Weekend Horse Racing Blahs

I just couldn’t muster up any enthusiasm for this past weekend’s racing, thus the lack of posting.

Fellow TBA blogger EquiSpace summarized perfectly my feelings about the G2 Lane’s End—rather than having broadcast four prep races the previous weekend, we get one boring race and, what, 45 minutes of talk. Blah! I was pleased about one thing—Proceed Bee’s third-place finish. Otherwise, there was not one damn thing interesting about horse racing this weekend.

Usually I can count on Gulfstream to provide some entertaining racing, but with a sloppy track and all turf races off, Saturday’s card featured scratches aplenty, especially in race 6 which had promised to be an interesting AOC 8.5f turf event, and instead ended up a two-horse race—literally—after seven scratches. Not to be outdone, race 8 had twelve scratches, as only four went postward. Then the G3 Pan American Stakes was also off the grass...

At Aqueduct, only five entries for the G2 Distaff Handicap, and Zada Belle broke down not long into the race. Only five entries as well in the G2 San Luis Rey at Santa Anita—and last place-finisher Spring House was vanned off after that race. With news that desperate (and pathetic) IEAH is trying to buy their way into the Kentucky Derby through a majority interest purchase in I Want Revenge, well, that just fed my negativity. So, like so many others, I didn’t wager a lick, turned off the simulcasts, and tuned in to The History Channel’s “Band of Brothers” marathon. I hope to get re-charged and ready for this coming weekend's offerings, including the G1 Florida Derby, but more particularly the Dubai World Cup races.