While we celebrate our love of horse racing in our great country, we must take a moment to pay homage to men and women who have done their best to make and keep our country great. Whatever ones affiliation is, we should all be able to see and agree, that John McCain lived such a life. He will surely be missed, certainly by me.
Travers goes to Catholic Boy!
Good Magic lost his wand, after a slightly difficult first quarter, Good Magic simply wasn’t a factor, offering nothing when it matters. For this handicapper, it is easy to always think the glass is “half full” when looking at a Chad Brown horse, especially one with such consistency. But like all the great one, the good ones and the in-between ones – a bad race is part of horse racing. And this is important… bad is simply bad!
Back to Catholic Boy, he is a truly fantastic colt and has run figures to match with the best of his generation, but they were all registered on the Turf, so it was hard to guess exactly how well his form would transfer to the dirt. I had assigned him a 77.0 figure, which is well below his superior Turf figs. But again, he had raced on the Dirt and not registered very strong figs, actually quite backward for him. But today at Saratoga he ran beautifully, so maybe he is not as uncomfortable with dirt surface now that he his more fully grown. These are some of the handicapping mysteries we try to understand.
Another very fine handicapper, Jon Lindo commented that he is a fighter and that might be his special talent. I personally don’t know, but it is very true that every single time this horse is headed, he finds another bit of energy and rallys again. So he definitely has some fight. And who doesn’t love that in your favorite team or favorite horses.
At this stage, I would have to say Catholic Boy is at the head of the 3-year old colt division. And while we won’t get to see him take on Justify, we may see some outstanding races from him through the balance of the year… that would be great. Keep in mind that Analyze It and now Carrick are phenomenal colts on the turf, but only Catholic Boy can lay it down on both surfaces. He did look good.
A final comment, it was good to see Mendelssohn show some speed and stay. I don’t think he is gifted at the extended distances, but might be a dynamite miler if he continues his recovery… Let’s hope Good Magic can make a full recovery and meet CB down the road…