Look of Eagles – October Road
Welcome to the GR Simster’s Breeder’s Cup Championships. Today you’ll get a double feature, coverage of the Filly & Mare Turf and a breakdown of this television season’s hotties. Considering that the 7/2 favorite in today’s race has lost her last 5 races by a combined 48 lengths and hasn’t won in a year, it might be easier to begin by handicapping this season’s television characters. Let’s take a look at the list:
12-1 Michelle (Scream Queens VH1) – Scream Queens is a can’t miss idea, a reality show which is trying to find an actress to star in a horror movie (Saw VI….6 of them, really?? ) The show is surprisingly well done, as the aspiring actresses have to compete in challenges that are actually relevant to what they are trying to win. Michelle is the best looking of the group and has all the accolades you would expect for a 21 yr old actress wannabe (cheerleader, beauty pageant winner, etc…hey let’s try this acting thing!). She gets bonus points for being a Michelle since all Michelle’s get to claim the GnR song “My Michelle”.
10-1 Olivia (Fringe FOX) – Olivia tries to do her Dana Scully imitation each week as an FBI agent trying to solve bizarre cases. I feel Fringe has potential, but I find it vaguely annoying that she is always getting into these dangerous situations without a partner. The FBI doesn’t have backup? She is really an amalgamation of Mulder and Scully as she’s both a believer like Mulder and has analytical skills like Scully. Whether or not this works remains to be seen. I was skeptical about Olivia when I first saw the promos for Fringe, but her and her freckles quickly grow on you. Plus she gets to pull out her gun almost every episode.
8-1 Jessica (Charm School VH1) – I’m not sure what the girls of Charm School 2 are supposed to ‘learn’ from Sharon Osborne, but it always makes for entertaining trash TV. Jessica returns from Rock of Love, and she’s the typical girl next door who wants to hang out with a bad crowd to try and be cool. Somehow, Jessica interned at NASA. Her looks must have exploded in a span of 6 months. Jessica’s story is a familiar one, good girl suddenly gets super hot, hangs out with the wrong crowd and gets into drugs, alcohol and one night stands. She crashes and hits bottom, then gets married, moves to the suburbs of Point Pleasant and lives some version of Wisteria Lane.
7-1 Kristy Joe (Charm School VH1) – Kristy Joe’s stock has taken a worse beating than Circuit City. She would have ranked right near the top of this list back on her Rock of Love days, but her whole I went on a reality show to find love but was still married, though I have a restraining order against my husband and am getting my marriage annulled but on the reunion show I’m getting back together with him act played very thin. Kristy Joe is also insane. She’s a bipolar mess who emotionally fluctuates from crazy to tears to possessive to who knows what. But hey, at her best she is smoking hot. A lot of baggage doesn’t even scratch the surface here.
6-1 Silver (90210 CW) – Silver made a great initial impression. She that cool girl who knows all about great music and is a horror aficionado. I mean who looks like that and references Rob Zombie’s House of a 1000 Corpses? She has an endless supply of cool t-shirts yet still looks great in a black dress. Silver actually has few faults but she is borderline anorexic, which is never attractive. Get some Gibson’s steaks into her and she’ll be moving up this list.
6-1 Cameron (Terminator: Sarah Connor Chronicles FOX) – Cameron plays the improbably gorgeous Terminator who is John Connor’s bodyguard in the vastly underrated FOX show. Here is a question I have for the Terminator Universe though…remember in the Matrix when they are sitting around in the real world eating what looks like baby food and they are discussing how did the machines know what chicken tasted like? Well, how does Sky net know that humans react well to attractive members of their species? Machines are mostly about utility, and attractive looks, while perhaps being beneficial in a social society, carry benefits that would not be readily apparent to machines. Yet the last two Terminators we have seen (in Terminator 3 and this show) have been model like beauties.
5-1 Megan (Privileged CW) – Megan is the nanny/tutor to a couple rich kids in the new series Privileged. She looks a lot like Amy Adams from Enchanted fame. Megan is the complete package, funny, smart, beautiful and has a unique look. She has all the qualities that made Julia Roberts a star back in the early 90s (you forget how charming young Julia was).
9-2 Lois Lane (Smallville CW) – I have to say I have never been a fan of Smallville’s Lois Lane. They brought her on the show too early, and then they realized they had no storyline’s for her and she just kind of languished in the background. Smallville in general has been awful for the last two years, it went from being a show all about Americana to some plodding, boring mess getting by on a Superman logo. However, Lois has made a huge comeback this year. Perhaps it is because they are moving Clark and Lois together, or maybe the show actually hired writers again and has given her some great lines. Whatever it is, Lois is really shining, so of course Smallville doesn’t have her in the last episode at all. Sometimes these shows need a director of common sense.
4-1 Naomi (90210 CW) – It took a few episodes for Naomi to grow on me. When 90210 first started, it seemed she was going to be the typical rich brat. However, she has been able to provide some depth to her character, which has made her likable to go along with her knock out looks. She gets major bonus points for being able to do her hair in 50 different ways.
3-1 Destiney –(Charm School VH1) – This is as large a reversal as Kristy Joe falling. Destiney was crazy, loud, and annoying in Rock of Love, and then she showed up on I Love Money and was a completely different person. Destiney morphed into a cool reformed rocker girl who still liked to have fun but balanced that with tons of likeability, and a nice tan. It might have helped that she looked like Jackie O compared to the slores on I Love Money. She also has A+ blue/grey eyes. Destiney looks like she is continuing this upward trend on Charm School.
2-1 Supernatural Field (Supernatural CW) – One of the great things about Supernatural, which is the best show on television right now, is that in almost every episode they have a new girl, and she is always, without fail, a beauty. Now its fourth season, Supernatural is reaching new heights and if you aren’t watching this show, you should be.
Now that I’ve set you for whom to watch this fall TV season, let’s see who will be making noise on the track Saturday.
Crusher of Hope draws the #1 spot and goes off at 8/1. She is one of several 3 year olds who could dominate this race. Incidentally all the 3 year olds are great prices so there is some potential money to be made here. This daughter of Awesome Again (out of a Sadler’s Wells mare) is a winner of 5 of 7 starts. She is intriguing because she comes in having won her last two races both by 3 ¼ lengths, but she hasn’t really faced top-level competition. She started her career winning three straight races, but was beaten badly when moving up to stakes competition. This will again be the question facing Crusher of Hope on Saturday, but her trainer has done everything possible to make her ready for this race, it’s all up to the horse now.
In the #2 spot is Lemon Drop Fan, who is a daughter of Lemon Drop Kid as her name would suggest. This 3-year-old filly opens at 15/1. Among the three wins in her career is a stakes win at 9 furlongs on the turf. She was beaten by 10+ lengths last time out at 11 furlongs. The drop down to ten today should help her some, but she will have to improve quite a bit to be a factor here. Perhaps a try on the dirt might be in order for this clearly talented filly who just hasn’t found her comfort zone as of yet.
The veteran Excuse tries to show the youngsters a thing or two and is listed at 6/1. She is a winner of over $500K and has an impressive ten wins to her name. Excuse is a 5 years old now, though this daughter of Peintre Celebre still might be a factor. She won a stakes at 10.5f back in March with a 109 SF though based on how the rest of the year has gone that might have been her last hurrah. In spring and early summer she was beaten badly at 10 and 11. She came back to win a 10f allowance two back, but then lost badly in a graded try. Excuse may have another big number in her, but it’s a risky bet based on her recent history.
Menzoberranzan is a 3-year-old daughter of Sakhee and comes into this race in excellent form. Menzoberranzan has won 5 of her last 6, including the last three, with her last effort being a gate to wire win in the G3 Freiermuth Stakes. She will take on several of the other 3 year old fillies she faced in that race here Saturday. Menzoberranzan is ½ sister to Verlander, the GR Simster’s 2007 Preakness Winner. She is coming off a career high 111 SF, so she is a candidate for a bounce. She will take the lead and dare all comers to catch her. A definite factor. And you thought I was going to tell you what she was named after didn’t you?
The second place finisher in the Freiermuth is Famous Indy who will attempt to run down Menzoberranzan and will cash at 6/1 if she does so. She has a monster pedigree of A.P Indy x Sadler’s Wells x Gone West. Famous Indy has not won in her last five races, so one could easily envision her continuing the move forward she exhibited last time out and ending up in the winner’s circle. Of course she faces the same possibility of bouncing that Menzoberranzan must deal with. Big time contender.
I was a big fan of Kitten’s Joy when I visited the Ramsey farm in Kentucky. He is the sire of 19/1 shot Into the West. I love the name, good mini-series. I don’t like this 4 year old’s chances as much. Or not at all as it may be. She’s won 2 of 34 career starts and that doesn’t look to change Saturday. However, as I always say, you can’t win if you don’t play so I commend the trainer for taking a chance.
Southern Speight is also 19/1, and while you might think this would be more based on pedigree, this 3-year-old daughter of Speightstown can actually get this distance. The big problem facing Southern Speight is that she’s a frontrunner and Menzoberranzan looks to be a significantly faster frontrunner so she will have to either stalk the pace or run a career race, though even if she does, will she have enough to hold off the closers after dueling with Menzoberranzan for nine furlongs? She has been beaten by 43 lengths in her last three starts, which seems to indicate she isn’t in top form at the moment.
The third place finisher from the Freiermuth is Friday Harbor who is 7/1. She is a 3-year-old daughter of Storm Cat. She was unable to get the lead from Menzoberranzan in that race, so she stalked and showed some solid tactical ability, as she was able to hold her ground, only being passed by Famous Indy. While both Famous Indy and Menzoberranzan have rested since the Freiermuth, Friday Harbor got a race in, the 12f G1 Pebbles Cup. She took the lead in that race, and then faded to 3rd in the stretch. Will Friday Harbor be sharper than the other two with an extra race or will it have been a bridge too far? One has to like the drop from 12 in a G1 down to 10 here. I don’t know if she can win this race without the lead.
Alybirdie is 11/1, a 5 year old daughter of Dynaformer. She’s never won on the turf in four tries, nor has she won a race over 8.5 furlongs. In her one try at 10f, on a sly dirt track she lost by 30 lengths. I can’t find much to like here.
Simply Magic is another Storm Cat, which would seem odd in a 10f race on the turf. This goes to show you the versatility of this magnificent sire. Like Famous Indy, she has a monster pedigree, Storm Cat x Forty Niner x A.P. Indy. Simply Magic has shown flashes of talent, but she has lost her last two races by 33 lengths. She is 6/1, which is puzzling considering all three of the Freiermuth fillies are longer odds, yet their PPs indicate a much stronger affinity for this distance. She has talent, and could surprise with a good run, but I would stay away from 6/1.
Though not as far away as the 7/2 going on our favorite Red Royal. Red Royal is a very nice horse. She is a G3 winner at 9f. She has banked over $600K in winnings. But 7/2? She is 0-6 at 10 furlongs. As I mentioned in the opening, her last five races have not been pretty, and her last win was that G3 in May of 2007. Red Royal did run a 112 at 9f in the G1 Princess Di Cap, but I don’t see that translating to a win on Saturday. Her class and experience could make her a play in the exotics.
I think Famous Indy has a good chance to turn the tables on Menzoberranzan Saturday. Hope this sets you nicely for what to watch this Fall, and who to look out for in the GR Simster’s Filly & Mare Turf.