May 8

May 8 - A BIG 2-for-3 Day To Kick Off Week 2

 

Today was an excellent day at the Downs. I had only four selections on my sheet for this Thursday card, and the first two were the only races I felt I had enough of an edge to make added money investments. But my pick in the first of those, Au Moon in the 3rd, scratched out of the race. So, I added half of that investment to my pick in the 4th, Wild Swava who just looked TONS the best on paper. Jill Byrne started off the day by successfully tabbing the winner in the first, second, and third race! Meanwhile I had the winner in the first, my pick in the second scratched, and I had the winner in the third - the aforementioned Wild Swava. He went right to the front and set comfortable fractions despite pace pressure. When they turned for home he opened up under a hand ride and drew off easily by daylight.

 

I passed in the 4th and 5th - my top picks ran 6th and 3rd, while Jill's ran third in both cases. We squared off in the 6th where I thought Full Dancer would go wire to wire as the lone speed, and he was loose on the lead, but Jill's pick, Lent ran him down in the lane to pay $6.60. That was her 4th of the day - man, she's good!  But then I demonstrated my skills by scoring in the 7th at $7.00 (no bet) while her pick, the favorite was second. Then she ran 4th in the 8th which was my final bet of the day. My pick was Cary Street and he went off at a juicy 3/1. Stalked the pace inside to the top of the lane and drew off impressively to pay $8.40 - I cashed for over $20. I had no pick in the finale and Jill ran 3rd again. For the day Jill went 4-for-9 and lost money; I was 4-for-7 and WON money on all picks, and in the races where I actually bet I was 2-for-3 and won nearly $15!