The GR III Gotham

[TJ]

Next up is the GR III Gotham at Aqueduct worth 85 points across the board to secure a piece of real estate under the Derby starting gate:>) It's always interesting to watch how these mega stables maneuver their horses all over the country to avoid running against others of their own, that might prevent one of their prospect's from getting the necessary points to get in the Derby field. Mega Pletcher ships two north from Palm Beach Downs in Delray Beach, Florida and Mega Chad Brown ships Shagaf north from the Palm Meadows training center in Boynton Beach, Fl.. Though Chad Brown wanted to face Mohaymen in the Fountain of Youth, he had to give way to the wishes of Shadwell's racing manager and run in the Gotham instead, to prevent Shadwell's two prospects from running against each other before the Derby. It will be interesting to see if Chad's faith in him will become a reality. This shapes up to be a very good race with the Wither's winner and 3rd place finisher also in the field and Pletcher's Rally Cry (owned by Paul Pompa of Big Brown fame) who was gaining ground on Shagaf when the two met last out at GP. Below are the entries and the pp's. TJ
9th Race. (C8) Approx Post 4:50PM STAKES
THE GOTHAM Grade III
Purse $400,000 (Up to $44,000 NYSBFOA) One Mile And One Sixteenth (Inner Dirt)
FOR THREE YEAR OLDS.
1 Laoban(L) Dk B/ Br.c.3 116 Gryder, A Southern Equine Stables Guillot, Eric
2 Shagaf(L) B.c.3 116 Ortiz, Jr., I Shadwell Stable Brown, Chad
3 Adventist(L) B.c.3 116 Carmouche, K Treadway Racing Stable Gyarmati, Leah
4 Vincento(L) Ch.c.3 116 Arroyo, A Scuderi, V Rodriguez, Rudy
5 Mo Power(L) B.c.3 116 Velazquez, J Repole Stable Pletcher, Todd
6 Conquest Big E(L) Gr/ro.c.3 116 Ortiz, J Conquest Stables Casse, Mark
7 Sunny Ridge(L) Gr/ro.g.3 123 Franco, M Drazin, D Servis, Jason
8 Rally Cry(L) Dk B/ Br.c.3 116 Alvarado, J Pompa, Jr., P Pletcher, Todd

Click on Rally Cry: http://www.brisnet.com/cgi-bin/briswatc ... mmary.html

[TJ]

Shagaf...I'll side with Chad on this one
Rally Cry...stopped in the middle of a strong rally against top one, clear sailing? (Uncle Mo)
Mo Power...especially if JV comes in to ride? (Uncle Mo)
Laoban...SA shipper still a maiden, but is stakes placed in the GR III Sham against Collected. (Uncle Mo again:>)

[geowarrior]

Shagaf
Mo Power
Conquest Big E
Sunny Ridge

[Cree]

Shagaf
Sunny Ridge
Rally Cry
Conquest Big E

[TJ]

Mo Power is scratched...TJ

[DDT]

The dam of Shagaf, Muhaawara, by Unbridled Song, is a half sister to BC Marathon winner Eldaafer, who was sired by A.P. Indy, Shagaf being a son of Bernardini is bred along the same lines. It might be that as the distance increases Shagaf will have no problems. If Shagaf and Mohaymen stay healthy it looks like Shadwell will have two homebreds for the classics. Shagaf is inbred 4X4 to Fappiano, another plus for the Kentucky Derby and possibly the Belmont. We will see.

DDT

Mohaymen is not a Shadwell homebred, he was purchased at auction, don't know what I was thinking.

DDT

[TJ]

Here's the results:
Shagaf...this win gives Shadwell two top Derby Contenders.
Laoban...maiden finished 2nd, 1 1/4 back after losing his footing at the break.
Adventist...made a solid rally from behind losing the place spot by 3/4's.
Sunny Ridge...showed his usual speed, weakened another length behind Adventist.

Here's the top 5 in the Derby Leaderboard, Shadwell now 1st and 3rd:
#1 Mohaymen 70 POINTS
#2 Gun Runner 51 POINTS
#3 Shagaf 50 POINTS
#4 Nyquist 30 POINTS
#5 Mor SpiritRANK 24 POINTS

[TJ]

Here's the replay:
http://www1.drf.com/displayVideo.do?tra ... ountry=USA

[Cree]

Will Shagaf go to the Wood Memorial now?
I read the track was bad on the outside (quicksand?), but Shagaf did a good job of grinding to the finish and winning.

[TJ]

Will Shagaf go to the Wood Memorial now?
I read the track was bad on the outside (quicksand?), but Shagaf did a good job of grinding to the finish and winning.

Hi Cree,
Yes Shagaf will stay in NY and train up to the Wood. He dug in well, almost looked as if he was laboring due to the track...looking forward to his run in the Wood over the main track at Aqueduct, that should allow us to see what he is really made of? TJ