July 8

Friday July 8

WOW What A Day!

After going winless at the races on Wednesday at Woodbine with a single second place finish to show for my handicapping, about the only thing that was good from that day was that I completed the project Kim had assigned to me while she was gone - to find, print, and hang photos of our recently complete Alaskan adventure. 

They frame the panoramic that hangs over our big screen television very nicely and will serve as a constant reminder of why we want to return to Alaska!  One of the events I was most looking forward to this week as I tried to fill my days while Kim visits her family in Pennsylvania was a "date" with former WISE student Erica Rakow.  When Erica was in my senior Mickonomics/WISE class she had decided she wanted to try to pursue a career in broadcasting.  She interviewed for a position at Broward Teen News and went straight to the head of the class as an anchor.  Fast forward to her graduation from the University of Florida (GO GATORS) and she landed a position with a Jacksonville station, then an Orlando station.  She got married to a guy who loves horse racing - how cool is that? - and they were at the Belmont to see American Pharoah win the Triple Crown!  Anyway, she recently moved back to South Florida and is now a reporter and anchor with our local ABC affiliate, WPLG Channel 10.  We had planned on lunch on Wednesday but it was postponed until today, Friday.  Our date was set for 1 pm, but at about noon I got a text from Erica saying she was running a little late, she was supposed to go LIVE from Miami Beach and then she'd be heading back to our appointed meeting place.  I turned on the television to the noon broadcast and sure enough, there she was at 12:30 reporting her story - and a little over 90 minutes later we were having lunch - how cool is that? 

She is so sweet and we enjoyed our afternoon so much.  The photo of the two of us drew more than 75 likes & comments before I went to bed!  This in and of itself would have made for a wonderful day, but when I got home I went to check how racing was going at Monmouth.  On their eight race Friday card I originally had five selections, but two were scratched out.  I'd lost the opener as the 2/1 second choice when Paco Lopez went wire-to-wire onboard a runner that paid $9.  Jeff and I had just been talking about how does this guy, who seemingly wins EVERY race he rides, win so many races at good prices here?  I had listed the winner as my third choice.  While I was enjoying my time with the very attractive Ms. Rakow the sixth had run at Monmouth.  Here was my analysis......

Even if you did not have Jim Mazur's "Monmouth Handicapper" you'd have to figure that Apache Queen would be one of the favorites if not the post time favorite, right?  The crowd went delirious over the Navarro runner making him the even money choice, but when the gates opened it was Lopez who was loose on the lead.  Scotland Bay came running from fourth but was way too late to catch my choice.....and check out the price: 

YOWZA indeed!  When I saw the payoff of $14.60 I was calculating that I would have a winning day regardless of the outcome of the final race as this would result in a return of over $70, and then I remembered.....I had TRIPLED the bet so I was cashing out for more than $100!  There it was, another Paco Lopez "go figure" winner, but thanks to the Monmouth Handicapper I was on board this time!  Lost the finale, but the day was a tremendous success on every level!