Yesterday's Santa Anita Handicap could go down as one of the most contraversial finishes ever. In the final stretch there where 3 horses who had a chance to get the win, favored Twirling Candy and longshots Setsuko and Game On Dude. Those three where fighting it out for the lead when contact was made that made Twirling Candy go sideways and make might have even more contact with Setsuko and Game on Dude. Eventually Twirling Candy backed up and Quechi Man made one last push to get to the top two, but couldn't Game on Dude beat Setsuko by a long nose.
After about 20 minutes of waiting for the stewards to make their decision on weather to take down Game On Dude and elevate to Setsuko, they decided not to make any changes. This was a very contraversial move as many thought that the winner should have been taken down. Now granted many of those people had Twirling Candy on their tickets, but even if G Dude had been taken down, TC still would not have been in the top three.
With Tweebster finishing uptrack I didn't have a dog in the fight, but I liked Setsuko for a while now so part of me wanted to see him elevated. However, the winning jockey was Chantal Sutherland who along with Rosie Napravnik and Emma-Jayne Watson are three of the best female jockeys in North America. So I was hoping that G Dude would not be taken down. Of course that was being the case. My thoughts immedatly went to the three horses involved in the scuffle, G Dude, TC and Set. I had hoped that they all came out of the race fine, but it sounds like that Setsuko was injured. A shame because he has been through a lot the past year (he was ill and put on anti biotics). Lets hope that it's not an more serious injury. No word on G Dude or Twirling Candy.
Did the stewards make the right call not to take down Game On Dude? Take a look for yourselves,
Leave a comment in the bottom of this post and I'll include some of them in a post with the weekend recap next week!
Showing posts with label Twirling Candy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Twirling Candy. Show all posts
March 6, 2011
March 1, 2011
Can Tweebster do it?
Since his loss in the Goodwood as a 3yo, the Candy Ride colt Twirling Candy has done nothing wrong setting a track record in the Malibu and then following up in the Strub. The question is, can anyone beat him? Bob Baffert might just be the trainer to do so as he'll be sending out as many as 4 horses in this weekend's Santa Anita Handicap. While his newest charge First Dude (who should really be an Allowance company to try to confidence back up) will be getting most of the talk, I think Tweebster has the best chance of the four.
Yes he was well beaten in the Strub and lost by a nose in the San Fernando, but there is no trainer who has a hot barn like Baffert does. Also the Candy Ride's haven't really shown much love for the Big Cap distance of a mile and a quarter where as Tweebster's sire Tapit has a winner at the Classic distance. It's really an unknown how far Twirling Candy actually wants to go, yes his Strub win was impressive and showed that he wanted more distance of ground. However, in last year's Goodwood he failed to hit the board as the favorite. Niether horse has gone this far, so that's even up in the air of how they will handle the distance.
The likelyhood of Tweebster actually pulling this upset off? Doubtful, but that's the beauty of horse racing is that anything can happen.
Yes he was well beaten in the Strub and lost by a nose in the San Fernando, but there is no trainer who has a hot barn like Baffert does. Also the Candy Ride's haven't really shown much love for the Big Cap distance of a mile and a quarter where as Tweebster's sire Tapit has a winner at the Classic distance. It's really an unknown how far Twirling Candy actually wants to go, yes his Strub win was impressive and showed that he wanted more distance of ground. However, in last year's Goodwood he failed to hit the board as the favorite. Niether horse has gone this far, so that's even up in the air of how they will handle the distance.
The likelyhood of Tweebster actually pulling this upset off? Doubtful, but that's the beauty of horse racing is that anything can happen.
February 7, 2011
I Would Like to Appologize
To Twirling Candy. If you remember in December I wrote a post saying that he won't be remembered for breaking Spectacler Bid's 30 year old seven furlong record in the Malibu. On the Paulick Report, my post got slammed for what I had said. While I don't regret what I did say, I'm willing to eat crow now. His win in the Strub this past Saturday was possibly one of the easiest wins that I've seen in quite a while by a male. While it may seem he didn't beat much in the race, he did defeate Tweebster who was coming off a second in the San Fernando which TC was forced to miss due to a minor injury. Also in the Strub was the San Fernando winner Indian Firewater.
Here is TC's very easy win,
Tweebster finished second with one of my favorite 3yo's from last year Make Music for Me finishing in third. So what's next for Twirling Candy? More then likely the Big Cap which he could be facing his San Antonio winning stablemate Gladding (who is Sarava's first stakes winner). Their trainer John Sadler is loaded this year. Not only does he have those two, but he has the #1 Older Female in Switch, possibly Jerry and Ann Moss' next super filly in Zazu, and of course the one and only Sidney's Candy.
In other stakes action this weekend,
Why must Giant Oak always do that? Everybody ignored him in the Donn and he was able to close to defeat Morning Line and Rule. Fly Down did not run his race which is a shame since he is now Dubai bound. The good news is from what it sounds like GO and Rule will remain in the States.
Humberto Ascanio got his first win in over a year when Fluke won the Thunder Road with his stablemate Proudinsky finishing in second! It looked like Proud was going to hang on though. A very emotional win for the former asst. to Bobby Frankel.
Speaking of Zazu, she defeated Turublent Descent setting up a possible rematch in the Santa Anita Oaks. Sadly May Day Rose got caught up in a speed duel. She's just not a horse who will rate.
What happend in the Gulfstream Turf? I have no clue, but I do doubt that the winner Teaks North will run like that in a G1 again.
That's it for this week, no Live Chat tomorrow due to a bit of a Derby prep weekend off. Will be returning next week though.
Here is TC's very easy win,
Tweebster finished second with one of my favorite 3yo's from last year Make Music for Me finishing in third. So what's next for Twirling Candy? More then likely the Big Cap which he could be facing his San Antonio winning stablemate Gladding (who is Sarava's first stakes winner). Their trainer John Sadler is loaded this year. Not only does he have those two, but he has the #1 Older Female in Switch, possibly Jerry and Ann Moss' next super filly in Zazu, and of course the one and only Sidney's Candy.
In other stakes action this weekend,
Why must Giant Oak always do that? Everybody ignored him in the Donn and he was able to close to defeat Morning Line and Rule. Fly Down did not run his race which is a shame since he is now Dubai bound. The good news is from what it sounds like GO and Rule will remain in the States.
Humberto Ascanio got his first win in over a year when Fluke won the Thunder Road with his stablemate Proudinsky finishing in second! It looked like Proud was going to hang on though. A very emotional win for the former asst. to Bobby Frankel.
Speaking of Zazu, she defeated Turublent Descent setting up a possible rematch in the Santa Anita Oaks. Sadly May Day Rose got caught up in a speed duel. She's just not a horse who will rate.
What happend in the Gulfstream Turf? I have no clue, but I do doubt that the winner Teaks North will run like that in a G1 again.
That's it for this week, no Live Chat tomorrow due to a bit of a Derby prep weekend off. Will be returning next week though.
December 27, 2010
Twirling is no Bid
Yesterday a track record was broken, but most people are not happy about it. What was exactly broken? A 30 year old record that was held by one of the greatest horses to ever run. Twirling Candy broke Spectacular Bid's 7 furlong record by winning the Malibu. This was on what was Opening Day of Santa Anita and the first time in a few years that Southern California had dirt racing.
Most people are angry that Twirling broke the Bid's record since the track was quite fast yesterday (there was one other track record set by The Factor at six furlongs). Also the horses that Twirling defeated are not as good as the horses that Bid defeated.
At this point of his career, Bid run 21 times (12 of those as a 3yo), Twirling has only 5 starts under his belt. The Bid had run in 8 different states (MD, DE, PA, NY, CA, NJ, FL, IL), Twirling has only run in CA. And last, but not least Bid beat the likes of Flying Paster, Coastal, Glorious Song, General Assembly. Heck he won his final race as a Walkover. Twirling has beaten Noble's Promise (who is probley better going shorter and on the turf) and Smiling Tiger (who did finish third in the BC Sprint this year), otherwise he really hasn't beaten much. Even with the comperasions, they have something in common. Both of them have run off the board once (Tyro Stakes for Bid, Goodwood for Twirling). The last thing is that Bid was four when he won the Malibu and now the Malibu is held in December of a horse's 3yo season.
In the end, I doubt people will remember Twirling Candy, but they will remember Spectacalar Bid. Here are their Malibu wins.
Most people are angry that Twirling broke the Bid's record since the track was quite fast yesterday (there was one other track record set by The Factor at six furlongs). Also the horses that Twirling defeated are not as good as the horses that Bid defeated.
At this point of his career, Bid run 21 times (12 of those as a 3yo), Twirling has only 5 starts under his belt. The Bid had run in 8 different states (MD, DE, PA, NY, CA, NJ, FL, IL), Twirling has only run in CA. And last, but not least Bid beat the likes of Flying Paster, Coastal, Glorious Song, General Assembly. Heck he won his final race as a Walkover. Twirling has beaten Noble's Promise (who is probley better going shorter and on the turf) and Smiling Tiger (who did finish third in the BC Sprint this year), otherwise he really hasn't beaten much. Even with the comperasions, they have something in common. Both of them have run off the board once (Tyro Stakes for Bid, Goodwood for Twirling). The last thing is that Bid was four when he won the Malibu and now the Malibu is held in December of a horse's 3yo season.
In the end, I doubt people will remember Twirling Candy, but they will remember Spectacalar Bid. Here are their Malibu wins.
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