Disappointment in Virginia

Well, I had planned to go on at length this week about the Virginia Derby to be run on Saturday at Colonial Downs. However, Nicanor, the 3-year old full-brother to the ill-fated Barbaro apparently suffered an undisclosed leg injury sometime this week and will no longer compete in the race. Favoritism will now most likely fall upon Battle of Hastings, the winner of the Colonial Turf Cup earlier in the Colonial Downs meet. Nicanor was actually the morning-line favorite for this race and I certainly hope that his injury is a minor one that will allow him to heal quickly and return to the races in top form. He has shown flashes of brilliance in his last two races and horse racing as a whole could certainly use a healthy and talented Nicanor in the spotlight.

My whopping two-week streak of picking winners came to a screeching halt last weekend with the second place finish of Benny the Bull at 1-2 in the Smile Sprint Handicap at Calder Race Course in Florida. This week I am going to go with Unbridled Belle in the Grade 2, $1,000,000 Delaware Handicap. She won the Obeah Stakes here on June 20 by 11 lengths and appears to be in top form coming into this race. On paper, her only serious challenger appears to be Acoma, who has won five of her last six starts while competing on both dirt and turf. Personally, I think Acoma is a better runner on the turf than on the dirt, but with a purse of one-million dollars, the Del Cap is a hard race to pass up. She definitely looms as a threat to the favorite, but Unbridled Belle seems to absolutely love the surface at Delaware Park, as she is five for seven lifetime over the strip. 

Horse racing has had serious problems over the last year or two getting it's big races televised on a national level. The Triple Crown and it's prep-races receive coverage on ESPN, and the Breeder's Cup and a select few of it's preps also make their way onto ESPN. However, almost every weekend, there is top-class racing somewhere in the country that those outside of a simulcast facility have very little chance of seeing. Horse-racing-only stations like TVG and HRTV are excellent for those who prefer to bet from home, but for a more mainstream audience, they provide very little exposure. I wonder if a station like Versus (Vs.) would be willing to give a thirty minute or one hour slot on Saturdays to showcase the top races of the day. The viewership level on Vs. is almost certainly higher than HRTV or TVG, and horse racing would seem to fit into the category of the type of sport that they would be interested in broadcasting. Just a thought. Anyhoo, get well soon Nicanor and let's go Unbridled Belle!