Belmont - Opening Day
DiscreetCat
Moderator
Race 2
Just a heads-up right now; any play will be determined by odds (meaning if i post anything, it won't come until 10-15 minutes to post).
At first i thought this was gonna be a walkover for Immortal Eyes, who has run MUCH too well to still be a maiden. He did the dirty work in his debut, chasing his super-impressive barnmate Fed Watcher through some extremely fast fractions. Also in that race was The Leopard, who only got to him late. He then knocked heads with The Leopard again in start #2, looking every bit the winner most of the way until The Leopard finally got his feet under him and put in a powerful late run (much as he had in their previous meeting). No disgrace in losing to The Leopard, who right now i make the favorite to win the BC Juvenile. And it was almost 8 lengths back to the others. Going further, Immortal Eyes ran almost 2 full seconds faster than the other 2yo maiden race on the card that day (won by Midnight Slammer).
Looks like he has some competition here, though. The Baffert-trained, Zayat-owned firster Massive Drama comes into this race having worked head-up with J Be K no less than 5 times. That horse debuted for Baffert @ Saratoga last week, and set the 5 1/2-furlong track record. Going further, i don't believe Baffert has lost with a 2yo firster in New York this summer. Maimonides, J Be K, and Indian Blessing all shipped in from Del Mar and won by open lengths. All super-impressively. He also shipped in the 2yo More Happy to win the Adirondack Stakes. Kent Desormeaux takes the call, and of course he was aboard several winning Zayat Stables first-timers for the Mott barn.
Could be a real barn-burner here. Gotta give the edge to Immortal Eyes, who has the experience edge (vs. stakes-types), and also drew the favorable outside post. He'll likely be the one attracting all the money though, as people look at that 94 Beyer and assume he can't lose. There might be some value with Massive Drama here. We shall see...
HRT record:
27 for 94 (29%)
$250.50 mutuels ($9.28 avg)
Just a heads-up right now; any play will be determined by odds (meaning if i post anything, it won't come until 10-15 minutes to post).
At first i thought this was gonna be a walkover for Immortal Eyes, who has run MUCH too well to still be a maiden. He did the dirty work in his debut, chasing his super-impressive barnmate Fed Watcher through some extremely fast fractions. Also in that race was The Leopard, who only got to him late. He then knocked heads with The Leopard again in start #2, looking every bit the winner most of the way until The Leopard finally got his feet under him and put in a powerful late run (much as he had in their previous meeting). No disgrace in losing to The Leopard, who right now i make the favorite to win the BC Juvenile. And it was almost 8 lengths back to the others. Going further, Immortal Eyes ran almost 2 full seconds faster than the other 2yo maiden race on the card that day (won by Midnight Slammer).
Looks like he has some competition here, though. The Baffert-trained, Zayat-owned firster Massive Drama comes into this race having worked head-up with J Be K no less than 5 times. That horse debuted for Baffert @ Saratoga last week, and set the 5 1/2-furlong track record. Going further, i don't believe Baffert has lost with a 2yo firster in New York this summer. Maimonides, J Be K, and Indian Blessing all shipped in from Del Mar and won by open lengths. All super-impressively. He also shipped in the 2yo More Happy to win the Adirondack Stakes. Kent Desormeaux takes the call, and of course he was aboard several winning Zayat Stables first-timers for the Mott barn.
Could be a real barn-burner here. Gotta give the edge to Immortal Eyes, who has the experience edge (vs. stakes-types), and also drew the favorable outside post. He'll likely be the one attracting all the money though, as people look at that 94 Beyer and assume he can't lose. There might be some value with Massive Drama here. We shall see...
HRT record:
27 for 94 (29%)
$250.50 mutuels ($9.28 avg)
Comments
If Immortal Eyes goes off @ 4/5, i'm on officially him. If not, it's a pass.
#8 Moral Compass (7/2 ml)
Second-time starter for Tagg had worked head-up multiple times with Rebounded, who won his debut going two turns on grass (this race is 7 furlongs on grass). He was very unlucky to face Maimonides, but he was able to stick reasonably close to him thru the first half-mile. The second-place finisher from that race has returned to win, btw. Since then, Moral Compass worked head-up (on grass) with Wall Street Humor, who ran second to stakes-type Riley Tucker in his debut, then ran a decent third at this 7-furlong distance next time out. Tagg switches to one of his go-to riders here (Coa), and gives this horse first-time lasix. Based on the works with turf horse Rebounded, and the absence of Lasix in his debut, this turf race may have been the primary target all along.