Melhor Ainda romp to be held in 15 minutes @ BEL
 

....she should absolutely cruise in here and then, what's next?...Beverly D makes a whole lot of sense since Frankel figures to send Cacique for the Million...

Wow, have any other 1/2 shots to give out?

I like Theatrics of Dance much better and would be shocked not to see her run either 1st or 2nd in here.

Wow, Sis City is taking loads of money at 6/1. Awfully ambitious spot for a horse who is clearly not the same horse she was last winter.

the enigmatic Sis City will try her hand on the turf...if she can regain her form she will be a real threat.

Hasnt Sis City tried the turf before and failed? You really think shes going to pop up and be a threat in here for the win against Theatrics of Dance and Bright Abundance?

You wouldn't think Sis City had a shot here unless you saw the current odds of 5-1... who knows something that we don't???

Could be just one person like a month ago in the Colonial Downs race. That person who burned all that money on Lewis Michael. Made the odds of everyone else go way up including Kip De Ville, who would have been more like 8/1 and Showing Up who probably would have been more like 3/2.

Dont fall for it.

i don't know, turf is rated good...we'll see. she's got a pedigree biased toward the Bold Ruler influence for you Slew fans out there...and that's w/o any Native Dancer/Mr Prospector etc.

How did they let her go off at that price? That was the easiest $60 worth of Friday night fun money ever won.

geesh, the surface just sapped Sis City, had little left in the stretch.

Not bad, considering she wasn't fully cranked, but I dunno, I wasn't as blown away as I thought I'd be, and this is coming from one of Melhor Ainda's biggest supporters in the world.

Very workmanlike. Not the devastating kick I saw at three. Maybe this will turn out to be even more effective, but it's not as fun to watch. :p

Who is giving out horses? Just because I mention a popular horse making her seaonal debut does it have to mean that I am making some ingenius prognostication about her chances to win.....of course she is supposed to win...I didn't bet a dime on her and would never bet a dime on a horse at 1-2...don't care if Secretariat is racing against Zippy Chippy in a match race....obviously you missed the point of the thread, which had ZERO to do with wagering...

Ateam.....there was no pace. You must have pace for closers to have a visually impressive performance. I think it was a great ride and showed her class in that she won without the ideal setup.

I understand, but she's run in races without pace and shown a bigger burst at the end (Sands Point, Miss Grillo, etc.)

I dunno, maybe I'm just a worry wart, but I'm anxious to see how far the princess moves forward off this.

Honestly, I wasn't very impressed.....Johnny V really cut into her and her strides weren't much better than the second and third place finishers....not the kind of comeback you would like to see for a filly that many believe could be the best turf mare in North America (shes not, Gorella is by far)......can't wait to bet against her next time out if she faces better...

I'm just glad the race is over, I was so nervous. Remember that she'd been off for 8 months and Bobby hasn't asked her for any speed in her workouts.......none. He said in the DRF that he didn't have her fully cranked; I'm sure that accounts for her more workmanlike effort. Actually, MA made a very nice move around the turn and she was wide. I think we'll see a more typical MA race next time out - 8 months is a long time away to expect a truly explosive move. I expect this race to have done her a world of good - you can have all the workouts in the world, but they don't equal a real race experience

I think they need to get back to having races that have wagering value.For too long now they have let these trainers run their horses against inferior competition at 1to 2 etc. This is not entertainment,and they need to stop giving out people's money(the % take out used for purse money)to these 1 to 2 shot missmatches.You think Barbaro's ordeal is bad for the sport? What about these totally useless mismatches that they let Frankel and others hold? They someday will understand that fans don't want these 1 to 2 shot missmatches,and resent paying Bobby Frankel and others money for having to face nothing at all.Money for nothing,checks for f'n free.

I believe there were a few other races offered today as well. Some of them may have even provided the wagering value that you seek.

There's nothing they can do about having heavy favorites. There are conditions for a race. Any horse who meets those conditions is allowed to run. They could do something to hurt favorites in handicap races. They could put 134 lbs on a heavy favorite if they wanted to. They could have given Lava Man 135 lbs the other day. I'm sure he wouldn't have been 3-5 if he had to carry 135 lbs. The problem is that he probably would have skipped the race if they would have given him that much weight.

I think Scuds' point is that they create these overnight stakes just for these horses (i.e. Commentator on Weds., Melhor Ainda today).

I would love to get great value on a horse I thought was going to win in every race, every person here that bets on the races would like that but I am aware that races were made for more people than just the gamblers. Yes, sometimes races get created for one specific horse, the track does have to take care of the trainers and owners, too on occasion-- and if you can't figure out as a handicapper which ones are tailored to a certain horse, you're going to be in trouble.

If you think about it, these "super-favorites" help us, too - if you think bigger then just a "win" bet. How many of you haven't been helped by favorite that you could single on a ticket? I know I got helped today with Melhor Ainda... and when your smart enough to identify a horse that can beat one of these favorites, well, you're an amazing 'capper!

Personally I have no problems with these kinds of races and I would bet against Mehor ALinda all over again next time too. If you dont like the race, just pass, its not like there arent 90 races a day, sheesh. I wasnt all that impressed, perfct trip under Johnny V and she didnt exactly run away and hide. I understand the pace was slow but still. The horse at 3 would have won that race by 4-5 under mild urging. But it was after a sizeable layoff so maybe she gets better next time. Problem is she'll have to face tougher.

I just don't see the entertainment value in having these huge favorites beat up on other horses.You are paying for every damn bit of this purse money.There should be some entertainment(some competition) if somebody is to get paid our money.This race today,and the Commentator race points out clearly that these people don't really understand where that purse money is coming from.

I'm sort of on the fence. I don't totally disagree with you in that she wasn't super impressive but if you disect the race she ran better than it seems on paper. Basically, she made a premature move, swooping the field, and then got a little leg weary late. If she was just another horse, in an evenly matched field, you would say, considering her trip, she ran pretty well. Velasquez didn't want to be cute, and made sure she didn't get in trouble. All in all, she was clearly best, duh, but considering how much better she should be than those horses, she was far from impressive.

I still think she will move significantly forward off this race. Whether that is enough against genuinely good horses, especially if legit Euros show up for the Bev D, is very debatable.

I wouldnt be at all concerned if I were the connections of this horse, she didnt disappoint and hang in the lane or anything, but just didnt look like the 3year old version, who crushed better horses than this (even off a layoff). Going to be intersting to see her in Chicago 1 month from now.

Scuds- I hear what your saying, there are races that I think the huge odds on favorite is unbeatable but whats so bad about just passing the race totally and waiting for another one or another day? I just dont see why anybody needs to play every race or even every day or weekend. Some races and days were just meant for watching.

Gander -
 

Great point Gander.
Like you say, there are only a hundred of other races to consider.

Also, what says you have to pay a big race that you determine is not bettable. I would rather win a 5K Clm race then bet the KY Derby without a realistic shot of winning a 20 horse field that may be impossible to handicap...


PSH

It's unbelievable, the lack of coverage on MA's race; NYRA doesn't have a recap, nor does DRF or the BloodHorse. I'm rather annoyed - they recap NY bred races but they can't give us a few quotes on MA?

I realize that, off of a similar (though somewhat shorter) layoff last year (from October of her two year old season to Keenelend in April), she did show the same explosive kick she'd had as a baby. That wasn't quite there yesterday. However, I really think Bobby didn't train her that hard for this race -lots of long, slow works. I'd really like to know what he thought of her race......too bad I can't find a quote anywhere. When is the Beverly D anyway? Is there enough time to run her between now and then?

I still have all the confidence in the world in this girl; I don't want to abandon her after one comeback race

In DRF's case, you have to realize the race went off around 6:40 because of Twilight racing so it was probably too late to make into the print edition which goes to bed around then. I would also guess that being that it was Friday it also may have been too late for Bloodhorse. It's not exactly breaking news and would only be covered in the normal flow of events.

That's true, I hadn't thought about that. I certainly wasn't expecting special coverage, but just the normal blurbs. Good point and thanks for reminding me, BTW!