Crown of Thorns Wins the Robert B. Lewis @ Santa Anita
Well, Superbowl Sunday is here! With the prospect of heavy rains in Arcadia, CA today and the obvious media frenzy that comes with the Superbowl, I’ll be taking today off from regular playing. Yesterday was a fairly eventful day at Santa Anita. Tiago ran second after chasing Monterrey Jazz, who got lose on the lead in the Strup and would not be denied. Once again late scratches affected the pace setup that would have benefited Tiago. He still ran very well considering he was at the back of the pack for most of the race and then came on late.
In the Robert B. Lewis, Crown of Thorns validated a lot of the behind the scenes whispering I”ve heard lately that this one is a legitimate Kentucky Derby contender. The Lewis came up light from an overall field standpoint, but I thought the race replay was worthy of showing above because you can clearly the see the talent the Richard Mandella trained colt displays. Watch as he turns away Cost Guard at the top of the stretch. It looks to me like he relished the added distance of the Lewis and that yes, he is a legitimate contender to keep an eye on.
In other racing action, Daaher, considered the top older male in the country behind Curlin, lost in the Donn Handicap after running out of gas in the stretch. I’ve never been a big Daaher fan and this defeat shows how volatile that division is with the recent retirement of such logical contenders as Street Sense and Hard Spun. Spring at Last defeated Daaher after blowing past him in the stretch. A.P. Arrow got up for place. I was kind of surprised at the result as I would’ve thought that Einstein was capable of defeating this group. Check out the race replay below.
Spring at Last leaves Daaher in the dust in the Donn Handicap.
Okay, so I guess the million dollar question for today is who do I think will win the Super Bowl? Patriots all the way. Don’t get me wrong, I’d love to see the Giants win, but I just don’t feel it. Since I’m nothing if not a handicapper, here are my thoughts. The Giants defense thrives on pressuring the QB with their front four, however no team in football (besides possibly the Colts) negates front-four pressure better than New England. The Pats should be able to drop back into shotgun formation and pick apart the banged up NY secondary. What’s even scarier is that the Pats are able to run quite effectively out of shotgun formations. For the Giants, it’s been a long and noble battle, and I doubt they will go down without a fight, but this challenge looks a bit too steep to overcome. Still, anything is possible if for some reason the Patriots come out lethargically, and as dominant as they have been this decade, they have let the Eagles, Rams, and Panthers hang right there with them in their previous Super Bowl victories. I’ll take New England for the straight up win, but I’d cover the Giants if I were betting.
I’ll be back later next week with more racing updates/handicapping selections.
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