April 30

BET of the DAY WINS!

On the ten race card today I only had five selections, but one of them was my first "PRIME TIME" bet of the Churchill Downs Handicapping Project.  I passed the opener and trailed throughout in the second, when 6th at 7/1.  The third was the first of two added money selections on the card where I liked Prettygood And You.  She was being sent out by trainer Gary Simms who is a Churchill Downs 40% Club member with four different angles, but the one in play here was that this filly was coming in off a layoff.  Over the last two springs Simms' layoff runners had scored at a 41% win rate.  He also was a 32% winner with horses making their first start of the meet.  She went right to the front, set a sizzling :21.4 opening quarter and never looked back! 

As the 7/5 favorite I cashed for nearly $25.  In the 4th Demure Halo looked like she would be a similar wire-to-wire winner as she led into the stretch, but had no response when the winner came to her.  But she did hold for second.  I didn't have another bet until the 8th when I picked Doubly Distinct who looked like he could wire the field, but didn't have to have the lead.  He pressed the leader to the turn, took over and led into the lane at a nice 5/1.  But when the closers came to him he had absolutely no response and dropped through the field like an anchor, finishing a well-beaten sixth.  My final play of the day was my "BET of the DAY" in the featured ninth.  This was a non-conditioned AOC event where you could enter for allowance conditions or for a $100K claiming tag.  My pick was Departing who had built a resume of six wins from nine starts including two graded stakes scores.  But he'd been off since late fall.  But trainer Al Stall had Departing working sharply.  His latest move was a sharp five furlong bullet move in :58.4 locally.  He looked prime to win, even though he was facing older for the first time.  He broke a tad slowly but quickly made up ground along the rail.  As they began to spin out of the turn he looked to hook wide around the leading duo, but a rallying horse three wide shut him off.....uh oh.  A hole opened on the rail and he dove inside and within fifty yards he'd accelerated to the lead and drew off as much the best without having to be pushed hard.  WHOOOO HOOOO! 

The 4/5 odds the payoff for me was nearly $40.  For the day I finished an excellent 2-for-5, 40% winning average and a clear profit for the third consecutive racing day!