Look of Eagles – The Drive to Some Roman Numeral
Is it a coincidence that the NFL playoffs coincide with the start of our Equinics preps? I think not. While January might be a miserable time of year weather wise in most of the country, the weekend entertainment is enough to keep us glued to our computers and televisions. Of course for those of you dating a Colorado snow bunny that looks like Tara Reid before she gained 20 pounds from drinking rum and cokes every night for three years straight, by all means hit the slopes! Then again, none of us are Jake Plummer with his 80’s ‘stasche.
The entire NFL season has now been reduced to this – 11 more games. Then it’s off to speculate on whether or not Reggie Bush will be a man and give Vince Young the Heisman Trophy he stole from him and who will go to Philadelphia with the 14th pick. Will Houston take hometown (soon to be college football) legend Vince Young, or will they trade the #1 pick to the Raiders for a boatload of picks so the Raiders can pick the glorified third down back Bush? If Houston takes Young and cuts Carr, will Carr and Harrington join new teams and suddenly become winners? That isn’t as far fetched as it sounds, imagine how Carr will feel when he’s not being sacked 70 times a season and Joey will be positively giddy if he has a coach that actually talks to him. This of course is good times for us viewers as well. We get to bet on the surest thing in sports the last several years that GW Manning will choke when he plays the Patriots. We get to watch the Rex Grossman, Byron Leftwich/David Garrad, Chrissy Sims playoff debuts. How do you put a price on that?! Doesn’t the NFL deliver on every possible level?
Sidebar on football talk – did you happen to see the University of Texas cheerleaders in the Rose Bowl in all their belly revealing, chaps wearing splendor? Oh my oh my….the bluest eyes of Texas. Just drop me off in Austin. And you wonder why I had UT cheerleaders escort us to Equinics last year. See; just trust me on these things. What’s the over/under on the number that Matthew McConaughey took home with him? Did he pull a trifecta? Is there a movie star that has a better life than McConaughey? He gets to show up at celebrity golf outings, every UT football game he gets a sideline pass, Sandra Bullock is his booty call, and he gets paid $10 million or so every year when he feels like making a movie. All the while walking around in a dazed and confused state. MM, we salute you!
Yes, the NFL delivers, and it all leads up to a roman numeral of some sort that I guarantee you 90% of America can’t read. Our Equinics roman numeral is much easier – II, as in our 2nd Equinics. Hopefully a couple horses come out of these prep races this weekend that can win an Equinics race for the Simsters. If not, heck, they made for good viewing. Of course like the NFL, there will mostly likely be a couple blowouts – the beauty is, you never know when it’s going to happen, so just sit back and watch. Here are out NFL teams, which are playing, and our horses that are running in the 9.5T furlong GR Simster Thoroughbred Trial.
The Jacksonville Jaguars: (Wildest Dreams and Obliterated). Jacksonville has no playoff experience; well maybe 100-year-old Jimmy Smith beat Jimmy Johnson and Dan Mario a decade ago, but no practical experience for the Ernest Wilfords of the world. Yes, guys like Marcus Stroud have talent (actually a ton of talent) but this team is untested and being thrown to the proverbial (dire) wolves. Wildest Dreams is 0/4, but like the Jags, he does show sparks of talent placing 2nd in three of those races. However, it’s asking a lot to both break your maiden and improve 10+ points from a career high 74 @ 8 furlongs. A pedigree of Galileo (a TON of Galileo’s in this race) x Kris S. suggest he wants to run though. If he’s a legit 10+-furlong horse, he could pull off a historic upset. Which is pretty much what the Jags would be pulling if they beat Brady’s bunch. Obliterated also has talent, on the board in his last two races. However, he is also a maiden and has never routed. Going 9.5 in your first route is like Kate Beckinsale being the first girl you ever try and ask out on a date. Odds are you’re going to be stumbling over your words with a bad case of stage fright. Tapit doesn’t install a lot of confidence to get 9.5 here either. Obliterated would need to reprise the Music City Miracle for a win here. But hey, Michigan almost pulled that play off against Nebraska, which is why they play it out.
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers: (John Daniels). Tampa Bay is very steady. Good defense, good coaching staff, good fundamentals. They have solid talent that has been tested against a tough division. Tampa’s big weaknesses are QB and RB – both of whom are rookies. I don’t know about you, but I don’t remember the last time a rookie carried the load on the ground in January. Of course Chrissy Simms in the playoffs is one of the highlights of this weekend. Let’s hope Sean Taylor does his best Roy Williams Superman impression. Still, Tampa could put together a little playoff run because of Gruden and the defense. John Daniels also comes from a good training stable that relies on fundamentals. You can usually assume an SC horse will like to route and this Galileo x Danehill colt will most likely do so as well. This horse has run six times and hasn’t gotten out of the 70s yet. However, if he likes longer, he could make an upset run.
The Washington Redskins: (Hey Nineteen and Earlkonig). Washington was left for dead at 5-6, and then proceeded to win out. They are one of the hottest teams going into the playoffs, but questions abound. Is this team really that good? Can they win in the playoffs with Santana Moss and some complimentary JV receivers? How will they fare on the road and can Brunell continue playing like the 1996 Mark Brunell? Hey Nineteen has never run a mile on the turf. He’s run once at 8 on the dirt and put up a 68 SF. Out of Forty Niner, this horse looks like a sprinter and 9.5 furlongs is going to be a bridge too far. Earlkonig has run mid-70s at 7 furlongs. He’s never run a mile, and I can’t tell you if his sire is a speed or stamina influence, because much like any Redskins wide receiver that isn’t named Santana Moss, I have no idea who Paolini is. Who knows – his dam is Seattle Slew x Blushing Groom so maybe he has a shot. It’s about as confusing as trying to decide who will win the Skins and Bucs game.
The Carolina Panthers: (Broadway Storm). Carolina was every talking heads NFC darling about 6 weeks ago. This was an O.C or Desperate Housewives in their first season’s type of bandwagon. Of course then they lost (badly) to Chicago and Tampa Bay, and suddenly the bandwagon had about as much life as Skeet Ulrich’s career. Carolina talks a good game, and they certainly look like a playoff team, but they have age lines and flaws beneath the façade. They are like Cher or Madonna or Heather Locklear. Sure, at first glance they look like someone you would want to date – until you realize they are 40 or 50 and one heavy year of Grey Goose and pills away from looking like Glenn Close. Broadway Storm is a Storm Cat, which is undoubtedly why he’s the favorite, but his career high was an 87 – in a sprint. No doubt this colt has tons of talent, but at 9.5, but do you like the seat on the bandwagon?
The Cincinnati Bengals: (Proud and Bold and Alshaan). The Bengals are the Young Guns of the NFL. Carson Palmer is Charlie Sheen, Chad Johnson is Emilio Estevaz, Rudy Johnson is Chavez, TJ H. is Doc, and Chris Perry is Dirty Steve. Brash, cocky and fearless – they are like men going into battle for the first time. They haven’t yet heard the trumpets fade; right now it’s all glory road for the Bengals. Alshaan is a beautifully bred High Chapparall (you know I always mis-spell this name and I’ve decided to stop trying. Let’s see how many different ways I can spell High Chaparrall!) who is coming off an impressive maiden win with an 83 at 8 furlongs. No doubt this colt has a tremendous upside (vintage NBA term!!). Will it be today, or will he have to pay his dues? Proud and Bold is also coming off a maiden win with an 80+ SF. However, he has even more questions because he has never routed. His dam is a striking A.P. Indy x Alydar however, which leads one to believe he could route, if he can rise above the inhibiting Gone West genes which seek to make him a sprinter.
The Pittsburgh Steelers: (Lex Luthor and Salad Tongs). Experienced, war hardened, the Steelers have stood in the shield wall the NFL calls the playoffs and have been bloodied. They have had triumphs, they have had crushing defeats, but they know the lay of the ground. Every man on that team knows his duty. Every man will make the charge up the long rocky slope, through the mud and the blood to the green fields beyond. Lex Luthor and Salad Tongs are some of the most experienced horses in this race. Lex has hit the board in 4 of 5 starts and has an 86 SF at 8 furlongs. Out of Empire Maker, he is rounding into form and the battles and tests of his young career (in Smallville?) have prepared him for the dark journey ahead. Long is the road and hard the path that out of hell leads to light. Saturday may very well lead to the light for Lex. Salad Tongs is out of the brilliant young sire More Than Ready. More Than Ready has already sired a host of graded winning turf horses so you can’t discount the Salad Tongs chances. He will need to improve on his career high 77 SF, but as battle hardened as this horse is, he may simply outlast or intimidate other horses in this race.
The New York Giants: (Ravenloft). The Giants are a young team loaded with talent. The combination of Burress, Shockey and Barber can be explosive. The Giants can put up 30 points on anybody. They have a young gun at QB who has a pretty famous (though a GW) brother. This young QB has some moxey and has the support of his team, but it is unknown how he will handle his first start on the big stage. The Giants can go either way in the playoffs, they could make it to the NFC Championship game, or they could be one and done. In other words, they will go as far as Manning takes them. Ravenloft is the ¾ brother of an almost famous horse. He has been perfect in his first two starts, easily breaking his maiden and winning an allowance without breaking much of a sweat. Out of Theatrical, he draws super jockey (27% wins) Labreche which is almost like bringing Parcells back to coach the Giants. Speed figure will need to improve, but should be flying at the end.
The New England Patriots: (Zanzabar). The Patriots are the class of the NFL. They are a lock this week and will likely pull the ‘upset’ over GW and his merry band of horsies. Tom Brady is the best QB of the 2000s and will be a first ballot hall of famer. They have the winning pedigree, they are the First Knight. Zanzabar is the 50th Galileo in this race, and probably the best, at least right now. He’s coming off a monster 93 SF at 8.5 furlongs. He likes the lead and will go there, and if he opens up 5 or 6 lengths on the field, will anyone catch him? The likely winner in my mind, and while he’s not quite the lock the Patriots are, it’s going to take a huge effort to beat him.
Enjoy the races and the games, it will be fun to see which QBs, and which horses, have the look of eagles this weekend!