by Ron Gurfein

Before my Saturday report, I would like to correct an error in Friday’s Ask the Guru column. I should have said that Dr. Solomon was the breeder of No Nonsense Woman and the owner of Pin Oak Lane Farm. My apologies.

I have been asked about why my attention is concentrated on certain barns. This is not so at all. There are almost 300 horses to watch, but I only write about the ones that catch my eye. If I wrote about some ill-gaited beast that the trainer has already suggested turnout and the owner reads that I thought it was a nice horse there would be hell to pay. Many nice horses are omitted because some trainers refuse to use numbers to identify the colts and now that the season is in full swing I am assuming that the guilty parties don’t want the eyes of the industry on them.

The Deck was mobbed Saturday even on an overcast windy morning and there was plenty of vigilantes and hanging judges in the Rick Zeron case. I suggest all of you not to be judgmental until all the facts are known.

On the track, sanity seems to prevail with most of the miles in the 3:00 range. The only one I caught speeding was the Fred Grant trained and driven Power Play Goal, the Muscle Mass colt from Finesse Hanover was full of himself once again in a flashy 2:50 mile with a final panel in 38 seconds.

Tony Alagna, as usual, had the largest offering. The Muscle Hill filly Romona Hill (out of Lock Down Lindy) was great heading a bunch of pacers including Pure Essence (Western Ideal—My Little Artist) and Libspeak (Artspeak—Docdor Libby).

Sea Of Life was next with a nice 3-minute mile. The Captaintreacherous colt from Fresh Idea is as slick as they come.

Three first-time eye catchers in the next set were: Hopefully Inclined (c, Mach Three—Artistically Inclined), Captain Barbossa (c, Captaintreacherous—Swinging Beauty), and Major Risky (c, Captaintreacherous—Flyonce) all looking sharp in their work. The Mach Three colt was driven by Hall of Famer and long-time friend Cat Manzi who will be spending about a month and a half in south Florida. He still looks like a kid to me.

Force And Fury (c, Captaintreacherous—My Little Dragon) was once again a man amongst boys in a more than fantastic showing. Two more newcomers to the column were Jazz Fest (f Captaintreacherous—Jan It Jackson) and Creative Power (f, Artspeak—Shyaway both seem to have bright futures in Tony’s care.
 Odds On Daytona (c, American Ideal—Odds On Moinet) and Puzzling (c, Somebeachsomewhere—Suduko) from the Webster-Crogan Stable both looked great going one of the faster miles of the morning. Two repeat eye catchers were Pick Me Upper (c, Trixton— Pick Me Up) and Wired Sweet (f, Sweet Lou—Live Wire) both from the same barn.

Fool Who Rocks (c, Artspeak—Fool Who Rocks) made a major move for the lovely Megan Scran to come from last to first in a large mixed set of about eight colts and was well in hand doing it. The flashy colt Sixteen (Donato Hanover—Mets Inn) and a nice lass Val Halla both from the Rick Zeron stable were sharp and good gaited.

A pair of Explosive Matter homebreds looked fine on display from Jan Johnson. Hot Springs Volo, a filly from Silver Springs and Higher Call, a colt from Bruschette, went very well.

Four repeat performers from Paul Kelley looked great again: Amos Hart (c Trixton—Zeta Jones), Tumult (c Father Patrick—Graceful Kelly), Mambo (f Yankee Glide—Dance To Market) and Flying Glider (f Cantab Hall—Highland Glider) were all good gaited in a fairly quick mile.

Unnamed (f Love You—Born Lindy), Unnamed (f Muscle Hill—Moms Millionaire) and Sweet Lucille (f Sweet Lou—Dancin Barefoot) for Lindy Farm (Domenico Cecere) all looked very professional finishing the mile together.

Please note that if you are not familiar with Sunshine Meadows the speeds recorded are far slower than the normal stone dust tracks or clay tracks in other areas. A mile in 3:00 here is equivalent to a mile in 2:45 on a track like the Meadowlands or any good training track for that matter. In the years I used this facility I would rarely beat 2:20 with my colts before going to New Jersey. Those horses would easily trot 2:08 when we reached the Meadowlands or even Pocono Downs. So keep that in mind as I report training miles in the future.

Please keep the questions coming to Ask The Guru and have a wonderful week.