Curlin, The Golden Warrior
Tomorrow will be the beginning of the end for SAUHBR Round 1. BT’s Pick Power selections represent the best of the final Summer Stakes from around the country. It being a holiday weekend, BT has chosen a Monday race to keep the party going just a little bit longer. After this weekend, most of my faves will be starting in their last BC Preps. The next edition of SAUHBR should be the Breeders’ Cup itself – 2 days of top-caliber racing on a surface many have not ventured a hoof upon! Drama, drama, drama! The opportunities for upsets abound, and then there are the Euros! But that’s for another blog. I will post my OFFICIAL SELECTIONS later!
This final slate of SAUHBR stakes are:
Saturday at Saratoga:
FOREGO S. Gr1 — A lot of the excitement got sucked out of this race when Benny The Bull retired, but now Lucky Island and Tasteyville are the headliners. I like Forefathers and First Defense to show up in there, too.
WOODWARD S. Gr1 — Curlin’s dirt return, his first race at Saratoga…Divine Park is making a race of it, and AP Arrow is in there again…if he runs his race, the Champ is gonna do it easily. They’re even giving Curlin the Key to the city!
Woodbine: ONTARIO COLLEEN S. — Have no idea who’s running, but the name Lickety Lemon is priceless!
Sunday’s grab bag of tracks:
Ruidoso Downs: LINCOLN HANDICAP — Pepper’s Pride shoots for the moon & her 17th straight victory.
Del Mar: DEL MAR DERBY — Gio Ponti makes a cross-country trip to continue his winning ways on turf. Tizwest and Nownownow challenge.
SPECIAL HOLIDAY STAKES!!
Philly Park: PENNSYLVANIA DERBY — Perhaps the best of the weekend, with Smooth Air, Ready Set, Two Step Salsa, and Atoned and a bunch of others! 14 entries, that’s truly a “derby”!
Also on Manday, a long-lost favorite of mine returns to the track after almost a year off — Mr. Franks! This colt filled out a nice exacta for me at Oaklawn back in, um…2005?
skipaway2000 
i think that the caption under curlins pic is true.