Family of Barbaro: Gulfstream Park

***UPDATE***

Margano finished in 7th place today today. Just not his day and he will be back. To finish 7th and only be behind the winner by just three and a half lengths just shows how evenly matched this talented field was. Congrats to Star Channel and Javier Castellano for the win, very impressive.

Chart:

http://www.equibase.com/static/chart/pdf/GP010812USA8.pdf

Here is the replay:

What a pleasant surprise we all received when the entries came out for today's races at Gulfstream Park, Margano with Edgar Prado on board! Coming off his very impressive maiden breaking victory back on December 10th, Margano will try to repeat that effort on the same turf course today in race #8, post time is about 3:49 eastern time. Edgar Prado will have the mount on Margano, the first time Edgar has been on a brother of Barbaro since Nicanor's racing debut back on January 31, 2009. A race that saw Nicanor grab a quarter and finish tenth in the field of twelve. While I am not one to speculate why it has been almost three years since Edgar has been on board a brother of Barbaro, I am just glad that Margano will have the guidance of a Hall of Fame rider, and hope it is the beginning of a wonderful partnership between the two!

Margano enters this race as a three year old, as all racing Thoroughbred's turn a year older the first of January, even though his "real" birthday is March 10th. He will be facing a field of eight other rivals, with Edgar and Margano breaking from gate #3. Margano will be carrying the most weight of the field at 122 pounds and has been named as the morning line favorite at odds of 3-1. The high weight is dictated by the conditions of the race, "Weight, 122 Lbs. Non-winners of a race at a mile or over since December 8, 2011 Allowed 2 Lbs. Such a race since November 8, 2011 Allowed 4 Lbs.", Margano is the only one in the field that has had a victory at a mile or over since December 8th, hence the weight of 122 pounds (which I don't think will be a factor at all). I will add that I think this is a very wise move by Mr. Tagg and the Jackson's to continue Margano's progression on the turf, a surface he seems very comfortable racing on. With that said, I fully expect to see Margano give dirt a shot after today's race, but, let's talk about that after today's start.

Since his maiden victory, Margano has had three impressive works at Gulfstream Park, all on the dirt with the latest coming this past Wednesday, where Margano went five furlongs "handily" in a time of 1:00.65, ranking second of five working that distance.

Rather then break the field down as usual, I am just going to sit back and enjoy today's race. Of course I believe this will be Margano's second victory of his young career. With that said, I will say the top three will be Margano and Edgar, Star Channel, and Africanist to finish out the top three in this very evenly matched field of young three year olds. Also, watch out for Argentine Tango to come flying down the stretch, he is the one I am scared of the most, even though I left him out of my top three due to him just racing two weeks ago and I expect he might be a little tired, I hope.

You can watch Margano's race LIVE on the following link, remember, post time is about 3:49!

Link: http://www.gulfstreampark.com/portal/gulfstream-video-and-xpressbet-racechat

Race 8, Post Time 3:49, Allowance Optional Claiming ($75,000), Purse $53,500, 1 1/16 Miles-Turf

P.P       Horse                         Jockey                         Trainer                           Odds

1. Mucho Mas Macho           L. Jurado                       H. Collazo                              12-1

2. Jackwagon                      D. Centeno                   B. Croft                                  20-1

3. MARGANO               Edgar Prado                 Barclay Tagg                       3-1

4. All for the Trip                   J. Bravo                          K. Dickey                                6-1

5. Heiko                             J. Velazquez                   D. Miller                                 6-1

6. Argentine Tango               R. Maragh                        S. Gold                                    4-1

7. Star Channel                    J. Castellano                     T. Pletcher                                8-1

8. Patrioticandproud            L. Contreras                      T. Pletcher                               6-1

9. Africanist                       J. Leparoux                       E. Kenneally                             5-1

Godspeed Margano...

Also, PLEASE take a moment to look at the following, a HUGE thank you to Bea Gobee, Susan Rollison, Mercy Turano, Geralyn Hoffman, and other FOB's that made the shirts and brunch possible!

ALL donations for the shirts and brunch benefits the Barbaro Laminitis Fund, THANK YOU in advance!!!!

Pictured above are the tee shirts for our Remembering Barbaro 2012 Event, April 2012 in Louisville, Kentucky. It is a black tee shirt with our logo with the silhouette of Barbaro. We were not able to use the actual photo of Barbaro due to copyright issues and cost of the ink to print his photo. The price of the shirt would increase.

Prices are as follows for sizes listed below. Larger sizes have additional cost and additional shipping.

$16.00 per shirt includes the shirt, shipping and a donation to the laminitis fund.

The shirt is a unicycle shirt, not a men’s nor a lady’s, it is a standard tee, 100% cotton. It’s the same shirt as the blue Barbaro shirt that was for sale in 2009 at the statue unveiling. Sizes are as follows:

Small (S) Medium (M) Large (L) Extra Large (XL)

Anyone wanting a Large Youth, the manufacturer suggests the Adult Small listed above.

Larger sizes are as follows along with the additional cost per shirt:

XXL - $2.00 XXXL - $4.00 XXXXL - $6.00 XXXXXL - $8.00

Shipping costs on the larger shirts are an additional $1.50 for XXL and XXXL, $2.00 additional for XXXXL and XXXXXL. Examples of total prices below include additional charge for larger shirts and shipping:

one XXL shirt would cost total: $19.50,

one XXXL - $21.50,

one XXXXL - $24.00,

one XXXXXL - $26.00.

Anyone interested in ordering a shirt can do so by sending me your name, address, phone number, email address, abr name, amount of shirts ordering, sizes of shirts ordering along with a check for the full amount of the order made payable to me: Bea Gobee to my home address:

Bea Gobee

373 Saw Creek Estates

Bushkill, PA 18324

If anyone has any questions they would like to ask me, I can be contacted at my home phone number: 570-588-0880.

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Happy New Year! Come join us for Brunch at Wagner’s Pharmacy and Restaurant.

Remembering Barbaro 2012

There will be no racing at Churchill Downs that day, and Wagner’s would have been closed. They are thrilled to honor Barbaro on his birthday and have agreed to open for us ONLY and host our private party.

Time: 10:00 AM to 2:00 PM Date: Sunday, April 29, 2012

Location: Wagner’s Pharmacy & Restaurant

3113 South 4^th Street

Louisville, KY 40214-1710

Price Per Person Paid In Advance: $22.50

Menu:

Scrambled Eggs

Bacon, sausage

Biscuits

Side gravy

FEATURING: PAM'S famous grilled potatoes

Coffee / tea

Juice

Milk

Price also includes:

Cake - Wagners will be ordering the cake for us (Remembering Barbaro 2012 – hopefully with a photo of Barbaro on the cake)

Maintenance fee to the person doing the cleaning after we leave

Gratuity

Donation to New Bolton Center Laminitis Fund

For reservations: Email Geralyn Hoffman at: Geralynhoffman@yahoo.com with “Wagner’s Brunch” as the subject line, (no phone calls please). Then you will need to send a check payable to me: Bea Gobee (no paypal) at my home address. Once your check is received, you have a guaranteed reservation and will receive an e mail confirmation so please provide Geralyn with your e mail address.

Wagner’s Restaurant is limited to 120 people max. Paid reservations are on a first come first serve basis.

The deadline for paid reservations is Monday, April 2, 2012

THANK YOU !!!!!!!

Margano wins!!!!

What a perfect race by Margano and Javier! Margano stalked perfectly, then came flying home at the end! More to follow...

Link to replay on Bloodhorse:

http://www.bloodhorse.com/horse-racing/race/USA/GP/2011/12/10/7/race-7

Photo of Margano entering the winner's circle (thanks to Alex Brown on twitter!).

Link: http://twitpic.com/7rip3f

Margano, the morning line favorite (3/1 odds), will be racing Saturday on the Gulfstream turf in race #7, at a distance of 1 1/16 miles (rail at 96 feet), post time is about 3:21.   Thank you to Margano for his return, since it marks my return to racing since his last start (R.I.P. Royal Brush...).

As most Gulfstream maiden races, the field came up extremely tough for Margano. Javier Castellano will be guiding Margano from gate #9 in the field of twelve two year olds. Margano is coming off a very impressive second place finish at Belmont Park back on October 15th. Since then, he has had six solid works, with the last two at Gulfstream Park, all on the dirt. Margano will be making his third start, out of his three older brothers before him (Barbaro, Nicanor, Lentenor), he has reached his third start quicker then all of them. Which, to me, shows that Mr. Tagg thinks very highly of him, both in his maturity level and fitness level. In his last race, which was a 1/16 of a mile shorter and on a yielding turf course at Belmont Park, Margano almost went wire to wire, tiring a bit at the end to finish a very impressive second place. I love the fact that he was given a short break and has been down in Florida training, I fully expect Margano to run a huge race.

What can I say about this field? I see plenty of potential in many, but, a majority of the field lacks the experience to show that potential tomorrow. Out of the twelve, I see three or four that could challenge Margano. There is plenty of speed in the race, where Margano runs will greatly depend on his break and how well Javier can guide him into the first turn. I love his post position and think it will leave Javier with plenty of options.

After looking at the field, my ideal scenario would be for Margano to be about third or fourth into the turn. I see Silver Max going straight to the lead from the rail, with Get Right challenging him from the get go. Margano should follow right behind those two, with maybe No Play involved early. If Javier can get Margano to rate comfortably behind the leaders, I think the leaders will fight each other and Margano should be able to take advantage of this rounding for home. Shaun Washington is the biggest threat to Margano, but, breaking from the eleventh hole could give Margano just enough of a advantage in the stretch. If Shaun Washington can get ahead of Margano before the first turn, it could be very tough for Margano to catch him in the stretch.   So, with that said, I will go with Margano to break his maiden, Shaun Washington to come in second, and Godard coming on strong to take third. Just hope it is a safe race for all, and it sure will be nice to see the Jackson's join Margano in the winner's circle!

Here is a link to watch the race live, remember, post time is about 3:21 eastern time!

Link to Margano's race: http://www.gulfstreampark.com/portal/gulfstream-video-and-xpressbet-racechat

Race #7, 1 1/16 Miles On The Turf, Maiden Special Weight, Two Year Olds, Purse: $51,000

P.P. Horse                       Jockey                  Trainer                  Odds

1.      Silver Max               M. Cruz                D. Romans              4-1
2.      Get Right                 Edgar Prado         J. Jerkens                10-1
3.      Kanati Kid               A. Solis                C. Gambolati            12-1
4.     No Play                    J. Sanchez             E. Gray                    20-1
5.      Arthur                      P. Lopez                K. Ritvo                   15-1
6.      Awesome Life         J. Castanon           P. Byme                   12-1
7.      Godard                    J. Leparoux           T. Proctor                6-1
8.      Optionality              E. Trujillo              T. Proctor                 8-1
9.      Margano                 Javier Castellano    Barclay Tagg         3-1
10.    Little Nicholas        J. Alvarez                L. Olivares             20-1
11.    Shaun Washington J. Bravo                  J. Jerkens               5-1
12.    Privacy Invasion     J. Leyva                  D. Fawkes               20-1

Also eligible:

13.    Superiority               L. Panici                 J. Hennessy            10-1
14.    Pikestar                   J. Castanon            M. Nihei                  12-1
15.    Saturday Classic     L. Contreras          M. Casse                  8-1
16.    Super Saturday       J. Castellano          M. Trombetta          8-1

Here are some videos and photos I took from Margano's last race, enjoy...