Friesan Fire 9-1

Girl Power
 

All right! Rachel Alexandra 1st filly in 85 years:{>:

A lot of respect for Mine That Bird. He gets the rail trip, he wins for sure

No Shame in the effort that Mine That Bird put in....has beaten all the other the colts twice now

What started out as a bit of a "ho hum" Derby/Triple Crown trail finally has some excitement. Looking forward to see if they both move on to the Belmont.
Great race!

Hopefully, this helps to put an end to people thinking fillies can't run with the boys. Fillies have won two of the past six TC races and the last three fillies have two wins and a second. You can't win if you can't play. Thank you to Jess Jackson for having the courage to take a shot. People will remember Rachel. Hopefully one day Zenyatta gets her chance. Maybe Jackson can buy her too?

I thought Big Drama ran a pretty good race, considering he probably left some at the gate.

Big props to the filly and Mine That Bird.:tro:

Easier at this point ... but ya gotta admit, KG ... even an Azeri at the height of her powers (which she wasn't in the '04 BCC, imo, btw) could never hang with a mature stud like a GZ.

I doubt she runs in the Belmont. She ran very hard and would have gotten caught going longer. She needs a bit of a break. It is a long year and they can have alot of fun with her.

He left alot at the gate and looked a bit lathered up prior to the gate. He ran terrific for a horse with so little experience and only a 7 f race this year to his credit.

And would have gotten Rachel going longer. So impressed with the bird.

GZ was a freak of nature and his type isn't around every year. It wasn't just a filly that couldn't hang with him. Nobody could. But in 2002, I would have thought she'd have had a chance against the likes of Volponi.

guess I was wrong about Friesan Fire
 

my man Friesan went to his knees out of the gate , and went way faster than he needed to early, as well as getting herded directly by Valazquez early...

he just got eaten up in the big race once again

but I can't really say he would have been competitive with a better trip.
It wasn't an impossible trip and he really stopped. It was a lot better trip than the derby.

I still think he is a good horse, but definitely have major doubts

I wonder if he heads to NY for the test of champions?

I think he has to redirect to the minor Derbies and he could possibly find the Winner's Circle again.

do you really? I would think there is no chance in hell he'd go to NY after these last two races.

Running like he has in the last two, I wouldn't pick him in the Pomona Derby.

i hope he doesn't. I don't have the confidence to key around around him, but without seeing him break cleanly and settle into his pace I don't have the confidence to toss him. This is a colt I was "sure" was the best classic distance 3yo, and The Belmont was the one race I had no doubts about going into this triple crown. It would cost me more money to wager, I would probably have to pass the race.

Really impossible to like him much at this point. When your pick gets 1 bad trip you feel like you are sitting on a big one for a couple weeks... Two bad trips and it could just as well be the horse. Proven form is different. It would be different if this were the Travers and he already had proven form in the triple crown series, but these "duds" come at the same time of his first dip into top competition, and his Fairgrounds trips were easy trips.

Well, I'm the guy who sent out the Preakness-Derby trivia earlier (and encouraged on MTB). It's the first time I've hit a Triple Crown Race trifecta, which didn't pay a ton, but it beats the alternative.

bullshit

he needs to go back to la.

A self-imposed one week ban from posting on this board has been issued as a punishment for this nonsense, starting........now.

Early plans for the Preaknesss runners:

Rachel -> Assmussen sees no rush to put her in the Belmont

Mine That Bird -> Belmont

Big Drama -> Haskell

Musket Man -> Haskell

General Quarters -> No Belmont, back to Churchill

Flying Private -> what else would you expect? :D Belmont.

Papa Clem -> CA

Friesan Fire -> "not pushing Belmont away"

http://www.drf.com/news/article/103854.html

The Belmont still has a chance to be an exciting race with a decent sized field.

Considering how often the NJSEA has thrown a ton of money out there to make the Haskell a great race, I wouldn't be surprised if the Rachel-MTB rematch occurs there. With Big Drama pointing there and Musket Man as well it has all the makings of a great race.

I'm pointing myself to the Haskell as well with a four-day prep at Saratoga leading up to it, in case anyone wanted to make note of it.

NT

Can we make sure that Johnny V rides Big Drama again? Should enhance that bull track experience. :rolleyes:

i can see the argument for flying private to go to ny waaay before friesan fire.

i thought he wanted to the hug the rail.....the outer rail. took a page out of jerry baileys book on how to ride the other guys horse. it worked just as well for him as it did for bailey that day in the belmont. i wonder what fawkes thinks of his ride?

Square Eddie gonna' go for the Belmont Stakes?

somebody needs to give FF's connections the zip code to the state of denial...

surely not?

something has gone wrong with that colt. not sure what. distances? better class of horses? the injury, that may or may not have been serious....not sure what to think about him now.

my Beyer equiv calcs for the day:

r1 6f alw 74
r2 8.5f dupont distaff g2 87
r4 8.5f schaefer g3 101
r6 8.5f deputed testamony str 89
r8 6f hirsch jacobs g3 105
r10 6f maryland bc g3 98
r12 9.5f preakness g1 112
r13 6f msw 61

preakness is a huge number, no matter how you cut it. i think it could even be a tick or two higher.

Azeri was terrific ... absolutely loved to watch her race.

Been following the sport for twenty years now and GZ is the best that I've seen. His comeback race in the '05 Met was simply awesome ... one of the most powerful performances that I've ever seen by any horse.

Maybe I'm crazy, but I think he could've given Sec's 12f world-record a run for its money if he ever would've had an opportunity to run that far at Belmont Park.

Perhaps he would've hit the proverbial wall in the lane (ala SJ in the '04 Belmont), but seeing how strong he looked at the end of the '04 BCC, I wouldn't have wagered a nickel on it.