Who's In Your Stable? The Top 10 in the RTTR Contest

     It is doubtful they had any inside information, but the folks who are currently in the Top 10 of Stride LIVE’s “Road To The Roses Derby Contest” have certainly distinguished themselves throughout this Kentucky Derby prep season.

      Out of the 20, 730 entries in the RTTR contest, the leader for our league sits at #328 overall.  Keith Cooper’s 221 points are not far from the top either.  The contest leader has 280 points.  There are also four entries that have exactly ZERO points. Not sure how you pulled that off.

      Gary Schneekloth has two entries in the Top 10 and sits in 2^nd and 4^th in the Stride LIVE league. You want a sleeper stable though, look at Sue Kawcyznski’s stable. Sue K. has Archarcharch, Dialed In, Mucho Macho Man, Nehro, The Factor, Toby’s Corner and Uncle Mo. She is tied for 17^th place at 150 points, but is stacked with horses who seem to be running their best.

      For those with a chance to win, interestingly, many have Dialed In and Mucho Macho Man, but only the aforementioned Sue K. has Archarcharch. Hmm. Either way, good luck to everyone. Here is the full Top 10.

League Rank	Score	Stable Name	Player	Hometown
1	221	Zain-in-my-heart Stable	Keith Cooper	cassatt
2	212	Bourbon Bliss Barn	Gary Schneekloth	Alexandria
3	211	CMCC	Barry Mitchell	Inglewood
4	193	Kelso's Kennel	Gary Schneekloth	Alexandria
5	182	Rose Oaks Stable	Valerie Klein	Portland
6	179	SmartyAl's Stable	Alfred Hilbert	Eastampton
7	178	Thornridge Racing III	Deborah Slagle	Morrisville
8	164	Niteowl Racing	Ashley Bolsei	LeRoy
9	163	Pajarito	Linda Daly	los alamos
10	160	ChiTown to Derby #2	Thomas Haydock	Mundelein

Afleet Alex Babies Take Same Route To Kentucky As Sire

Archarcharch winning the Southwest Stakes (Jimmy Jones/Eclipse Sportswire)

The Rebel Is This Week's Only Points Race In The Road To The Roses Contest 

     Elite Alex and Sway Away are looking to take the same route to the Kentucky Derby as their sire in this Saturday's Rebel Stakes.  Afleet Alex didn't win the Rebel or the Derby, but he did win the Arkansas Derby, Preakness Stakes and Belmont Stakes in his three-year-old campaign.  They aim to one better than dad.     

     Sway Away looks to stretch out the sprinter's speed he showed last out in the San Vicente, when he closed from last-to-first only to be beaten 3/4-length by The Factor.  The third-place finisher in the San Vicente - Premier Pegasus. The Factor also looks to make the 7-furlong stretch out Saturday in the Rebel.

Elite Alex before the Southwest (Jimmy Jones/ESW)

     Elite Alex’s goal is to turn the tables on Southwest Stakes winner Archarcharch.  Elite Alex broke from the 9-post in the one mile race, got parked wide, ended up fanned 6-wide and still managed to close on Archarcharch to finish third a couple of lengths back.

     Also of note in the race are JP’s Gusto, Alternation and Caleb’s Posse.  This is a stacked field of Derby contenders.  The Stride LIVE entry in the Road to the Roses managed to work its way up to 4^th place and we have Elite Alex and Sway Away going.  We are hoping Oaklawn is one of those tracks where if daddy did well, so do his babies.

The Factor winning the San Vicente (Charles Pravata/Eclipse Sportswire)

     The rest of the Top 10 in Stride LIVE’s Road to the Roses Fantasy League are below. Keith Cooper and Gark Schneekloth still have a stranglehold on the top spots, Hello Race Fans’ and Green But Game’s Dana Byerly made a very nice move to get closer to the leaders.

     If you want to handicap the race yourself, here is the link to free past performances provided by Oaklawn Park - http://oaklawn.com/media/uploads/the_rebel_pps.pdf

GOOD LUCK!!! 

 

League Rank    Score    Stable Name    Player    Hometown
1                       90    Zain-in-my-heart Stable    Keith Cooper    cassatt
2                       87    Bourbon Bliss Barn    Gary Schneekloth    Alexandria
3                       79    Zain-In-My-Heart-2    Keith Cooper    cassatt
4                       78    RubberBandINDaStretch    Stride LIVE    Parts Unknown
5                       76    Kelso's Kennel    Gary Schneekloth    Alexandria
6                       74    Jell-ooooooo    Ashley Bolsei    LeRoy
7                       72    Chop 'im up at Charlie's    charles pravata    arcadia
8                       71    CMCC    Barry Mitchell    Inglewood
9                       69    ChiTown to Derby #2    Thomas Haydock    Mundelein
10                     67    Superterrific Stable    dana byerly    New York

Road To The Roses Fantasy League

Are you riding Soldat all the way to Churchill?

Soldat, jockey Alan Garcia up, wires the field for a front-running win in the Fountain of Youth Stakes.

     Just about everyone in the Stride LIVE league for the Road to the Roses Fantasy Game had Soldat to win the Fountain of Youth. Flashpoint winning the Hutcheson? Not so much.  Many stables also had Gourmet Dinner, To Honor And Serve and Travelin Man.
     With One weeks of results, here are the Top 5 stables in Stride LIVE's league. Anyone see anything familiar? Apparently Barry Mitchell and Keith Cooper knew something the rest of us didn't.

Rank    Score    Stable Name - Player - Hometown
1               56    CMCC, Barry Mitchell, Inglewood
2               50    Zain-in-my-heart Stable, Keith Cooper, cassatt
3               48    Zain-In-My-Heart-2, Keith Cooper, cassatt
4               46    Ivargroup, Barry Mitchell, Inglewood
4               46    Professor Thoroughbred, Barry Mitchell, Inglewood

     According to several interview, Soldat's trainer Kiaran McLaughlin believes the colt is just as amenable to being on the front end as he is rating, which is good news on the Derby Trail.  Soldat earned a 96 Beyer Speed Rating for the win, down from the 102 he earned in his dirt track allowance debut in the slop. Still, the 96 is respectable.
     What's is next on the Derby Trail?  Next weekend has the Gotham Stakes and the John Battaglia Memorial as races where you can earn RTTR points. We will analyze those races later, but it looks like Stay Thirsty, Toby's Corner and maybe even Hutcheson scratch Crossbow might vie for honors.
      Who are your sleepers? From looking at the entrants in the Stride LIVE league, many have chosen the horses who occupy many of the Top Ten lists out there.  Some folks do have Fort Hughes, Wilkinson, Sweet Ducky, Albergatti and the like.  We like Crimson China, he has a chance to be a real difference maker. If you don't have him in your stable yet, you will after he wins the Spiral.
     If you have an RTTR Stable and still want to become a part of the Stride LIVE league, here is our information.

OUR LEAGUE INFO:
Entry link: http://www.roadtotheroses.com/G=94/game/join_league.phtml 
League Number:1313038988
Activation Code:4192170078

     To Barry and Keith, very nice job this week. Question is...will your stable be able to hold up for the entire Derby Trail?  Front runners don't exactly do well at Churchill.  Stay tuned...

Road To The Roses Fantasy League

     The Road To The Roses Kentucky Derby Fantasy League opens this weekend with three races available to earn you points towards winning the Stride LIVE league.  If you have joined yet, you have until 11:59am on Saturday to join and have the choices count. This week's races include the Fountain of Youth (G2) and Hutcheson (G2) at Gulfstream Park and the Borderland Derby (Listed) at Sunland Park.

OUR LEAGUE INFO:
Entry link: http://www.roadtotheroses.com/G=94/game/join_league.phtml 
League Number:1313038988
Activation Code:4192170078
    
     If you are unfamiliar with the RTTR, here are some important rules, including one excellent format change.  In year's past, you would only have five active horses in your stable of 10. This would cause problems of very active weekends and sometimes you had to hope you guessed right. Well, this year, all ten are active AND you can choose five "power horses" that will earn double points. As with past years, you also have to choose two jockeys and two trainers.
     Here is the point structure copied directly from RTTR.


This contest will use a rotisserie scoring system. Each stable will be awarded points on the following basis for horses:

	Grade I	Grade II	Grade III	Listed	Kentucky Derby
1st:	15 points	12 points	8 points	4 points	25 points
2nd:	7 points	5 points	3 points	2 points	15 points
3rd:	4 points	3 points	2 points	1 point	10 points

Designated “POWER” horses will be eligible to earn two (2) times the amount of points of non-power horses.  Points for “power” horses will be awarded on the following basis:

	Grade I	Grade II	Grade III	Listed	Kentucky Derby
1st:	30 points	24 points	16 points	8 points	50 points
2nd:	14 points	10 points	6 points	4 points	30 points
3rd:	8 points	6 points	4 points	2 point	20 points

Points for your selected jockeys and trainers are awarded for a win only on the following basis:

Grade I	Grade II	Grade III	Listed	Kentucky Derby
10 points	8 points	5 points	3 points	20 points

      As you can see, with both the Hutcheson and the Fountain of Youth being Grade 2's, there are a bunch of points up for grabs this weekend. We will start off with the Borderland Derby.   There are many unknown horses in the race, but top trainers like Steve Asmussen and Doug O'Neill are taking their shot.  The morning line favorite Special Kid, an $80,000 Ocala Sale purchase in 2010, will be ridden by Christian Santiago Reyes and is listed at 5/2.

Big Drama's little brother Little Drama

     The Hutchseon Stakes has all the makings of a FAST race.  The most likely favorite will be Crossbow.  He will be making his stakes debut and has already clocked a 1:22.86 at the Hutcheson distance of 7-furlongs in a previous allowance race. But, Crossbow isn't alone, Madman Diaries, Travelin Man, Flashpoint, Razmataz, Manicero and Champion Sprinter Big Drama's little brother Little Drama have all shown exceptional sprint speed in recent wins.  Good luck sorting out this race.

     The Fountain of Youth isn't nearly as confusing. There are several horses who scores impressively in recent lower level/maiden races and are stepping up to stakes competition for the first time. The real story everyone is hoping for is that this will be To Honor And Serve's coming out party as a three-year-old and kick off a successful Triple Crown campaign.

     Among the other challengers in the FOY who have graded-stakes experience are Soldat, 2nd to Pluck on the turf in the 2010 Breeders Cup Juvenile Turf, and Gourmet Dinner, winner of the Delta Downs Jackpot.

     Good luck with you entries this weekend. And remember, the winner of the Stride LIVE league will win an HD DVD of the Zenyatta video currently on our site.  To enter go to this link -http://www.roadtotheroses.com/G=94/game/join_league.phtml Our league number is 1313038988 and the Activation Code is 4192170078

2011 Road To The Roses Fantasy Derby League

        WinStar Farms and Twinspires.com are hosting THE Road To The Roses fantasy horse racing contest.  The prizes for this thing are very nice and the first race that counts isn't until February 26th. So, you have time to enter.  We have started our own league inside this contest.  The League Name is "Stride Road To The Roses" with a League # of 1313038988 and an Activation Code of #4192170078.

     In addition to the prizes being offered in the contest, Stride LIVE will give the winner of our league a DVD with the Zenyatta video in HD. Of course, you have to beat us. Our selections are to the left.  It is kind of tough this time of year. Everyone wants to put Uncle Mo on their list, but who knows how he will run as a three-year-old.  You also have To Honor And Serve on the shelf waiting to make his 2011 debut. So, knowing that Uncle Mo and To Honor And Serve were #1 and #2 made those two pics easy, but the rest were incredibly hard. Had to go digging underground and go surfing to come up with the developing horses that might generate points.  The same can be said for the trainer selection. Todd Pletcher is a given, but after that, who has more than one horse? We went with Baffert because he always seems to get horses ready around this time of year, but he is no guarantee.

League Name: Stride Road To The Roses, League #1313038988, Activation Code #4192170078