Santa Anita Pick-six Carryover 173,821

Another pick-six carryover today at Santa Anita of 173,821.00 thanks to Peace Pledge who under the guidance of Joel Rosario won yesterday's last race at odds of more than 80 -1 . Rafael Bejarano picked up yet another graded stakes win with Georgie Boy in the San Vicente. This win tops off a weekend where Rafael had a total of three graded stakes victories. His first came in Saturday's Santa Maria Handicap aboard Double Trouble. He then went on to win The Las Virgenes with Golden Doc A. Santa Anita's new track suface appears to be playing very fair as front runners and come from behind horses are both able to score wins. Santa Anita plans to run consecutive six day race weeks to make up for the days lost due to the surface problems. The Turf Paradise Derby for three year olds was won by Nikki'sGoldenSteed ridden by jockey Jon Court. The three year old son of Formal Gold ran the 1 1/16 in 136.28. Jon Court swept the stakes day in the Arizona Oaks for three year olds fillies aboard Briecat.

Live racing resumes at Santa Anita

Watching the live track feed from http://www.santaanita.com/ the horses were back out training on the tracks main course. The track looked good and the horses looked to be traveling well. With that said there is a great card today along with a pick six carryover that should bring the pool over the million dollar mark. We have three graded stakes races. The Santa Margarita (gr 1), The Las Virgenes Stakes (gr1), and The San Antonio Handicap (gr 2). From a Handicapping angle it is hard to say what to look for when horses and jockeys have had their training schedules interupted. There are so many variables that go into play when a horse is entered to run in a race, that canceling a race and rescheduling it at the last minute affects the way a horse will run. It is just something to keep in mind when playing todays races at Santa Anita. The Fair Grounds also has an amazing day of races today where handicapping your horses could prove to be easier. Six stakes races are on the card. Grasshopper, Better Talk Now, and Indian Blessing are among the horses scheduled to run. Jockey Pat Valenzuela missed his Fair Grounds debute yesterday. His new agent said Pat needed to get back there and to get back in shape. So does that mean he will ride today? I don't know, but I would think that plans to be there and to be in shape would be something you would do before accepting mounts. Then again this is PVal we are talking about. I just heard on the Roger Stein radio show that Pat would not be racing until next week. I have some radio picks for you. Bob Ike of http://www.bobikepicks.com/ gave out the 6 horse Renegade Ruby in the 5th race at Santa Anita. Other radio picks include the 8th race #3 Zappa and at the Fair Grounds in The Silverbulletday Stakes the #1 horse Jolie The Cat. Good Luck today!

Santa Anita Cancles another card

Santa Anita has had to cancel Fridays card due to the continued work on the tracks drainage problem. This new surface is costing them a fortune. Horse Racing on both ends of the country are suffering. The NYRA has annouced a closing date for New York Racing and California's big meet has been struggling with cancled cards. I've been trying to get an idea of how the synthetic track is affecting horses, therfore affecting handicapping. I talked to jockey Dahiji Gladney about the new surface and he says it is like running on carpet. Some horses can't get a hold of it as well as they can on dirt. Former trainer Nick Hines, now racing manager of Southern Equine, says he approaches it with a turf to dirt angle where pedigree and soundness are key elements. Now as far as the upcoming races at Santa Anita goes you may want to give a look to horses training at Hollywood Park and the Fairplex. Horses training at Santa Anita have been doing there morning workouts on the tracks trainning track which could bring into question there fitness. Sorry about the misspelling but my spellchecker isn't working. I'll keep digging to find out more about the synthetic surface and how it affects horses racing over it.

Patrick Valenzuela to ride at Fairgrounds

He's back! Yes Patrick Valenzuela has moved his tack east to the Fairgrounds where he has been granted a license to ride. Valenzuela had his license in California revoked after being arrested for a DUI. Once again rather than address his problem he has found a way around it. I say the Fairgrounds can have him. Owner Roger Strauss says " I lost any respect for him because he won't admit he has a problem and get treatment. He thinks he is above all the rules." Plagued with substance abuse problems Pat has a long history of suspensions from the sport. He is considered one of the most naturally gifted riders to have ever raced. Pat is scheduled to ride in two races on Friday. His ability to come back off such lengthy layoffs appears to be hampered by his now aging body. His short lived return to riding in New Mexico and California were far from the spectacular come backs of the past.

Randon Thoughts!

What have they done? With all the problems Santa Anita is having with its cushion track, I have to wonder is it worth it? They have taken one of the worlds most famous race tracks and made a mess out of it. I wonder if they'll ever get it back right. As far as the cushion track goes it is making handicapping even harder to do. I'm still not sure what you do with horses who have never run over the surface and one's who have only run over it. Is this like a turf to dirt angle or what? I plan to get some insight on this from some trainers and jockeys who have ridden and trained on both surfaces. Now I read on the bloodhorse website about Doug Oneil, David Lacroix, and Melody Conlon having some bad test come back on horses they had run. Let me assure you as someone who has worked for and personally knows all three of the trainers, that none of them would intentionaly over medicate a horse. They are three of the most honest people I know and have the greatest love and respect for horses. Well thats it for now since today is my 13th wedding anniversary I need to spend some time with my wife.

Super Bowl Sunday and Pick Six Carryover

Santa Anita hosted a day of stakes races that began with the Robert B. Lewis race for 3 year olds. The winning horse was Crown Of Thorns ridden by Victor Espinoza. On the girls side was the La Habra Stakes for 3 year old fillies. Passion, under the careful handeling of Rafael Bejarano got to the wire first. Moving along to the Santa Monica Handicap Grade 1 race, Intangaroo ridden by Alonso Quinonez, and the reason for the pick six carryover, was the eventual winner. The Thunder Road Handicap went to leading rider Garrett Gomez aboard Storm Military. Finally the Strub Stakes gave David Flores and Monterey Jazz yet another victory. What an exciting day of racing in Southern California. Friday's pick six Carryover of $181,514 gives us another reason to cheer here on the west coast. In other stakes news Aquaduct hosted the Whirlawy Stakes for 3 year olds . Barrier Reef under the handlling of Alan Garcia took home the win. The Swale Grade 2 is another race for 3 year olds trying to find their way to the roses. Eaton's Gift and Kent Desormeaux were the winners at Gulfstream Park. Finally another Gulfstream Park race, The Donn Handicap Grade 1 was won by Spring At Last and jockey E M Coa. Thats a wrap on yesterdays racing. Good luck on all your bets today.

Russell Baze 10,000 wins

Russell Baze wins race # 10,000 in the third race at Golden Gate aboard Two Step Cat. Russell rode the first race where his horse Brass Tacks lead the entire race only to be caught at the end finishing second. Russell is the only jockey in North America to ever acomplish this. To show you what kind of jockey he is you only need to look at the fact that he did this on a $4,000 claimer. I don't know many jockeys out there that would dare sit on a 4,000 claimer if they had 9,999 wins.

Russle The Muscle!

Today all time leading rider Russell Baze will be looking to enter the record books yet again as he goes for win number 10,000. Russell will be turning 50 this year and he is showing no signs of tiring. He began his racing career in 1973, I was just 3 years old. Known to many as "Russell The Muscle" for his strong hand riding ability he has not taken the easy rode to earn these victories. Riders of his stature pick and chose the races they will ride in but Russell still continues to ride 8,000 and 10,000 dollar claimers with the same drive to win as if it were a Breeders Cup mount. With 400 winners a year for 12 of the past 14 years he continues to prove himself as one of the greatest riders of all time. Many new and young riders have come to the Bay area trying to topple his standing at the top of the leader board but have yet to do so. After 9,999 wins Russells smile is just as big as always each time he enters the winners circle. He is definetly a racing icon and for good reason and one can only wonder where and when he will decide to hang up his irons. Enjoy watching this amazing feet today as it may very well be the only time you will ever see it done.