I love it.
Today was the fan-tab-u-lous Travers Stakes (gr. 1) at historic Saratoga Racecourse in New York.
And even though all eyes were on the return of the highly regarded Quality Road, I still went for the bird. And that was most certainly the wise choice.
Earlier last week, Mine That Bird was pulled from consideration for this race because he was still recovering from some minor throat surgery. So that left me the other bird to root for.
The Belmont Stakes winner, Summer Bird.
And he delivered.
Summer Bird wins the Travers
Coglianese Photos/Blood Horse
It was an extremely sloppy track, as just as much as it had rained here, it had rained there.
Messy, messy, messy. I always hate a sloppy track because the poor surface makes me nervous for the safety of the horses. But everything went quite well. Coincidentally, Summer Bird's sire, Birdstone (also Mine That Bird's sire) also won the Belmont and the Travers in 2004. How ironic.
Or should I say ICONIC?
Quality Road was trying to make an impressive comeback, as he has been out of contention for months. He was an early Derby favorite. But he just didn't fire today.
Summer Bird had a great trip, just cruising along till he made his move. He then proceeded to win by an easy 3 1/2 lengths. It probably cemented his favoritism for the 3 year-old colt of the year prize, unless Mine That Bird has something else up his sleeve - (like a Breeders' Cup Classic win???)...
Naturally I picked Summer Bird in my handicapping game, and had Quality Road second - but he ended up third. Oh well, I still had the winner.
And that is always cool.
I wonder what the winner of eight straight races - the formidable Rachel Alexandra -would have done to this group of boys. But hey, she's already beat the 3 year old colts.
Next week she runs against the older boys - in the Woodward.
I really think she is looking at Horse of the Year....unless something else occurs.
Wait for it...
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