Comments on: Revenge of the Bird; Summer Bird pulls the upset in Belmont 141

By: Breeders’ Cup Classic Selections « THE ASPIRING HORSEPLAYER

Breeders’ Cup Classic Selections « THE ASPIRING HORSEPLAYER — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 14:51:50 +0000

[...] on Haskell day at Monmouth Park. Since we got to meet Summer Bird that day, and since he was my wife’s Belmont pick, you best believe he’ll be on all my tickets. Am I worried about the synthetics? Nope, [...]

By: On to the Haskell! Rachel headed to New Jersey « THE ASPIRING HORSEPLAYER

On to the Haskell! Rachel headed to New Jersey « THE ASPIRING HORSEPLAYER — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 01:43:49 +0000

[...] One of the more tantalizing aspects of this development to consider is that if Rachel were somehow able to prevail in both the Haskell and the Travers (held August 29 at historic Saratoga), I do believe she’d become the first filly in history to sweep the two races. But such talk amounts to getting way ahead of ourselves for the moment. For now Rachel will be squarely focused on the matchup at hand, which should include a showdown with “the other Bird” in Belmont Stakes winner Summer Bird. [...]

By: The fairy tale continues; Rachel Alexandra heads to the Mother Goose « THE ASPIRING HORSEPLAYER

Wed, 17 Jun 2009 23:31:16 +0000

[...] respected runners. It might be said that the most recent incarnation of this trend began when Mine That Bird was upset by the “other Bird” (Summer Bird) in the Belmont Stakes. Heading into last weekend, much of the hype was then centered around the return of some of [...]

By: Kevin Stafford

Kevin Stafford — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 09:53:09 +0000

I’ve got to agree with Don on both points he’s recently made…

1.) It was a mistake of me to bump up horses like Chocolate Candy just because they had been working at Belmont longer than SB.

2.) Their is defnitely something worrisome about the Unbridled Song line. This has come up before, and they do seem to be unusually prone to injury….especially at longer distances, as Don rightly points out.

Very interesting.

By: Don Swanson

Don Swanson — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 03:45:11 +0000

“I read Dunkirk got injured. He might have won the Belmont maybe had he not.”

The real problem with Old Fashioned in the Ark Dby is that he didn’t get 9F. The real problem with Dunkirk is that he didn’t get 12F. Unbridled Song progeny rarely get beyond 9F and then it’s tends to be races like the 1-turn routes at Belmont. Eight Belles didn’t really want the Derby distance either. When these horses get used hard and run to the point of exhaustion, injury might occur.