Thursday’s race will be a good test for Tahitian Queen. You will get a chance to see if she takes to the turf. She has a running style that fits this course, an off the pace attack approach. But her breeding is not overly strong for turf. Her sire, Western Playboy, is a 4% turf debut sire. The dam sire, Meadowlake, is 5%.
I looked at the BRIS past performances. Their Prime Power number, which combines several factors to determine the top contenders, has TQ ranked on top. Great, but the unknown is the new surface combined with the added distance.
The morning line is 10 – 1.
There are powerhouse trainers in here this time. Mac Robertson has a pair entered. David Van Winkle has a class dropper. And Tammy also has another horse entered that will be trying the turf for the first time. That filly appears to be working very well.
When your trainer has 32 horses, eventually she will have to have more than one horse in a race to keep everyone happy. There are not many chances to run on the turf in a conditioned claimer.
While the race is tough, she fits here and should do well for you if she likes turf. Mac’s horse Prophesy figures to be the favorite and Martin Lozano has a runner that is in good form.
We will talk with Tammy Wednesday and post some video
JM
Canterbury Racing Club 
We had over 200 people in CBY College, and the ownership group idea was to learn about and get a taste for race horse ownwership ins and outs. There were only 60 shares to award, but it turns out we have a 1 year old with a share…who is now being touted (KARE 11 story) as the cute human interest factor of our group. I know several classmates that tried to get in and now are more disappointed than when they were first told the spots had been filled. Maybe next time there will be a more defined sign-up process?
The demand was greater than expected, to be sure. The young girl is actually the granddaughter of a Canterbury College member. Bringing family members into the group is a great way to build interest in the game.jm
No such thing as a dumb question right?, here we go then: so if turf is a little easier on the horses than the dirt, does that mean the pace will be faster or slower? You mentioned TQ's "attack approach" style so do you mean that she would be held back for, say the first 1/2 of the race? How would a horse that had strong breeding for turf differ from one that was not? And last, I'm guessing that the jockey plays the biggest role in TQ's turf debut?
Turf racing is different because the horses go slower early and faster late. The distance is longer also so the pace will be slower.TQ has been able to sit off the pace in sprints and finish well. That style fits the way races are won on this course. But she needs to take to the surface and the added distance.The breesing numbers I gave out are based on the success of other offspring of the sire and damsire. Some horses outrun their breeding. Western Playboy is not thought of as a turf producer. The Tomlinson number in the DRF can be used as a rule of thumb to gauge sires. But the trainer and jock have a lot of influence and you are in very good shape there.
What are some of the more common reasons TQ would be scratched for this race?
From the looks of the past performances it is going to be an interesting race. It is interesting to see that she fits in well with this group and some of them were quite pricey at auction. It looks like it will cool off a bit by Thursday and hopefully no rain so we will all be comfortable watching out favorite filly go for 3 in a row!See yall on Thursday!
This is interesting.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g_Z6Z-7B9igThe above is a video of Western Playboy (TQ's daddy) winning the 1989 Blue Grass Stakes. Looks like TQ runs like her daddy..More on Western Playboyhttp://www.bloodhorse.com/articleindex/article.asp?id=39228
Why do horses scratch: there can be a number of reasons. One a trainer may scratch outto enter in a race the next day. That is usally arranged with the racing office so that both races can have large fields.Each race day the state vet and crew inspect every horse entered to run. If there is a soundness issue the horse will not be allowed to race. Alsoif the horse is sick the trainer will scratch. We saw that happen early in the meet when an illness, similar to a cold, got a hold of a number of 2yos.Sometimes a horse's papers are not in order or owner's licsensing is incomplete. In those cases the stewards will scratch a horse.We saw something happen last weekend that is rare but happens. Four hours before racetime a veternarian will come to the barn to administer lasix. There must be a someone from the barn there at that time. If there is not, and the horse does not receive lasix at the appropriate time, the horse will be scratched.Then of course scratches happen when a horse gets loose either on the way to the track or on the track. Seems like there as many things that can wrong as can go right.jm
Could you explain: When a horse is changing leads. What it means, when it takes place,and how to watch for it. Is it something a horse naturally knows how to do, or is it something they must be taught.Steve