CDI's YouTube videos like 'living' catalog page update

Like many breeders -- both new to the game and experienced -- I keep a close eye on the family of my mares. If an earlier foal of theirs, or a cousin or nephew, happens to be running, I want to know about it.

The same is true as a stallion owner. When one of Silver Music's relatively few (at present) offspring are racing, I want to know the outcome.

I use the Virtual Stable tool at Equibase.com as one means of facilitating this knowledge. It provides a no-cost way to track workouts, entries and results for a certain number of horses. (For a very small cost, since I have very few horses, I also use the Equineline.com Portfolio to track the actual offspring of my mare who has foals at the track, though it isn't as helpful with following more distant relatives.)

But today I was just thinking how much I appreciate the fact that Churchill Downs Inc. tracks (and perhaps some others I haven't needed to see) are posting all their race videos to YouTube, at least within 24 hours or so of the race being run. Now I can not only read the charts after a race, but within hours I can see how the horse really looked on the track. ... In a slightly small, or bigger and grainy sort of way, at least.

The video above is of a Sept. 12 race at Arlington. The 12-horse is Radical Fringe, the nephew of my mare Bushes Victory. Radical Fringe (by Van Nistelrooy) is the first foal of Tory's turf-sprint stakes-winning full sister, Broad Victory. He didn't win on this day, but it was his first race since last November when he closed out his 3-year-old campaign with three wins at Arlington and Hawthorne and a close second at Keeneland from five starts. And bear in mind that this race was won (impressively) by, Stradivinsky, a former Woodbine stakes winner of $325,259.

Final time was 56.27 seconds for 5 furlongs on turf; the track record at Arlington is 55.90. Not a bad comeback for Radical Fringe. And I like to watch him run, because Tory's little girl, Oracle at Delphi, is the spittin' image of her cousin, if only in color and socks.

Radical Fringe's half-brother has been running at a CDI track, too. Big Zeet is a gray or roan 2-year-old by Limehouse, and so far has been unplaced twice on dirt, devoid of speed early but plugging along at the end.

I'd like to see Big Zeet get a chance on the grass, considering his dam was a turf stakes winner and his grandsire, Grand Slam (sire of Limehouse) has thrown turf and Polytrack-types. Recall that Breeders' Cup Sprint champ Cajun Beat also won the Kentucky Cup Sprint-G3T, Grand Slam daughter Lady Digby won the All Along S.-G3 on turf, daughter Just Little is a G3 winner on turf in France, and son Ball Four won both the Kentucky Cup Classic-G2 and Fayette S.-G3 over all-weather surfaces.

I dunno if Big Zeet would like the grass, more distance, or what. But he's definitely not first out of the gate in the videos below, nor dominant traveling over Calder's dirt, though he was much a much-closer sixth the second than he was in sixth the first.

Have we just been Informed of the next Lava Man?

California must be prime real estate for finding ex-claimers who have designs on greatness.

Aggressively ridden by Tyler Baze, and persistently wearing down the 2-1 favorite Rail Trip, 5-year-old Informed let us know he's a contender Saturday, surging to his first stakes victory, and among graded company, to boot, taking the G2 Californian Stakes (video) at Hollywood Park.

The son of Tiznow out of the Tabasco Cat mare Cajun Two Step was claimed a year ago for $25,000 by trainer Doug O'Neill off the same Hollywood Park track over which he was booted to glory Saturday by Baze. Informed has now won five of 20 lifetime for $356,339 and, off the 14-1 score in the Californian, suddenly finds his name mentioned among the favorites for the upcoming, $700,000 Hollywood Gold Cup-G1.

The success of the former claimer of course brings to mind California phenom Lava Man -- all the way down to the trainer. It was O'Neill who claimed Lava Man, who had run for tags as low as $12,500 in his career, and then set him on the course to becoming the wealthiest ex-claimer in history. Lava Man eventually won 17 of 45 starts for $5,250,724, including the Hollywood Gold Cup three times, the Santa Anita Handicap twice, and the Pacific Classic at Del Mar over the main tracks, and the Grade 1 Charles Whittingham Memorial Handicap over Hollywood Park's turf course. He was Cal-bred Horse of the Year in 2006, the state's champion older male in 2006-07, and top California turf horse of 2007. With Einstein's loss Saturday in the Stephen Foster at Churchill, Lava Man remains the only horse ever to win Grade 1 races over dirt, turf and synthetics.

Can O'Neill write the same story with Informed? While I'm not sure he's Lava Man-good, I'm tellin' ya he has a chance to state his case througout California this year, as the handicap ranks there lack any real star.

Rail Trip has now won five of seven lifetime starts with a blacktype victory in the Santana Mile Handicap, but has come in second during both his trips among graded horses. Octogenarian Ball Four -- O.K., he's only 8, not 80 -- challenged Rail Trip for the lead over the Cushion Track strip, but faded to sixth. Dakota Phone came on to finish third, but the 4-year-old Zavata gelding who topped $300,000 in earnings with his money Saturday, like Rail Trip, also has yet to win a graded race. Coming home fourth was Song of Navarone, who's won several stakes races at Sunland and Zia Park and earned more than $600K, but whose best performances in graded company are show-finishes in Grade 3s. Finishing fifth was Awesome Gem, who has earned nearly $1.25 million at age 6, but with only a single lifetime stakes win, the 2007 San Fernando Breeders' Cup S.-G2.

Need to ask why folks say California's handicap ranks are considered thin?

I'm not sure what O'Neill saw in or was told about the colt that made him drop the $25K claim in the box a year ago, but it was no doubt an informed decision. Informed's dam was a one-race winner, but she was out of the stakes winning Desert Wine mare Tapstress, and a half-sister to Grade 3 winner Discreet Hero (Honour and Glory), who won seven stakes from 49 starts for $681,591, and also to the stakes-placed Carson City filly, Purple Princess. So the family speaks well of itself.

I'm looking forward to keeping up to speed with Informed throughout the summer. In part that's because, in an absolutely awesome coincidence for an ex-claimer, his owners include WestsideRentals.com (along with Russ Sarno and W.C. Racing) and he runs beneath bright red silks with a white "For Rent" logo encircled on the jockey's back.

Just for your information, he isn't for rent -- or claim -- anymore.