In salute to Geegee
By ITCH
Today, we salute the great Geegee.
Mr. Garbaccio, the father of the beloved W.Va. trainers Bob123g and Wassie, passed away last week at the age of 85.
What an honor it was to have a classy horseman like Geegee here in our contests at West Virginia. We will be forever grateful, and never will forget him. It is the Garbaccio family that is the backbone of the W.Va. Stakes Competition, and there will be a proper, permanent recognition of the patriarch of that family here at Old Waterford.
Well done, Geegee. It was a great life you lived.
After a flurry of point scoring in the last few weeks, there are no contest horses in this week’s feature, the NOVEMBER LAUNCH BONANZA for 2yo colts going 7.5 furlongs on the dirt.
Two weeks ago, Wassie was ready and waiting for a 2yo filly stake, and capitalized with eight points when he caught a short field of four and his girls ran one-two.
It turns out no contest trainer was pointing for this week’s race, although Bob123g has RISSOTO BG from his bobg9 barn, and one might think that might be Buzzfarms at the controls of APT TO WIN from the buzz43 outfit.
At the top of the rankings is juliotto’s EXCLUSIVE HAACK, a son of Mineshaft who had his perfect 2-2 record spoiled last out when off the board in his third career start. Juliotto is a solid Sim veteran, having won 78 career races from 424 starters for a healthy 18 percent strike rate. He bred Exclusive Haack from his Grade G Mr. Purple mare, FEARLESS V. It’s the first time he’s used the mare since 2002, when she went to Danzig to produce the useful allowance dirt sprinter HAACK PROSPECT, who continues to race in the juliotto colors. Exclusive Haack has plenty of rest to attempt this jump in class and distance. Look for him to be a little closer to the pace, then we’ll see how he handles the litmus test of the lane. Leading jock S. Tate in the irons hurts none at all.
Five horses are tied at the top with four stakes points.
Next is sdmfclaims’ SOLD AMERICAN(IRE). This scratch-bred son of Black Tie Affair is one of these juveniles with inflated earnings from winning an owner-restricted race with a big purse. He won $45,000 in his debut, then was badly beaten in his last two, the last of which was the Grade I Hoserhead Juvenile. The horse has to be respected for the fact he’s exiting a Grade I, and sdmfclaims is having a pretty good year earnings-wise with $240,000 in the bank for 2006. Also, he’s raced at or near the distance, which is an experience advantage over others in here who are stretching out for the first time.
HEAVENLY TRICK, an undefeated son of Favorite Trick for the spurious barn, already has proven versatility in only two career races. How so? Well, he’s won at two different distances: 4.5 and 6 furlongs. Also, he’s won on a dry track and on an off track. Maybe the best argument in his favor is the fact he’s won over this track, cruising home two lengths clear in a short N2L field of five last out. That race could not have taken much out of him. Stretching out, he should be right there all the way and have a big say in the outcome. Spurious has big hopes for this star of the stable, and a win here would be cause for major optimism. Too bad Tate jumps off, but Ba. Davis is a very capable hand, especially on the front end.
POLLARD’S DANCE for the carpedium barn is going right to the front. This son of Pollard’s Vision has made the lead in all but one of his five career races, that one being his lone stake try, in which he faded to eighth. Carpedium may be looking to maximize the early effectiveness of this one’s speed from the gate, stretching out into what looks like a sure spot to send. Congratulations to the barn for recently joining the illustrious 100-win club. The outfit now sits on 101 victories, and taking down No. 102 here would be a sweet one. He’s on the Bill Daly.
Pardon us if we root a bit for RISSOTTO BG in this spot. Vegas Bob is the best and staunchest supporter of W.Va. racing, and he deserves a nice win here, even if not from a contest barn. Rissotto BG, a son of Alysheba, surely has been bred with plenty of that good, old-timey horsemanship imparted by Geegee to his sons. He brings a two-race winning streak into this one, never having lost since being stretched out to 6.5 furlongs. The fact that he’s improved with more ground gives us a good feeling about his chances here, as does that nice 79 speed fig in his last race. He might be the stayer of the bunch. Go get ‘em, Bob.
Now we drop to the only 2yo left in this race with a stakes point. DOC HOLIDAY, a blue, blue blood son of Silver Deputy for the Citation outfit, has one. With all the speed in here, this one may be in for a good trip, as he showed come-from-behind ability in his last one to finish third, going nearly today’s distance, seven furlongs. Like Rissotto BG, he suggests an ability to get the distance, which surely some of these fast runners are going to lack in here. With more than 1,300 races under the belt and more than 150 wins, Citation has seen most Sim tricks at least twice. Surely, the operator of this barn will be keen enough to check in the jockey’s boots for the whiskey flask when giving a leg up to grizzled old Jocko Maloney, who never met a closer he didn’t love. The Irish immigrant will try to swoop ‘em late and would benefit from a hot pace.
The rest of ‘em have no stakes points at all.
BOTH SIDES WIN for the 5hefffsbarn won his maiden nicely with a good speed fig of 77 last out. First race against winners is always a tough spot, but who knows? This barn has more than 1,000 Sim races under the belt and surely knows the way around the condition book. This is the first offspring for the barn’s Grade F mare BARB’S REALLY TOP(IRE), who was a hard-knocking allowance dirt sprinter.
APT TO WIN for the buzz43 barn also makes his first start against winners here. Unlike several of the others, this one regressed speed-figure wise in his second start, even though he won. A son of Aptitude,this one has gate speed and figures to be right in the middle of the early mix with several others.
Finally, we have VELOCITY ROGUE for the seedly barn. This one’s racing record is virtually identical to Both Sides Win and Apt to Win. They all have started twice with a place and a win and face winners for the first time here. This one, however, won over this track last out, and will come from off the pace. It looks for all the world like it ought to set up perfect for him. Like Heavenly Trick, he loses the services of Tate. Tiggle has a fair win percentage but we don’t have much a read on his preferred riding style.
GOOD LUCK EVERYBODY!!!!!