More hilarity courtesy of the SoCal racing schedule.
May 30, they ran the 9f Gamely for turf mares at Hollywood. On June 26, they ran the Beverly Hills at 10f. A mere week later, they ran the Royale Heroine at a flat mile. Guess what, each of the latter two races got half the horses from the previously run Gamely. Yeah, because they need to be splitting up the already threadbare divisions in CA between milers and middle distance horses.
But whatever. As long as they keep running the stakes races, someone will show up, right? That's the problem. Suddenly, after the barrage at Hollywood, there's no where to run the turf fillies in So Cal until mid-August. The Ramona (now the John C. Mabee) is no longer the first weekend alongside the male counterpart race, the Eddie Read. In fact, the Mabee won't be run for over 3 more weeks. Feast or famine.
So now A.C. Avila has to run his in-form Celtic Princess against colts to get a race into her. Way to go.
The best part is that they moved the Mabee to the same weekend as the f'n Beverly D. at Arlington. It's no longer a Grade 1 springboard to that international race. Instead, it will compete directly with it. No wonder it's only a Grade 2 now and in this spot on the calendar is destined to be a Grade 3 like the once mighty Beverly Hills.
|