Cloud Nine

I hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas and is looking forward to the New Year. I fully intended to get on her before the Christmas weekend and write a post about the up-coming races but got lost in the Christmas rush I guess, so here’s my overdue “post-Christmas” post.

We had a great weekend of racing this Christmas with a bevy of good races all loaded with high quality runners. The

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most anticipated race was probably the W. L. McKnight Handicap and a showdown between Presious Passion and Cloudy’s Knight. Presious Passion had finished second in the Breeders’ Cup Turf on November 7 after one of the most determined and courageous performances in the races history. Cloudy’s Knight was defeated a scant nose in the Breeders’ Cup Marathon after a furious stretch battle with three year old Man of Iron. Two long distance specialists quickly padding their fan bases after terrific ’09 campaigns. I was surprised to see Winchester go off as the second favorite over 9 year-old Cloudy’s Knight. He did end up finishing second, albeit to Cloudy’s Knight in a terrific show of veteran racing. Cloudy’s Knight is on a roll this year, with the McKnight win his 2009 record stands at four wins from five starts. Presious Passion lacked his Breeders’ Cup Turf driving punch in the homestretch, finishing fourth after setting the pace. Cloudy’s Knight swept to the front coming off the turn, passing both Spice Route and Presious Passion on his way to a 1 ¼ length victory. After his ultra-successful campaign this year, he will be given a break from racing in hopes of returning to the track by the spring of next year.

                2008 was the first year I watched the La Brea Stakes, my personal favorite Indian Blessing won that year en

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route to female sprint championship honors. This year another of my favorites, Evita Argentina was returning from a seventh place showing in the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint to take on grade 1 winning favorite Gabby’s Golden Gal. Earlier in the year the 3 year-old Evita Argentina defeated the boys in California but had not shown quite the same amount of pizzazz since then. She has one of the most striking chestnut coats I have ever seen, kind of a cross between chestnut and soft honey colored. Wide at the top of the stretch, Evita charged to a two length victory in the La Brea. Fast charging Starlarks snagged second by a head over the beautifully named Amazed by Grace. This was Evita Argentina’s fourth win at the seven furlong distance in eight lifetime attempts. Many will be looking forward to seeing how she progresses off this win into her 4 year-old campaign.

                The race that took just as much attention as the McKnight this weekend was Santa Anita’s San Gabriel

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Handicap and the return of the richest gelding in racing history, Lava Man. Lava Man was returning to the races after a 17 month layoff initially intended as a permanent retirement. Stem cell research was successful in restoring Lava Man’s damaged ankles to splendid form and so the decision was made to try running the old boy once more. He came into the San Gabriel off several promising works that seemed to herald his return to top form. 2008 San Gabriel champ Proudinsky was returning for a try at back–to-back wins. In the end Proudinsky prevailed by a neck over favored Loup Breton in the $150,000 turf event while Lava Man finished a troubling last. The race was won in a time almost two seconds faster than the 2008 running. Lava Man’s future plans have obviously had a wrench thrown into them with his last place finish, the connections will be mulling over his options for awhile before deciding on a course of action. Apparently he cut his legs leaving the gate at the start and there was some blood on both hind legs when he was examined after the race.

                I thought the Malibu Stakes was going to be a open and close case with Misremembered easily winning. It was just another instance in which my “racing expertise” was turning inside out and upside down. I love that nothing is sure in this sport, as in any other sport I suppose, but sometimes it seems less sure in racing somehow. M One Rifle, a horse I am ashamed to admit I didn’t even know was running, ran off with the win by more than two lengths over favored Misremembered with Papa Clem third. Square Eddie finished sixth here, once again lacking the brilliance he showed early this year and late last year. It is puzzling to me how a horse that was so good can be running so poorly so often. Perhaps he was just early to mature and then the crowd caught up with him this year.

                This weekend also produced the last public appearance of one of our favorite American champions, Zenyatta. She was paraded in front of more than 32,000 adoring fans at Santa Anita, there to enjoy a great day of racing, and say farewell to one of the greatest mares ever to grace the track. I look forward to seeing what the new year holds in store with the returns of Rachel Alexandra, Summer Bird, Quality Road, Mine That Bired, I Want Revenge and maybe The Pamplemouss. That is a great roster of fantastic 2009 3 year-olds, I drool at the thought of the 2009 Breeders’ Cup and the possible line-up for the Classic. Sure it’s a long way off and anything can happen, but I like to dream.

                One more thing I wanted to say: being a blog author and having several friends that author blogs I can tell you that the one thing we love above everything else for our blogs are comments. So even if you don’t have anything to say, just stop by and comment, you can even tell me: “I have nothing to say” and I’ll be happy!  You don’t even have to comment on the content of the post, just anything that comes to mind on Horse Racing. Come on, give it a try, you might even find that you like it and end up writing till you get “writer’s cramp”. (: