What a breath of fresh air trainer Barry Abrams is.

I'll start by saying I really need to get away from the west coast mindset with the best racing in America starting up tomorrow at Saratoga, but I have to mention Abrams first. In an era of supertrainers with hundreds of horses strewn out coast to coast and stakes horses that run once every few months at most isn't it nice to see a guy like Barry Abrams?

Quick recap from Sunday's Fleet Treat Stakes at Del Mar: Barry Abrams' entry Spenditallbaby, a modestly bred three-year-old daughter of Unusual Heat, is equipped with a crazy looking blindfold that sort of made her look like Davy Jones from Pirates of the Carribean 2. Anyway, long story short, she goes nuts, throws Abrams down and then gets back in his good graces by winning the race. All that is cool enough, but what is even better is that after the race Abrams declared they'll run her again in six days in the Grade 2 San Clemente Stakes...but why stop there? The San Clemente is simply her prep (can we really call it a prep?) for the Grade 1 Del Mar Oaks run on Augst 18, or three weeks after the San Clemente.

I would like to offer my most sincere wishes of luck to Spenditallbaby and Barry Abrams. Horseracing thanks you.

One other note on Spenditallbaby and the Fleet Treat; how good is Joe Talamo? He kept Spenditallbaby in a perfect position the entire race, saved enough ground on the turn, and navigated masterfully down the stretch. It is said all the time about young jockeys, but he is absolutely the real deal.