Always a "play"... You Go West Girl...

We all have them. Horses we back, no matter what. Maybe we saw them break their maidens, early on, saw something that caught the eye. Not a “buzz” horse, not an expensive yearling, not an ultra special pedigree, but just something that made us say …hmmm… gotta follow this one. Well I’ve had many of those horses over the years, ones that I will almost always play, no matter what. I’m loyal that way, sometimes it’s good and sometimes it’s not. There have been several high profile horses for me lately, Zenyatta for one, mainly because I look at anything out of a Kris S mare. Yes I watched that first race focused only on her, (It was easy, she was so far back) And couldn’t stop talking about her after that. Then there was Kelly’s Landing. I watched his maiden breaker, and got right on the bandwagon, and then there’s You Go West Girl. I was at Keeneland the day she broke her maiden, noticed she was a NY bred, running wide open, and that was it. I think that was 3 years ago, or was it 4? Anyway, she is back in the first race at Saratoga on Saturday, a stakes on the turf , and at age 6, with 24 starts,18 of those starts in the money, she has earnings of over a cool half million.

The William B. Fasig Stakes is small but contentious field. Chestoria appears to be the ML favorite, though You Go West Girl has beaten her before. They are very similar horses, really, career wise and they both have similar running styles. You Go West Girl has had a little freshening after her uninspiring try in the Mt. Vernon, but her nice turf work last Saturday, signals that she could be ready to run a big one. The other one in here that I like is Akilina. Just a four year old, she is another very consistent filly and perhaps will sit a little closer to the pace, and could upset the top two. But I will be rooting for You Go West Girl. Can’t stop now.