Blind Luck Is Awesome; To be offered at KEE Nov. Sale
 

Blind Luck is awesome isn't she? I think every racing fan has to like her. She doesn't duck anyone (at least not in the female division), thanks to her connections, and always gives her all. She ships and runs on all sorts of surfaces. She ran a great race on Kentucky Derby Day or that friday that I felt was over looked in all the Derby Hoopla. In that race she went down to her face at the start and still won. Yesterday at Hollywood Park she beat a nice group of mares including Switch and St. Trinians (Both quality runners in my opinion)! She started the year with a few losses at Santa Anita over a fast track that really didn't compliment her come from behind style. But she still got up for second in those races!

I'm gushing over her! She is just a neat horse and a personal favorite. Looks like she will have a wonderful rivalry with Harve De Grace this year! I know that Harve De Grace is currently considered the better of the two mares but I think that Blind Luck is still a major threat. These two are the big rivalry that I am following in this 2011 racing year! Am I the only one whose really excited to see these two race each other again?

I really enjoy following her as well. She never puts in a bad effort, and her connections aren't afraid to ship her around and run her. I look forward to her and Harve De Grace meeting again. I think Harve De Grace is the better horse, but I'm really hoping Blink Luck surprises me.

They are both good horses and its a fun rivalry.
Throw Awesome Maria into the mix and factor in the quality of the males in this country and I'm not sure why the trifecta of last year's Cotillion can't be the trifecta for this year's JCGC.

Blind Luck is like a throw-back to the top class fillies and mares of seven or eight years ago.

And speaking of pretty cool throwbacks - I noticed a 2yo at HP today named Danger Ranger. There was a horse who dominated Calder in my younger days by that same name.

Reminds me a little of the late Pine Island, just a relentless closing kick almost regardless of trip.

That's the biggest reason she's so enjoyable.

All three of them could be competitive in the Whitney as well.

No they wouldn't.

I'd love to hear which older males other than Tizway they'd have to be afraid of.

Morning Line, Rail Trip, and Friend or Foe would be a few.

All those Candy horses, for starters.

Morning Line is largely unproven at two turns and Rail Trip has one big dirt race in two years. Friend or Foe has a lot of upside, but also hasn't run a ton of fast races.

I see no reason why those three, especially Havre de Grace, can't compete in open Grade 1's this year, just like I didn't see (before she got hurt) why R Heat Lightning couldn't compete against males.

That's a good start.

Havre de Grace is probably pretty good, though she was hardly flattered by yesterday's results ( her competition in the Apple Blossom was none too impressive ), but being that she isn't even contesting the toughest races of her sex, why would people hypothesize about her beating the best males in the country ? Awesome Maria has been pretty good this year, but I think people need to take a step back and look at the field once Unrivaled Belle got injured and Absinthe Minded stopped on the turn. I'm not knocking her, as she's really good, but no sane person would consider her race yesterday a remote threat to the three you mentioned ( plus Tizway....or even Sydney's Candy ). As for Blind Luck....who wouldn't root for her? Her connections do everything racing fans dream owners would do with a good horse. She travels and ducks no horse. However, even their ambitious plans don't include running her against males where she can't realistically be competitive.

Bounding Basque beat Life's Magic in the Brooklyn.

Morning Line is largely unproven at two turns?

Joey, seriously, when you say nonsense like that, nothing you say can be taken seriously. The Friend or Foe comment shows a similar lack of knowledge.

The second paragraph is just more confirmation.

Rail Trip has only run in two dirt races and the layoff after the JCGC makes it pretty clear he wasn't 100% in that race. Morning Line won the Pennsylvania Derby and fought tooth and nail from start to finish in the Donn. Those were two good performances.

Awesome Maria mopped up on soft competition at Gulfstream and won a watered down race yesterday. Blind Luck is terrific but in many ways is still on the comeback trail this year. Those two plus Havre de Grace stepping up to face males in what is shaping up as a pretty deep race is a tall order.

I'll settle for Blind Luck and Havre de Grace running against each other at 10fs at Delaware on July 16.

Maybe if you would read a little more, you'd know that she is "halfway to horse of the year" ....

http://www.horseracingnation.com/blo...f_the_Year_123



Is there supposed to be some kind of point?

If Giant Oak can defeat Morning Line going 9f, is it really that unrealistic to think that one of the fillies might have a shot of doing the same?
I think any of the three mentioned would have been extremely competitive in the Foster yesterday, and (sad as it is) I'm not sure there's much of a guarantee that the races later in the year will be a whole lot better.

Isn't it important when ridiculing Morning LIne for losing to Giant Oak to consider the dynamics of the race in question?

As bad as the Foster was, it was really only a race to see which horses Mike Watchmaker overrated the most on his Watchmaker Watch.

Criticize a Zito horse at your own peril on here Joe. You should know better....Dialed In just finished up and didn't even come back blowing.:wf

Of course the dynamics are important, and I'm pretty sure I wasn't "ridiculing" Morning Line. I'm just not sure there are many older males running right now (him included) who you can count on to overcome unfavorable race dynamics to win a big race. If horses like Giant Oak and Pool Play can pick up the pieces and win big races against the top of this division, I'm not sure why the fillies can't.

Zenyatta was extremely competitive in her one try against the older male division last year, and I'm not convinced that she was much better than these three fillies or that this year's older male division is better than last year's.

But that's his running style and it's what makes him vulnerable at two turns, no?

I just don't think the gap between the top males and top females is nearly as big as some do.

After having your manhood questioned like that in this thread you come out like the Jets in the AFC championship against Pitt....used up early....you were right in your initial assessment. Simply stick to it.

I just don't care enough anymore to get into multi-page arguments.

I'll echo what miraja said and add that I've seen too many miserable favorites in important handicap races this year to discount the top three fillies/mares.

You remind me of a younger version of Gandhi right now. Very cool.

The one thing about Blind Luck that I think is interesting is that in none of her recent races has she faced a really fast or strong pace. The only time in her most recent starts where she saw a half faster than 47-flat was at SA on the speedway.

I think she would have at least threatened 4th or 5th in the last year's BC Classic given how that race shook-out.

Did you hang out with the older version of Gandhi much?:D

No but as someone who's best friend is Indian, I always wonder how Indians felt that the most important person from your country was portrayed in a movie by Ben Kingsley. Just wrong.

I was probably in the minority at the time - just because she had bad recent form on paper over the track (with legit excuses) - but after watching the SA Handicap I was confident she would have won that race if entered.

Probably similarly to how clever people feel about you pretending to be one on the internet.

You are the cleverest of them all.

It's still amazing to me how some people stay stuck on sex and discount the actual ability of the horses. Anyone with two eyes can see that there's no such thing as a standout in the older male division and that the top females have as good a shot as any males do. Pool freaking Play just won the Foster yet I'm supposed to believe that Havre de Grace and Blind Luck have no shot at all? Yeah, ok. So glad I'm clueless about this sport.

It's a pointless debate because there is zero chance either will run in the Whitney.

I remember that horse. Ralph Zadie?

I believe so. I seem to remember a few of his good battles with Elite Jeblar.

Just looked on the pedigree query - Elite Jeblar was foaled in 1990 and started 110 times. Danger Ranger was foaled in 1991 and started 87 times. Good, tough, mid 90's Calder horses for sure.

Nobody was using the (lack of) strength in the Foster to argue against Blind Luck or Havre de Grace winning the Whitney. In fact, every horse that was discussed as being one who could give them trouble was NOT in the Foster.

Again, I love Blind Luck, it's hard not to. But running past She's Cheeky, a distance challenged Switch and Miss Match is not in the same zip code as facing horses like Morning Line, Friend or Foe, Rail Trip, Sidney's Candy, and Tizway.

I wish Larry Jones had as much confidence in Havre de Grace as everyone on here. Then maybe he would have run her in the Phipps.

That was the logic I used in last year's BCC and why I didn't include Zenyatta in any of my tickets. She demonstrated last year that (given a very favorable pace scenario) she could compete quite well against the best dirt males....on dirt.

What is so different this year?

Do you think Zenyatta was simply lightyears better last year than the top two fillies this year? I don't.
Or do you think the horses on your list are simply lightyears better than Blame, Quality Road, Lookin at Lucky, etc from last year?

Agreed.
And - as others have pointed out - our discussion about how the fillies would do against the males is pretty pointless since it seems extremely unlikely that such a thing will happen.

Keep her where she is in the F&M division because she is taking chances by touring the country and doing well with it. Just a fun horse to watch run her race every time out.

Zenyatta was a very difficult horse to correctly assess. She was really good and did have an element of "I'll do what I have to do to win." The fact that she competed so well in the BCC had everything to do with the way the race unfolded. The dynamics were greatly in her favor. Both times Zenyatta faced males she had things go her way and she capitalized. That takes nothing away from how well she ran in both of her BC Classic tries.

Blind Luck would certainly be the type of filly that would benefit from a big pace setup facing males. Havre de Grace would to a lesser extent. Awesome Maria is like to get scorched facing the males that are headed to the Whitney.

Most importantly, like you said, it's conjecture at this point because none of them are facing males any time soon.

I think it's at least worth discussing because at least we can be reasonably assured that those fillies will still be racing, something we can never be sure about when it comes to Rail Trip and Morning Line. I have the utmost respect for Rail Trip. I was on here saying he'd be horse of the year in the past. At his best, I don't think any of the fillies would stand a chance and I don't think any of the males would either. But it's been so long since I've seen that best that I don't know if it's safe to assume that I ever will again.