Hastings Handicapper

Brian McGregor-Foxcroft

 

05/ 03/ 00 – Vancouver: The pre-post lineup for The Kentucky Derby has been published. The favorites to date are Anees, who won the 99 Breeder’s Cup Juvenile, Chief Seattle, who placed in The 99 Breeder’s Cup Juvenile, Surfside, who is being touted as the best filly in North America, Dixie Union, who came up for 5^th in The 99 Breeder’s Cup Juvenile, and Mull Of Kintyre, the Irish horse who came up for a 4^th in The 99 Breeder’s Cup Juvenile. Others in the lineup include Captain Steve, War Chant, The Deputy, Greenwood Lake, Exchange Rate, More Than Ready, Summer Note, Elite Mercedes, Polish Miner, Red Bullet, Fusaichi Pegasus, Mighty, Promontory Gold, Scottish Halo, Tahkodha Gold, Toqueville, Settlement, Hal’s Hope, and Un Fino Vino. The trick with this lineup will be picking out the likeliest prospects for the top three spots at the wire. The big question is, who can handle the 1 ¼ Mile marathon? If you’re a speed rating follower, you should note that Captain Steve, More Than Ready, and Dixie Union Have Beyers in the 104/ 105 range. At the moment War Chant, Surfside, and Mull Of Kintyre are the top three picks of the professional handicappers. On March 4th  War Chant ran a powerful race at Santa Anita, winning the $200,000 San Rafael Stakes. There’s  no doubt we’ll need to see and hear more about these runners before we can make an informed choice for the big day, and as more information become available I’ll pass it along to you.

 

Speaking of outstanding races, I had the pleasure of watching one of my favorite horses, Buck’s Boy, go gate to wire March 4th in the 1 ½ Mile, $250,000 Pan American Handicap at Gulfstream Park. This magnificent descendent of Princequillo, by Verbatim, never disappoints. It’s just a pity that he was gelded. Just think what an exceptional breeding prospect he would have made. Also, on the same day, I watched Jeff Sengara’s miraculous claiming horse, Budroyale, battle for second money in the big $1,000,000 Santa Anita Handicap, losing by a neck to the Bob Baffert trained General Challenge. In races closer to home, Flies With Eagles, a horse who ran respectable races at Hastings last season, won the 7^th race at Bay Meadows the same afternoon. In fact, Bay Meadows is playing host to quite a large coterie of local horses – many of them trained by John Terry Marshall. And Sunday afternoon, March 5^th, former Hastings horse, Singular Vision, now trained by J. Canani, won the $16,000 9^th race at Santa Anita.

 

Meanwhile, things at the local track are getting busy as the barns fill up with horses being prepped for the Hastings Park Year 2000 season. It’s good to see familiar faces, both human and equine, after what seems like a long winter in their absence. Perhaps the only unsettling news from the Park is the fact that several key posts still remain unfilled. Hastings still doesn’t  have a new General Manager, Horseman’s Liaison, and Customer Service Manager. With barely two months left until live racing, Hastings will have to make some serious moves to fill these posts with suitable candidates. Some much needed repair work is in evidence in the barn area, which I’m sure has been welcomed by the trainers. And the track surface is looking quite good, due to our very moderate winter weather this year.

 

It is always an exciting time at the Park when the horses return to begin their training. Horse people are a people of faith, because so much of their hope and faith is riding on each horse they own or train. It’s especially amusing to watch the youngsters being put through their paces; although, for the gallop personnel it must sometimes resemble rodeo riding when those resistant babies kick and buck their way around the track, almost always nearly unseating their disgruntled riders. On Sunday I paid a visit to veteran trainer Ron King’s small stable at Hastings Park. His Super Lucky Me began running powerful races towards the end of last season, coming up for an awesome second in the slop. She should improve this year. And Ron also has new addition to his stable, a little gray filly named Sky’s The Limit (by Sky White). She’s a very sharp looking prospect, and I’m looking forward to watching her first start much later this season.

 

Derby Update: 11/ 03/ 00, D. Wayne Lukas’s High Yield has been running well at Santa Anita, but got defeated in the Florida Derby, by Harold Rose’s Hal’s Hope. Hal’s Hope ran a powerful race and nosed out the odds on High Yield paying $15.80 on the win.

 

That’s the news for now, but as things start picking up around the Park, you’ll be hearing from me more often. In the meantime, I wish all of you the very best of betting luck!