July 4

Winning Day To Cap 4-Day Weekend Of Racing

The original plan had been to head out to Gulfstream today and I had eight tracks lined up to handicap and play today.  But when Kim's flight was canceled yesterday the whole day was put on hold.  True, I could have played the races all day and done some of it online and the rest live, but if I am going out I like to be out for the whole day.  That wasn't nearly as much the issue as I didn't know until around 4 pm when Kim's flight would be rescheduled for.  There had been a rumor it would be for today, but the airline only flies to Ohio once a week and that was not a certainty.  So I really wasn't anxious to handicap all day and then find that either she wasn't going at all, in which case we'd spend the day together, or if I needed to take her to the airport in the middle of the day.  I had already handicapped for Monmouth and I decided I'd add one more track to play and that would make for a good day at home.  We found out she was going to fly out today and the time would be a 7:30 departure, which meant getting up around 5 am, so now I was really glad I was not having a long day in the hot sun and/or on my feet!  The day started off very well - actually, just like Saturday - as I swept the early double at Monmouth!  Neither were more than the minimum play, but it's all about being right as I've often said :)  In the opener Bull Dozer looked best, but he'd not been in the winner's circle since 2014 and today he was plunging from a nw3x AOC sprint to this $6,250K sprint.  On the upside, the winner of that sprint came back to win the Grade 2 Smile Sprint on the GP Summit of Speed card Saturday and will now get a bid to the Breeders' Cup, so this SHOULD be a MUCH easier spot.  As they turned for home Bull Dozer was at the back, but he was FLYING down the middle of the track and as they hit the wire it was oh-so-close.....PHOTO FINISH!  Just by the length of a nose hair he was the winner.  In the second I decided to back Hissy Fit.  This was an "issue" because this same race had been carded as the 8th race on Friday but was cancelled when the big storm hit.  And I'd planned to pass on Friday.  But in reexamining the line-up I decided to make her the minimum play.  It was somewhat encouraging that in the Monmouth pre-race selection show the co-host was a part owner of Hissy Fit and he anticipated her running well.  She blew by as much the best at a miniscule 2/5 price. 

Then, much like Saturday I continued my "close but no cigar" run of horses - three second place finishes from the next six races with no wins.  Those three were all heart-breakers - at Parx on the turf, Quality Counts was the 4/5 favorite, made a strong bid but could not get by; at Monmouth Paco Lopez had Celtic Embrace right off the flank of my second choice who had stopped in his last three.  Lopez cruised up and looked like he was going by, but the leader resisted.  Dueled to the wire, led briefly, but was outfinished.  Then at Arlington the best front-end rider I know, E.T. Bair went right to the front with Splittin Tumbleweeds and was clear at the sixteenth pole, caught in the final strides.  Sigh.......Ironically I got back into the winner's circle at Parx with my third minimum play of the day - did I mention all six of those losses were with added money?  :(  Edzactly had won for me on the Penn Mile undercard at Penn National as a Santa Anita ship-in.  Now here he was today in a starter allowance.  How does a Penn allowance compare to a Parx starter?  Didn't matter as he went wire to wire as easily the best!  So I'm 3-for-9, a solid 33% on the day but clearly losing money.  No worries I think I've got a good one up next at Parx.  She'll Do It has the best figures in the field and should be an easy winner, IF she can run to those numbers which were all earned on the Woodbine synthetic on today's real dirt.  She'd fired bullets training for this on the real dirt at Delaware so I wasn't concerned.  She was sent off at 8/5 and dueled with the second choice into the lane.  Put that one away and was clear at the 16th pole, but the damage was done as a 30/1 outsider came FLYING from off the pace to run her down late - 2nd, again.  Then in the Grade 3 Penny Memorial at Parx Tutipaesi was the 2/1 third choice and had the perfect trip, but could not catch the front-runner, second yet again!  You have to give me credit on my next selection and bet.  I'm sitting here after going through the races on BOTH Saturday and Sunday with a less-than-usual collection of winners, and losing some of my bankroll and now I'm at 3-for-11 on the day with all three being minimum plays as we roll into the feature at Monmouth, the Lady's Secret.  Angela Renee has two big things going for her in my opinion - first, of the twelve races showing in her pp's she has one turf stakes, toss that.  Then she has TEN graded stakes (none of which were wins, but some were competitive).  And the lone non-graded dirt route - a big figure win: 

That would be enough to make her the pick despite the record over the last two years of 7/1-0-1.  But the key comes in the connections - trainer Chad Brown is a Monmouth 40% Club member with ANY runner he enters.  YES, over the last two years he's won at a 42% clip, so ALL his horses qualify.  So here we have a runner dropping out of multiple graded stakes, into a listed stakes, as a "club play" and gets top rider Paco Lopez up.  I thought the 9/5 post time price was stealing.  Here's where you have to give me a "pip, pip" congrats because in spite of my current three run of "success" I decided to make her the next BET of the DAY play in that string of 1800 races plus!  She sat just off the front runner from the Todd Pletcher barn that I anticipated running well (7/2 at post time) and then blew by and ran away as much the best! 

The generous payoff with my big bet allowed me to cash for $140 and seal a winning day at the races!  WHOOOO HOOOOO!  To keep me grounded, my pick at Belmont, the 4/5 favorite broke slowly and was a much-the-best-of-the-rest SECOND behind a longshot winner.  WOW.  But I closed the day with a nice winner in the Monmouth finale.  You just never know how the crowd will bet......Connectable looked much the best on paper in this 5 1/2 furlong maiden claiming sprint.  A suspicious drop down to this $10K level must have scared off a lot of bettors because he went from odds-on to second choice in the last two flashes of the board.  But he ran as his form indicated he would, and wired the field at 8/5.  Cashed for nearly $30 and finished the day 5-for-14 (a sharp 36%) and with a clear profit on the day!