May 1

FOUR WINS ON THE DAY!

I notched the most wins in a single day of the summer handicapping project today, but it took a desperate head bob in the finale to get the final score.

As I've mentioned earlier I had set in my mind that throughout the Churchill meet I was going to be selective about horses that I actually invested in. But by the time I'd finished handicapping the Thursday card I had bets listed in TEN of eleven races; though to be fair I knew there would be "only" ten plays as one race schedule for the turf I had a "turf only" bet and another listed for the inner course my pick was a "main track only" bet. It looked to be a good day from the start when I wired the field in the opener after setting a :21.3 opening quarter and dueling to the top of the lane. Speed seemed to be carrying today as evidenced by Metro Dreamer's score in the first. I passed the second and won AGAIN in the third when Reason To Be Proud scored. I have to admit that I was concerned when the field hit the top of the far turn and my pick was still trailing the field. She began to lengthen her stride and circle the field as they came out of the turn. She reached the leaders in mid-stretch, dueled to inside the final one hundred yards, then edged clear as a luke-warm 9/5 favorite.

In the 4th I thought Zander Zone was a BIG time play and I tripled the bet in this 2L event as he'd never seen that level. I thought he'd rally by the faint-hearted speed, and he did catch all of them....but an 8/1 Calvin Borel horse.....2nd at a nice 5/1. I pressed the pace to the stretch with the 4/5 favorite in the 5th on the grass then stopped. I won with double-investment Doc Almon in the 6th as the even money favorite, but lost three in a row (2nd, 4th, and 5th) heading into the 11th and final race on the card.

My pick, Impassable Canyone was the even money favorite and he cruised to catch the leader as they turned for home and looked like he'd gallop home by open lengths. But instead a stretch duel ensued. The two horses went at it the entire length of the stretch with first one edging in front and then the other. As they hit the wire it was a very, very close head bob. It all came down to where the wire was as the heads went up and down. I watched the slo-mo three times and still wasn't sure until finally it was official.....I'd won for the fourth time today!