July 5

Back To Live Racing!

It was good to be back at the races today, and while it was not a profitable day, it did have it's highlights including winning SIX Stakes races on the day - including my "BET Of The Day" and my "Best of the Day" at Gulfstream Park. 

First, how the Monmouth Park Handicapping Project selection played out.  The top selection in the Jersey Shore opener won and paid $11.20!  Too bad it was not an investment selection :(  My pick in the second scratched.  My first bet was the 4th race where I thought Sweet Butterfly would live up to her odds-on status in this claiming turf sprint.  Unfortunately she broke poorly and spotted the field several lengths.  She rallied strongly through the stretch to be a clear second, and probably was the best in the field if not for the unlucky break.  I got my first (and only) win at Monmouth when PJ Hooker scored.  In this two-lifetime sprint there were NO confirmed front runners.  In PJ's last she had set very moderate fractions of :23 and :47 before drawing off by eight widening lengths.  But for some reason she was DQ'd from that win.  So today looked like a mirror of that race in pace scenarios.  The biggest change was that today's rider was top jockey Paco Lopez.  She broke sharply and pressed the pace to the stretch then drew off under wraps to win by daylight.  I was delighted that she was allowed to go off at better than 2/1 and I cashed for nearly $35!  I ran fourth in the 7th when Rodina was a Monmouth 40% Club play, but couldn't keep up with the pace and was a non-threatening fourth.  I was second at 9/1 without a bet in the 8th and won the ninth at 3/1, again without a bet.  In the 10th Runyon Humor was another Navarro 40% Club play and I tripled the bet.  She pressed the pace over the turf, but was outfinished and was a well-beaten third.  My last two picks scratched, so I ended up 1-for-4 with a second and two thirds, losing a tick more than fifteen dollars.  So, let's back up and trace the day chronologically.......

Yesterday Kim took off for Erie and her parents' 60th Anniversary / 4th of July party.  I was left to take care of our "grand-puppy" Vader who had been dropped off Thursday by our youngest son Brad who was on his way to spend the weekend with nearly twenty friends in the Keys; that included his wife Lauren and "roommate Lauren" who had spent three days with us when we returned from Williamsburg on Monday.  So my plan was to go out for the bulk of the racing and come home to Vader for the second half of the day's racing.  My first bet at Gulfstream was in their opener, a nw2L on the turf.  My selection was El Jefe Grande who was a lowly 1-for-14 on the grass, but today marked his first start not only in 2-lifetime company but also his first start for a claiming tag.  He sat off the pace in fourth, made a four wide move on the turn and then drew off through the stretch. 

He was odds-on in spite of his poor record, but hey, I scored with my first live bet since being on track on June 7th, Belmont Day nearly a month ago.  In the next five races I went winless but was second not once, not twice, but THREE TIMES.  In the second at Gulfstream I had tripled the bet on Another Big Cat and he was clear by two into the lane before being run down in deep stretch.  At Monmouth the Sweet Butterfly race (see above), and then back at Gulfstream where Curlin's Gold was the 4/5 favorite and was flying late, but not good enough to score.  I got my second score of the day on the Jersey Shore with PJ Hooker (see above) and then missed on three in a row where I was right there at the top of the stretch at 8/5, 6/1, and 4/1 only to fade in all three instances.  The 6/1 shot was a front runner at Arlington where my former student Rosemary Homeister was riding.  It was here birthday today and I thought maybe she could pull off the upset.....close but no cigar.  I got back in the winner's circle and my first stakes win of the day in Delaware's Grade 3 Robert Dick Memorial over their turf course.  My pick was an "upset selection" at 6/1 in the program, Aigue Marine.  She had won an allowance race at Gulfstream in the winter of 2012 and had not scored since, but had been in graded company and run competitively.  I felt today she would show her real talent AND the field was not that strong.  She saved ground into the turf in mid-pack and down the backstretch AND through the final turn.  Could she get out?  She tipped off the rail and was four wide when she accelerated towards the wire.  The leader shifted out and another runner tried to split horses but was checked sharply.  I wasn't bothered and found another gear to win going away!  WHOOO HOOOO!  Wait..... in spite of showing the photo ops in the winner's circle with the trainer, owners, and horse; then the trophy presentation there was an objection and inquiry!  They kept looking at the replay and the more I looked at it the problem seemed to be solely on the runner-up.  While Aigue Marine had drifted in slightly she too was forced out when the other runner was squeezed.  Finally a decision......a DQ!  But not me!  :)  The runner-up came down, and so I was the winner! 

The crowd had apparently read my analysis as Aigue Marine went off as the 9/5 favorite.  I cashed for nearly $30 though and later read that she'd set a track record with the victory.  I missed on the next two, fourth in both, and then the stakes action started at Gulfstream Park. 

Today was supposed to be Calder's Highlight of the summer, the "Summit of Speed."  But last week Calder & Gulfstream reached an agreement - sadly, the end of racing at Calder.  While there will be live racing in October and November (40 racing dates of 5 days for eight weeks), it will be run by Gulfstream.  We'll see how that goes.  But with the agreement all racing at Calder was stopped immediately as well as all simulcasting.  I felt bad for all the workers there, several tellers of which were favorites of mine.  But anyway, for the good of the horsemen Gulfstream scheduled five stakes races today.  Earlier I had been a dismal 8th in the Bob Umphrey Turf Sprint (which, by the way, I found ironic in that this was the lone Calder sprint that survived in name, and it was named for a long-time racing secretary AT CALDER!).  Up next here was the Paseana Stakes.  Heart Stealer was one of three runners for local trainer Marty Wolfson, but she was the lone graded stakes runner in the field.  She had won not one but TWO graded stakes this past winter.....both HERE.  She was a standout I thought, so I tripled the bet.  She left the gate as the 1/2 favorite and sat fourth into the turn.  She moved of the rail and while it looked close from my position on the rail, when I watched the replay later she was clear by daylight from the 16th pole home!  WHOOOOO HOOOOO! 

My second win on the live action card!  I was second in the Grade 3 Belmont Sprint at 4/1, then a disappointing 4th at even money here at Gulfstream.  This was Mike Welsch's "Best" of the day and it seems to me he hardly ever wins those....I almost passed the race because of it, should have!  In the Grade 1 Belmont Derby I went prime-time on Euro invader Adelaide.  He was 2/1 and surged to the front with a furlong to go, bursting between runners to take the lead with all the momentum.  But in the final strides he was nipped on the wire by a huge long shot.  Sigh.....second again.  Missed with a 6/1 upset in the Grade 2 Delaware Oaks, a race that had no superstars in the lineup.  At that point I left to go be with "the puppy" and watch the rest of the races on TV and online.  The first race I watched, which was run while I was driving home was the Cash Run Stakes at Gulfstream.  I went with Little Alexis who had been away since her February debut this past winter.  But here was the thing, in that win she beat My Miss Sophia who went on to become a Grade 1 winner and ran second in the Grade 1 Kentucky Oaks behind Untapable.  Turning into the lane there were five horses with a chance, but it was Little Alexis who split horses to forge to a narrow lead at the 16th pole and hold on to win! 

WHOOOO HOOOOO!  I had doubled the bet, but in spite of the long break she was even money so I cashed for a little more than $20.  In the Grade 2 Suburban at Belmont I picked Moreno to upset the field on the front end at 8/1.....all the way to deep strtch before just being caught I the final 16th, sigh.....second again.  Third at Monmouth with Runyon Humor.  Then it was on to Arlington and their feature, the Arlington Sprint going 5 1/2 furlongs on the turf.  I liked Saint Leon who'd won the race the past two years.  He was a 14x winner and an amazing 5-for-6 locally.  There looked to be other speed types, but he looked to be the speed of the speed.  Sure enough, right to the front and never looked back.  The closers were coming late, but there was still daylight between him and the runner-up on the wire! 

He was nearly 2/1 so I cashed for almost $30.  I missed with suspicious class dropper Queen of the Hill at Los Alamitos - which was running an abbreviated thoroughbred meet with the closing of Hollywood Park.  Then I won my third stakes on the Gulfstream card with my Gulfstream Best of the Day.  There were several legitimate contenders when I handicapped the race, but I went with the red-hot Mr. Baker.   He had won in 2-lifetime company, a starter allowance, and then Calder's Ponche Handicap since moving into Kirk Ziadie's barn.  This guy wins all the time, and with jockey Edgar Zayas he is winning at a near 50% clip.  On the rail with the speed to take them wire-to-wire I went in prime time.  With the scratch of three runners I might have been smart to up the bet, but held to my original plan.  Indeed he broke sharply, cleared the field and when they turned for home and the pressers and closers began to pick up the pace, Mr. Baker had plenty left and opened up to draw off with authority! 

He too was the favorite, but I still cashed or nearly $50!  At Belmont I was prime-time on another Euro runner in the Grade 1 Belmont Oaks with Excellence.  She rallied from far back to close to be fourth, but never threatened.  Missed on three at Los Alamitos, including a second and a third before it was time for the "BET OF THE DAY," in the Grade 2 Los Alamitos Derby.  Shared Belief had been the juvenile champion of 2013 and the early Kentucky Derby favorite.  But after winning the Grade 1 Cash Call Futurity at Hollywood he'd been off and on in his training and finally was put aside for the winter and spring.  He'd made his initial sophomore start a month ago against older when sprinting at Golden Gate Fields where he dominated in what looked like a paid workout.  But today he was going farther than he'd ever gone, nine furlongs AND was trying dirt for the first time in his career.  Still, while building a perfect four-for-four record no one had ever come within five lengths of him on the wire.  He was sent off at what I thought was a generous 3/5 and pressed the pace to the far turn.  He made his move on the leader and was immediately threatened by my pick in the Kentucky Derby, Candy Boy.  But Hall of Fame rider Mike Smith shook the reins and he accelerated away.  Once in front by double digit lengths Smith geared him down to a gallop, and he won by over five, again, while under wraps! 

I had $40 to win on him and will cash for nearly $70!  I wish I'd saved the photo, but when I snapped the original of me in front of the TV that you see below Vader walked right in front of the camera and was staring into the lens :)  Vader!  For the day I cashed on eight tickets, but six were stakes.  Always good to be at the races in spite of losing some cash on the day.