Random thoughts on this Tuesday morning:
I am intrigued by this whole Uncle Mo story. I watched the race from Saratoga last Saturday, and while obviously the horse turned in an impressive performance, I don’t quite get how it does anything in terms of preparing him for the madness that is the Kentucky Derby, where he won’t be up against a handful of horses who will let him have things exactly his way. Related and upcoming: a look back at recent Kentucky Derby winners and their prep races.
And speaking of Derby preps, how about a little love for our own Brian Nadeau, who last weekend gave out the cold exacta in the San Felipe? Way to go, Brian.
And speaking of Derby preps, I am turning in my usual abysmal performance in the Road to the Roses, following an uncharacteristically good year last year. I am currently in 37th place (out of 43) in our charity league, while Ashley Herriman has gone to the front and not looked back, loping along, leading by 21 points. Rock on, Ashley.
I don’t even show up in the two leagues in which the game’s organizers put me without my permission. This is new this year, being put into leagues based on sex and location, and not, to my mind, an improvement. Road to the Roses didn’t make any announcements about this new feature, nor did it offer the opportunity to opt out; and despite my having made several requests, no one has responded to my queries about why I was added to these leagues or to my requests to be removed from them.
Road to the Roses is a great game: it gets lots of people involved and paying attention to racing; it’s free; and it offers us a terrific opportunity to raise money for a racing charity. I’m a fan, mostly. But responsiveness is not exactly the organization’s strong point: I am not the only one who has had e-mail queries go ignored, and while Road to the Roses does have a social media presence, it hasn’t posted on its own Facebook page since February 24, and it hasn’t tweeted since April 19, 2009.
Moving on: Kate Hunter, a writer and photograph living in Japan, has written a great blog post on the status of U.S. horses following the earthquake and its dreadful aftermath. Happily, it contains lots of good news.
If you’re interested in ways to help the animals suffering in Japan, check out the American Humane Society’s dedicated emergency fund. PetCaptain and Paws and Effect also have provided information on donating. I am not familiar with all of these organizations and don’t endorse any of them; please check them out for yourselves if you are interested in donating.
And in other charitable news: last summer at the Old Friends fundraiser in Saratoga, I bought a gift certificate for a one-night stay at the Saratoga Arms, a bed and breakfast on Broadway in Saratoga. I bid $100 in a silent auction, and the coveted item was mine!
Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to use it, and I won’t be able to before it expires on April 30th. I’d be happy to surrender it to someone who could use it, in exchange for a donation to Old Friends Cabin Creek. I’d love for someone to match my donation of $100: you send me a check for that amount made out to Old Friends, I send you the gift certificate. But I’ll entertain all offers, and if there’s enough interest, we’ll do our own auction here. You can e-mail me or contact me in the comments section.
Finally, a little self-promotion: please check out my conversation with Maryjean Wall, multiple Eclipse Award-winning turf writer, about her new, terrific book, How Kentucky Became Southern: A Tale of Outlaws, Horse Thieves, Gamblers and Breeders. It was published in Thoroughbred Times.
Brooklyn Backstretch 
Teresa, Great observation. If everything goes his way in Kentucky, I guess he wins. He needed to be in a horse race not a parade.
I agree Teresa. The Timely Writer did absolutely nothing to prepare Uncle Mo for the first Saturday in May race. The approach appears backwards. Instead of trying to win the race, they’re making their best feeble attempt to try and not lose the race. Come May 7th, if he makes it that far, you may witness him being ill-prepared for break-neck speed coming from real competitors, jostling and “a bumper car-like horserace of 20, that he’s never seen before. He will go off the prohibitive favorite and be expected to do something, that he’s never done before, win at a mile and a quarter. The “best horse” doesn’t always win these races but, every year the public get caught up in the hysteria, that “the best horse” from the previous year is the same horse he was, and that nothing has changed. He’s envisioned to be the same physically, emotionally, and has been trained and prepared, exactly the same. Rarely, are they the same. The competition is viewed as being inferior and not having the talent and ability, to possibly, upset someone like Uncle Mo. The race, itself, allows for some very strange, and sometimes, some entirely unpredictable things to happen. We’ve seen it before and, we will see it again.
The trainer of Uncle Mo is not a “go for it” kind of guy. He will take the safe route to the Derby. He wins allot of races because other horses loose. He either has a power horse like Big Brown or the suicide merchants do their thing and he shows up first.
On the other hand Baffert is a ‘go for it” kind of guy so what he does with “The Factor” will be fun. If he wins “The Rebel” well then, look out. Full chat!!
I’m not sure how any race could prepare a horse for a poor post position or the bumper-car start of the Derby. And if such a prep-race existed, why even enter your horse to the risks of such a race unless desperate for the graded earnings…which Uncle Mo doesn’t need.
I would be curious about the number of two turn races prior to the Derby of recent winners…or maybe field size over/unders of prep races of recent winners. Maybe there’s an anomaly?
Then again, I think the Derby is a bit of a lottery. Lookin at Lucky was probably the best horse last year but he was done at the post position draw regardless of his preps.
Nice work Brian on the exacta/exactor!!
Teresa, I also spent the weekend in Saratoga, watching the snow melt, and drove out to Old Friends on Saturday to make a donation. Too muddy to walk around. I’ll pass on your deal for a night in a B & B, even though the cause is a worthy one.
Uncle Mo will head to CD with one, two-turn prep race under him this spring, the Wood Memorial. And you can also argue that will be his only prep this spring b/c he got nothing out of the GP race. You have to wonder just how much he’ll get out of the Wood b/c it will certainly be a short and suspect field.
Sometimes you just never know how great horses will respond when they get looked in the eye. Officer was the last brilliant and devastating 2yo and when he encountered a little trouble and adversity in the BC Juvenile at Belmont he packed it in badly and was never the same again.
Uncle Mo is a better horse and has a lot more versatility and pedigree, but you just never know what will happen when a horse has to lay it all down until they do it…and he hasn’t yet and at 7/5 in a 20-horse bumper car of a Derby I’m sure as heck not paying to find out.
The number of 3 year old starts prior to the Derby in the 1970’s compared to the current [2000 on] deserves discussion. Secretariat, Affirmed, and Seattle Slew were the stars from turfdoms hey- day.. Many of the lessor known horses were formidable. They were still primarily breeding horses for racing in those days.
From 2000 on the number of starts prior to the Derby is about half. 2 per horse. Why. Today the horses are bred to bring high prices at the sales. Seattle Slew sold for 17500.00 and in today’s market he might not bring as much. Breeders today sell eye candy and hope they can run in their second careers. There are of course notable exceptions.. The Classic bound horse today has about half the racing longevity as the aforementioned, hence half the starts. The attrition rate today is staggering.
The colt who posted the 9.4 clocking and sold for 400k recently is a notable related point. We probably won’t here from him again. The clocking was maybe an unintended marketing ploy. History tells us. Athletes [to include horses] who display their full chat when young don’t duplicate when they mature. Trainers tip- toe to the Derby because the horses can’t handle tough training and the main goal is the sale pen at some point.
People are comparing this Uncle Mo horse to Seattle Slew, even ManOWar. At this point in their careers Seattle Slew’s workouts were more impressive then the Uncle Mo’s 4 races. Slews post first race works were subdued so insiders could collect a bet.
Teresa, your numbers tell us the focus is money but not prize money.