BC Rankings Week 3

Super Saturday in the books and some very interesting things happened. The Classic became. In the Ladies Classic and Turf the gaulent was thrown down to Awesome Feather and the Euros. I was going to introduce the Dirt Mile and Turf races this week, but have decided to hold off one more week. The Sprints will be back next week as SA runs their final prep. So just the Classic and Ladies Classic for this week.

Lets take a look at this weeks rankings.

Classic

1. Game On Dude (Awesome Again), Baffert: Workman like proformance in Saturday's Awesome Again. He doesn't win by eye popping numbers all the time, he only does what he needs to do.

2. Mucho Macho Man (Macho Uno), Ritvo: Although idle, switches places with Ron the Greek after the latter bombed in the Jockey Club Gold Cup. Skipping the race was not a bad idea at all.

3. Royal Delta (filly) (Empire Maker), Mott: Orginally she was going to defend her Ladies Classic title, however I read reports on Twitter that she will indeed take on the males once again. This time the dirt surface will be more to her likeing that she saw in Dubai with the Tapeta.

4. Ron the Greek (Full Mandate), Mott: With a poor finish in the Jockey Club Gold Cup, he gets bumped down to 3rd. However, a win at Santa Anita doesn't get him off the list all together.

5. Fort Larned (E Dubai), Wilkes: 3rd in the JCGC who should love the speed favoring surface of Santa Anita. He just ran into on Saturday two horses who love the Belmont surface in Flat Out and Stay Thirsty.


Others Considered

Nonios (Pleasantly Perfect)- 2nd in the AA behind Game on Dude. The good news is that 9 years ago his dad won the Classic on the Santa Anita track, although that was before the surface switch form dirt to synthetic back to dirt.

Richard's Kid (Lemon Drop Kid)- Although he seems to be more of a Marathon type horse then Classic, he was 3rd in both the Pacific Classic and Awesome Again (a fast closing at that), plus runner up in the Hollywood Gold Cup.

Stay Thirsty (Bernardini)- The Jockey Club Gold Cup runner up was having a miserable season. Even though it sounds like he might be done,  it wouldn't suprise me at all if his connections decide to take a shot and go for the Classic.

Flat Out (Flatter)- The now 2 time Jockey Club Gold Cup is a Belmont specialist. However, there is just something about him that makes me think that he will do at Santa Anita. Will he win? Prob. not, but he might be rounding back into form at the right time.

Alternation (Distorted Humor)- Although he is a very talented horse, him facing what is not currently top quality company hurts him on the rankings. Hopefully some nice horses face him in the Hawthorne Gold Cup.

Off the Board: Golden Ticket (Speightstown)- I got dinged a little for putting him the #5 spot last week, but honestly I really didn't know who else to put in there. Hopefully this week is much better.

Ladies Classic


1. Awesome Feather (Awesome of Course), Brown: Has not done anything wrong in her career, everybody thinks she will win the Ladies Classic, I'm not 100% sure.

1a. Royal Delta (Empire Maker), Mott: Just to cover all bases, I'm putting her here as well. Just in case the rumors turn out to be false.

2. Love and Pride (A.P. Indy), Pletcher: Lose Awesome Maria, no problem for Team Todd. The Personal Ensign and Zenyatta winner sent a statement to the West Coast fillies with her gate to wire win. Hopefully though there is a much fairer track.

3. My Miss Aurilia (Smart Strike), Asmussen: The biggest question mark for her now is the distance and can she overcome the speed bias track that is Santa Anita?

4. Questing (GB) (Hard Spun), McLaughlin: She will press Love and Pride on the end in what will be toughest race of the entire weekend. Even if she loses the race, if she finishes in front of MMA, the 2007 Classic runner up will have a Champion in his first crop.

5. Include Me Out (Include), Ellis: Orginally, I had her in Others Considered, but reportly with Royal Delta going to the Classic, she gets put in this spot. 3rd to Love and Pride in the Zenyatta, she reportly wasn't fully cranked for the race since she already had gained her win and you're in spot.

Others Considered

Via Villagio (Bernardini)- 4th place for 3yo in a brutal race is not bad. After all she finished in front of Amani (who hasn't lived up to her hype) and Switch. My gut feeling is she'll be rested and try the La Canada Series (or whatever is left of it) in the Winter.

It's Tricky (Mineshaft)- Although I think she's still F/M Sprint bound, until otherwise noted, she's going to be placed here.