Washington Handicapp - Post Position, odds
 

Perfect Drift
Second Of June
Suave
Seek Gold
Real dandy
Nolans Cat

dam......


i passed out for a second there.....


CHICAGO - It could be as few as six for the Washington Park Handicap, or as many as nine, but put a circle around Second of June's name - he's on his way.
Saturday's $300,000 Washington Park, Chicago's most important main-track route race of the season, will be much more a Midwest than a national affair, but the race still has a solid backbone, anchored by Perfect Drift, who won the race last year and in 2003.

Also expected to run are Suave, who beat Second of June by a nose when they met June 16 at Churchill; Three Hour Nap, second last out in the Grade 2 Cornhusker Handicap; Nolan's Cat; and Real Dandy.

The possibles are O'Connell's, Clear the Way, and Seek Gold, a huge upset winner of the Grade 1 Stephen Foster earlier this summer.

Second of June and trainer Bill Cesare were headed to Arlington from Churchill Downs on Tuesday, the horse back on track after returning last month from the second long injury-related layoff of his career.

One of the most promising early-season 3-year-olds of 2003, Second of June fractured a cannon bone after finishing second in the Fountain of Youth Stakes. And after a near-win last spring in the Oaklawn Park Handicap, Second of June was quarantined at Churchill Downs because of an outbreak of equine herpesvirus just as he was supposed to ship to Maryland for the Pimlico Special. A month later, he was out of action again with an ankle problem.

"That's the game, that's the nature of this game," said Cesare, who trains Second of June for his mother, Barbara Cesare, and once played in the NFL. "Things happen in this sport - horses get hurt, football players get hurt."

Up until his injury at 3, Second of June had a steady campaign, putting a string of regularly spaced races together, but his development since then has come in fits and starts, and Cesare would like to keep Second of June on track long enough for the horse to make his mark.

"We feel like he's one of the top horses in the country," Cesare said. "We felt that way when he was a 2-year-old, when he was a 3-year-old, and we felt that way when he was 4-year-old and he ran at Oaklawn."

I will definitely be there, but I hope Seek Gold and the others show up because a field of six won't be that much fun to cap. I was also hoping that Kid Grindstone was running, because I liked his chance to hit the board at a price.
Oh well. Suave, Second of June, and Perfect Drift huh? This race could be tough. What do you do when the best horse in the field doesn't like to win races? Based on what he did on this track last year however, I think I like Perfect Drift's chances to win this one.

Perfect Drift lost this race last year to like Super Frolic or some other nag, IIRC.

Ummmm....

He won this race last year. :)

not only did he win, he set anew course time record doing so.
he lloked exceptionally sharp last year at the end of the summer, scored big in the Pac Classic from this one and was ITM in the BCC, much to my surprise:eek: ,

he needs this win and a good showing in the PC to get the points he may need to get to the BCC. at 7, even though he leads the league in on track earnings, he may not get picked as 1 of the 7 by the panel should he fall short on points.

Saturday at AP,
i'm guessing temps in the mid to upper 90's.

i'm so sweet i'm ay not be able to go, you know melting problems and all.

Block, dont worry about the Classic...he'll get in. The panel wont leave him out as long as he keeps running the way he did in the Foster...that isnt even a concern

Here's what I don't understand about Perfect Drift, everyone says that he loves to run 2nd or 3rd and that he is common, but there were 3 times where I was at the track and saw him run and he showed the winning killer instinct. The first was in March of 2002 in the Spiral Stakes, he ran by a pretty nice Request For Parole to win. The other two times he got the ideal setups, but he still won. In June of 2003 in the Stephen Foster, Mineshaft had a horrendous trip and horrible ride, but he was the best horse that year and Perfect Drift ran him down, the other time was in September of 2003, when Congaree was on the worst part of the track in the Kentucky Cup, but Perfect Drift did win. How did he go from that to running second, maybe it's the trainers fault. I like this horse and next to Cat Thief, I have probably seen him run in person, more than any other top horse and even though he looked good in the Stephen Foster, I think that was a very bad field and made him look better than he really might be, I wouldn't be surprised to see him lose this race...

Seek Gold a no show...Drift drew the rail

Arlington Park - July 29th, 2006 - Race 8
Washington Park H. - Grade: 2
Estimated Local Post Time: 4:25 PM
Race Type: Stakes
Breed: Thoroughbred
Age Restriction: Three Year Old and Upward
Purse: $300,000
Distance:One And Three Sixteenth Miles
Surface: Dirt
Post Horse Name Age Sex Weight Jockey Name
1 Perfect Drift (KY) 7 Gelding 119 Mark Guidry
2 Three Hour Nap (KY) 4 Colt 115 Francisco C. Torres
3 Iosilver (MD) 5 Gelding 111 Eduardo E. Perez
4 O'Connell's (BRZ) 5 Gelding 114 Jesse M. Campbell
5 Second of June (FL) 5 Horse 116 Robby Albarado
6 Suave (KY) 5 Horse 118 Calvin H. Borel
7 Nolan's Cat (KY) 4 Colt 113 Christopher A. Emigh

What was the race in the slop last year at Arlington that Perfect Drift lost last year to like Super Frolic? I know I"m not making this up.

Hawthorne Gold Cup. PD was 4th.

Thanks for the answers...I knew I wasn't crazy about Perfect Hanger losing a race to some nag somewhere at Arlington last year.

That race wasn't at Arlington, it was at Hawthorne. He only ran at Arlington once last year and, as block pointed out, set a track record.

May we all one day own a horse like this... :)

Hawthorne, Arlington....it's Chicago....all look same.

I am surprised that some filly wouldnt take a shot at this field. It is pretty weak and a chane to beat the males for a decent purse and a Grade III event could go long ways. I could see Happy Ticket or Oonagh McCool in this race. I think either of those two horses would win this race.

LOL--Apparently you never been to Hawthorne or Arlington.

ML Odds

Perfect Drift (Johnson/Guidry) 2/1
Suave (McGee/Borel) 3/1
Second of June (Cesare/Albarado) 4/1
Three Hour Nap (Robertson/Torres) 5/1
Nolan's Cat (Romans/Emigh) 6/1
Iosilver (Block/Perez) 10/1
O'Connell's (Caramori/Campbell) 12/1

missed some action here, i actually do have things to do here, lol..

anyway i called them to see if the 7 horse field is good enough for a super fecta, they said yes, and they take the dime super,

oh man.. should be a fun weekend.

jeez could you be MORE wrong...

AP is in the NW suburbs, to the west are the lush plush farms of barrington (hill n' dale) etc.

Hawthorne is located in the inner city across the street from a freight terminal down the road from midway airport in an industrial corridor on cicero avenue.

the settings are 100% different.

Saying Hawthorne and Arlington both look the same because they are both in Chicago is like saying that Jack Nicholson and Angelina Jolie look the same because they are both in L.A.

Seriously, perhaps you guys could find a sense of humor?

okay fine...

why aren't you out bikin on a nice day like today anyway

tooo funny!!!!!

I like Second of June here. 4-1 would be nice.. of course, I'll use PD to complete the exacta! ;)

this is not an easy race.
if PD doesn't fire in the 90 degree heat,
its up for grabs.

suave has beaten PD before,
and to my surprise Seek gold, not only beat PD in his last out, he has gotten him twice, in the clark Hcp in 2004.

if seek gold beat him on two occasions,
so could Suave.

The second of June was ALL the rage in the spring of 2004.
he defeated Imperialism(winner of the SA derby in 04)in the fall of 2003, at 2. he beat Friends lake in 2004 who i think won the Florida derby that year. he had three wins in a row headed into the Fountain of youth, was a derby favorite.
In the FOY 2004,he and Read the Footnotes got involved in a struggle down the lane that handed 6/2 not only a loss at the wire, but he sustained an injury that sidelined him for the remainder of the year more or less. he has not won since that race. time off to heal, then a short lived return, and another layoff.
he was third to Bandini in his first race back off his second layoff. he is by Loius Qatorze,(sp) who i think won the Belmont a few years back. he should be able to run 9.5f, and may be the one to catch.

O'connels, from brazil has run three times here.
looking at his PP data, he has run LOg races in south america
and he could a threat as well.

there is no apparent throw outs in this race, and PD could finish out of themoney as well as in the money.

he was third to Bandini in his first race back off his second layoff. he is by Loius Qatorze,(sp) who i think won the Belmont a few years back. he should be able to run 9.5f, and may be the one to catch.



It was the Preakness LQ won.



PD will be in the money! Second of June I would put in an exacta. Tri maybe go with Suave.

O'Connells is the sleeper in the Wash Park. He had a terrible pace set up last time; no speed in the race and he was against it. He had traffic issues in the stretch and won well in hand, despite the small win margin.

he looks like he could be an issue.

i will post to fmc to seeif he knows anything on this one.

I'll take Nolan's Cat... as always. ;)

oh boy..that's the 3rd agreement...unreal string we're on :D

2nd of June?

Damn I have been totally out of it. How many times has this horse run since being injured? I really liked this horse 2 years ago.

You think he has a shot at winning? I'm surprised we're agreeing lately... that could be a bad sign. :eek:

its above, like four post above

they can develop junk like string theory or M theory or whatever your calling it this week, but they can't read whats in front of em...

Thanks block. I appreciate your kindness in pointing out my skipping a post.
You are a gentleman and a bubblehead.

you are most welcome, glad i could oblige
did you want to buy one of my bobbleheads ??

The string is broken. Thanks blockhead.
I really believe you were done a diservice way back... Gumby and Pokey were really the bad guys. The blockheads were like totally framed...

And no I meant bubblehead. Just as typed.

LMFAO!!! Good one!

I am pretty sure that Imperialism did NOT win the Santa Anita Derby. If I remember correctly, it was Castledale that year.

But back to the point....it is a tough race, but despite PD's love for 2nd and 3rd place finishes....I think he likes this track and is the class of the field.

there are no broken strings thats where the thoery go's haywire, attached at their ends to different dimensions...please.

BINGO!

Imperialism finished 3rd in that race, but was moved up to 2nd due to Rock Hard Ten's disqualification. Castledale was the winner.