I'm wondering if I can get a thread going here on who you all think turned in the best performances of the weekend.

There's five winning performances that I think stand out.

VENTURA in the Friday opener was just HUGE! She went by Indian Blessing like that one was running backwards, and Indian Blessing turned in a monster effort of her own in there.

ZENYATTA in the Friday closer.....what can you say! Undefeated in nine career starts, and capping off a 4yo season in a laugher! Cocoa Beach ran a race that would have won a lot of Distaffs....this wasn't one of them.

GOLDIKOVA in the Mile.....talk about reminding us of Miesque! A 3yo filly threading her way through on the inside in a field of older males and bursting out to shut the lid! And to think that Zarkava beat her like a drum....it just makes you dizzy thinking about how good THAT one was!

MIDNIGHT LUTE was sort of like Baffert being Michael Dickinson Jr! 'Lute has had so many issues throught his career, and this last year was no exception. He hadn't raced since his destruction of the Sprint last year at Monmouth, broke the young track record at Del Mar in a WORKOUT for Pete's sake, and then tears his foot up in a 10th place finish in the Crosby (or whatever race it was). Doesn't race again until 10/25, and wins it deceptively for fun! He is the first horse to win the BC Sprint twice! That has to be Bob Baffert's greatest training job ever....and that's saying a lot!

MIDSHIPMAN.....this is the least "flashy" of my five selections, but it was no less impressive imo. He either led or pressed close throughout, took the lead for good turning for home, and threw off a couple of challenges from inside and out through the stretch, winning like he knew he would all the time. And he did all that on a main track that was playing to wide-rally closers. The sad thing is that he's likely to be going to the black hole of Dubai never to be seen or heard from again.



There were a lot of outstanding performances turned in this Breeders Cup weekend, and some of you might disagree with me, but these are the five most impressive races for me.

Comments anyone?

for the way the race was run....MIDSHIPMAN's whilst least flashy...well he ran like a dirt horse...against what happenned all week-end...VERY impressive....

Many say....he won't even be seen on the derby trail when it hit's dirt...I'll be backing him in the future's pool...

He run's totally different than other Cal. syn. wonder horse's...think he's LEGIT...ie...can run on dirt as well...lol's!

I think you have to add Raven's Pass to that list. For never going past a mile, and putting in that powerful move on the turn against a top class field, leaving Curlin in his wake, while maybe not the most impressive, he has to be mentioned.

The big question is will Midshipman be left here in the states to train, or shipped to Dubai? If he goes to Dubai, he goes the way of so many other promising prosepcts Darley has had as 2YOs and is hardly heard from his sophomore year. What is the one horse that made big noise from them in his 3YO season? Bernardini. Did he ship to Dubai? No! I will concede though, Bernardini was not considered a top class 2YO, not breaking his maiden until at Gulfstream however. I know they want to "do it their way" which means training in Dubai, shipping back over to win, and I am sure with as much money as they spend and the bloodlines they have (buy up?), it will eventually happen. Even a broken clock is wrong twice a day! As for Midshipman, leave him here and let him show if he's good enough to do it the right way Sheikh Mo!!!!

Goldikova was tremendous but I have to downgrade her just a tad as the best of the other Euros failed to show up for the race. There was a reason she was the shortest price winner on the day as she simply towered over that field.

Zenyatta, WOW! So very impressive, but now we getting used to her doing that. Isn't that sad???

Midnight Lute, stellar job by Baffert and great performance by the horse. Downgraded only by a smaller than normal Sprint field which negated any troubled trips.

My pick, Ventura. That was just one awesome move and something I'll not soon forget.

Two performances got a "WOW" out of me while I watched.

Ventura and Zenyatta. Both were awesome performances. Circling fields of that caliber is truly a huge feat.

Take nothing away from the others.

All of the above were outstanding as mentioned, but for me Goldikova's move was one of the most spectacular I've ever seen. It was like she was shot out of a cannon; and against Kip Deville who is no slouch himself. Like Pas mentioned; how good is Zarkava!!
Steve

Santa Anita Park: they put on a real good show this year.

Trevor Denman: excellent performance by an excellent race caller.

This is a toss up for me between Midnight Lute and Zenyatta. I tip my hat to the training job Baffert did with Midnight Lute, but Zenyatta is just something really special.

Moment of the weekend for me was watching John Shirreffs standing on track clapping for Zenyatta as she jogged back down the stretch toward the winners circle, literally in amazement of what his star filly just did. Just one of those great moments that you really enjoy as a fan of this fantastic game.