So Who's Coming to DelMar for the Breeders Cup?

Search

Active member
Handicapper
Joined
Jun 18, 2007
Messages
88,633
Tokens
DM_qmCnUIAEn4KI.jpg
 

Active member
Handicapper
Joined
Jun 18, 2007
Messages
88,633
Tokens
DM_qaFvUEAEEHP7.jpg
 

Active member
Handicapper
Joined
Jun 18, 2007
Messages
88,633
Tokens
DM_qLL2UEAARFDp.jpg
 

Active member
Handicapper
Joined
Jun 18, 2007
Messages
88,633
Tokens
DM_pkOVVwAA0iVF.jpg
 

Active member
Handicapper
Joined
Jun 18, 2007
Messages
88,633
Tokens
Put in your swimming suit, don' t forget.. Can run at the beach behind to pull some pounds off. Gorgeous place!

DNBCjmCV4AAL81J.jpg
 

Active member
Handicapper
Joined
Jun 18, 2007
Messages
88,633
Tokens
Jockeys Mike Smith and Gary Stevens Share a True Bond Born of Rivalry.

qUl-hw8h


Last november at santa anita, Gary Stevens and Mike Smith became closer than even they realized.
Smith was riding Songbird, the brassy 3-year-old filly who had never come close to losing. Stevens was on Beholder, the 6-year-old champion, coming off two losses. From the top of the stretch to the wire, they ran in unison, as if each horse were the other’s sidecar. Beholder wound up winning the Longines Breeders’ Cup Distaff by a nostril, as a crowd of 45,673 marveled.
“To me it might as well have been a dead heat,” Smith says. “I couldn’t have been prouder of the way my horse ran.”
“I was going to try to intimidate Songbird a little bit, so we tried to get closer to her near the rail,” Stevens says. “Well, that didn’t bother Songbird a bit. Maybe if I had stayed farther away we would have won by more. I think that’s the greatest race I’ve ever been involved in.”
Stevens, 54, has won the “Triple Triple” Crown: the Kentucky Derby, Preakness, and Belmont Stakes three times apiece, and has 11 wins in Breeders’ Cup events. Smith, 53, has four Triple Crown race victories and an astonishing 25 Breeders’ Cup wins.
Smith, of New Mexico, and Stevens, an Idaho native, skipped no steps up the ladder of their profession. Their rivalry was illustrated in that Distaff. Their friendship shined through after.
“The next time I saw him after the race was over, he hugged me,” Stevens says. “He’s my best friend. He might as well be my brother.”
In 1998, Smith suffered two career-threatening falls. He broke a shoulder in March, and a month later broke two vertebrae and ended up in a body cast for six months. Now, five days a week, at 10 a.m., you’ll find Smith in an exercise room. Stevens calls him a “gym rat.”
“If you’re going to do it this long you have to put in the time,” Smith responds. “I do cardio and a lot of different things. I don’t feel right when I don’t do it. And I know that I couldn’t have come back from some of these injuries if I hadn’t been in that kind of shape.”
Although Smith is most famous for riding Zenyatta to 16 consecutive victories, he isn’t sure he has ever perched on a horse more talented than Arrogate. The day after Songbird and Beholder ran to the wire, Smith asked Arrogate for a desperate burst at the end of the Breeders’ Cup Classic to put away California Chrome. That was Smith’s fourth win in the Classic. Little wonder that he loves that particular autumn weekend, as chaotic as it might seem.
“The Triple Crown races are a big deal in America, but not so much in the world at large,” Smith says. “When you have a Breeders’ Cup, they come from everywhere, all over the world. It’s the best against the best in every category. You adjust to different horses, you run on different surfaces. It’s the most exciting time of year for me.”
But the Breeders’ Cup left Smith in tears seven years ago. He took Zenyatta on her final ride, in the Classic.
“I’ve been favored seven times in the Kentucky Derby and I never felt pressure like that,” Smith says. “It was her last race and she was undefeated. She sort of squeezed into the gate; it was dark and there were so many flashes, it looked like a rock concert. She just didn’t fire. Two more jumps and I was pulling her up. Then she settled down.”
Zenyatta almost came back to defeat Blame for what would have been her all-time victory. Jockeys have little time to brood or grieve, so Smith went back to work.
Are he and Stevens waiting for the other one to hang it up?
“I’m having too good a time,” he says, laughing. “I don’t see any reason either one of us shouldn’t keep going.”
Stevens has a bigger frame than Smith, so he has his own exercise program. He walks and does regular calisthenics.
“If I did what Mike did I might run into weight issues,” he says.
Again, none of it shields a jockey from occupational hazards most athletes can’t imagine. Stevens had a knee replacement in 2014 and a hip replacement in 2016. He was thrown into a rail early in his career and was in a coma for 16 hours. He was thrown again in 2013 and suffered a collapsed lung.
He has been an actor, a trainer, and a jockey agent, but all roads lead back to the starting gate. Stevens was the only jockey to ride in both the first and the 30th Breeders’ Cups. Even when he won last year’s Distaff and felt he’d reached the mountaintop, he wasn’t ready to retire. On Memorial Day weekend, Stevens rode Ashleyluvssugar to victory in the Charles Whittingham Stakes.
“You can ride 1,000 different horses and each one is different, each one has a quirk or a habit that you have to deal with before you can have success,” he says. “And if you think you’ve seen everything that can happen in this sport, you’ll eventually be surprised. I started doing this when I was 14 and now it’s 40 years later. I’m still learning. That, and the competition, keeps me coming back.”
Emotion hit Stevens after that last Distaff. He knew he wouldn’t be riding Beholder anymore. It was her 24th race, and the 22nd time she had placed first or second.
“She gave me absolutely everything today,” Stevens told the Orange County Register. “That’s why this is so emotional and bittersweet. I know I won’t be riding her anymore. I told myself I couldn’t let this one get away.”
The key is to ride your race like it’s your last. Smith and Stevens do that. One suspects they’ll take their final ride together.


 

Active member
Handicapper
Joined
Jun 18, 2007
Messages
88,633
Tokens
Banners are UP!

DNAfgSuVAAACZqU.jpg

 

Active member
Handicapper
Joined
Jun 18, 2007
Messages
88,633
Tokens
DNAEh4SVQAAHtne.jpg
 

Active member
Handicapper
Joined
Jun 18, 2007
Messages
88,633
Tokens
Lady Aurelia just hanging out.....She`s looks bored....lol

DNBLlFZV4AAaTto.jpg

 

Active member
Handicapper
Joined
Jun 18, 2007
Messages
88,633
Tokens
[h=1]Lady Aurelia wins the King`s stand stakes in the UK.[/h]
 

Active member
Handicapper
Joined
Jun 18, 2007
Messages
88,633
Tokens
Lady Eli set to go in the Filly and Mare Turf......Wins the Ballston Spa Stakes in August.

[h=1][/h]
 

Active member
Handicapper
Joined
Jun 18, 2007
Messages
88,633
Tokens
[h=1]Forever Unbridled goes in the Distaff.....She wins the Personal Ensign in August.[/h]
 

Active member
Handicapper
Joined
Jun 18, 2007
Messages
88,633
Tokens
[h=1]Breeders' Cup World Championships Live Stream.[/h]
 

Active member
Handicapper
Joined
Jun 18, 2007
Messages
88,633
Tokens
DNBvSkIVAAAzVm9.jpg
 

Active member
Handicapper
Joined
Jun 18, 2007
Messages
88,633
Tokens
[h=1]Breeders' Cup Focus - Turf Sprint[/h]
 

Active member
Handicapper
Joined
Jun 18, 2007
Messages
88,633
Tokens
[h=1]2017 Breeders Cup Turf.[/h]
[h=1]Highland Reel.[/h]

<tbody>
</tbody>
video.png
10/21/17Highland Reel3rdAsc51 1/4 mTChampion Stakes-G1 3+ MCracksmanPoet's WordHighland Reel2:11.75
video.png
07/29/17Highland Reel4thAsc41 1/2mTKing George VI & Queen Elizabeth Stakes-G1 3+ MEnableUlyssesIdaho2:36.22
video.png
06/21/17Highland Reel1stAsc41 1/4 mTPrince of Wales's Stakes-G1 4+ MHighland ReelDecorated KnightUlysses2:05.04
video.png
06/02/17Highland Reel1stEps31 1/2mTCoronation Cup-G1 4+ MHighland ReelFrontiersmanHawkbill2:33.34
video.png
03/25/17Highland Reel7thMey81 1/2mTDubai Sheema Classic-G1 3+ MJack HobbsSeventh HeavenPostponed2:32.39
video.png
12/11/16Highland Reel2ndSha41 1/2mTHong Kong Vase-G1 3+ MSatono CrownHighland ReelOne Foot In Heaven2:26.22
video.png
11/05/16Highland Reel1stSA91 1/2mTBreeders Cup Turf-G1 3+ MHighland ReelFlintshireFound2:23.00
video.png
10/02/16Highland Reel2ndCha41 1/2mTPrix De l'Arc de Triomphe-G1 3+ MFoundHighland ReelOrder Of St George2:23.61
video.png
09/10/16Highland Reel7thLeo71 1/4 mTIrish Champion Stakes-G1 3+ MAlmanzorFoundMinding2:08.93
video.png
08/17/16Highland Reel2ndYor41 5/16 mTJuddmonte International-G1 3+ MPostponedHighland ReelMutakayyef2:06.58
video.png
07/23/16Highland Reel1stAsc51 1/2mTKing George VI & Queen Elizabeth Stakes-G1 3+ MHighland ReelWings Of DesireDartmouth2:28.97
video.png
06/18/16Highland Reel2ndAsc31 1/2mTHardwicke Stakes-G2 4+ MDartmouthHighland ReelAlmodovar2:32.06
video.png
04/24/16Highland Reel8thSha81 1/4 mTAudemars Piguet QE II Cup-G1 3+ MWertherMilitary AttackBlazing Speed2:01.32
video.png
03/26/16Highland Reel4thMey81 1/2mTDubai Sheema Classic-G1 3+ MPostponedDuramenteLast Impact2:26.97
video.png
12/13/15Highland Reel1stSha41 1/2mTHong Kong Vase-G1 3+ MHighland ReelFlintshireDariyan2:28.43
video.png
10/24/15Highland Reel3rdMoo91 1/4 mTCox Plate-G1 3+ MWinxCriterionHighland Reel2:02.98
video.png
09/12/15Highland Reel5thLeo51 1/4 mTIrish Champion Stakes-G1 3+ MGolden HornFoundFree Eagle2:05.41
video.png
08/15/15Highland Reel1stAP81 1/4 mTSecretariat Stakes-G1 3 MHighland ReelClosing BellForce the Pass2:02.26
video.png
07/29/15Highland Reel1stGoo21 1/2mTGordon Stakes-G3 3 MHighland ReelScottishCalifornia Disegno2:34.94
video.png
06/27/15Highland Reel5thCur71 1/2mTIrish Derby-G1 3 MJack HobbsStorm The StarsGiovanni Canaletto2:34.93

<tbody>[h=2]Highland Reel - Race Results & Past Performances[/h] [Add Race Result] [Add Horse]
</tbody>
 

Active member
Handicapper
Joined
Jun 18, 2007
Messages
88,633
Tokens
[h=1]Beach Patrol.[/h]

<tbody>
</tbody>
video.png
09/30/17Beach Patrol1stBel101 1/2mTJoe Hirsch Turf Classic-G1 3+ MBeach PatrolFanciful AngelOscar Performance 2:26.29
video.png
08/12/17Beach Patrol1stAP111 1/4 mTArlington Million-G1 3+ MBeach PatrolFanciful AngelDeauville2:02.39
video.png
07/01/17Beach Patrol3rdMth111 3/8 m TUnited Nations-G1 3+ MBigger PictureCan'thelpbelievingBeach Patrol2:10.81
video.png
06/10/17Beach Patrol4thBel101 1/4 mTManhattan Handicap-G1 4+ MAscendTime TestSadler's Joy1:59.97
video.png
05/06/17Beach Patrol2ndCD111 1/8 mTTurf Classic -G1 4+ MDivisideroBeach PatrolOscar Nominated1:52.42
video.png
02/11/17Beach Patrol4thGP101 1/8 mTGulfstream Park Turf Handicap-G1 4+ MAlmanaarAll IncludedWar Correspondent1:45.63
video.png
12/03/16Beach Patrol2ndDmr71 1/8 mTHollywood Derby-G1 3 MAnnals of TimeBeach PatrolFrank Conversation1:47.73
video.png
10/08/16Beach Patrol2ndBel91 1/8 mTHill Prince-G3 3 MCamelot KittenBeach PatrolAnnals of Time1:47.25
video.png
08/13/16Beach Patrol1stAP71 1/4 mTSecretariat Stakes-G1 3 MBeach PatrolLong Island SoundAmerican Patriot2:01.95
video.png
07/09/16Beach Patrol3rdBel81 1/4 mTBelmont Derby-G1 3 MDeauvilleHighland SkyBeach Patrol2:00.51
video.png
06/04/16Beach Patrol6thPen41 mileTPenn Mile-G3 3 MCatch a GlimpseAiroforceGiant Run1:34.39
video.png
05/07/16Beach Patrol2ndCD91 1/16 mTAmerican Turf Stakes-G2 3 MCamelot KittenBeach PatrolSurgical Strike1:41.13
04/03/16Beach Patrol1stSA71 1/8 mTAlwOC 3 MBeach PatrolArcatureUndeniable U1:46.62
03/12/16Beach Patrol1stSA81 mileTMSW 3 MBeach PatrolTristan's TrilogyClear The Way1:37.30
12/19/15Beach Patrol2ndFG21 1/16 mTMSW 2 MMending FencesBeach PatrolKing's Player1:48.06
11/26/15Beach Patrol3rdFG101 mileTMSW 2 MLomcevakKing's PlayerBeach Patrol1:38.01

<tbody>[h=2]Beach Patrol - Race Results & Past Performances[/h] [Add Race Result] [Add Horse]
</tbody>
 

Active member
Handicapper
Joined
Jun 18, 2007
Messages
88,633
Tokens

Active member
Handicapper
Joined
Jun 18, 2007
Messages
88,633
Tokens
[h=1]Smart Call.[/h]

<tbody>
</tbody>
video.png
09/10/17Smart Call6thCur21 1/4 mTBlandford Stakes-G2 3+ FShamreenBeautiful MorningRain Goddess2:12.84
video.png
08/20/17Smart Call4thDea41 1/4 mTPrix Jean Romanet-G1 4+ FAjman PrincessSiyoushakeLeft Hand2:04.13
video.png
07/02/17Smart Call7thCur61 1/4 mTPretty Polly Stakes-G1 3+ FNezwaahRain GoddessTurret Rocks2:06.19
video.png
06/21/17Smart Call4thAsc31 mileTDuke of Cambridge Stakes-G2 4+ FQemahAljazziUsherette1:38.34
video.png
05/18/17Smart Call3rdYor21 5/16 mTMiddleton Stakes-G2 4+ FBlond MeThe Black PrincessSmart Call2:09.76
video.png
01/30/16Smart Call1stKnl81 1/4 mTJ&B Met-G1 3+ MSmart CallLegal EagleCaptain America2:03.17
video.png
01/09/16Smart Call1stKnl81 1/8 mTPaddock Stakes-G1 3+ FSmart CallInaraBela-Bela1:51.77
video.png
12/12/15Smart Call1stTur31 1/8 mTConditions Plate 3+ FSmart CallPine PrincessElusive Spirit1:41.47
11/28/15Smart Call1stTur81 mileTIpi Tombe Challenge-G2 3+ FSmart CallBichetteLondon1:08.31
video.png
11/03/15Smart Call5thTur67 fT Pinnacle Stakes 3+ FBichetteKwintaFeatherfoot1:23.89
video.png
07/04/15Smart Call2ndGre91 mileTGarden Province Stakes-G1 3+ FSame Jurisdiction Smart CallMaybe Yes1:38.12
video.png
05/30/15Smart Call1stGre61 1/4 mTWoolavington 2000 -G1 3 FSmart CallPine PrincessTrophy Wife2:03.18
video.png
04/11/15Smart Call6thTur71 mileTEmpress Club Stakes-G1 3+ FMajmuTrophy WifeTamaanee1:37.50
video.png
03/28/15Smart Call7thTur71 1/8 mTSouth African Fillies Classic-G1 3 FSiren's CallSame Jurisdiction Trophy Wife1:51.36
video.png
02/28/15Smart Call3rdTur71 mileTGauteng Fillies Guineas-G2 3 FSiren's CallTrophy WifeSmart Call1:37.65
video.png
02/07/15Smart Call1stTur21 mileTGraduation Plate 3+ FSmart CallEpsom DownsPeep Show1:35.92
11/29/14Smart Call2ndTur51 mileTSouth African Fillies Mile-G3 3 FBanburySmart CallAtaab1:40.45
11/01/14Smart Call3rdTur87 fTStarling Stakes-G3 3 FMajmuSiren's CallSmart Call1:22.90
video.png
10/11/14Smart Call2ndTur91 mileTNovice Plate 3+ FSiren's CallSmart CallBanbury1:37.25
09/22/14Smart Call1stVaa17 fTMaiden Plate 3+ FSmart CallGracy CatWild Dancer1:23.74

<tbody>[h=2]Smart Call - Race Results & Past Performances[/h] [Add Race Result] [Add Horse]
</tbody>
 

Active member
Handicapper
Joined
Jun 18, 2007
Messages
88,633
Tokens

Forum statistics

Threads
1,117,946
Messages
13,549,657
Members
100,549
Latest member
apptaixiuonl
The RX is the sports betting industry's leading information portal for bonuses, picks, and sportsbook reviews. Find the best deals offered by a sportsbook in your state and browse our free picks section.FacebookTwitterInstagramContact Usforum@therx.com