Author Archives: MikeandPenny

Louisville on the News

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Louisville made it big in the news today (CNN, WEATHER CHANNEL ETC.) as it rained up to six inches in a little over an hour. The general area got anywhere from 3-6 inches depending where you were. Churchill Downs got hit very heavy. We knew we were going to get a rain, but at 8:30 this morning it just started pouring with the rain coming down sideways for a good two hours. Extreme lightening and thunder. Some of the back barns at Churchill had to be evacuated after the rain quit due to flooding. The electricity had gone out and the stalls had 6-8 inches of water standing in them.
 
U of L campus is close to the downs and sustained a great deal of damage. Parking lots full of cars were total immersed in the water. The library's lower level was totally under water. So many  buildings basements filled with water and left people stranded everywhere.
 
I have never been in a storm of that magnitude that happened quite that quickly. We have had a little over 9 inches of rain in the past week. Usually we are begging for any rain this time of year as the grass is normally brown and crunchy and we would worry about the horses getting dehydrated. Now the fields look like May green. Weed eaters and mowers cannot keep up with the growth!
 
This has been a July for the record books. We never reached 90 degrees the entire month, which has never happened since they began keeping weather records.
 
We are expecting more showers tonight and this weekend and our temperatures will climb into the 90's.
 

Preakness

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The
Preakness is tomorrow and it very well could rain there. It could
change my expert picks, but, as of now with a fast track I will give
Musket Man a big chance. He ran big in the Derby and his last three
races have been very good and very consistent, so I think he will run
good in the Preakness. I give Mine That Bird a shot to hit the board. I
do not think he was a one horse fluke. I think Papa Clem ran a big race
in the Derby. I think he is a little more suited to the Belmont as he
is a bigger courser horse. I think Pioneer of the Nile will be a part
of the trifecta again.

Rachel Alexander I think is a great filly. She ran a great race in
Louisville, against not the best Oaks bunch. (As the second and third
horses were both eligible for NW2.) I see her running third or fourth.
Her post position is not the best, but in a way it might be better than
the inside where she might get pinned or in trouble. I think she might
also bounce a little.

Another horse that scares me is Larry Jones horse, Friesan Fire. He is
by far not as bad as he ran at Churchill and he has come back and
breezed quite good. A win by him would not surprise me, but I guess you
have to put him in your tri somewhere.

Now that I have covered half of the field, you don't know much more than when I started this note.

1. Musket Man
2. Pioneer of the Nile
3. Friesan Fire
4. Rachel Alexander

Luck to All
Mike

DERBY WINNER!

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The Derby was quite a shocker to some. Mine That Bird (gelding) won quite convincingly and nothing seemed to bother him. When they put the garland of roses around him he didn't make a move. He walked away with it dragging on the ground and it didn't phase him. This morning he was surrounded by camera's, lights and plenty of reporters while he was grazing, and it didn't bother him in the least. This gelding was champion 2 yr. old in Canada last year and was sold to his present owners for $400,000 after his 2 yr. old campaign but before the Breeders Cup. He was originally purchased for $9500 at the OCTOBER Fasig-Tipton Yearling Sale. (They canceled this sale as they said it wasn't a good sale, but with so many complaints from common people, they brought it back.) BIG BROWN was also purchased out of this sale the year before.

His share of the purse  yesterday was $1,417,200.

A couple of other things that came out of the Derby was the pick six carry over for Wednesday. It is over $781,000 and the card for Wednesday has a lot of short fields. The two dollar super high 5 carry over is $251,000 and the race is a $5000 claimer with a ten horse field.

Our Derby Handicapping contest got a light response,but no one person managed to pick the winner or the last horse, Flying Private. We were a little disappointed in the skills of all you handicappers. However, Terry Ward did pick Pioneer of the Nile to finish second. Terry turned in his entry before the draw! Congrats to Terry, he wins May's Day Rate for one of his horses in training.