medlocke

Boy what a turnaround Tom Hogan has made in Gordon Lord Byron's career. Just over a year ago he was still running in class 3 and 4 handicaps, mostly on the all-weather at Dundalk in Ireland. A year later he's gone to York and won the listed City of York Stakes. Then 2nd in the G1 Betfred Sprint Cup at Haydock. Stepped up to 7f at Longchamp to win the G1 Prix De La Foret, then up to a mile to run 4th in the G1 Hong Kong Mile behind 3 of the fastest horses in Hong Kong in Ambitous Dragon, Glorious Days, and Packing OK. And if not for a late bump he got from Packing OK he might have finished 3rd in the race. Very impressed with how this horse is progressing.

So You Think had the box seat, and every chance in the world to win the DWC, and just wasn't good enough. He's had his go now on conventional dirt in the BC Classic and on synthetics in this race. I hope Aidan O'Brien will leave him racing solely on turf now? Where appears to be at his best.

Love this horse!! He's just been so good for the past 2 seasons at Meydan, and on both surfaces. He's either been winning or at the very least, making the frame, in every race he's been running in. Whether it's been on turf or tapeta. The opening quarter of the Golden Shaheen was the fastest quarter ever ran at Meydan racetrack.

DubaiRaceNight.com's Pat Cummings called this outcome in the Al Quoz Sprint right down to the ground. He said all the rest were running for 2nd place $$$ behind Ortensia. Spot on Pat!!

Best he's looked since he won the Royal Lodge Stakes at Newmarket last season. Really like this colt. Aidan's talking about bringing him back to CD for the Kentucky Derby.

A real tragedy to lose this horse. Fox Hunt really and truly was starting to come into his own as one of the premier stayers in Europe. I had initially thought he had just clipped heals with another horse, and would probably get right back up? But Pat Cummings from DubaiRaceNight.com told TVG that Fox Hunt had broken his right front leg. Such a tragedy.

From this morning's Racing Post web-site: Eishin Flash will join Transcend and Smart Falcon as the 3rd entry from Japan for the 2012 Dubai World Cup.

Do It All was a reserve for the G2 Zabeel Mile, and didn't even get into the field until this morning when Rock Jock was a late scratch. Do It All had finished 14th in first carnival start and 11th in the G2 Al Fahidi Fort, beaten a combined 42 lengths in both races. But today, he took the G2 Zabeel Mile field gate to wire to claim what's by far the biggest win of his career to date. Terrific ride by jockey Silvestre De Sousa aboard Do It All.

From Dubairacenight.com: After beating Xtension and California Memory, barely off the bridal, over the weekend at Sha Tin in the Stewards Cup, it's just been announced that it's possible Ambitious Dragon will run in the G1 Dubai Duty Free on world cup night on March 31st!!!

The last truly great rivalry between 2 brilliant American horses, IMO, was the Sunday Silence vs. Easy Goer rivalry back in 1989. But I do believe had he not broken down in the 2006 Preakness that Barbaro and Bernardini had the potential to become that same kind of rivalry on the same scale. TJMO.