JAZIL'S SISTER! Gr. I Las Virgenes
 

The subject of intense scrutiny here all week, Jazil has his half sister in the Gr. I Las Virgenes tomorrow!

RAGS TO RICHES, in the hands of Tabor & Smith, and trained by Team Todd... A product of Jazil's dam Better Than Honour and A.P. Indy...

How in the world does the Santa Maria remain a grade 1?

I've been so underwhelmed with the 3 year old fillies that I can definitely see taking a lightly raced, progessing filly like Rags to Riches in this spot.

Cash included/Rags to Riches exacta and those two in a tri with Baroness Thatcher and Quick Little Miss.

so does Jazil's sister lineage go down to the great Colon also?

Colon? No, I think she's actually a descendant of Spleen.

:D :D :D

And she's line-bred to Pancreas. ;)

I posted pretty much the same thing on another forum. Actually I titled it "La Canada = La Worthless". Makes no sense for it be a G1 when the only way it could even remotely pass for a G1 is if every 4yo skipped the La Canada to run in it. It is the equivalent of the San Antonio being a G1.

On the other hand the Las Virgenes has lived up to its G1 billing. 8 out of 9 are stakes winners (2 G1 winners) with the 9th being the most impressive maiden winner of the meet in Rags to Riches. 6 out of 9 are coming in off a win with two others coming in off a second to other horses in the race. The only horse not to finish 1st or 2nd is Cash Included who was fifth in the BC Juv Fillies last out.

this is a really nice race with rags to riches in it!

i especially like the long term prospects for rags to riches, though i'm not sure that with all she has against her tomorrow that she'll win against these.

between the post, step up and increase in distance, it's asking alot, though i do think she's my top or second pick to win the ky oaks. also, i dont see it happening, but if there was a filly out there that could win the derby, it would be her in my opinion (very remote chance).

this is the best 3yo filly race i've seen in years! definitely worth watching.

Rags to Riches is my pick here. I feel like every horse dropping down from 8.5 wants more distance and every other horse moving up from 7 furlongs may not like the extra furlong. Rags to Riches looks the most likely to improve this race with the added distance. Cash Included could be the best in the field but I think she'll need this race before running big next out.

She was unbelievable, incredibly wide the whole way and still won it.

She looks nice and did have a wide trip, but did Lafit Pincay really say she lost about a dozen lengths on the two turns combined? He sounded serious, but surely he wasn't.

Hmm not sure how many lengths the rule of thumb is for what path you're in. I forget, but she was what 6 or so wide both times? I guess one length per path then? I was impressed just seeing her walk around in the paddock on the feed from Santa Anita but boy stuff like the stretch run gets your blood pumping doesn't it?

Interesting that she is Triple Crown nominated along with Romance is Diane. RTR seems big, what are we looking at in terms of hands?

Rags To Riches
 

Mind boggling effort to win the Grade I Las Virgenes off just a maiden win. Had a horrendous ground losing trip. Broke outward from the nine post and was wide all the way around the race track and still ran by them in the lane. Sky is the limit if she stays healthy.

She did save the day for Tabor and Pletcher. Looked like she closed in on Dreaming of Anna.

U do realize that she ran her final two furlongs in 12.64 and 12.85 for a final quarter of 25.49? Running 25.49 final quarters in 8f races is not impressive by most standards. Sure, she ran well to win while very wide but I think it says more for the sub-standard performances of the others than it does for her. It would have been nice to see her running fast at the end and running down some horses that were also going pretty good. But that wasn't the case here. Baroness Thatcher ran second, despite a final quarter of 26.11 and Runway Rosie ran third, despite a final quarter of 26.17 In other words, the leaders didn't prove to hard to catch.

You sure have high standards, King Glorious. The filly was wide throughout the race, extremely wide - she was moving fast, as Gomez said, but she had to work hard to even get in contention. Yours is the first post to really discredit the filly (the first post that I've seen anyway), asking a lot from an inexperienced filly with a bad post.

I don't mean to discredit her. I think she's got some talent and is obviously improving. The good thing is that it won't take much to be a top level horse among the 3yo fillies this year. They are a pathetic group at best. But today's race was not as impressive to me as it seems it was to the rest of u. Sure, she was wide. But from the 8th pole to the wire, it's a straight shot. Doesn't matter if u are on the rail or 20-wide. And she ran her final eighth in 12.85 seconds. I'm sorry but that's not moving fast at all. Especially in a race as short as 8f. The reason it appeared she was moving so fast is because the others were slowing down much faster than she was. She wasn't moving fast. If Baroness Thatcher and Runway Rosie had been ANY kind of horse, Rags finishes third in this race. It would have been a decent third considering the trip but still third. Because those other two are nothing and gave it up like $2 whores, Rags' race is being looked at like some kind of super-human (or is it super-horseman?) effort, all perspective is being lost, and she's going to be 1/5 next out. I'll pass.

Rags to Riches is the most overrated horse in the history of horse racing!

So, you think she has SOME talent, and is improving? Gee what an astute observation given that she won a GR1 in her third start.
You have gone to new heights this time. Nobody told you to bet the horse next time at 1 to 5, so pass if you like it really doesn't matter. All people are talking about is what this filly did in her third start and first time around two turns.

You make a habit to come in a try to pour cold water on anybody getting excited about a horse and to me the act is very old now.

You called Baroness Thatcher and Runway Rosie nothings. You call the other 3 yo's pathethic? Why can't you just enjoy what these horse ARE, and stop bashing every other horse because they don't live up to your standards for what they should be?

So what that some people thought Rags To Riches ran such a good race? why does that compel you to come on and shoot down the performance with your fractional time analysis. She beat everyone in the field on Saturday, wasn't that good enough?

My own opinion? I was impressed. I thought she beat a pretty deep field of fillies while giving away a lot of experience and while racing very wide. My pick was Runway Rosie so I lost on the race but I couldn't believe how Rags To Riches kept on coming.

Yes in his mind she should have not only won but also equaled the track record. Only then would she have received his tepid enthusiasm.
Don't worry, this is the guy who told us that Bernardini was going to break Secretariats track record in the BCC and even better, that Invasor was a fraud and would finish off the board. In the Donn last week he said Invasor would be no better than third. To him almost all horses are frauds and pathetic and don't measure up. I really don't know why he is involved in the sport as the only pleasure he seems to take from it is pouring cold water on any people that show any type of excitement.

LOL Well, in my dreams, I had Bernardini breaking the record, too! I think it's pretty obvious that I am love any horse by AP Indy, so of course, I love this filly too. I'm not going to go overboard and proclaim this filly the be all and end all; she may end up being a champion or maybe not, but Rags is going to be fun to watch all the same - she's a pretty little thing. I can't worry about the fractions being what they were because Rags lost several lengths due to how wide she was. It's asking a lot for her to not only go insanely wide throughout the race, but also finish up very fast, especially a filly who has run only 3 times in her career and never against such competition.

King Glorious, I reread my post again and I think I probably sounded more abrupt than I meant. Just because I've read mostly raves doesn't mean that you aren't entitled to your opinion - it's no big deal to disagree.

In any case, I figure RTR will get a lot out of this race; I heard she galloped out reallly well.........I just hope she stays healthy, esp. she had some problems that kept her from racing the remainder of her 2 year old year (her debut was in June).

LOL Slot...

Do you realize this was 3yr old fillies. None of these are ready to chalange Invasor. We get caught up in the 12s and sometimes forget. There is a differance in graded stakes open company restricted to age and or sex. Compare apples to apples. This looked like a very nice field. Lets see how she comes back. I think she has a lotta run bottled up inside. She will be extremely tough for any of the 3yr filles but she isnt any threat to Invasor.

I think that before the year is over, Rags to Riches will compile an impressive record. Perhaps her main competition will be Boca Grande, another daughter of A.P. Indy. :cool:

We can definitely agree that she's a talented filly and I'll even agree that the sky is the limit for her. What I didn't mean to infer at all was that she wasn't that good. I looked back at her maiden race and was much more impressed with that effort than I was the Las Virgenes. I feel like the circumstances she overcame have been overblown and looked better than they actually were due to what I felt were very inferior performances by the others. What I was basically saying is that had the runner-up and third-place horse been anything at all, Rags' race would be seen as a tough luck third in which she still was the best horse but not have gotten the overwhelming reaction that it has gotten.

I'm sorry that I wasn't impressed with the race. The maiden race did more for me. Some of u people seem to feel that u have to praise everything and that once u like a horse, everything he/she does is golden. Some of u are unable to be objective in your assessments because u have become emotionally invested in the horses. There's nothing wrong with being emotional about them but when it clouds your judgements, that's when u start to lose your perspective. Sometimes, good horses turn in performances that aren't their best yet they still are able to win because they are good horses. Doesn't mean they run their absolute best everytime. Take Invasor's Donn. It wasn't his best or fastest effort. But it was good enough to win. So if I come on here after the race and say that I wasn't impressed (in comparison to some of his other races), am I wrong for saying so? I guess saying that Rags is talented and the sky is the limit for her is still not enough. I suppose I need to have an orgasm everytime she steps on the track in order to safisfy some of u. I"ll keep that in mind for next time.

Please try not to.

I am not objecting too your opinion. The comparison of times and splits are for 3yr fillies early in the year. These 2 and 3yr olds dont just appear on the scene and run these 12 splits and compete with the older horses for times, Also take into consideration only the 3rd race. The field had several graded winners but yes they were against there age group and no one expected them to threaten Discrete Cat.

I think you are making perfect sense, as usual. :cool:

Well... some of us around here have got to. :p

I'm not expecting them to run like the best in the game. Allowances should be given for the fact that they are 3yo fillies and for the fact that it was only her third career start. That's why I understand that she has a lot of room to improve and will likely be even better. My analysis wasn't on how good she is or can be though. It was simply on that one race. I didn't see it as special. The way most of the people described it, u would have thought she was pulling a Silky Sullivan coming down the lane. The truth of the matter is that whether she was running 11 3/5, 12 4/5 or 19, she was still decelerating down the lane. Her last 8th was slower than the one before it. I just didn't see this great acceleration that others saw. I watched that horse Christmas Kid win the Davona Dale the other day at Gulfstream. I know, different tracks, different scenarios. But I don't see anyone raving about her. Her finishing time, not the final time of the race, but final quarter mile, was nearly identical to what Rags did, despite the fact that she ran faster earlier. I felt like the performances of Baroness Thatcher and Runway Rosie, while not taking away from what Rags did, helped create an optical illusion that made it look better.

Did you perhaps see anything special today? Or was this another optical illusion? Everyone and their mother knew that the Las Virgenes effort was much the best that day because of how extremely wide she raced. Her sheet number was huge.

According to Tabor, Smith and Plether the KY Derby for R2R is a possibility. I think they may go against the boys next time and see what they have. If they lose off to the Oaks, if they win or perform really well then it is off to the Derby.

And today, I was rewarded with her $21 win in the Ashland.