rogueclown

why am i not surprised you picked Frosted? :) as for me? hands down, my favourite race of the year was the Isaac Murphy Handicap. seeing Puntsville, my favourite horse in training, outduel Richies Sweetheart on the front end and still stay on to win? that girl has some guts.

thank you -- i hope you do, or did! i had so much fun writing that piece...love learning about great races, and solid Illinois-breds!

the Chicken Flamingo! i learned about this race when i was doing a piece about Abe's Hope last year (http://www.shapperdacapper.com/chicago-railbird-off-track-edition-a-look-at-one-of-the-few-illinois-breds-to-make-the-kentucky-derby )...not going to lie, i still wish Abe's Hope had hung on...but that was amazing by Buckpasser, to just get back in gear like that.

i agree that Tepin is the one to beat...but if anyone upsets, i hope it's Loyree!

Valid is such an honest horse. i'm so happy he won yesterday.

cheers to that. the Hawthorne games are my favourites, and i have so much enjoyed playing them this meet.

yes, Giant Oak did run well in the Clark -- and yes, The Pizza Man is Illinois-bred. so is last year's BC Sprint winner, Work All Week.

glad you had a great time at Hawthorne this weekend -- and glad i got to meet you out there! Hawthorne is my favourite track, and what you've written here does a great job capturing why. it's unpretentious, friendly -- the sort of place you go very specifically because you want to watch or play horse races.

cheers to that. Looks to Spare ran huge...he will go down in the annals of pretty darn good $5,000 claims. between that, and the fact that he is an Illinois-bred, i loved seeing him run so well today.

Keen Ice was my first and primary Derby Trail love, but i really got to love Dortmund as well. I'm so glad he's coming back, and really hope he passes the tests against better older company. Going into the Derby, I was convinced he was going to prove the better of the Baffert pair...and though that didn't quite pan out at age three, I am glad Dortmund is on the track, and excited to see what he can do going forward.