HANDICAPPERS CORNER AT THE GREAT RACE PLACE

HANDICAPPERS CORNER  NEXT WEEK WILL START UP AGAIN MAKING SELECTIONS AT SANTA ANITA PARK.


IF YOU ARE INTERESTED IN THE FULL CARD ANALYSIS........PLEASE EMAIL HANDICAPPERS CORNER AT       surfdog88@yahoo.com


YOU CAN CHOOSE A WEEKLY OR DAILY REPORT.WE WILL INCLUDE WHAT WE BET, INCLUDING DAILY DOUBLES, PICK THREES, AND PICK FOURS. HAVE A POSITIVE WEEKEND AND GOOD LUCK.


BEST REGARDS, MICHAEL CUNNISON AT HANDICAPPERS CORNER

FRIDAY OPENING DAY AT THE GREAT RACE PLACE

RACE 3

This is a state bred maiden sprint going six and a half furlongs!
Many contenders and very few pretenders!




ANALYSIS


On paper, Flat Footed Mama trained by Baffert should get hammered at the windows. I have bet and re-watched the video's of Tatum's Gold who likes the dirt and her record is that she been second in three of her four races. She has been unlucky not to have broken her maiden yet.....weird races because of her jockey's.........Tab the switch to Bejarano.......I expect a smasher as she gets the garden spot from the outside post..........BET HER TO WIN AND PLACE.




                   1. Tatum's Gold..........the one to beat!

Del Mar Gets Approval for November Race Meet

Del Mar was granted approval to conduct its first fall meet in more than 40 years by the California Horse Racing Board at the commission's regular monthly meeting Sept. 23.

The Del Mar Thoroughbred Club, which is stepping in to help fill a void in the Southern California racing calendar due to the demise of Hollywood Park, was approved for a 15-day stand running Nov. 5-30. It will be the first autumn meet at the seaside track since 1967, when it discontinued fall racing because of poor results. The meet was replaced two years later by the Oak Tree Racing Association at Santa Anita Park.

The CHRB's unanimous license approval Wednesday morning at Los Alamitos Race Course was conditioned on completion of horsemen's agreements with the Thoroughbred Owners of California and the California Thoroughbred Trainers and the assigning of several racing official positions.

With a "Bing Crosby" theme to differentiate from its popular summer meet, Del Mar marketing director Craig Dado told the board it would use a $1.7 million marketing budget to promote the new meet. "Old Hollywood" fun will be at the center of the campaign, he said.

"We've got Bing Crosby everywhere at Del Mar but we've never had the focus on him," Dado said. "Now we're going to move the spotlight right to Bing." It will be a completely different marketing pull from its summer fun campaign for the regular meet, he said.

Del Mar is coming off a summer season with disappointing results. All-source handle slid 7.3% and attendance was off 6.3% amid serious concern with its new turf course, which contributed to 16 equine fatalities during the 36-day meet.

The grass course could again be a focal point as Del Mar picks up many of the stakes races conducted during Hollywood's former Turf Festival. 

The fall meet will also be the final one conducted on Polytrack at Del Mar. The track intends to replace it with a dirt track for the 2015 summer meet.

Fourteen stakes, nine of them graded, worth a combined $2.25 million, are on tap. Many of the races have been renamed to invoke memories of old Hollywood. The Hollywood Prevue (gr. III) becomes the Bob Hope Stakes, the Beverly Hills Handicap (gr. IIIT) returns as the Red Carpet Stakes, the Citation Handicap (gr. IIT) will be replaced by The Seabiscuit Handicap, the Miesque (gr. IIIT) is now the Jimmy Durante Stakes, and the Generous (gr. IIIT) is renamed for Cecil B. DeMille.

Other stakes—the Hollywood Turf Cup (gr. IIT), Native Diver Handicap (gr. III), Hollywood Derby (gr.IT), and Matriarch Stakes (gr. IT)—will have the same names.

"We're doing everything we can but it's not easy," Dado said of the first year of rebranding a new meet.

Some of the other stakes races formerly conducted at Hollywood will be picked up by Los Alamitos during December.

Tom Robbins, executive vice president for racing and industry relations at Del Mar, said, "The goal was to reinstate all of the graded races that were run at Hollywood, which we did." 

The projected average daily purse level at Del Mar of $497,279 would match Santa Anita's fall meet level, excluding the Breeders' Cup, said Robbins. He added that there was considerable guesswork involved in determining the figure.

Recognizing the additional financial burden on racing operations to compete at Del Mar on a short-term basis, he said the track will provide an additional $100 participation bonus for every starter. The "Ship & Win" program, which in recent years has helped Del Mar achieve some of the best field sizes in the nation, also will be in effect.

"I think we're all going to learn a lot after this meet," Robbins said.

Joe Harper, Del Mar CEO, said he has had "nothing but positive" reaction locally to the new meet.

"The town is basically abuzz with the meet coming up," he said.

The stand will operate four days each week on a Thursday-Sunday basis. First post will be at 12:30 p.m. on Thursdays and Friday, and noon on weekends. Thanksgiving Day, Nov. 27, will have an 11 a.m. first post.

Elsewhere, the board heard a report from Brad Cummings, president of EquiLottery, on a new "quick pick" wagering concept that combines horse racing and the lottery by commingling some of the $2 trifecta bet with California's pari-mutuel pool. After hearing the report, the board passed a motion in support of approving the concept and encouraged Cummings to move forward with it through the state lottery system.

A scheduled status update from the Los Angeles Turf Club on backside improvement plans at Santa Anita and the San Luis Rey Downs training center was postponed until the board's next scheduled meeting Oct. 23 at Santa Anita.

READ THE FULL ARTICLE AT      http://www.bloodhorse.com/horse-racing/articles/87564/del-mar-gets-approval-for-november-race-meet

Wide Open Field of 12 in Jockey Club Gold Cup at Belmont Park

With most of the big-name older horses having been retired this year, horses of all ages and from every locale seemingly are eyeing the Breeders’ Cup Classic (gr. I). Twelve of those will be hoping to earn their way into America’s richest race with a big effort in the $1 million Jockey Club Gold Cup (gr. I) Sept. 27.

The Gold Cup will be the headliner on the Belmont Park Super Saturday card, which features five grade I stakes and one grade II. The race, the 10th on the cardwith a 5:50 p.m. ET post, carries an automatic berth in the Breeders' Cup Classic for the winner.

 

This is one of those rare runnings of the Gold Cup when 3-year-olds appear to be the dominant force against the leading older horses that remain in training after several recent retirements. While Shared Belief and California Chrome are still the two biggest name sophomores in America, grade I winners Wicked Strong (Wood Memorial), Tonalist (Belmont Stakes), and V. E. Day (Travers Stakes) bring strong credentials into the 1 1/4-mile race.

 

The main contenders among the older horses are Whitney Stakes (gr. I) winner and Woodward (gr. I) runner-up Moreno and Suburban Handicap (gr. II) winner Zivo.

 

Of the remaining older horses, Last Gunfighter is a multiple graded stakes winner who has been off form since July; Prayer For Relief is a hard-knocker who always seems to pick up a piece of it in big races; Big Cazanova is shipping in from California, where he’s coming off a pair of huge efforts in allowance company over the Del Mar Polytrack surface; Micromanage has excelled recently in races over 1 1/2 miles and farther; and the regally bred Stephanoatsee ran a big race in the Woodward to be beaten 3 1/2 lengths despite a troubled trip.

 

Rounding out the field are Godolphin’s Long River and the Gary Contessa-trained Speak Logistics.

 

It seems as if post positions have played a major role in recent stakes and the Gold Cup is no different. The two horses with early lick—Moreno and Big Cazanova—drew posts 11 and 12, respectively. And because of the off placement of the starting gate on the turn in 1 1/4-mile races at Belmont, both horses will have to be extremely sharp coming out of the gate or get left hung out to dry going into the long run down the backstretch.

 

Moreno, trained by Eric Guillot, also drew post 11 in the 10-furlong Suburban and had to be rushed up to the lead after breaking a step slowly. He had little to offer in the final furlong when Zivo came rolling by him on the inside.

 

As for the 3-year-olds, Wicked Strong, coming off a gutsy nose defeat in the Travers Stakes, drew post 3 under Rajiv Maragh; Tonalist will break from post 8 under Joel Rosario and will race without blinkers after a second to Wicked Strong in the Jim Dandy (gr. II) and third in the Travers; and V.E. Day, from the same Jimmy Jerkens barn as Wicked Strong, drew post 10 with Javier Castellano aboard.

 

Wicked Strong has been sharper and more professional since blinkers were added, and many feel he was too close to the pace in the Travers, chasing Bayern and Tonalist. He then wound up on the lead earlier than usual and just failed to hold off his stablemate, who nailed him right on the wire.

 

Tonalist just got up to win the Belmont Stakes in the final stride, but wasn’t able to quicken in his next two starts and ran evenly down the stretch in both races. Trainer Christophe Clement obviously feels the son of Tapit   will fare better without the blinkers he as worn since his maiden victory.

 

V. E. Day has catapulted onto the 3-year-old scene in a hurry after racing mostly on the grass. He saw his first fast dirt track in the Curlin Stakes at Saratoga and won in a three-horse photo. The son of English Channel   then took a huge leap forward by coming from far back to win the Travers at odds of 19-1.

 

One of the more intriguing horses is the New York-bred Zivo, who had competed mostly in state-bred races for trainer Chad Brown, winning five in a row before venturing into open company in the Suburban. At odds of 13-1, he extended his winning streak to six by blowing away a top-class field by three lengths with his patented powerful stretch run, covering the 1 1/4 miles in a sharp 2:00.43.

 

Prayer For Relief hasn’t won since taking the Tenacious Handicap at Fair Grounds in December. But even though he has lost eight straight, he showed a lot of life in finishing third in the Suburban, fourth in the Whitney, and third in the Woodward. In the Woodward, he finished strongly right behind Itsmyluckyday  and Moreno, which makes him competitive in here.

 

Last Gunfighter has been an enigma. The son of First Samurai  , also trained by Chad Brown, was good enough to win the Pimlico Special (gr. III), Hawthorne Gold Cup (gr. II), and Mountainview Handicap, and ran a bang-up fifth in last year’s Breeders’ Cup Classic, beaten only 4 3/4 lengths. But his last three races have been uninspiring to say the least. He and Zivo are coming off a sharp work in company, and who knows when or if he decides to wake up and revert to his form of last year.

 

Another interesting horse is Mike Repole’s Micromanage, whose most impressive score came two races back at 1 3/4 miles in the Birdstone Stakes. He’s also won big going 1 3/16 miles in the Skip Away Stakes (gr. III), and was second, beaten a neck in the 1 1/2-mile Brooklyn (gr. II). Luis Saez gets the mount and they will break from the rail.

 

Nick Zito is hoping Stephanoatsee’s performance in the Woodward is an indication that the son of A.P. Indy finally is ready to live up to his promise after a string of disappointing efforts with other trainers.

Jockey Club Gold Cup Invitational S. (gr. I)

Belmont Park, Saturday, September 27, 2014, Race 10

• 1 1/4m
• Dirt
• $1,000,000
• 3 yo's & up
• 5:50 PM (local)

PP	Horse	Jockey	Weight	Trainer
1	Micromanage (KY)	Luis Saez	126	Todd A. Pletcher
2	Last Gunfighter (KY)	Joe Bravo	126	Chad C. Brown
3	Wicked Strong (KY)	Rajiv Maragh	122	James A. Jerkens
4	Zivo (NY)	Jose Lezcano	126	Chad C. Brown
5	Prayer for Relief (KY)	John R. Velazquez	126	Dale L. Romans
6	Long River (KY)	Cornelio H. Velasquez	126	Kiaran P. McLaughlin
7	Speak Logistics (FL)	Paco Lopez	126	Gary C. Contessa
8	Tonalist (KY)	Joel Rosario	122	Christophe Clement
9	Stephanoatsee (KY)	Jose L. Ortiz	126	Nicholas P. Zito
10	V. E. Day (KY)	Javier Castellano	122	James A. Jerkens
11	Moreno (KY)	Junior Alvarado	126	Eric J. Guillot
12	Big Cazanova (ARG)	Irad Ortiz, Jr.	126	Peter Miller

READ THE FULL ARTICLE AT BLOODHORSE.COM...................     http://www.bloodhorse.com/horse-racing/articles/87567/wide-open-field-of-12-in-jockey-club-gold-cup

A Half-Century of the Santa Anita Handicap - Documentary

Santa Anita Park's Oktoberfest

NOTES FROM THE UNDERGROUND SANTA ANITA PARK..........STARTS FRIDAY

                                                                                                                                     

 

• CHAMP SHARED BELIEF SHARP FOR AWESOME AGAIN
• BAFFERT MULLS BC CLASSIC FOR VERSATILE BAYERN
• ECLIPSE CHAMPION BEHOLDER READY FOR ZENYATTA
• TWO DECADES LATER, DESORMEAUX STILL ON A ROLL

 

SHARED BELIEF GALLOPS OUT STRONG FOR AWESOME AGAIN

            Undefeated male 2-year-old champion of 2013 Shared Belief worked four furlongs over Golden Gate’s synthetic Tapeta surface Tuesday morning in 47 3/5, handily, galloping out five furlongs in 1:01 flat under jockey Ricardo Gonzalez.

“He galloped out strong,” Hall of Fame trainer Jerry Hollendorfer said by phone after the Candy Ride gelding’s final major drill for the Grade I, $300,000, “Win and You’re In’ Awesome Again Stakes at Santa Anita on Saturday. “It was a very nice work. He’ll ship to Santa Anita tomorrow.

“The track was a little faster today, so he went a little faster,” Hollendorfer said of the Golden Gate strip. “He was really reaching out.”

Owned by a partnership that includes Hollendorfer, sports talk show host Jim Rome and his wife, Janet’s, Jungle Racing, Kevin and Kim Nish’s KMN Racing, Jason Litt, George Todaro and Alex Solis II, Shared Belief has earned $1,372,200 from six career victories, including the Grade I Pacific Classic against older horses on Aug. 24.

 

BAFFERT MULLS OPTIONS FOR BAYERN; ‘CHROME’ EYES CLASSIC

Fresh from a powerful front-running, track record-setting victory in Saturday’s Pennsylvania Derby, Bayern thrust himself into the Breeders’ Cup Classic picture as a major player, although Bob Baffert didn’t rule out other options for the son of Offlee Wild owned by Kaleem Shah.

“He could run in three races,” the Hall of Fame trainer said: “the Sprint, the (Dirt) Mile or the Classic. That’s how versatile he is. That’s how good he is. He’s a pretty good horse if he can do all that, right? All the great ones can do that, though.”

Bayern (pronounced BY-earn) has won at distances from seven furlongs to 1 1/8 miles. Of his five victories from nine starts, his combined margin of victory is just under 40 lengths, an average of nearly eight lengths per triumph.

Sean McCarthy, who had planned to run Gold Cup at Santa Anita winner Majestic Harbor in the Classic off his sixth-place finish in the Pacific Classic, said Tuesday morning the son of the late Rockport Harbor would run in the Awesome Again.

“There’s just no reason not to run him,” the trainer said. “There’s no reason to be sitting around waiting two months in between races and working and working and working when you can go ahead and race, so that’s what we’re doing.”

California Chrome, meanwhile, was none the worse for wear following his disappointing sixth-place finish in Saturday’s Pennsylvania Derby behind Bayern, who was ridden and rated perfectly by Martin Garcia.

“He came back fine,” trainer Art Sherman said from his Los Alamitos headquarters. “He looks good. He didn’t have the greatest trip in the world, but we’ll live to fight another day.”

That would be in the $5 million Breeders’ Cup Classic at Santa Anita on Nov. 1.

“I was blocked a little bit,” said California Chrome’s regular rider, Victor Espinoza, at Clockers’ Corner Tuesday morning. “They slowed down pretty good on the first turn (going the first quarter in a leisurely 24 seconds). That kind of hurt me right there.

“It was a little stressful for me because I wanted to let him go, but I had nowhere to go and no room to go. Nevertheless, he ran a good race, and for his being away for such a long time (since June 7, when the Kentucky Derby winner dead-heated for fourth in the Belmont Stakes), things like that will happen.

“Now he has a month before his next race. I think he’ll be 100 percent.”

The next race for Candy Boy, third in the Pennsylvania Derby, is on hold. “No plans,” trainer John Sadler said Tuesday morning. “He came back fine Sunday, but no plans yet.”

 

CHAMP BEHOLDER FIRES BULLET FOR ZENYATTA STAKES

Beholder, fully recovered from an injury in the Ogden Phipps in which she finished fourth on June 7, worked seven furlongs Saturday under new rider Mike Smith in a bullet 1:25.60.