Let's Go To The Races

Thursday, June 13, 2013

June 13-16

LET'S GO TO THE RACES - June 13-16

A quick reference tool meant to help the newer fan (like me!)

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WELCOME BACK, PAYNTER!

DRF: Friday at Betfair Hollywood Park, Paynter makes his first start since the Haskell July 2012 in a $62,000 allowance race over seven furlongs. A colt once so ill that owner Ahmed Zayat and his family feared would be euthanized is ready to resume racing.

“It’s amazing,” Baffert said. “I never thought when he went to the clinic that we’d be talking about him [racing]. It will be neat to have a horse like him back.” Read more at source

From Brisnet: Paynter's return to racing had seemed beyond the realm of possibility. The well-bred son of Awesome Again, out of a full sister to Hall of Famer Tiznow, fell ill just as he was rising to the top of the active three-year-old class after the retirements of 2012 Kentucky Derby and Preakness hero I'll Have Another and Belmont winner Union Rags. Thwarted by Union Rags in the final strides of the 1 1/2-mile Belmont, Paynter came right back to dominate the Haskell, and appeared poised for a big second half of the season. Read more at source

WELCOME BACK, BIG GUY! Vic Stauffer chokes up!

Marc Doche shares the euphoria of Paynter's win and return to the track - Video
DRF Dan Illman: The Return of Paynter

Two Grade 1 races highlight this weekend's racing menu: The STEPHEN FOSTER at Churchill Downs, and the VANITY HANDICAP at Hollywood Park, plus lots of graded stakes excitement.

Robert Kieckheffer of UPI covers racing action all over the globe: "Breeders' Cup Classic champ Fort Larned and Ladies' Classic winner Royal Delta are both set to run on Saturday's Churchill Downs card.

Fillies and mares are on display at Hollywood Park in California, Delaware Park and sprinting at Belmont Park in New York. Indiana Downs has a lot of money on the line Saturday and Arlington Park's lush turf course is turned over to top state-breds for a couple of stakes on Saturday.

Two of the well-backed also-rans from the Kentucky Derby resurface at Monmouth Park.

Sunday finds the Group 1 Prix Diane-Longines for 3-year-old fillies at Longchamp in France. The July Festival at Newmarket has become more "royal." And, of course, the final lineups are being set for the Royal Ascot meeting that opens midweek." Read more at source

Racing Roundup Around the World - One of the most comprehensive weekly summaries of recent racing activity

FLASH: DRF LIVE STREAMING FULL CARD AT HOLLYWOOD PARK!

Free DRF Formulator PPs for Hollywood Park card for Saturday, June 15

Handicapping tools:
National Racing Report - June 14 - Andy Serling and Eric Donovan take a look at the weekend of racing

Andy Serling, Eric Donovan "Trips & Traps" 6-13-2013
NYRA: National Racing Report with Andy Serling - video - 6/12/13
Jeremy Plonk's Horseplayer Now
DRF Stephen Foster Handicap - Churchill Downs
Vanity Handicap at Hollywood Park
Belmont Park - June 13
Mike Watchmaker - Track Bias - June 12

Featured races listed below in time ordered format. After the race is won, come back and click on the Card to view race result and video replay.

BELMONT

LET'S GO TO THE RACES - JUNE 7-9

BELMONT STAKES WEEKEND

ORB and OXBOW meet 8 others from the KY Derby, along with 4 "new shooters" in the Grade 1 $1 Million Belmont Stakes. Below are links to help you get up to speed on the weekend racing action around the globe.

All things BELMONT:
Belmont Stakes official site
Belmont Stakes Historical videos - 1973 Belmont Stakes
Belmont Stakes Historical videos - 1983 race video

Privman and Watchmaker review each of the runners in the Belmont (grid)
Privman and Watchmaker review the Belmont - Video
Novak and Angst on Why They Can Win, and Why They Can't - Belmont

In addition to the main event of the Grade 1 $1 Million Belmont Stakes, 6 graded stakes races support the undercard action with a couple of Grade 1s, two Grade2s, and a loaded field in the Grade 1, $500,000 Just a Game Stakes will nearly eclipse the main event this weekend. Five of the seven participants have won at the highest level, with the other two possessing positive wet turf experience. Other racing action will take place at Churchill Downs and at Hollywood Park. Privman and Watchmaker review the Belmont Stakes day undercard - Video

SUMMARY COVERAGE FOR RACING WEEKEND:
UPI's Robert Kieckhefer writes a weekly racing roundup feature as well as a past weekend wrapup. Check these links out to see the racing picture not only in the U.S., but he takes you around the world.

UPI: Orb, Oxbow get rematch in Belmont Stakes
UPI: Past weekend racing roundup

Can they go long? Can they run in the mud? What do the pedgrees of the entries in the Belmont Stakes have to say about who might take home the winning trophy in America's "Test of Champions"? BELMONT STAKES CONTENDERS PEDIGREE ANALYSIS

BELMONT CONTENDER PROFILES - DRF Click on a runner's name and see past performance videos, and other background info.

WEATHER: The joker in the deck may be the weather! Weather forecast for Elmont, NY

Handicapping tools
Jeremy Plonk Countdown to the Crown - Week 23
Free DRF PPs for Belmont Stakes
Mike Watchmaker on the pace for the Belmont
Privman: Belmont Stakes post draw, wet weather, add variables
Privman/Watchmaker analysis of each horse - grid
Belmont Stakes field odds and contender profiles

BELMONT STAKES - TV SCHEDULE
Belmont Stakes Classics           June 7            4-5 p.m.     NBC Sports Network
Belmont Stakes Access             June 7            5-6 p.m.     NBC Sports Network
Belmont Stakes Prerace            June 8            3-5 p.m.     NBC Sports Network
Belmont Stakes Race                June 8            5-7 p.m.     NBC
Belmont Stakes Post                 June 8            7-7:30 p.m. NBC Sports Network

Races are listed below in Time Ordered Format for ease in setting up your viewing schedule.

Charismatic

REMEMBERING CHARISMATIC!

Below originally published June 2013, scroll down to December 2016 updates as Charismatic returns home to Old Friends in Kentucky, after his stud career in Japan ended.

The Belmont Stakes scheduled for this Saturday, June 8, brings back many memories no doubt for all racing fans. It is the 40th anniversary of Secretariat's historic win of this race, culminating in his Triple Crown in 1973, the first since Citation's Triple of 1948.

Charismatic - 1999 winner of KY Derby,
Preakness, and third in the Belmont - HOY 1999

Four years later, in the decade termed "the Golden Age of racing", we saw the remarkable Seattle Slew, and the following year, the great Affirmed, add their names to that short list of Triple Crown champions. Some great horses of that era included Spectacular Bid, Sunday Silence, Alysheba, Pleasant Colony, Silver Charm and Real Quiet, all who successfully completed the first two legs, only to fall short in the Belmont, the "test of Champions".

It also marks the 15th anniversay of the gallant and ill-fated effort by Charismatic to complete the third leg of the Triple Crown run in 1999, the 7th such attempt after Affirmed's win in 1978.

4-21-12 HRTV update on Charismatic

So remembering Charismatic, another beautiful chestnut, here is a link to a story by Steve Haskin, senior writer for BloodHorse, followed by the ESPN special, split into 5 installments. Steve's story appeared just prior to the ESPN special which aired in October 2011. "Heaven and Hell" - Steve Haskin