Summer Bird is stabled at Louisiana Downs, and it would be great if he contested the $750k Super Derby on September 19th.

The June 6th card at LAD started out by favoring early/pressing types, but off the pace runners did surprisingly well the 2nd half of the day.

Hat trick for Don Simington. Day was saved when my best bet Time of the Night ($6.00) was placed first via DQ.

Sunday’s (6-7-09) 9-race card includes a trio of grass races.

Sligo Joe (3-1) is my best bet in the 2nd race, an optional claiming turf route. He handles any footing an exits sharp local main track tally for formidable Simington/Cart team.

You can check out live streaming video, including my daily paddock reports, on the LAD site.

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June 4th

Fast main track and off the turf. Five wire jobs on the day.

Big day on the analysis front. Tabbed 6 tops on the 9-race card.

Bourque, Riquelme, and PVal each booted home a pair.

Apprentice rider Anna Roberts won her 2nd race of the meet with trainer Jorge Lara. She sent my best bet Black Giraffe straight to the front, and she never looked back in sharp extended sprint wire job. Lara was leading trainer here last year, and Roberts might have a productive meet if able to keep it going for this outfit.

June 5th

A bounce was expected after the 6-bagger, and a ho-hum pair of tops got the job done on Friday.

Edge to stalkers on the main. An off the pace type won the turf sprint, and the flat mile turfer was won in wire-to-wire fashion.

PVal continued his fine riding with a pair of winners. Alfonso Balderas was off to a slow start, and he made up for it by saddling a pair of turf winners.

Decent straight maiden event in the 7th. Churchill shipper Jump This (Tim Ice) was a sharp winner over Burt’s A Stitch , and the top two were well clear of the rest in 1:11.85. The runner-up is trained by the red-hot Michelle Lovell, and he showed much improved tactical speed in 2nd career outing. Won’t be a maiden much longer.

June 6th

Race 2: Cream Level (6-1) likes the local oval and hails from a profitable outfit. Could sit the right stalking trip at playable odds.

Race 8: Time of the Night (5-2) is my best bet. He does his best work at this 7f distance and should move forward 2nd off a layoff under Francisco Torres.

Belmont Stakes : Looking for a big effort from Chocolate Candy (10-1). He is one of 3 graded winners. Fresh colt attracts Gomez and has strong distance pedigree. Might stalk and pounce his way to a surprise victory!

We have live streaming video on the LAD website. Check out my paddock reports 15 minutes prior to each live race.

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Charitable Man is the 3-1 2nd choice, and the Peter Pan winner might get brave if able to sneak away early.

Dunkirk is next at 4-1, and the lightly raced $3.7 million colt flashed talent in Florida before finding trouble on the first Saturday in May.

Chocolate Candy looms the value play at 10-1. He is one of only three graded winners in the field, and he was hardly disgraced in 5th place Derby effort. He has the pedigree and reunites with Garrett Gomez, who booted him home to stakes tally at Hollywood late last year.

Summer Bird and Flying Private are sitting at 12-1. The former is a lightly raced late runner, while the latter is a bit of an iron horse making his 13th career start for Wayne Lukas.

Mr. Hot Stuff is 15-1, along with the Nick Zito duo of Miner’s Escape and Brave Victory .

Luv Gov rounds out the field at 20-1, and his 1-11 lifetime record hardly inspires confidence.

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Pace makes the race, and Charitable Man looms the one to catch. He is 3-3 on conventional dirt and 2-2 at Belmont. He pulled off a wire job in 6.5f career bow and is capable of rating should another rival get aggressive.

Miner’s Escape does not appear as swift as Charitable Man, but the improving sort exits a pair of prominent throughout nine furlong tallies. Remember that Nick Zito trainee Da’ Tara pulled off a wire job upset in this race last year.

The expected tepid early pace may hurt the chances of Mine That Bird, but the SoCal synthetic horses are used to such a race shape, so keep an eye on Chocolate Candy and Mr. Hot Stuff. The former owns striking range positional speed, while the latter is more of a one-run sort.

Breeding matters in the Test of Champions, and a couple of past winners have offspring in this event.

2004 hero Birdstone is represented by Kentucky Derby winner Mine That Bird and Summer Bird. 1999 winner Lemon Drop Kid has pace threat Charitable Man.

Ten Most Wanted finished 2nd in the 2003 Belmont, and his son Luv Gov is set to contest the ‘09 renewal.

Chocolate Candy has a strong pedigree. His sire Candy Ride won the 10f Pacific Classic in 2003, and damsire Seattle Slew won the Triple Crown in 1977. He also has 1978 Triple Crown runner-up Alydar playing a prominent role on the female side.

Dunkirk has a speed sire (Unbridled’s Song) and a stamina damsire (A.P. Indy). He has a ton of upside with only four starts under his belt.

Flying Private has a Derby winner (Fusaichi Pegasus-Unbridled) on both sides of his pedigree, but the Belmont will be his 9th start this year.

Miner’s Escape has the speed as mentioned above, and he has some pedigree power with Mineshaft-A.P. Indy on top and Broad Brush on bottom.

Mr. Hot Stuff lacks speed but makes up for it in the pedigree department. Colonel John’s baby brother (Tiznow-Turkoman) should run all day.

I’ll give the breeding award to Chocolate Candy, and Charitable Man wins the pace paper race. Miner’s Escape is the longshot special.

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Rachel breezed an easy four furlongs (:50-1/5) on Monday, and Derby winner Mine That Bird went the same distance in :51 flat.

Chocolate Candy went a solid seven furlongs in 1:27.34 on Monday, and Garrett Gomez will ride in the Belmont Stakes.

Charitable Man (:47.88) and Dunkirk (1:00.77) worked on Saturday. The former is a dangerous pace player, and the latter is lightly raced and should continue to improve.

Nick Zito’s Nowhere To Hide went four panels in :49.84. Zito also has Brave Victory and Miner’s Escape set for the big dance. Barn has a long history of success in the Belmont, so do not ignore his longshot trio.

Big work for Mr. Hot Stuff on May 26th. He finished strongly in his five furlong bullet at Keeneland, and I have always been fond of Colonel John’s baby brother. The Belmont Stakes is wide open, especially with Rachel on the sidelines, and the Eoin Harty charge rates a realisic shot at a price.

Miguel Mena replaces the recently suspended Jamie Theriot aboard Luv Gov. He is expected to work later this week, along with stablemate Flying Pegasus.

Kent Desormeaux will ride Summer Bird for trainer Tim Ice. He worked 1:26.47 on Saturday.

“The more I talked with people, the more important it seemed to have someone who really knows this track,” said Ice, who worked as an assistant with Desormeaux’s brother, trainer Keith Desormeaux, in Louisiana for five years. “I’m just glad Kent wanted to ride him in the Belmont.”

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Mine That Bird is currently training at Churchill for his upcoming Belmont engagement. Mike Smith has a prior riding commitment in SoCal, and Borel will stick with Rachel Alexandra if she goes, so Chip Woolley still needs a pilot for his Derby winner. Expect a jockey to be named early next week.

It wouldn’t be the Belmont without Nick Zito , and two of his probables worked in company on May 21st.

Peter Pan show finisher Brave Victory got his four furlongs in :48.55, and stablemate and Tesio winner Miner’s Escape was right with him at :48.56.

Zito could also be represented by Nowhere To Hide. Chocolate Candy , Dunkirk, Flying Private, Luv Gov, Mr. Hot Stuff, and Summer Bird are also Belmont bound.

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Right after the Preakness the first thing that popped into my mind was no way the filly shoots for the Test of Champions. After all, the Oaks, Preakness, and Belmont is equivalent to the Triple Crown in terms of spacing, and there is no need to put her through that grueling schedule.

The feeling is she skips the 3rd leg and get a freshening for a summer/fall Horse of the Year run. If she does go, she figures a viable prominent throughout threat at underlaid odds, but a fresh horse might jump up and bite her.

If she does not go to Big Sandy, then Calvin Borel could reunite with Mine That Bird because Mike Smith has a prior commitment to Madeo on the same day in SoCal.

Wayne Lukas has Flying Private and possibly Luv Gov for the Belmont. Others pointing for the 3rd jewel include Mr. Hot Stuff, Summer Bird, Charitable Man, and Miner’s Escape.

A pair of Belmont probables turned in works on Monday. Chocolate Candy went six furlongs in 1:13.47 under Garrett Gomez, and Dunkirk drilled four furlongs in :47.37.

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The Big Brown connections are beginning to map out a plan to get the Derby-Preakness winner to the Breeders’ Cup Classic at Santa Anita (October 25th), and his post Triple Crown season is expected to start in the Grade 1 Haskell at Monmouth Park on August 3rd.

Originally, Big Brown was expected to try for Grade 1 Travers (August 23rd) glory at the Spa this summer, but following his Belmont day meltdown, cooler heads have prevailed.

The thinking is that the heat and humidity will be less of a factor at the Jersey Shore resort track, and the speed conducive nature of the Monmouth oval should also help the son of Boundary.

Also, his connections will get a $100k bonus for running in the Haskell, which is directly tied to Big Brown’s two Triple Crown series wins. Since the Haskell is a $1 million race, a decent payday could be forthcoming.

Nothing has been decided after the Haskell, but Rick Dutrow and company will have twelve weeks before the Classic…and plenty of options. A race over synthetic ground would make sense.

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A battery of tests did not produce a reason for his poor effort, and now Mr. Dutrow has decided to blame jockey Kent Desormeaux.

Mr. Dutrow is wondering why Kent D essentially pulled Big Brown up turning for home, and the trainer is also questioning his antics around the first turn.

Granted, Big Brown did have minor early troubles in the Belmont Stakes, but based on past performances, Kent D must have felt that he was sitting on a far superior animal, so when initial plans to seize the early lead failed to materialize, he worked his way to an outside stalking position. There was no response when Kent pulled the trigger on the backside.

Also, I wrote in my Belmont Stakes previews that the main quarter crack problem facing Big Brown was not the injury itself, rather the down-time he was facing because of his injury. Horses are high-strung animals with a need to burn off energy, and if they cannot do that in training sessions, they are frequently too aggressive in their actual races. Sure enough, Big Brown seemed rank and wanting to do too much in the early going, not something you want to see in a twelve furlong race.

Anyone associated with horse racing could tell that Big Brown was done on the backstetch…and probably way before that! For whatever reason, this was not the same horse that ran away with the Florida Derby, Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes. If he were the same animal, he would have cantered past Da’ Tara, a horse he beat by 23-1/2 lengths in Florida.

Horses are not machines, and I understand Kent’s decision to ease Big Brown. Why persevere with a horse with nothing left in the tank?

Mr. Dutrow obviously cares less what other people think, and to blame his rider is par for this course with this guy. Thanks to Kent Desormeaux, Big Brown came back in one piece and will live to fight another day…get over it Rick!

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The 2008 Triple Crown series is in the books, and even though I was never on the Big Brown bandwagon, I never could have predicted his fate in the Belmont Stakes. He was completely done after a mile, and Kent D wisely wrapped up on him.

After a thorough examination on Saturday evening and Sunday morning, nothing was found to indicate Big Brown’s poor Belmont Stakes showing.

I am sure further tests will be done before moving forward with the son of Boundary, and if all goes well, we may see him in the Travers this summer and a possible rematch with Da’ Tara.

My Belmont top Denis of Cork exited his respectable place finish in good order, and he will go back to Churchill and begin preparing for a summer campaign (Travers).

Tale of Ekati, 4th in the Derby and 6th in the Belmont, came out of Saturday’s race with a gash on his outer right-hind heel, and trainer Barclay Tagg figures to give him a bit of a breather.

Waiting in the wings is Colonel John, and I am expecting big things from my Derby top later this summer/fall. Note that the Colonel should run next in the Grade 2 Swaps at Hollywood Park on July 12th.

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