Saturday (11-29-08) recap
Both surfaces seemed to play fair…pace made the race.
Tyler Baze and Rafael Bejarano both booted home a pair.
Mr. Rod ran them off their feet in the Grade 3 Generous. Pletcher fav Bittel Road gave a gallant chase but was 2nd best. California Flag got away with a :23.84 opening quarter en route to a facile wire job in the 23rd running of the Grade 3 Hollywood Turf Express. My top choice Delta Storm was passively ridden from the rail post under Gryder and ended up a better than appears 3rd.
Sunday (11-30-08) Hollywood Park preview
Sunday’s 10-race …read more

The Breeders’ Cup is just three weeks away, and a couple of preps will be run on Keeneland’s opening day Friday (10-3-08) card. The First Lady for fillies and mares will be run at a mile on the turf, and the Alcibiades is a mile and a sixteenth Polytrack affair for two-year-old fillies.
The Grade 1 $400k First Lady – One Mile (turf)
There seems to be plenty of pace present with Dreaming of Anna, Roshani, Bayou’s Lassie, and Rosinka. 2-1 favorite Precious Kitten projects a nice ground saving stalking trip, but this race might boil down to a couple of …read more

Precious Kitten was content to sit a stalking trip behind the aggressively ridden Diamond Diva in the Grade 1 Gamely, and the Frankel trainee rolled on by when asked by Bejarano to a good looking victory on Monday.
The co-highweight stopped the teletimer in 1:45.93 and picked up $176,400 for her efforts. She paid $4.40 to win.
Diamond Diva easily held second over win type Rutherienne. Lavender Sky and Solva trailed throughout in the compact field.

Later in the day, favorites Daytona and Ever A Friend hooked up from the outset in a fine renewal of the Grade 1 Shoemaker …read more

Monday’s nine-furlong Grade 1 Gamely (race 3) attracted just five fillies and mares, including win machine Rutherienne. The 9-for-11 late running miss has never earned a triple digit speed fig, but she has a nose for the wire and will be finishing once again. However, she will not get much pace to chase in this compact field.
Precious Kitten is the one to beat at 6-5 on the line. She lost ground from an outer post in a needed effort behind the aforementioned Rutherienne at Keenland last time. She has more speed than she showed in her latest and …read more