Met Mile Vault: Holy Bull and Gulch

Welcome to the final night of the Met Mile Vault! Tonight's horses are good ones, they are 1994 winner Holy Bull and two time winner Gulch.

Gulch (Mr. Prospector x Jameela (Rambunctious)

Two wins, with two different jockeys and two different trainers. Gulch won the 1987 Met Mile with Pat Day on and LeRoy Jolly training. In this race, he would defeat Broad Brush who would sire 1994 Breeders' Cup Classic winner Concern. And oh yeah, Gulch was only 3 in this race.


In 1988, Gulch would defend his Met Mile win, but would be ridden by Jose Santos and trained by D. Wayne Lukas. In this race he would defeat Afleet, who would go onto sire Northern Afleet who in turn would sire 2005 Preakness and Belmont winner Afleet Alex.



Gulch would be named Champion Sprinter in 1988 with a win in the BC Sprint. He would go onto stand at Lanes End where become the sire of Kipling (sire of 2007 BC Mile winner Kip Deville), Court Vision (Kipling's full brother, a G1 winner himself), The Cliff's Edge and many more. However, his most famous foal is 1995 Kentucky Derby and Belmont winner Thunder Gulch who would go onto sire G1 winners Balance (half sister to Zenyatta) and Point Given (who was also Horse of the Year). Gulch was recently penisoned and now lives at Old Friends.

Holy Bull (Great Above x Sharon Brown (Al Hattab))

After a diesastrous finish in the Derby, the Jimmy Croll trainee was taken off the Triple Crown trail and pointed to this race. As a 3 year (only Honour and Glory has won as a 3yo since), he would face older males in this race defeating Devil His Due (sire of Roses in May and Spite the Devil (personal favorite) and Cherokee Run (sire of War Pass).



Holy Bull stands at Darley at Jonabell Farm. Of course he is now known sire 2005 Kentucky Derby winner Giacomo and 2000 BC Juvy winner Macho Uno (sire of Macho Again).

So that's it for the Met Mile Vault, I know it was a little bit slimmed down then the Travers Vault was, but that is partically my fault. I'm probley going to be bringing this back for the DelCap, but we will see about that. Don't forget there is a live chat tomorrow night at a new time at 7:30 pm EDT. Also the HRBA nominations close on Monday!

Met Mile Vault: Proper Reality and In Excess

Welcome to Night Two of the Met Mile Vault! Tonight's two horses are 1989 winner Proper Reality and 1991 winner In Excess.

Proper Reality (In Reality x Proper Princess (Nodouble))
A winner of the AR and IL Derbies, the Bob Hothus trainee won the Met Mile the year following these two victories. In the race he defeated Seeking the Gold who would go on to sire great horses such as Flanders , Heavenly Prize and Dubai Millnium, as well as, Belmont winner Jazil.



Proper Reality started his career at Claiborne Farm before moving to Arkansas. He passed away this February after a bout of colic at Old Friends.

In Excess (IRE) (Siberian Express x Kantado (IRE) (Saulingo (GB))

While he was Irish in blood, In Excess spent most of his career in the US. In the 1991 edition, the Bruce Jackson trainee upset Housebuster with Rubiano (who would become the broodmare sire of War Front) finishing in second.



In Excess stands in California where he has sired Indian Charlie and Above Perfection (dam of Hot Dixie Chick).

So that's it for tonight, will have the finale tomorrow!

Kaboom!

Well... one of my picks finished third and another finished fourth and Kiss the Kid was second in his race. So overall, not a great weekend handicapping. Ah well, it happens sometimes.

A short post for tonight, but a few announcements:

1. HRBA nominations wrap up on Memorial Day, I just put a new post up tonight when it comes to graphics. Also there is a new catagory, New Blog.

2. Met Mile Vault Opens tomorrow with Ghostzapper and Langfuhr, other horses I'll profile are Gulch, Holy Bull, Forego, Conquesestor Cielo  and Honor and Glory.

3. There will be a live chat on Thursday starting at 7:30, we will be breaking this year's Met Mile which will feature early HOY favorite Quality Road. The weekend preview will actually be a weekday preview since the Met Mile will be on Monday, May 31st. Because of this, the preview will not be until next Sunday and the recap will be Tuesday. Which means there really won't be that much Belmont talk, but the race is coming up on the weak side (no offence to Ice Box, Uptowncharlybrown or First Dude, but I'll take Super Saver and Lookin at Lucky over them any day). Also the Live Chat, I will be announcing the Summer Series scheduale. What to expect? Right now I can't say yet, but I can tell you that in all likelyhood they will be either Thursdays or Saturdays (I haven't decided yet).

So there you have it, the announcements took up most of the post, but that's okay for today. Make sure to check back the next four days with some great recaps of previous Met Miles and the Thursday chat.

Met Mile Vault Series to come next week

Starting next week, I will be having videos of previous Metropolitain Handicap (aka Met Mile) winners and update on how they are/did doing at stud (if applicable). This is very simlar to the Travers Vault series that I did last year in the week leading up to the Mid-Summer Derby.

Why bring this back? For several reasons:

• With no Triple Crown on the line, the next couple of weeks are somewhat blech.
• Niether Super Saver or Lookin at Lucky are going to the Belmont, so I can't talk about a rubber match between them
• The last time niether the Derby and Preakness winners where in the Belmont was 2006 when Barbaro (injury) and Bernardini (I believe the Preakness took too much out of him). Jazil won the race, and did nothing afterwards, although his little siblings are Rags to Riches, Casino Drive and Man of Iron.
• Quality Road (who should be the overwhelming Met Mile favorite this year) > This year's Belmont field

Who am I planning to feature? Holy Bull, Bribon, Ghostzapper (as much as it pains me), Forego, Fit to Fight among others. I really hope everybody enjoys these vault series.

One of the days, I'm not planning to it is Thursday when I will be having a Live Chat begging at 7:30pm (this is a new time, in all likelyhood a one time thing). In this Chat, I will be announcing the Summer Chat Series. I can't say much other then the chats in all likelyhood will be sometime in the second half of the work week (haven't decided on a day yet).

Also I hope everyone has a chance to nominate a blog and/or online magazine for the HRBA. Something I don't think I've mentioned this before, but the nomination doesn't have to be Thoroughbred only, I've included catagories for Standardbred, Arabian and Quarter Horses as well.