Delaware should throw in extra $500k for RA & Zenyatta
 

Delaware Handicap, July 19. 1.25 miles, dirt.

There is already $1m in the kitty.

Make is $1.5m if both are in the gate. Hell, pay the whole bonus part ($500k) to the winner, if DE racing rules would allow it.

Let's see who quacks.

zenyatta isn't leaving california, shirreffs already made that announcement. and of course jackson says he may not run rachel on the synthetic, so she may not go to california.
it appears the two best horses in training won't be meeting at all, since jackson said IF rachel ran in the bc, it would be vs the boys. shirreffs frowns on such things.

Then Zenyatta would be the quacker. OK, so what is lost in DE trying?

Sack up, Delaware.

While it would be nice to see this matchup, I think the $500k you proposed would be used better elsewhere around the track.

No way an extra $500K would entice the Zenyatta camp out of California to run 1 1/4 on a quirky track.

Run them at Fairplex. Its in California and its not synthetic

yeah, good luck with that.

Hey, its the best compromise.

Delaware Park is a quirky track?

How so exactly?

Shireffs and Moss talked it over already and said no.

I could certainly be wrong about its quirkiness - and there could be other factors at play - but it seems like there are a lot of horses who run much better or worse there than they do at other tracks. . .

no, the best compromise would be a meeting in the fall at saratoga. it's not as tho the mosses never ship-it wouldn't be outrageous to expect them to ship a horse this year that they shipped last year, knowing full well that the bc was in fact in the same location as it will be this fall. i think their reasoning rings hollow. what i really think it is, is that they feel due to rachels running style she would most likely have the upper hand in a meeting. they also probably recognize that HOY will be out of their grasp unless they also chose to face the boys as well, so what would be the point in risking a defeat? may as well try to go out undefeated with their mare. she obviously likes it where she is-and they can certainly dare jackson to come west.

Delpark had the reputation of being uneven and could be very deep, especially on the backstretch. It's been about two years since I ran a horse up there but the last time I did, I sat at the bar with Corey Black and he made it clear that the back was very deep.

Delpark could spend their $$'s much more wisely than to offer an extra cash bonanza - they need to support their daily cards.

I don't think July is the right time... I think it would be the Falls City for a scenario like that. I don't see the need to throw RA against Zenyatta pre-fall to be honest.

Yeah it has to be late fall when the leaves are gone. Has to be just right. We wouldn't want these equine athletes to perform under circumstances which aren't absolutely perfect for both parties. Afterall, no other athletes have to face any adversity.

When I think of wisdom the first thing I think of is a drunk Corey Black

Like who?

Certain trainers have magic there ... but it's not much different than some other mid atlantic area tracks .. except the stock is a little better at Delaware than say a track like CT.

The difference is that CT is a quirky track .. and Delaware Park isn't from my expierience of betting races at that track over the years.

21-for-267

The major one I can think of off the top of my head is Unbridled Belle - but obviously one horse isn't sufficient proof of anything. Honestly, I made the comment quickly in passing and didn't deeply ponder my choice of adjectives before posting. It's a moot point, as the proposed match-up will never occur at Delaware (and probably not anywhere else either). . . I'm still not sure that you're right, but I don't care too much one way or the other.

That's a very interesting race - there are four at 10-1+ that look intriguing to me if the chalk is the hanger he appears to be. The Weaver piece, the Hennig, the 1/2 to Summer Patriot, and the Penna Venezuelan bred.

Shirreffs is the most chicken trainer I've ever read about. He's afraid of a wet racetrack, facing males with a horse clearly capable of facing males, stretching out Zenyatta to 10 furlongs....

The Zenyatta team probably think they have the better horse and would rather not chase RA by shipping her east side. If they want to meet then RA should be chasing Zenyatta. Besides Santa Anita is the host of this years Breeders Cup so its probably best to stay put and chill till then. RA can meet Zenyatta if she goes in the ladies classic but anywhere else seems unlikely.

California racing was the most goddamned boring thing I ever encountered back when simulcasting expanded in the 90s--a largely closed circuit, with the same horses running at the same tracks with largely unvarying weather conditions (except for a couple of months in the winter).

The advent of polymania out there has made the situation much, much worse. It is a complete disgrace that the BC dumped their event there two years in a row. Every few years? Fine. Two years running--a joke.

John Shirreffs is one of the best trainers and most clever operators in the game. He doesn't own the horse, and he and stable manager Dottie Ingordo are simply trying to put Zenyatta in the best possible scenarios. You don't know what they and the Mosses are facing with her currently, and if they are going to have to nurse her through this campaign for reasons they don't need to discus publicly...

And you absolutely NEVER bring a big, heavy horse like Zenyatta back from a layoff on a wet, hard racetrack unless you are anxious for trouble. Ask Frank Brothers about running First Samurai on a sea of Gulfstream slop in the Hutcheson in his first start at three. He got into that record-breaking gut-wrencher with Keyed Entry and NEITHER were ever the same after that.

As it happened, the track at Churchill Oaks Day would have been OK for Zenyatta by the time that Distaff ran, but Shirreffs took the prudent course.

The Weaver horse (Boots Ahead) is VERY interesting in there at 15-1. I'm using.

I think it's time for Chapin Beach to get back or close to that debut number.

Using him too..

omg.
i so beg your pardon. late summer. :rolleyes:

like they did last year? ;)

I know this is along way off and doubtful that Zenyatta will still be around, but what about getting the good folks at Oaklawn (a track that they both have had success at) to sweeten the pot for the GI Apple Blossom? Maybe $500k to show up and an additional $500k to the winner? They'd draw 60,000 folks for that race and could easily cover the additional costs...

i doubt either will still be around by then.

I would not agree that Unbridled Belle was a horse who ran much better at Delaware Park than other tracks.

She beat Amandatude by a neck in one of her stakes wins there - and was 2nd to Peak Maria's Way in stake defeat.

She won the Delaware Handicap by 7.75 lengths with a 104 Beyer over Lilla Page .. but two races later she ran back to that 104 Beyer when she won the Beldame at Belmont Park at like 6/1.

She beat Copper State while totally loose on the lead in the following years Obeah .. than was routed next out by Hystericaladly in the Delaware Cap. Her 3rd place finish in her first start after her two final Delaware races got her back to that figure.

To me - she was about the same horse at Delaware Park as elsewhere numbers wise .. and if you look at the horses who were 2nd to her in those Delaware wins ... Moravia, Amandatude, Lila Paige, and Copper State .. it's like a who's who of claiming horses.

She sucked everywhere IMO. . . just a little less at Delaware - but I don't have her PPs or anything to go over her trips. . .

To me - the true Delaware park dirt horses for courses are just about any of the ones that Gorham trains going long over about the last 8 years.

Just experienced some painful Adore the Gold flashbacks - thanks, Drugs.

What's wrong with Zenyatta kasept?

You tell me this:

Prior to the Apple Blossom, Zenyatta was 3 for 3 which included a MSW, ALWX1 and a 150k G2. Do you think the Zenyatta team felt they had the best horse at that point? No, so they followed Ginger Punch to Oaklawn to prove that they did and won convincingly. After the oaklawn win, they stayed in So. Cal and we all know what damage they did since. This year, there is no need to chase anyone, anywhere to prove anything.