MAXXAM Past-posting
I hate to get involved in “past-posting” and woulda, shoulda, coulda, but I want to apologize for not doing my part to help everyone here cash on Saturday night’s MAXXAM Gold Cup at Sam Houston. I had some real opinions on this race, but the week got away from me and I never got a chance to finish my preview and get it posted. Naturally, the horses I liked all did well and I had nothing to show for it. In fact, I never even got a chance to see the race.
What I can tell you is that there are two great new exhibitions at museums in Houston, the Everyday People show of photography at the Menil Collection and Louisville native Sam Gilliam’s retrospective at the Contemporary Arts Museum. Back to back openings on Thursday and Friday, plus the arrival of my family for the weekend, kept me too busy to get to or even think about the races.
The only racing-related part of my weekend came when I found out that the father of the curator of the current CAMH exhibition, Jonathan Binstock, owned a few stakes winners in New York in the Eighties and supposedly had one 3-year-old that was a brief player on the Derby Trail before clipping heels with General Assembly and suffering a serious injury. Not that I checked any of this for accuracy, I just found it interesting. The art world is full of people who used to own racehorses.
Anyway, for the record, here’s my incomplete analysis of the MAXXAM. I would not have picked the winner, Student Council, but I encouraged wheeling the consistent Texas-bred Goosey Moose in third! The trifecta paid $239.20. Not that I had it.
THIS SATURDAY NIGHT, IT’S OUR FAVORITE ALL-CAPITAL-LETTER STAKES EVENT, THE MAXXAM GOLD CUP AT SAM HOUSTON RACE PARK.
This year’s MAXXAM is an awesome race, whether you’re interested in sport or wagering. It’s got three of my favorite Texas-breds, two of which have legitimate shots of winning (and a third who will almost surely win once I’ve proclaimed him overmatched).
More importantly, the shippers are a quality group of established stakes winners and promising allowance winners.
One exercise that always helps my handicapping is writing a bit about each horse in a race, forcing me to look a little closer and often discover a supposed outsider who is actually quite competitive. That said, let’s look at the field…
ANDANIGHT
There are actually four Texas-breds in the MAXXAM, and this is the one that isn’t one of my three favorites. The gray has been hopelessly overmatched in recent tries against other state-breds and shows no evidence of being able to get nine furlongs.
MIDDLEWEIGHT
Let’s get ready to ruuuummmmbllllle! The defending champ doesn’t show as good of form as he did coming into last year’s race, but the work in the slop is promising and I’ve always respected Stall. Factor in that 46-percent second-off-the-layoff clip in a 13-start sample and this one looks dangerous for the repeat. If the bettors lay off this could be a cagey value play.
GOLDEN GLEN
After three in-the-money finishes, including a win, in 50k claimers, Barnett hopes he can sneak over from New Orleans and steal one of our nice pots. But let me tell you, it’s not that easy. A hundred-grander is a hundred-grander whether it’s in Houston (or the suburbs of Houston) or New Orleans or Lexington. This one looks like a contender in many ways, but don’t fall for it.
CHARMING SOCIALITE
Is a monster sprinter, and I love him, but not in this spot. I’d be happy to be wrong about that. Larry Taylor can do no wrong right now and he’s one of my favorites as far as getting the most out of every horse he rides. I’m watching American Idol right now, which explains why I’m thinking, “Sorry, sweetheart, but it’s a no.”
MR. PURSUIT
This guy proved he’s for real with three wins over some serious horses, many of them older, at the end of last year. I don’t recall Petalino making a habit out of working his nice ones extraordinarily fast, which makes me think he’s breezing bullets without trying too hard. Has the right style, a very good trainer who knows how to point to big races, and the dependable Cliff “The Man of Constant Sorrow” Berry in the saddle.
STUDENT COUNCIL
I remember seeing this horse at Saratoga last summer. He developed a small but rabid cult following amongst the staff of the Saratoga Special due to the fact that he was one of the most perfect-looking horses on the grounds, which says something at a place teeming with the world’s most beautiful racehorses. But it ain’t a beauty pageant, as they say, and those striking good looks never did the son of Kingmambo much good in New York. Howard seems to be coming around to the fact that the horse runs better on dirt, but this is a tall order.
REAL ECHO
There must be better spots out there for this horse. He got drilled in his last two starts of 2006 against $25,000 claimers in Kentucky before a decent allowance win over this track. He’s way overmatched and I just don’t get why he’s here. Must be that famous MAXXAM Fever.
GOOSEY MOOSE
This old guy always gives his best, but I’m afraid that’s not good enough in this race. However, as consistent as he is, especially here in Houston, he’s very appealing as a horse to key on the bottom of your exotics. Can’t decide who you like to win? Take this lovable old guy and use him to hit the board and maybe you’ll catch an upset winner and have two longshots that’ll produce a sweet score.
MORE THAN REGAL
He supposedly had a bad trip when Mr. Pursuit beat him straight-up in the Oklahoma Derby, and it’s very difficult to separate the two. The horse he beat last time that the past performances show was a next-out winner, Guiding Hand,
And that's as far as I got.
What I can tell you is that there are two great new exhibitions at museums in Houston, the Everyday People show of photography at the Menil Collection and Louisville native Sam Gilliam’s retrospective at the Contemporary Arts Museum. Back to back openings on Thursday and Friday, plus the arrival of my family for the weekend, kept me too busy to get to or even think about the races.
The only racing-related part of my weekend came when I found out that the father of the curator of the current CAMH exhibition, Jonathan Binstock, owned a few stakes winners in New York in the Eighties and supposedly had one 3-year-old that was a brief player on the Derby Trail before clipping heels with General Assembly and suffering a serious injury. Not that I checked any of this for accuracy, I just found it interesting. The art world is full of people who used to own racehorses.
Anyway, for the record, here’s my incomplete analysis of the MAXXAM. I would not have picked the winner, Student Council, but I encouraged wheeling the consistent Texas-bred Goosey Moose in third! The trifecta paid $239.20. Not that I had it.
THIS SATURDAY NIGHT, IT’S OUR FAVORITE ALL-CAPITAL-LETTER STAKES EVENT, THE MAXXAM GOLD CUP AT SAM HOUSTON RACE PARK.
This year’s MAXXAM is an awesome race, whether you’re interested in sport or wagering. It’s got three of my favorite Texas-breds, two of which have legitimate shots of winning (and a third who will almost surely win once I’ve proclaimed him overmatched).
More importantly, the shippers are a quality group of established stakes winners and promising allowance winners.
One exercise that always helps my handicapping is writing a bit about each horse in a race, forcing me to look a little closer and often discover a supposed outsider who is actually quite competitive. That said, let’s look at the field…
ANDANIGHT
There are actually four Texas-breds in the MAXXAM, and this is the one that isn’t one of my three favorites. The gray has been hopelessly overmatched in recent tries against other state-breds and shows no evidence of being able to get nine furlongs.
MIDDLEWEIGHT
Let’s get ready to ruuuummmmbllllle! The defending champ doesn’t show as good of form as he did coming into last year’s race, but the work in the slop is promising and I’ve always respected Stall. Factor in that 46-percent second-off-the-layoff clip in a 13-start sample and this one looks dangerous for the repeat. If the bettors lay off this could be a cagey value play.
GOLDEN GLEN
After three in-the-money finishes, including a win, in 50k claimers, Barnett hopes he can sneak over from New Orleans and steal one of our nice pots. But let me tell you, it’s not that easy. A hundred-grander is a hundred-grander whether it’s in Houston (or the suburbs of Houston) or New Orleans or Lexington. This one looks like a contender in many ways, but don’t fall for it.
CHARMING SOCIALITE
Is a monster sprinter, and I love him, but not in this spot. I’d be happy to be wrong about that. Larry Taylor can do no wrong right now and he’s one of my favorites as far as getting the most out of every horse he rides. I’m watching American Idol right now, which explains why I’m thinking, “Sorry, sweetheart, but it’s a no.”
MR. PURSUIT
This guy proved he’s for real with three wins over some serious horses, many of them older, at the end of last year. I don’t recall Petalino making a habit out of working his nice ones extraordinarily fast, which makes me think he’s breezing bullets without trying too hard. Has the right style, a very good trainer who knows how to point to big races, and the dependable Cliff “The Man of Constant Sorrow” Berry in the saddle.
STUDENT COUNCIL
I remember seeing this horse at Saratoga last summer. He developed a small but rabid cult following amongst the staff of the Saratoga Special due to the fact that he was one of the most perfect-looking horses on the grounds, which says something at a place teeming with the world’s most beautiful racehorses. But it ain’t a beauty pageant, as they say, and those striking good looks never did the son of Kingmambo much good in New York. Howard seems to be coming around to the fact that the horse runs better on dirt, but this is a tall order.
REAL ECHO
There must be better spots out there for this horse. He got drilled in his last two starts of 2006 against $25,000 claimers in Kentucky before a decent allowance win over this track. He’s way overmatched and I just don’t get why he’s here. Must be that famous MAXXAM Fever.
GOOSEY MOOSE
This old guy always gives his best, but I’m afraid that’s not good enough in this race. However, as consistent as he is, especially here in Houston, he’s very appealing as a horse to key on the bottom of your exotics. Can’t decide who you like to win? Take this lovable old guy and use him to hit the board and maybe you’ll catch an upset winner and have two longshots that’ll produce a sweet score.
MORE THAN REGAL
He supposedly had a bad trip when Mr. Pursuit beat him straight-up in the Oklahoma Derby, and it’s very difficult to separate the two. The horse he beat last time that the past performances show was a next-out winner, Guiding Hand,
And that's as far as I got.
posted by Jimbo @ 1/28/2007 02:38:00 PM
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