Flower Alley

Originally Posted by miraja2

Ha! I was trying to tell my wife today at Arlington (Flower Alley has been her favorite since the Lanes End last year) that it made no sense to bet him in the race today for all of those reasons. In the slop? 8 month layoff? odds on favorite? I didn't bet against him, but it sure didn't make sense to me to bet on him either. She replied by saying "well he is my favorite horse and he is by far the best horse in the race."
I couldn't argue with that, so she bet him to win and made a little. I guess if your favorite horse is also the best horse in a race, it makes sense to play him.
I'm not sure he'll lose this year.

Miraja,
If you are able to "guess" that a legitimate breathing problem caused the JCGC and draw a line through it, he was an absolute developing star last year. His Spa races were awesome, and I was beginning to think that I was the only one who realized how great his BCC was. I mean, St Liam was a lot better horse than he gets credit for. FA had him all out to get by teh whole stretch and was well clear of soem pretty nice older horses. His sheet numbers were just crazy good. I've been preaching and stomping my feet since that race that he was gonna be a KILLER this year.
There was no setback. Todd said so in today's DRF and hes a pretty level guy with the media. They just decided to go for the races that matter. To me, the Whitney and the BCC are the two that I would want more than any other race if I were an owner of an older horse. Yeah sure, there are some bigger purse money races than the Whitney, but nowhere near as prestigious and lets face it, the owner isn't a millionaire, hes a billionaire. he doesnt care about the purses. Hes already won the Travers and winning a race like the Donn or Foster or im Special wasnt give him more status. The Whitney and BCC can do that.

Hmmm ... Flower Alley went a mile in 1:35.4.

A few races earlier ... $25,000 maiden claimers went a mile in 1:36 ... and they still had another 1/16 to go.

Not impressive at all time-wise ... but it was his first outing in eight months ... so there's room for improvement ...

... and he'll need to improve a lot in order to compete with Mayan King.

I don't think it'll happen ... but good luck.

[Danzig]

it's just a shame (to me) that this horse had to be gone so long between the bcc and his four year old debut.

i guess one way to look at it is that there used to be a 'season' to racing. everyone stopped in the fall, no racing in winter, and then everyone started back in the spring. now there's racing all year thru--which is good for fans, but not so good for horses.

but is it really and truly too much to ask that a horse run more than a few times a year? i guess for some it is.

yeah, hoy may not be earned in the first half of the year, but i don't think it should be earned exclusively in the second half either.