We are going to take a circuitous route to get to a point I want to make, but bear with me. In this instance, the long way home is the interesting way home.Lets go back for a moment to Kentucky Oaks Day. Remember how Carina Mia had to run in the Eight Belles Stakes on the undercard because she didnt have enough points to get into the oversubscribed Oaks, not for performance reasons, but because of other circumstances beyond her control (the quarantine at Payson Park, Carina Mias winter quarters)? And remember how Carina Mia was so impressive winning the Eight Belles as miles the best that more than a few people opined the fillies in the Oaks were quite fortunate they didnt have to face Carina Mia that day?Okay, now lets flash back to Belmont Stakes Day, to specifically the Acorn Stakes on that tremendous undercard. The Acorn is a prestigious race; its not the Oaks, but its a terrific event, and it was Carina Mias opportunity to extract revenge on the circumstances that prevented her from competing in the Oaks, not to mention two major Oaks figures -- the winner, Cathryn Sophia, and Go Maggie Go, second-best in the Oaks after finishing a tough-trip fourth, and winner of the subsequent Black-Eyed Susan. And Carina Mia did gain a measure of revenge, winning the Acorn as clearly the best, beating both Cathryn Sophia and Go Maggie Go.Somewhat lost in that intriguing Carina Mia-Kentucky Oaks storyline was the performance of the runner up in the Acorn, Off the Tracks. Off the Tracks showed a lot of potential winning both of her starts last year, including a strong score in the Schuylerville Stakes. She romped in the Margate in her first start this year despite being announced as being nowhere near completely fit. She was then switched over to trainer Todd Pletcher, and followed with what was her only unsatisfying outing, a third as the 4-5 favorite to Go Maggie Go in the Gulfstream Park Oaks.But as flat as Off the Tracks was in the Gulfstream Oaks was as good as she was in defeat in the Acorn. Off the Tracks was held up in traffic from late on the far turn to nearly mid-stretch in the Acorn, costing her momentum, while Carina Mia got the jump on her with a clear, unobstructed run on the outside. Im not suggesting that Off the Tracks would have beaten Carina Mia in the Acorn with a clean trip. No one knows that. But what we do know is, Off the Tracks finished strongly once clear, was beaten only a little more than a length, and, notably, finished ahead of both Cathryn Sophia and Go Maggie Go.That was the setup to Off the Trackss start in Saturdays Mother Goose at Belmont Park, another race that, among other things, put the form of the Kentucky Oaks to the test, and other race that threw shade on the Oaks form.Off the Tracks faced three opponents in the Mother Goose who ran in the Kentucky Oaks -- Lewis Bay, who finished a good third; Mo dAmour, who finished fifth; and Rachels Valentina, the daughter of the heralded Rachel Alexandra who was widely expected to rebound off a sixth in the Oaks as the favorite. And Off the Tracks was simply much, much better than all of them.Off the Tracks set the Mother Goose pace under pressure, and while Belmonts main track was quite fast on Saturday, her fractions of 22.79 seconds, 45.53, and 1:09.62 were very strong for a race for 3-year-old fillies going 1 1/16 miles. Thats why when Lewis Bay, who did stumble at the start, but who also sat a beautiful inside trip off the pace, tipped out at the top of the stretch with dead aim on Off the Tracks, she looked 2-5 to inhale Off the Tracks and win decisively. Instead, Off the Tracks turned back and ran away from Lewis Bay like she wasnt even there. This was powerful stuff.As for Mo dAmour, she clunked along to finish a non-threatening fourth. And in Rachels Valentinas defense, she also stumbled at the start. But still, she really gave it up in the stretch after holding sweet early outside stalking position and finished fifth, again as the favorite.Its funny. When a division has a leader as dominant as Songbird is in this years 3-year-old filly division, the rest of the division is, far more often than not, weak and uninspiring. Not so with this years 3-year-old filly division, though. Its stunning how there are so many legitimately good ones, even in the face of Songbird.Lucky us.Quick notes* She is a Grade 1 winner and twice Grade 1 stakes placed, so shes set for life. Nevertheless, I honestly feel bad for Rachels Valentina. Given that her mom is Rachel Alexandra, how can she ever live up to expectations?* I like early-season 2-year-old racing. Its good for the game, and its good for 2-year-olds. That said, I usually dont put much stock in early-season 2-year-old stakes results, which is why 2-year-old rankings dont appear in my Watchmaker Watch until mid-August. However, if the resurgence in early 2-year-old racing that seems to have taken place over the last couple of years continues, I might reassess.But my skepticism of early 2-year-old stakes is being put to the test by the Bashford Manor Stakes at Churchill Downs. I thought the Bashford Manor was, in relative terms, a very strongly run race. The final time of 1:09.39 for six furlongs is impressive compared with the 1:11.01 fillies needed to complete the Debutante Stakes just 34 minutes later. Classic Empire came from inside, outside, and inside, and from well off the pace to catch the very speedy Recruiting Ready, with the rest of the Bashford Manor field a city block up the track. I think both a very nice prospects.* Its anyones guess if he will improve for the experience, or if he will return to his free, front-running style, but Danzing Candy clearly did not like being rated early in the Affirmed Stakes at Santa Anita, and could only finish second at 1-5. It wouldnt matter so much if Danzing Candy werent so talented. But he is very talented, as he showed when he won the San Felipe over Mor Spirit and Preakness winner Exaggerator. Cairo Santos Jersey Store . Jordan Lynch, the all-purpose Heisman Trophy finalist from Northern Illinois, failed to make it into that exclusive club. Dennis McKinnon Jersey Store .C. Lions has come to an end. Banks told TSN on Jan 2 that he had no interest in playing out the option year of his contract with the Lions in 2014, and he again made that clear in a conversation with Lions GM Wally Buono last week. https://www.chinacheapjerseys.net/brandon-jones-jersey-store/ .500 on the season. The Jets are now 0-5-1 in the second game of back-to-backs. The game started the same way the Vancouver game started the night before, with the Jets taking the first two penalties of the game and killing off the first, but the Oilers getting on the board first, scoring on the second man-advantage. Mike Nott Jersey Store . - Baltimore Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco is not a fan of his teams use of the wildcat formation, saying "it makes you look like a high school offence. Cedric Killings Jersey Store . Ryan Garbutt had a goal and two assists as Dallas snapped a six-game losing streak with a 5-2 victory over the Edmonton Oilers on Tuesday night. Pakistans performance in the five ODIs against Australia in January could determine Azhar Alis future as captain with PCB chairman Shaharyar Khan saying the board had lost its trust in him. He added that Sarfraz Ahmed, who leads the T20 side, was a strong option to take over the captaincy, perhaps in all three formats whenever Misbah-ul-Haq retires from Test cricket.Azhar has had a tough 19 months since he was appointed ODI captain in March 2015, soon after the World Cup. In his tenure, Pakistan had slipped to ninth place on the ICC rankings, with the 86 points they had being their lowest tally since the system was introduced in 2001. They have won only four out of nine series with Azhar in charge, two of them coming against Zimbabwe and Ireland.In September, following a 4-1 defeat to England, Shaharyar asked Azhar to considering resigning. But Azhar preferred not to and led Pakistan to a 3-0 whitewash of West Indies in the UAE. However, Shaharyar and the PCBs doubts continued.We are more than happy with Azhar as a player, human being and a person, he said in Karachi. But his leadership skills have not given us confidence and his place in ODI side is on shaky ground. It is also a fact that we had left it up to him to step down as captain during the England series but after a collective decision we decided to allow him to carry on for the West Indies series.Its really tough to make a decision after a captain won it by 3-0, but still I believe its purely Azhars own decision to leet it go and he earlier refused to relinquish his captaincy.ddddddddddddShaharyar said the board had asked head coach Mickey Arthur about his opinion on Azhar as captain and he too had voted in favor of a change and having Sarfraz in charge.Sarfraz is a strong option because we might even consider him for all three formats as captain. In our culture, it is always best to have one captain for all three formats in Pakistan cricket and historically it works for us. We dont like to force anyone to take decisions we dont work like that. And we would like to see a senior player go out with honor and respect.The PCB was also on standby with regards to Misbah, who is yet to take a decision over how long he could continue playing for Pakistan. The three Tests against Australia may be his last. Before flying for the tour, Misbah had said he would take a call based on whether he felt he could still contribute to the team. Misbah is a top-class captain and performer and has led the side well. Even at 42, he is super fit and I told him recently it was his decision when to retire, he said. But we have also made our mind on possible back-ups if the tour does not go well.Shaharyar understood that leaving the game can be a difficult decision. It is true because for a top player it is always hard to leave the adulation and fame. But we would like to see that change. ' ' '