DECEMBER 2- Belmont Park

[--RACE MONGER]

Belmont Park- December 2, 2012

It was another thrilling race meet this past weekend, folks.

It started off with an exciting finish in the Two Year Old when Anthony Lovasz took a slow breaking Land Express from the back of the pack to scoot by Eli Young and Switzerland and take the win by a nose. No doubt Darius Everwood was thrilled with his two youngsters going one-two over Ashton Sharpe's two year old, Just a Kiss who came in third by about a half a length under Lyric Blackwell's direction. Emilia Alexander, however, was probably not so pleased when her promising young one who won her last race came in second last while being ridden by a new jockey from out of town, just barely getting by Ashton's other young horse, Arizona and Kayla Tucker.

Not letting his weekend go to waste, Anthony Lovasz took the Three Year Old immediately following his win in the two year old. His mount, Piccatune, owned and trained by Emilia Alexander had never won before now, but it seemed like today was just her day when she romped to a three length win. Ashton Sharpe's Tree Hugger ridden by Lyric Blackwell and Danny Jenner's Symphonic ridden (of course) by Johanna Eastman trailed behind Piccatune, neck and neck the entirety of the race befode Symphonic ran out of steam and dropped back by a length to take third, giving Tree Hugger the second place finish. Ace of Spades trained by Devan Gates and ridden by Sloane ACcer still seemed to not have his head in the game and never put forth much of an effort.

In the Derby Sloane Accer had much better luck this time aboard Devan Gates' colt, Peer Pressure when he pulled off an excellent show of form and won by five and a quarter lengths over Darius Everwood's colt, A.P Index ridden by Kayla Tucker. The third place finisher, Diablo D'Oro likely would have had a better placing if he had spent less energy bouncing around the paddock and fighting his rider, Anthony Lovasz the whole way down to the gate. Emilia Alexander looked to be less than impressed with her devil horse after the race. The Eastman sisters, Johanna and Angela are quite lucky that they fell into Danny Jenner's good graces a long time ago, or no doubt their last and second to last finishes on his two derby horses would have earned them both the proverbial pink slip.

In the Oaks, Sloane Accer continued her string of luck when she rode Fun Sized to a well ridden win for Dally Jepsen. Coming in a length behind her was Cassurina Cantina ridden by Lila Piersma who was riding for Devan Gates. Johanna Eastman made up for her poor finish in the Derby by bringing Danny Jener's filly, Kokopeli to a third place finish by a good four lengths over Anthony Lovasz and Lyric Blackwell on Danny's other two horses. Ashton Sharpe wasn't so lucky and Cloud Nine ridden by Kayla Tucker just ran out of steam an came in last.

In the Four Year Old, the bad luck was reversed, and Ashton Sharpe found himself in the winner's circle with Rock n' Roll Star and a beaming Lyric Blackwell who may as well have been the abominable mud-woman after being trapped behind Darius Everwood's Downtown Alleycat and Mackenzie Ferreira for much of the race before passing them up with just a few furlongs to spare. If if weren't for the first and second place horses, Danny Jenner's horse, By George and Angela Eastman would have had this race in the bag, finishing 8 lengths ahead of the next horse, but unfortunately three behind Downtown Alleycat. Danny hardly seemed to notice the impressive third place finish as he was a little preoccupied with going on the war path and looked as though he was about ready to ship Oh Danny Boy off to the canner after he spent the entire race trying to rip Count Mondego and Johanna Eastman to shreds despite Anthony Lovasz's best efforts to get his mind on the race and off of making mincemeat out of Johanna and Count Mondego.

When it came to the Mares Sloane Accer and Dally Jepsen had a stroke of good fortune again when Spunky Monkey romped to an easy three length victory over Casey Sharpe's rather... exuberant... Love the Fall and Anthony Lovasz who set the fast pace of the race, but faded in the finish. Ashton Sharpe pulled off a very third with Broadway piloted by Angela Eastman, the duo closing fast on the younger Sharpe's fading mare. In last place was Ashton's other mare, She's A Wild One was was basically the antithesis of her name, despite Lyric Blackwell's best efforts. Though Danny Jenner's mare, Take That ridden by Johanna Eastman barely put in enough effort to beat She's A Wild One.

In The Handicap, Casey Sharpe finally got into the winner's circle with Light Grenade who was given a hand ride by Kayla Tucker and lead from wire to wire with ease. I suspect, however, that Danny Jenner was not too pleased that Much Ado and Angela Eastman weren't able to pass them up, considering the fierce (and I do mean literally) rivalry between the Sharpe and Jenner stables. Sandwiching Danny between two Sharpes, was Ashton's horse, Loose Lips, ridden by Lyric Blackwell, who was putting in a strong run and would have passed Much Ado with little effort had the race been a little longer, so at least both Sharpes didn't managed to beat Danny in one race.

When the Open came to a close, Danny Jenner finally got his one and only win of the meet with Starshocked and Angela Eastman who was, again, dominant. There were no challengers to be had for the ornery gray in the final stretch as they dashed to a seven length victory. The duel for second place was a little bit more than exciting with Casey Sharpe's beast of a horse, Run eating up the track like he'd been starving for it for years and coming from three lengths behind Dally Jepsen's horse Here Pig Pig and blowing by with two furlongs to spare. After the race, mud coated Anthony Lovasz was spotted congratulating Sloane Accer on a good ride, but the third place jockey either didn't hear him or was ignoring him. Coming in last was Lyric Blackwell on Casey Sharpe's other horse, Runaway Baby who, once again, just didn't put out.

The Flying was a thriller, from start to finish. The top three finishers were all so determined that when they flew across the finish line, it was a three way photo finish and no way to call it without the photo. In the end, it was Matthew Grant's horse, Charmed to Be Lucky and Lyric Blackwell that came out on top. Erin Shore trained by Johanna Eastman and ridden by her little sister, Angela Eastman was just a nose ahead of Jo and Danny Jenner's Holy Toledo. In last, yet again, was Danny's young colt, Tuffitout who did absolutely nothing to tough anything out and just sort of... loped the entire race. Something tells me, he's in for a trip to be stripped of his studliness and a new career.

As for trainers, no one really stood out this race, except for Danny Jenner's horses all failing to put out, an almost complete reversal of the last race meet where he was clearly dominant. Dally Jepsen was the winningest trainer with two trips to the winner's circle. As usual, Casey Sharpe's lack of training his own horses was evident enough, and I'm starting to think that Ashton Sharpe should be the one in the winner's circle whenever Casey's horse manages to pull off a win, since he still appears to be doing all the work. Devan Gates showed a bit of improvement with a different rider astride most of his horses, and I think they are a better match than his other rider. Darius Everwood seemed to be on the same page as Danny again, as most of his horses didn't wind up in the winner's circle. Emilia Alexander did well with her young horse breaking its maiden this time around, and her man-eater actually not attempting to eat anyone this race.

When it comes to jockeys, Sloane Accer had better luck this time around than the last, mostly riding for a different trainer who she seems to mesh with better than she did with Devan. Lyric Blackwell and Angela Eastman were in the money in more than half of the races and were the winningest jockeys of the meet, an impressive feat for the young riders. Johanna Eastman seemed a bit off her game, only coming in the money twice the entire meet, which makes me wonder if something must be going on with her. Anthony Lovasz did fairly well, coming in the money four out of nine races, and despite some pretty harrowing losses, he should probably be commended for not jumping ship when Oh Danny Boy went mental on Johanna and Count Mondego. Eli Young who is still lacking in rides, was only in the money once. Someone needs to give that boy some better horses to ride. Lila Piersma was also only in the money once out of her three rides, and also could stand to get a few more rides here and there. Mackenzie Ferreira followed in there footsteps with only being in the money once out of her five rides, as did Kayla Tucker in her six. Perhaps Lyric and Angela need to learn how to share a little better.