BREEDERS' CUP HORSES NO SURE BETS.Byline: KEVIN MODESTI Horse Racing horse racing, trials of speed involving two or more horses. It includes races among harnessed horses with one of two particular gaits, among saddled Thoroughbreds (or, less frequently, quarterhorses) on a flat track, or among saddled horses over a turf course with INGLEWOOD - When Hollywood Park Hollywood Park may be several places:
New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of . Paying Breeders' Cup horses special attention would be only natural. Paying them too much respect could be costly. No matter how well or poorly a horse ran at the Breeders' Cup, his participation in one of the thoroughbred sport's eight crowning races implies a certain excellence. He might be in the rare position of moving down the class ladder to run in a Grade I stakes next time out of the barn. He probably is handled by a trainer and jockey with names big enough to inspire automatic confidence. But none of these appealing qualities means a horse who comes out of the Breeders' Cup to run in a race like the Citation Handicap The Citation Handicap is a race for thoroughbred horses usually set at a distance of one and one-sixteenth miles on the turf for horses three-years-old and up. The race is held annually at Hollywood Park Racetrack, but was not run in 2005 because of a hiatus on grass racing at (Saturday), the Matriarch or the Hollywood Derby The Hollywood Derby is an American Thoroughbred horse race for three-year-old horses on the turf run each year in December at Hollywood Park Racetrack in Inglewood, California. (both Sunday) is a smart bet. In fact, the opposite might be true. To cite only the most obvious problem with expecting a horse to run well only four or five weeks after he raced in the Breeders' Cup: He likely was trained into peak fitness for that million-dollar race, a year-long target for many owners and trainers, and might be in declining form now. For example, Val Royal was the Breeders' Cup Mile winner Oct. 27 at Belmont Park Noun 1. Belmont Park - a racetrack for thoroughbred racing in Elmont on Long Island; site of the Belmont Stakes Belmont Elmont - a town on Long Island in New York; site of Belmont Park and will be heavily favored when he runs in Hollywood Park's Citation. Val Royal's trainer, Julio Canani, said Wednesday: ``He's doing great. He's full of pep. Actually, he looks much better here - his hair, his coat - than he did when he went to Belmont.'' But Canani quickly added: ``A horse can look good, and you don't know Don't know (DK, DKed) "Don't know the trade." A Street expression used whenever one party lacks knowledge of a trade or receives conflicting instructions from the other party. inside how much the (Breeders' Cup) race took out of him.'' Research indicates that Breeders' Cup graduates generally compete well when they're raced again in the same calendar year. It also indicates they generally don't do as well as the odds - established by the fans - forecast. Sandy Baze of the Hollywood Park publicity department compiled data from the past 10 years on horses who came out of the Breeders' Cup to run in stakes at the Inglewood track's ensuing autumn meet. Here's some of what I found in that list of 108 horses. 25 of those 108 horses won the post-Breeders' Cup race at Hollywood Park, a respectable 23 percent. But the winners returned an average of only $6.50 on a $2 win bet, so little that the hypothetical result was a monetary loss of 25 percent for a fan who wagered the same amount on each horse. (The loss on random betting would be 17 to 20 percent.) Of the 39 horses who were tote-board favorites in the post-Breeders' Cup race at Hollywood Park, 16 won the race, a strong 41 percent. (Favorites in everyday races win at a 33 percent clip.) But the winning favorites returned a less-than-even-money average of $3.70, producing a similar 24 percent loss on flat bets. Now, the good news in the 10-year study. One Breeders' Cup winner raced next at Hollywood Park, 1991 Breeders' Cup Turf The Breeders' Cup Turf is a Weight for Age Thoroughbred horse race on turf for three-year-olds and up. It is held annually at a different racetrack in the United States or Canada as part of the Breeders' Cup. The race's current title sponsor is John Deere. champion Miss Alleged, and she won the 1991 Hollywood Turf Cup, paying $7.80. Sixteen Breeders' Cup runners-up raced next at Hollywood Park, and nine won, paying an average of $3.50. Combined, the first- and second-place finishers in Breeders' Cup races produced a sensational 59 percent victories and a 16 percent profit on flat bets at Hollywood Park. Which leaves this. Combined, horses coming out of third-place and worse finishes in the Breeders' Cup won just 16 percent of the time and cost their backers 32 cents on the dollar at Hollywood Park. Breeders' Cup horses have come back to run in 13 different Hollywood Park stakes, doing best in the Native Diver Handicap (3 wins in 4 tries) and Hollywood Starlet star·let n. 1. A small star. 2. A young film actress publicized as a future star. starlet Noun a young actress who has the potential to become a star Noun 1. (5 for 9), and doing worst in the Hollywood Turf Express (0 for 6), Generous Stakes (0 for 4) and Hollywood Turf Cup (1 for 8). Today's Turf Express is headed by Swept Overboard, fourth in the Breeders' Cup Sprint The Breeders' Cup Sprint is an American Weight for Age Grade I Thoroughbred horse race for three year olds & up. Run on dirt over a distance of 6 Furlongs (3/4 mile), the race has been held annually since 1984 at a different racetrack in the United States or Canada as part of the . The Generous is Saturday, the Turf Cup Dec. 1, the Native Diver Dec. 9 and the Starlet Dec. 16. Eight stakes today, Saturday and Sunday are grouped under the banner of Hollywood Park's 10th annual Turf Festival. Breeders' Cup horses scheduled to appear include Filly & Mare Turf runner-up Spook Express and Distaff ninth-place finisher Tranquility Lake, both in the Matriarch; and Mile fourth-place finisher Irish Prize in the Citation. The fact they're Breeders' Cup horses isn't enough reason to bet on them. Moment in the sun: Dare and Go has died at age 9 in Australia while undergoing surgery for colic colic, intense pain caused by spasmodic contractions of one of the hollow organs, e.g., the stomach, intestine, gall bladder, ureter, or oviduct. The cause of colic is irritation and/or obstruction, and the irritant and/or obstruction may be a stone (as in the gall . He is the best example of the truism that a racehorse racehorse refers usually to thoroughbred but may also include standardbred, trotter. is remembered for the horses he beat. In the summer of 1996, it was Richard Mandella-trained Dare and Go and jockey Alex Solis Alex O. Solis (born March 25, 1964 in Panama City, Panama) is a jockey based in the United States. He currently lives in Glendora, California and rides predominantly in Southern California. He first gained national prominence when he won the 1986 Preakness Stakes with Snow Chief. who upset Cigar in the Pacific Classic at Del Mar, preventing the two-time Horse of the Year from winning his 17th race in a row and breaking Citation's North American North American named after North America. North American blastomycosis see North American blastomycosis. North American cattle tick see boophilusannulatus. record. That wasn't Dare and Go's only major victory. He won the 1995 Strub Stakes at Santa Anita and earned $1.6 million in America and France. Retired in 1997, he had some success at stud in Kentucky and Australia. But he always will be known as the horse who foiled the great Cigar. Trendspotting: The first two weeks at Hollywood Park saw horses with early speed doing better in 1 1/16-mile races on the main track and in 1- and 1 1/16-mile races on the turf course. Better, that is, than how horses with the same front-running style did in races at the same distances during the recent Oak Tree meet at Santa Anita. Front-runners have gone on to win a remarkable 58 percent of the time so far in 1 1/16-mile main-track races at Hollywood and 33 percent in the middle-distance turf races. If the trend holds, handicappers should expect speedsters who faded in their races at Santa Anita to last longer at Hollywood. The No. 1 post position in 6 1/2-furlong races on the main track has proven to be the most difficult starting spot so far at Hollywood. OUT OF THE GATE HOLLYWOOD PARK LEADERS Through Wednesday JOCKEYS Alex Solis 13 Kent Desormeaux 8 Laffit Pincay 8 Tyler Baze!dtpost 7 David Flores Flores, town, Guatemala Flores (flōrəs), town (1990 est. pop. 2,200), capital of Petén department, N Guatemala. Flores was built on an island in the southern part of Lake Petén Itzá and on the site of the 6 Garrett Gomez6 TRAINERS WINS Bob Baffert 6 Doug O'Neill 5 Barry Abrams 4 Paul Aguirre 4 PINCAY WATCH You can't keep the old guy down: After Laffit Pincay began the Hollywood Park meet in a 3-for-33 slump, he won five of his next 25 races, including Saturday's Hollywood Prevue with the 6-1 shot named Fonz's. Pincay's record career-victories total is up to 9,259. ON THE ON THE STAKES SCHEDULE Hollywood Park Today $200,000 Miesque Stakes, 2-year-old fillies, 1 mile on turf $200,000 Hollywood Turf Express, 3-year-olds and up, 5 1/2 furlongs on turf $75,000 Cat's Cradle Handicap, 3-year-olds and up, fillies and mares, bred in California, 7 1/2 furlongs Saturday $500,000 Citation Handicap, 3-year-olds and up, 1 1/16 miles on turf $200,000 Generous, 2-year-olds, 1 mile on turf $70,000 Safely Kept Handicap, 3-year-olds and up, fillies and mares, 5 1/2 furlongs on turf Sunday $500,000 Matriarch, 3-year-olds and up, fillies and mares, 1 1/8 miles on turf $500,000 Hollywood Derby, 3-year-olds, 1 1/8 miles on turf Aqueduct Today $150,000 Top Flight Handicap The Top Flight Handicap is an American race for thoroughbred fillies and mares, age three and up, willing to race the one mile on the dirt. The Top Flight is run each year at Aqueduct Racetrack for a purse of $150,000 and is a Grade II event. , 3-year-olds and up, fillies and mares, 1 mile Saturday $350,000 Cigar Mile Handicap The Cigar Mile Handicap is a race for thoroughbred horses at Aqueduct Racetrack in New York. It is named in honor of the Hall of Fame horse Cigar who won the race in 1994 when it was known as the NYRA Mile. , 3-year-olds and up, 1 mile $200,000 Remsen, 2-year-olds, 1 1/8 miles $200,000 Demoiselle, 2-year-old fillies, 1 1/8 miles Churchill Downs Today $400,000 Clark Handicap, 3-year-olds and up, 1 1/8 miles Saturday $200,000 Kentucky Jockey Club, 2-year-olds, 1 1/16 miles $200,000 Golden Rod, 2-year-old fillies, 1 1/16 miles MILEPOSTS Tiznow, retired last week, will have his stud career jointly managed by Kentucky's WinStar Farm and Taylor Made Farm under a rare kind of partnership. The Daily Racing Form The Daily Racing Form, LLC (DRF) is a broadsheet newspaper founded in 1894 in Chicago, Illinois by Frank Brunell. The paper publishes the past performances of race horses as a statistical service for bettors on horse racing in the United States. reported that the two-time Breeders' Cup Classic The Breeders' Cup Classic is a Grade 1 Weight for Age thoroughbred horse race for 3 years old and older run at a distance of 1¼ miles (2012 m) on dirt. It is held annually at a different racetrack in the United States or Canada as part of the Breeders' Cup. champ will stand at WinStar but benefit from Taylor Made's marketing power. -Kevin Modesti CAPTION(S): photo, box Photo: no caption (Laffit Pincay) Box: OUT OF THE GATES (see text) |
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