vote of confidence.

I agree with you. That is very surpising that he would even be considering the Sir Beaufort. The horse just ran his best race ever at 7 furlongs at Santa Anita. Now he has a chance to win a Grade I at the same distance at the same track. He is by Smart Strike. A Grade I win would be huge for his value. If the horse is doing well, it seems like a no brainer to run in the Malibu.

Before the Damascus, Smart Bid's synthetic form was suspect at best (hence the long odds). On the other hand, he has a very good turf record, including a graded stakes placing, so I would say its a no-brainer that he'd be nominated for both even though Motion is probably leaning to the Malibu.

In addition, you never know what the weather is going to be like, the Sir Beaufort could easily come off-the-turf (Gio Ponti's synthetic win) making it likely an easier score than the Malibu.

I agree with you that his synthetic form was not good before the Damascus but all of these synthetic tracks are slightly different from each other and he obviously loved the track at Santa Anita. That was the best race he ever ran. Before the Damascus, I would have never guessed that this horse would run his best race at 7 furlongs. I think 7 furlongs at Santa Anita plays more like a mile because that track is fairly tiring and doesn't seem to favor speed.

If he is doing well right now, I would think he would be the horse to beat in the Malibu. That's why it surprises me that they would consider the other race.

Well, we don't really know what sort of emphasis was placed on the "...or the Sir Beaufort" part of the quote, but nonetheless, it wouldn't be shocking to learn that he (and several other horses, eg Fiesty Suances) are nominated to both races. I don't think it really means anything in terms of his current condition (I would suspect Motion wouldn't run in either race if he isn't in top form).

Because the Malibu (as are most other 7f races) is quite friendly to route horses and the seemingly inherent affinity for synthetic surfaces exploited by turf horses, I would guess it will be standard practice among CA horsemen to nominate late season 3yos to both races in the future (so long as the synthetics stay put, anyways).

In recent years, these horses have run in either the Malibu or the Sir Beaufort. I suspect several of these were nominated to both, and I don't think it outlandish to think they couldn't have been contenders in the race other than the one they competed in:

Colonel John, El Gato Malo, Orientate, Medjool, Awesome Gem, In Summation, Mizzen Mast, Monterey Jazz, Mast Track, Buzzard's Bay, Lava Man, Osidy, Wilko, Shamoan, Spring At Last, Arson Squad, Desert Code, and Unusual Suspect.

For those interested, CD maiden winner Tiz Chrome makes his debut for Bob Baffert Saturday in the Stuka Stakes at HP. Noticeably absent is stablemate Conveyance, who also passed on the Futurity and hasn't breezed in over 10 days.

I see 2 yr old colt Harvath won his debut at Laurel on Thursday. What struck me is that he has Ole Bob Bowers, sire of John Henry, in his pedigree. That is a rare pleasure to behold.

Tiz Chrome crushed today, getting 6.5f in 1:14+ over a track playing very fast. Showed some ability to settle as well, after having gone wire-to-wire in his debut at CD.

Why did this horse RNA for so little?

Must have some identifiable physical issue. I wouldn't be surprised if more than just Baffert went after the colt and ended up backing out after inspection.

Similar situation to The Pamplemousse last year. Predictably, he didn't last long. But he did make some noise.

:)

Any other questions related to this topic?
1:08 2/5 for 6f!!!!

To be fair, Baffert's 2 maiden winners, Clutch Player and Quiet Invader, clocked 6f in 1:08+ as well.

Tiz Chrome still has a long way to go.

At least he's got a dirt win, though.

Yeah, nice call.

I still just would like to know what you saw in him that made you so high on the horse.

It wasn't a sarcastic question at all.

I could be wrong, but I think both Lookin and Lucky and Zensational either sold or were RNA'd for peanuts as yearlings. Sometimes horses change a lot, fast. Anyway, Tiz Chrome is now my favorite soon to be 3yo. LOVE all that chrome. :{>: :{>: :{>:

I don't know why he sold for so little as a yearling. I heard the purchase price after his maiden win was $600k.

Yeah, LAL RNA'd for 35k as a yearling. Seven months later he went for 475k.

Zensational sold for 20k as a yearling and five and a half months later went for 700k.

Tiz Chrome RNA'd for 9k though man. I suppose the Zensational auction history is more strange, but it's hard to imagine a yearling from such a hot sire as Tiznow being able to RNA for so little and then turn out to be a good horse.

Maximus Ruler Update: 12/20 FG 1:00.60 (3/61)

When you see these kind of low numbers at the sales, isn't the question less how fast they can run (because a lot of crooked horses can run fast), but how many times they will be able to run?

I'm sure there are a lot of geniuses who will disagree ... but I don't see anyway in hell how anyone can tell how fast a horse is at a yearling sale.

I sure as hell would rather buy a yearling instead of a 2yo in training horse that has been put through the ringer.

You're always taking a pretty complete stab in the dark with yearlings.

I bought 33.3% of a 2yo from a sale once - but with the intent of selling it right after racing it in a MSW race four or five weeks later. I'd never even consider buying a yearling.

You're at a built-in disadvantage buying from both kinds of sales.

I'd like to see how the top 20 out of each 2yo in training sale from 2009 have done.
I don't think there are many Hot Dixie Chicks out there.

The soon to be 2yo champ Lookin At Lucky was pretty high priced from KEE April's 2yo sale... the 2yo filly champ was peanuts from OBS April.

Look at the top 20's from most yearling sales and see how they match up. I don't know.

It's not something I pay much attention to. I mostly focus on the auctions looking for debut bet againsts and bets.

Top 20 from the Fasig Tipton Florida Sale:
1. Al Zir (bought for 1.6M)
2. Cornerstone
3. Rambling
4. Mr. Charlie
5. Pirate Queen
6. Unnamed (Distored Humor - Ile de France)
7. Sensei
8. Dreamingly
9. Yadua
10. Dawnbreak
11. Hockeley
12. Gun Rock
13. Mesa Vista
14. Hot Dixie Chick
15. A Shin Wezen
16. Electric Gold
17. American Story
18. Mendip
19. Speightful Lady
20. Deep Darkness
(22. is Walking the Beach)

The Top 20 from the '08 Kee Sept Yearling Sale
1. Chimayo (3.1M)
2. Asian Empress
3. Cable Knit
4. Keeneland Breeze
5. Alloonagh
6. Celebrity Cat
7. Crystal Moment
8. Global Force
9. Bakhoor
10. Lambeau Legend
11. Souper Spectacular
12. Alcindor
13. Super Express
14. Temp
15. Cast Call
16. Flag Ship
17. Arabian History
18. Antrim Shield
19. Wintor Canyon
20. Almarmooq

So they all suck I guess.

Global Force is a freak show.

At least with the 2 yo in training sale you're paying a lot less for it to suck. :D

09 Kee April 2yo training:
1. Take Control
2. Dickinson Bay
3. Lookin At Lucky
4. Devin Rock
5. Quiet Invader
6. Sure As Gold
7. Dave In Dixie
8. Bulldogger
9. Distored Vision
10. Middle of the Night
11. Lyrique
12. Ansonica
13. Inner Grove
14. Annies Melody
15. Nostalgic Bid
16. not named (street Cry - Isn't It Fun)
17. Academy Performance
18. Early Days
19. Lyrical Note
20. Bella Medaglia

You should see the top 20 from OBS June 2008... not a single one of them is any good - and about 18 or 19 of them could not win for 5K claiming.

al zir might be ok.

two big wins to start his career followed by a third in a g1 in europe.

Why would you take a horse you pay $1.6 million for at a 2yo sale - that's sired by Medaglia D' Oro and is a half sibling to Midas Eyes ... and run him on turf in Europe?

I wonder why the euro's buy a lot of the pedigree's they do to race on grass.
When he was purchased, I would have bet a lot of :$: that he would've stayed in America.

I wouldn't.

But then again, I wouldn't employ any of their trainers or advisors either.

Perhaps they think having El Prado and Bayou Hebert as grandsires means turf?

When looking up Bayou Hebert, I found some interesting things about him. Mostly he wasn't worth his rather lofty sales price, but when looking up his progeny, I noticed this one pretty strangely bred horse:

http://www.pedigreequery.com/byo+flyer

125-1 today at Wynn Las Vegas so I played em

So you can further showcase the stallion that you purchased in early summer. If the Medaglia D'Oro's offspring can run on turf (and this one can along with Passion for Gold, who won the G1 Criterium de Saint-Cloud) then you open up his progeny to another sector of buyers and breeders. Makes him a truly international stallion.

Sounds like a really shrewd idea.

With that much Inbreeding, he had to be an Alabama bred.
How many legs did he have?