Phos follow Up

Green, as in the the turf, is clearly Phosphorescent's favorite color. As a result, it's ours, too, as Phosphorescent won his second straight start and third from his last four on the lawn in a "two other than" allowance at Philadelphia Park. To say he was impressive is an understatement. How about missing the track record by mere hundredths of a second impressive.

Phosphorescent broke beautifully and immediately went to the front. He was challenged from the inside by a longshot, and jockey Victor Molina let that horse grab a short lead. That lead was short-lived as Phosphorescent stormed to a daylight lead through a half-mile in 44.06, and he improved his position from there winning by over two-lengths and stopping the teletimer for five-furlongs in an eye-popping 55.68.

Lupe Preciado said, "The horse threw a shoe in the race. I hate to see what he could have done with a full set. He was training really well, and I thought he'd run big. I am not sure I saw a near track record performance coming. This kind of race makes you think about the Turf Monster Stakes back here in September as a target."

Victor Molina said, "I hit him once. He basically did it all on his own. I was not asking him for everything he had. They couldn't catch him."


Phosphoresccent earned an 83 Beyer in the race. I am not a huge Beyer guy, but I imagine this number will be revised. Phosphorescent ran two-seconds faster than 25k claimers on the turf. You would not expect them to be as fast, but with our Beyer that means they were lucky to crack 60. Something doesn't smell right.

Phosphorescent's foot where he threw the shoe looks fine. Lupe wants to keep his races spaced a bit. He'd love to find a "three other than" allowance in late July or early August, possibly at Saratoga. If we ran well in that race it would be used as a springboard for the $200,000 Turf Monster Handicap on September 6th back at Philadelphia.

I agree the Beyer figure does not add up the way i see it, it does not matter if you are running against nickel claimers of Grade 1 horses if you cover the distance in that time and with losing a shoe that horse has some speed . I am glad to see they are looking at bigger races for him I was looking back at last years Turf Monster where the winner Chamberlain Bridge won in 57.14 and Saturday won a Graded Stakes at Arlington . I would like to give him a test before the Turf Monster to see how he does how about going to Penn National for the THE PENNSYLVANIA GOVERNOR'S CUP on July 31st ? that would test him and if run well would have a nice rest before Turf Monster .