The Kings Bishop - August 27, 2011

Race Conditions:          Grade 1, 3YO Colts, 7F, Dirt, Saratoga

Race Class Par:                            108 
Race Class Rating:                       108

Winner's Time/Quality Rating:     107

Pace:  Fast Early/Slow Average Middle/Average Late

Track Condition and Bias:  Horses that raced inside and with speed seemed to have an advantage, but any potential bias did not dictate the results

Race Comments:  The 2011 King's Bishop was a solid and deep Grade 1 sprint race for 3 YO colts that included last year's 2YO champion, Uncle Mo.  While Uncle Mo wasn't triumphant in his long awaited return, he returned to the top form he displayed last year, missing by a nose in a very good race. 


Notable Performances:

1. Caleb's Posse  - Dropped back early inside, raced on the rail on the backstretch and turn, swung well out onto the track entering the stretch and closed strongly to just get up. Caleb's Posse is a quality 3YO sprinter, but he got a pretty good trip here. 

2. Uncle Mo - Raced well out on the track early on the backstretch behind the early duel,  slowly worked his way to about 3 or 4 wide, raced 3w on the turn, came out 4w late turn, rallied to take the lead, drifted in through the stretch, responded to left handed whipping and just missed while finishing well.

Some people were disappointed by the loss, but this was an excellent return.  IMO, he was as good as he's ever been. The 64K question going forward is whether he was a great 2 year old that hasn't developed or a great horse whose development was temporarily stalled by some health issues.  We'll find out in his next couple of starts. 

3. Justin Philip -  Dropped back early, raced 2w then 3w on the turn, swung out and finished OK.

4. Dominus -  Raced inside behind the early duel, stayed on the rail on the turn, swung out into the stretch but was out finished by the top three. He only picked up the tiring duelers despite a fairly perfect trip. Dominus may be a little better at middle distances against slightly weaker where he can control the pace.

5. Flashpoint -  Hustled to showed speed from the inside, dueled with two others while on the rail, tired about mid stretch. Flashpoint looked like the fastest horse early and the track seemed to be playing to inside speed.  So this was a somewhat disappointing effort despite the fast pace.


6. Poseidon's Warrior - Pressed the fast pace from the outside, raced 3w on the turn, and tired through the stretch.  This was a very tough trip. He pressed the fast pace while losing ground and racing on what was probably not the best part of the race track. Poseidon's Warrior should be able to hand all but the very best 3YO sprinters with a better trip.

7. Runflatout -  Dueled between horses in a fast pace and tired through the stretch.