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Title: Old Fashioned dominates Remsen
Tags: remsen aqueduct 2008 old-fashioned
Blog Entry: Larry Jones trainee Old-Fashioned won the Grade 2, $200,000 Remsen Stakes with authority today. Unchallenged for the lead over a fast track in the 1 1/8 mile race for two-year-olds, favorite Old Fashioned got away with slow fractions before opening up to win easily by 7 1/4 lengths under jockey Ramon Dominguez. Old Fashioned, a Fox Hill Farm-owned son of Unbridled's Song, is now undefeated in three starts. I respect the horse's ability and am looking forward to seeing more of him, but I was really disappointed with the race--the rest of the field appeared timid, even down the stretch. This race is a stepping stone to the Derby trail, but they didn't look like they came to compete. It looked like a paid work for the winner. Fractions: 24.41 - 49.44 - 1:14.18 - 1:38.11 - FINAL 1:50.33 In the Remsen, promising second-choice Idol Maker--trained by Todd Pletcher, and piloted by Eibar Coa--traveled as much as three-wide and had some later traffic problems. He finished fourth. Often times I think that can be benficial in horseplaying, when a horse like this has traffic problems and doesn't finish well, because next time a lot of bettors won't use him and he'll be a much better value. The problem is, this horse won his maiden--his only other race--with a clear trip up the rail, and did not look very gutsy or capable when he needed to fight for the win this time. Also, he's a son of Empire Maker, and Empire Maker's colts are slow to show what they can do on the track, and always overbet--I think they're terrible bets. I don't remember playing this race last year, but I remember the Empire Maker filly Mushka being very impressive in the Demoiselle. I think juvenile Empire Maker fillies have been better bets than his juvenile colts. The Remsen runner-up was longshot Atomic Rain, with Edgar Prado on board for trainer Kelly Breen. The horse finished 2 1/2 lengths in front of American Dance. Atomic Rain hadn't raced beyond 5 furlongs before, and looked like he could be a pace factor, but also hadn't raced in five months. He's a son of Smart Strike, and the trainer has a good win rate with first-at-route. Atomic Rain traveled third, behind American Dance through the first half mile and was content to take the easy trip inside for most of the way. He was well-placed, and with the slow fractions, he had a lot of run left to finish with. Good play if you used him. The winner paid $3.50. The $2 Exacta was $41.40. The $2 Trifecta paid $145.50, with American Dance third for trainer Todd Pletcher and jockey Garrett Gomez. The rest made for a really forgettable field. As for Old Fashioned, I'm excited for Larry Jones. The guy had Kentucky Derby second-place finisher Hard Spun in 2007, and second-place Eight Belles this year. Maybe next year he'll get the win. What a tremendous and bittersweet moment that would be. I want to play this horse, but I need to see him challenged in a more competitive field next time. I would hate to see him "scare off" rivals or beat up on weak fields and not get the conditioning that only competitive races will get him. Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes The Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes at Churchill was the more competitive two-year-old stakes race today, with Calvin Borel winning on Beethoven after closing up the rail--in his trademark riding style that won him the Kentucky Derby on Street Sense in 2007. Giant Oak was second, and favorite Captain Candyman Can remains respectable after finishing third in avery close finish among these three. They completed 1 1/16 miles in 1:44.14. The next grades stakes race on the road to the 2009 Derby trail is the Grade 3 Delta Jackpot on Friday, December 5th. The Demoiselle Just before the Remsen, which completed in 1:50.33, in the Grade 2 Demoiselle the fillies completed the same distance in 1:51.71.  The fractions for that race were :24.09, :48.20, 1:12.65, 1:38.64, 1:51.71, with Springside winning by 9 1/2 lengths over 33-1 shot Boleyn. 3-10 favorite Sky Diva was third by a nose. Springside injured her pastern on the gallop out. Cigar Mile was second slowest ever After the Remsen, the Cigar Mile, for three-year-olds and up, was the next race over the same track at Aqueduct, and that competitive field came home in 1:35.01 for the mile--a little slow for the Cigar Mile; in fact it's teh second slowest time ever... but the slowest Cigar Mile was won by Cigar himself, who did 1:36 flat in 1994. Tale of Ekati won this year's Cigar Mile when Harlem Rocker was disqualified from first in a nose-to-nose finish between those two.