Some info on Veranda Cafe (Hollywood, Race 2)
DiscreetCat
Moderator
I had a play on this horse way back last year, and she was on her way to a win (over eventual multiple stakes winner Evita Argentina) before something went terribly wrong in deep stretch. Looked to be either an injury or some type of breathing problem. Returns off a year-long layoff today and is now in for a paltry $22,500 claiming price. I'm not advocating a play by any means, just thought you guys might like some background on her if you happen to be looking at the race. Pay no attention to the race number or betting number; they're from last year's race:
Hollywood - Race 8
#4 Veranda Cafe (6/1 ml)
Just spent a good bit of time digging up the dirt on this one; it's not easy coming up with info on the San Luis Rey trainees. Anyway, this Peter Miller trainee worked the fastest furlong at the March OBS (9.4 seconds). I pulled up the video from that drill, and she appears to have a nice reach on her. Miller generally uses Nakatani on his live ones, and he goes to Bejarano here, but the Miller/Bejarano combo is quite strong from a small sample-size (3-for-9). I also checked to see if this filly has worked with Miller's 2yo stakes winner Backbackbackgone, and she has not. That one is a colt however, which may have something to do with it. Many trainers don't like working fillies and colts together, for obvious reasons. And speaking of 2yo fillies, Miller was quite strong in that category at Hollywood last year. He debuted his stakes-winning filly Set Play about this same time, i think. Anyway, the bad news is that this filly is owned by Little Red Feather (Jim Rome's outfit), so there's a pretty good chance Rome will be shooting his mouth off about this filly today, particularly if she's live. I visited the Little Red Feather website, which had a nice page on this filly, and it mentioned that Peter Miller purchased a "sizable interest" in this filly. That has to be a very good sign, particularly since they paid a good bit of money for her ($150k) at the sale. Bottom line, i would expect this filly to break fast and put forth a very good effort today, likely laying right off the inside horse Lippy Rules, who showed a ton of speed first time out. Here's a piece i found on Veranda Cafe from the afore-mentioned sale; she must've had her named changed because she's referred to here as Seekingthediamond:
Forest Wildcat filly works fastest eighth at OBSC
Seekingthediamond, a Forest Wildcat filly, turned in the fastest one-furlong breeze and three colts tied for the fastest quarter-mile move at the first under-tack show for the Ocala Breeders Sales Co.s March sale of two-year-olds in training on March 18-19. The dark bay or brown filly, out of the winning Seeking the Gold mare Seeking Success, breezed one furlong in :9.80. Consigned by Hendry Training Stables, agent, Seekingthediamond hails from the immediate family of multiple Grade 1 winner Classy Cathy and multiple Grade 3 winner and sire Sports View.
Hollywood - Race 8
#4 Veranda Cafe (6/1 ml)
Just spent a good bit of time digging up the dirt on this one; it's not easy coming up with info on the San Luis Rey trainees. Anyway, this Peter Miller trainee worked the fastest furlong at the March OBS (9.4 seconds). I pulled up the video from that drill, and she appears to have a nice reach on her. Miller generally uses Nakatani on his live ones, and he goes to Bejarano here, but the Miller/Bejarano combo is quite strong from a small sample-size (3-for-9). I also checked to see if this filly has worked with Miller's 2yo stakes winner Backbackbackgone, and she has not. That one is a colt however, which may have something to do with it. Many trainers don't like working fillies and colts together, for obvious reasons. And speaking of 2yo fillies, Miller was quite strong in that category at Hollywood last year. He debuted his stakes-winning filly Set Play about this same time, i think. Anyway, the bad news is that this filly is owned by Little Red Feather (Jim Rome's outfit), so there's a pretty good chance Rome will be shooting his mouth off about this filly today, particularly if she's live. I visited the Little Red Feather website, which had a nice page on this filly, and it mentioned that Peter Miller purchased a "sizable interest" in this filly. That has to be a very good sign, particularly since they paid a good bit of money for her ($150k) at the sale. Bottom line, i would expect this filly to break fast and put forth a very good effort today, likely laying right off the inside horse Lippy Rules, who showed a ton of speed first time out. Here's a piece i found on Veranda Cafe from the afore-mentioned sale; she must've had her named changed because she's referred to here as Seekingthediamond:
Forest Wildcat filly works fastest eighth at OBSC
Seekingthediamond, a Forest Wildcat filly, turned in the fastest one-furlong breeze and three colts tied for the fastest quarter-mile move at the first under-tack show for the Ocala Breeders Sales Co.s March sale of two-year-olds in training on March 18-19. The dark bay or brown filly, out of the winning Seeking the Gold mare Seeking Success, breezed one furlong in :9.80. Consigned by Hendry Training Stables, agent, Seekingthediamond hails from the immediate family of multiple Grade 1 winner Classy Cathy and multiple Grade 3 winner and sire Sports View.