August 16 - 18
It was another highly successful handicapping weekend, highlighted by the birthday celebration for the now 3yo Oliver (our youngest grandson) and a milestone win for me on Sunday. Here's how the weekend played out from Orlando.
Friday August 16
I had completed handicapping selections and analysis for all three days of the weekend prior to our heading to Orlando Friday morning. So before driving to O-town I made my bets and then later in the evening I watched the replays. In the very first race of the day, with my very first bet of the weekend Mission Driven came from last to first to score on the grass at a nice $6.20. In the hunt with the next four bets but no money which brought us to the ninth and Friday finale. As I wrote in my analysis, that it seems like nearly every day there's a virtual "single" which runs away at minuscule odds, and this was the one for today. Somehow the DRF early line made Whyruawesome a 4/1 pick in this Starter Optional Claiming sprint. But I knew he'd never be even close to even money. He was exiting a big win over SECOND LEVEL ALLOWANCE foes and today was dropping all the way down to an $8K starter with a huge 96 Beyer in his pocket. Seriously, 4-1? Sent out by Jorge Navarro with jockey Angel Suarez (a 32% winner for the barn), he just looked overwhelmingly like the winner. Added to the appeal that hot-riding Paco Lopez was sitting out the finale so no magical form reversal was in the works. Dueled for about a quarter of a mile and then opened up under a confident ride to win without taking a deep breath as the "prime time" play of the day.
Saturday August 17: Alabama Stakes Day / Del Mar Oaks Day
To be fair, full disclosure, today was Pacific Classic Day at Del Mar, their signature race and big day headliner. But I knew before I even looked at the Form for Del Mar that there was no big play there. It was a wide open field in a wide-open division where both the heavy hitters from the handicap division on the west coast were sitting it out. I had handicapped the Monmouth card, the Saratoga card, and Del Mar. Once the birthday party was over, the guests had left and the birthday boy had headed off to bed I again opened up the laptop and watched the replays track by track. At Monmouth I missed in the opener but watched Colorado Grandslam easily wire the third going a two-turn mile. In the fifth I knew, and I mean I KNEW that Jaywalk was going down in flames. How? Because I'd never liked her, even after she won the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies off a win in the Grade 1 Frizette. But when she made her 3yo debut at Gulfstream in the Gr 2 Davona Dale as everyone's single, I was on board and she didn't finish in the money. I knew I'd been right so in the Grade 1 Ashland and Grade 1 Kentucky Oaks I avoided her - she lost both. Went against her in the Gr 3 Delaware Oaks and she reappeared, looking super under new jockey Joe Bravo. So here she was as the prohibitive favorite and I decided to back her. Of course you know that she didn't win. Had an easy lead but when asked to finish, she couldn't hold off the second choice and was second. I closed out the Jersey Shore card with wins in the sixth and twelfth - both with triple investments to salvage the day at Monmouth. At Saratoga I ran 3rd twice and 4th twice before the Smart and Fancy, a five furlong turf sprint. Morticia was the odds-on choice and coasted on the lead, in hand into the stretch. Asked to sprint away turning for home she spun her wheels and was run down to finish off the board. Wow. We now came to the tenth and featured Grade 1 Alabama for 3yo fillies. I'd seen and won with Point of Honor at Tampa and in the Grade 2 Black Eyed Susan. But as I noted in my analysis, she was simply cleverly managed - winning both those against less than overwhelming foes. Today she faced a real star in Dunbar Road. Chad Brown had entered this filly into the Grade 2 Gulfstream Park Oaks off a debut maiden win. Despite going two turns for the first time, facing winners for the first time, and giving up a ton of experience WITH a short stretch she rallied to just miss in 2nd. She couldn't get into the Gr 1 Kentucky Oaks so she took some time off and won an allowance for fun. I had her on Summit of Speed Day. Dunbar Road had blew by the Gr 2 Mother Goose field while really only running about a furlong of the race at full speed. She was the real deal. She was mid-pack to the turn, then Point of Honor made her move five wide.....Dunbar Road swung six wide and accelerated past the field to win going away. I had listed her as the "BET of the DAY" with a $50 wager, but on Saturday morning I wavered thinking maybe I should scale back. But then I decided I knew she was as good as the wager and that if the crowd did NOT send her off at even money or less I'd make a nice score. Well, they let her get away at 8/5 odds so I cashed for nearly $140 and was secured a profitable Saturday at the races!
On to Del Mar.....the third was the Grade 3 Green Flash going five furlongs on the turf and 2x BC Turf Sprint champion Stormy Liberal was looking for his first win of the year. He has run really well on this course and I thought today was the day but I wasn't going all in. Good thing, an even third. The fifth was an interesting MSW on the grass. Parsimony has multiple STAKES placings but cannot get home in front, currently at 0-for-14. And most of the field had run against each other previously - just the kind of race I like to avoid. BUT....Successandsurpass had run fifth against several of these despite bobbling at the start, coming off a long break AND making his first North American start. Today Hall of Fame rider John Velazquez was in town and he took the mount. Looked blocked and too far out of it coming out of the turn but came flying up the rail, through a narrow opening and JUST up in time to win! The generous $6.80 price led to nearly $35 more to my bankroll. The ninth was my "best" of the day in the Grade 1 Del Mar Oaks. Chad Brown ALWAYS has his turf runners primed for big efforts and if he ships to So Cal from NY you had better watch out. I'd had Cambier Parc at Gulfstream this winter on Holy Bull Day. She'd been outrun in the Gr 3 Edgewood, then won a Grade 3 in NY. Her most recent was another loss to the suddenly amazingly talented Concrete Rose, but it also was going a mile and a quarter which just might have been outside her reach. I thought today's nine furlongs trip was ideal, and not coincidentally that was the distance of her last win. As the field hit the far turn she looked too far back but was picking off horses. Then she swung wide, oh-so-wide she had to have lost a half dozen lengths, and that's that I thought as I watched the live feed late Saturday. Then suddenly with a furlong left she found another gear and blew by the field to win going away! The Gr 1 Pacific Classic was a toss-up and I was nearly positive it would result in a big-priced winner. I had a small bet on Tenfold at 12/1 and he was a good fourth behind the 9/1 winner.
And so it was a wonderful Saturday at the races, after a great birthday party. I thought this "Saratoga at Sunset" photo was a great way to end the day!
Sunday August 18
Last week when I was writing up the final numbers for the weekend it occurred to me that I was closing in on a milestone win. Counted them up and saw that when I got my tenth win of the weekend I'd hit it. I was nearly certain I'd get it this weekend, but both Friday and Saturday saw me win at a "good" 33%+ but below the last few weeks where I'd scored at better than 40%. So it came down to Sunday where I had six picks. I just needed two wins to hit the magical number. I got the first one in the seventh when Guns of Steel "...embarrassed the competition..." as track announcer Frank Mirahmadi called it. Thought for sure I'd get it in the next when I'm A Cool Man (would have been appropriate I thought, ha ha ha) at 3/5, but he was just second. The last race of the day was the Jersey Derby and I had Chad Brown's Standard Deviation. Jersey Joe Bravo rode him behind the speed and then made a bold move on the turn. Quickly swept by, circling the embattled leaders and drawing off to WIN!
And with that win I had victory NUMBER 8000 since I began keeping detailed statistics and journaling my adventures. back in 2005-6. So Sunday night after I'd watched the replays I went back through my stored files and found a photo of me with Kim at Calder one afternoon where we'd gone out for lunch in the clubhouse and to watch a couple races. I won the race we saw - funny, I remember that afternoon so vividly - and I made this "commemorative collage" .....
Saturday August 17: Alabama Stakes Day / Del Mar Oaks Day
To be fair, full disclosure, today was Pacific Classic Day at Del Mar, their signature race and big day headliner. But I knew before I even looked at the Form for Del Mar that there was no big play there. It was a wide open field in a wide-open division where both the heavy hitters from the handicap division on the west coast were sitting it out. I had handicapped the Monmouth card, the Saratoga card, and Del Mar. Once the birthday party was over, the guests had left and the birthday boy had headed off to bed I again opened up the laptop and watched the replays track by track. At Monmouth I missed in the opener but watched Colorado Grandslam easily wire the third going a two-turn mile. In the fifth I knew, and I mean I KNEW that Jaywalk was going down in flames. How? Because I'd never liked her, even after she won the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies off a win in the Grade 1 Frizette. But when she made her 3yo debut at Gulfstream in the Gr 2 Davona Dale as everyone's single, I was on board and she didn't finish in the money. I knew I'd been right so in the Grade 1 Ashland and Grade 1 Kentucky Oaks I avoided her - she lost both. Went against her in the Gr 3 Delaware Oaks and she reappeared, looking super under new jockey Joe Bravo. So here she was as the prohibitive favorite and I decided to back her. Of course you know that she didn't win. Had an easy lead but when asked to finish, she couldn't hold off the second choice and was second. I closed out the Jersey Shore card with wins in the sixth and twelfth - both with triple investments to salvage the day at Monmouth. At Saratoga I ran 3rd twice and 4th twice before the Smart and Fancy, a five furlong turf sprint. Morticia was the odds-on choice and coasted on the lead, in hand into the stretch. Asked to sprint away turning for home she spun her wheels and was run down to finish off the board. Wow. We now came to the tenth and featured Grade 1 Alabama for 3yo fillies. I'd seen and won with Point of Honor at Tampa and in the Grade 2 Black Eyed Susan. But as I noted in my analysis, she was simply cleverly managed - winning both those against less than overwhelming foes. Today she faced a real star in Dunbar Road. Chad Brown had entered this filly into the Grade 2 Gulfstream Park Oaks off a debut maiden win. Despite going two turns for the first time, facing winners for the first time, and giving up a ton of experience WITH a short stretch she rallied to just miss in 2nd. She couldn't get into the Gr 1 Kentucky Oaks so she took some time off and won an allowance for fun. I had her on Summit of Speed Day. Dunbar Road had blew by the Gr 2 Mother Goose field while really only running about a furlong of the race at full speed. She was the real deal. She was mid-pack to the turn, then Point of Honor made her move five wide.....Dunbar Road swung six wide and accelerated past the field to win going away. I had listed her as the "BET of the DAY" with a $50 wager, but on Saturday morning I wavered thinking maybe I should scale back. But then I decided I knew she was as good as the wager and that if the crowd did NOT send her off at even money or less I'd make a nice score. Well, they let her get away at 8/5 odds so I cashed for nearly $140 and was secured a profitable Saturday at the races!
And so it was a wonderful Saturday at the races, after a great birthday party. I thought this "Saratoga at Sunset" photo was a great way to end the day!
Sunday August 18
Last week when I was writing up the final numbers for the weekend it occurred to me that I was closing in on a milestone win. Counted them up and saw that when I got my tenth win of the weekend I'd hit it. I was nearly certain I'd get it this weekend, but both Friday and Saturday saw me win at a "good" 33%+ but below the last few weeks where I'd scored at better than 40%. So it came down to Sunday where I had six picks. I just needed two wins to hit the magical number. I got the first one in the seventh when Guns of Steel "...embarrassed the competition..." as track announcer Frank Mirahmadi called it. Thought for sure I'd get it in the next when I'm A Cool Man (would have been appropriate I thought, ha ha ha) at 3/5, but he was just second. The last race of the day was the Jersey Derby and I had Chad Brown's Standard Deviation. Jersey Joe Bravo rode him behind the speed and then made a bold move on the turn. Quickly swept by, circling the embattled leaders and drawing off to WIN!
And with that win I had victory NUMBER 8000 since I began keeping detailed statistics and journaling my adventures. back in 2005-6. So Sunday night after I'd watched the replays I went back through my stored files and found a photo of me with Kim at Calder one afternoon where we'd gone out for lunch in the clubhouse and to watch a couple races. I won the race we saw - funny, I remember that afternoon so vividly - and I made this "commemorative collage" .....
An another excellent summer weekend was complete!
Racing Highlights
(Bday Cake Candles Included)
(Bday Cake Candles Included)
Birthday Party Pics
No comments:
Post a Comment