ARLINGTON PARK NOTEBOOK
MAY 30, 2008
by Steve Collison
INDESCRIBABLE (Pleasant Tap) made a three-wide rally into the stretch and overtook Leah’s Secret (Tiger Ridge) to pull away to win the Arlington Matron
H. (G3) by a half-length on Memorial Day here. Jeremy Rose rode the Graham
Motion-trained winner.
“The mile and an eighth helps our filly quite a bit,” Rose said. “Leah’s
Secret looks like a mile and a sixteenth may be her farthest. My filly jumped
into the bit at the eighth pole and I knew from there we’d get her. Everything
set up like I thought it would. She beat a couple of real nice horses in there.”
“She’s like night and day on Polytrack (versus dirt),” Motion said. “We had to
start her on the dirt, but I knew she’d be a nice filly on (Polytrack). I didn’t
realize just how much she’d turn around on Polytrack.”
SATURDAY (5/24)
On Saturday, MUCH OBLIGED (Kingmambo) rallied in the center of the course to
get up in the waning stages of the $200,000 American One Thousand Guineas. Chris Emigh
rode the Malcolm Pierce trainee to a half-length victory in the one-mile turf
race, which was clocked in 1:37.96 over a course rated “firm.”
“Mr. Pierce told me she’s really easy to ride and to let her run her race.
Come around when you are ready to go and she’ll accelerate for you,” said Emigh,
who was aboard the three-year-old filly for the first time in the American One
Thousand Guineas. “I felt pretty confident. When she turned for home, it was like she
just broke the gate. She accelerated and I was just following Rene (jockey
Douglas on Scolara). I was pretty positive and she just ran right by them pretty
easily, actually.”
It was the first stakes win for Much Obliged, whose
previous victories came in maiden and allowance company at the Fair Grounds in
New Orleans over the winter. Even then, Pierce felt he had a quality filly in
his care.
“This filly showed us she was a nice filly down this winter in New Orleans,”
Pierce said. “I’m just glad now she’s a stakes winner.”
Sent off as the slight 5-2 favorite, she paid $7.20, $3.80 and $2.80.
TRACK SURFACE
Over the past week, there were 10 wire-to-wire winners from 37 races contested
over the main oval. Although that’s a low number at first glance that still
wouldn’t constitute any serious bias against speed. On the other hand, eight of those
10 winners were favorites who figured to be the best horse anyway, which
means that perhaps speed isn’t faring that well after all. As we head into the
second month of this meet and the surface gets increasingly chewed up, it would
be wise to keep the aforementioned information in mind when comparing evenly
matched rivals. It’s apparent it is becoming more and more relevant. As far as
post positions and paths are concerned, this strip is playing about as fairly as
anyone could hope for.
JOCKEY NOTES
Jockey Rene Douglas, the only rider in history to win four straight Arlington
Park riding titles, accomplished his fourth riding triple of the season Thursday
on what was the 12th race day of a 96-day meeting. And while he might not win
the rider’s title this time around, bug rider Brandon Meier certainly appears to
be someone to watch throughout the remainder of this meet. The young Meier now
has won with six-of-15 mounts and has picked up support from some of the top
stables, including the surging Wayne Catalano barn. With bugs this type of
success frequently becomes contagious, so we’d watch for him to begin getting on
many “hot” horses from here on out.
JOCKEY PROFILE
RENE DOUGLAS came to Arlington five years ago after spending years as a
mainstay on the Florida circuit. While he never dominated down south, Douglas did
enjoy solid success yet still opted to try something different. After a mediocre
stay in California, he moved his tack to Arlington and the rest, as they say is,
“history.” When Douglas arrived in Illinois now retired jockey Mark Guidry was
the main force here but his hold at Arlington was clearly on the decline. Enter
Douglas. In very short order this Panamanian native took over and has
subsequently won four-straight riding titles with a fifth now clearly in his sights.
What has made him such a hit here is his ability to succeed with fillies going
over the lawn. With such an excellent grass course, the Arlington management
wisely looks to capitalize on their strong suit by carding an abundance of turf
event. Conversely, there are more fillies on the grounds and that’s an area
where Rene Douglas excels. He has exceptionally soft hands that helps sooth
distaff runners as well as two-year-olds and this is where handicappers can gain
an edge when following his riding. Watch for him aboard young horses who are
stretching out to two turns as well as fillies making their debut over the
green. Douglas moves runners such as this up a notch and that needs to be added
to your handicapping considerations.
TRAINER PROFILE
Despite being currently overshadowed by the Catalano express, trainer CHRIS
BLOCK has quietly been picking up steam at this Arlington meet after getting off
to a rather slow start. Team Block, as they like to be called, closed out the
holiday week with seven wins from just 29 starters, an excellent 24 percent win
rate. Since Block has always enjoyed success with his turf runners, many of them have also taken to Arlington’s Polytrack which is one reason his stable
is winning more than 25 percent over the main oval. And like many grass trainers
who must bring their runners off of extended winter hibernations, this barn
excels with those returning from lengthy layoffs. However, don’t expect these
winners to do so against inferior opposition as Block tends to win on the rise
coming off the bench or at least at the same level at which they left. He also
does extremely well with his first off the claim horses although over the past
couple of years he hasn’t taken as many as we would have liked. Watch for horses
he takes back after having previously training them as Block does very well with
this type of “claim back.”
RECENT CLAIMS TO WATCH
Thursday (5/22)
2ND — FIDDLER (Honour and Glory) was trained by Leo
Gabriel last year and today that stable takes him back. So why now for $7,500
when they could have had the six-year-old gelding for much less in March? Gabriel doesn’t hit a
high-percentage first off the claim, but they still know what they’re doing and
this claim-back will pay immediate dividends.
Friday (5/23)
4TH — ISNT HE (Commendable) came into today showing horrible recent
form yet still was claimed by the high-flying Catalano barn. More often
then not this stable takes a runner who looks bad on paper for strong unseen
reasons and a quick turnaround is frequently the result.
Saturday (5/24)
11TH — FRANK JOSEPH (Touch Gold), a well-bred runner, has been showing good run
without being able to break through to the winner’s circle of late. Now gets
claimed by high powered trainer Tom Amoss, who undoubtedly already has a plan
for getting this horse over the top.
Monday (5/26)
1ST — There’s reason to take notice whenever a horse goes from a low-percentage barn
into a higher one, and that’s what happened here with YANKEE PASS (Pikepass). In this case you have an in-form runner being taken by trainer Rick Slomkowski, who is on fire with his first
off the claim runners. That’s a combination that’s hard to pass up.
HORSES TO WATCH
Thursday (5/22)
3RD — EAGLE HAWK (Royal Academy), a lightly raced three-year-old, has endured
nothing but trouble in all three career starts, including today’s effort. Despite
being shuffled back twice while attempting to catch the eventual winner who was
benefiting from soft fractions on a lone lead, this colt still managed to gain
the place. Look for his luck to turnaround soon with a win to follow.
6TH — WILD EXPECTATIONS (Wild Wonder), who despite receiving a weak ride from a
slumping rider, still managed to gain the place against a
modest group of maiden-special-weight runners. The first-time starter would
probably benefit from a new
rider next out especially if dropping down to a claiming event.
9TH — LORD VADER (Devil His Due) came off the shelf last
month but has unfortunately been compromised by a pair of troubled trips.
Trainer Christine Janks has been enjoying a productive Arlington meet thus far
and has the ability to get this honest runner to the winner’s circle next time
around.
Friday (5/23)
1ST — AGGRESSIVE JOE (Johannesburg), a four-year-old gelding, added blinkers and
like many young horses with this addition, he encountered some trouble when
coming out of the starting gate. He managed to rebound with a gritty
overall performance and should fare better having gained experience wearing the
shades.
Monday (5/26)
1ST — LAC LUSTY (Lac Quimet) has a pitiful overall
won/loss record, but he still turned in a gallant performance today to gain the
place. Despite being rank throughout and trapped down along the inside, he still
managed an encouraging performance and might manage to crack the winner’s circle
one more time despite himself.