September 18

I LOVE MONMOUTH PARK!

What a wonderful day today was!  After the big day yesterday I was leery about how today might turn out.....why?  Well here's why - throughout the summer I'd classify Monmouth racing at just a cut below the quality of the Gulfstream Championship meet, but clearly better than the typical Calder summer meetings used to be.  On a typical ten race card there would probably be two races with such bad races/runners that trying to pick a winner was fruitless; then maybe two races where it's very obvious who SHOULD win; and the other six would be a mixed bag.  But since the end of August the daily cards are filled with a LOT more of those "bad races with slow horses, and low percentage jockeys for low win percentage barns."  SOOOOO as I looked through the card today - and even in the best of times (including Gulfstream) a Sunday - or weekday card - is far more inconsistent and lower quality than a Saturday - the fact that I had several short priced obvious favorites was not a good sign.  At the lower claiming levels and with maidens, standouts are often on paper only.  This started off immediately when I looked at the first race.  CLEARLY, if the race were run to the numbers, the odds-on favorite would be Daring Bride.  Any of her last three turf numbers would win this for fun.  Add in that last time out was the first time in for a tag, and she'd been 3/5 despite it being rained off the grass and she had traffic issues when a best-of-the-rest second.  She stalked the pace to the far turn, but as they raced through the turn she was still fifth and looked to be stuck in neutral....so much so that I was thinking here was a case of a claimer not running to her paper form.  But then the rider glided her outside into the clear and MAN she hit another gear and BLEW by the field to win easily.  

And the best part was she went off at a very generous 4/5 so I cashed for nearly $30 with my triple investment!  Great start to the day.  As I handicapped the card and looked at the second race I became even more leery because Goodtimehadbyall looked MUCH the best on paper.  In just a six horse field her last THREE Beyer figures (88-83-83) were better than all but one of the combined 184 races, and that had been earned in 2014 or earlier.  What are the chances we'd have back-to-back odds-on winners?  I can't tell you how many times I have had back-to-back short priced favorites and I've found that if the bets are not the same I always seem to win with the lower investment.  So with that in mind I stuck to yet another triple investment.  Goodtimehadbyall went right to the front and while daylight clear down the backstretch he was under a stranglehold by the rider.  Into the stretch he let him go and it was ALL over.  

He was a prohibitive 1/9 so I only profited a single dollar.  :)  But hey, a win is a win is a win.  But, an even better story to start the day.....If you follow my adventures in racing you know that I long ago discovered that my success comes with WIN bets only.  Any multi-race wagers are nearly always losing propositions as I'll miss on one of the legs and I would have made more money with straight WIN wagers.  But in this case today these first two runners were, as I wrote in my analysis, the "Double Lock Of The Meet!"  And so I added in a $10 Daily Double.  While I knew it wouldn't pay much, it looked to me to be "free money."  Sure enough, when the results came up for the second race, the double was a generous return for me......

With a $10 double play I would collect nearly $30 on two VERY obvious winners!  I am having a VERY good day so far!  But immediately I was confronted with another dilemma.  As I went through the third race Saint Bernadine jumped off the page.  She had won two straight races by a combined 18 3/4 lengths - that alone would make him a solid win candidate.  But she'd won those while cruising along on the front end, going wire-to-wire, and today she projected to easily be the LONE SPEED.  That would make her the pick.  In addition to those factors, he was first off the claim for the top trainer, Jorge Navarro - who's winning at a big 38% overall - and he's 27% first off the claim.  The rider today is a 35% winner for Navarro.  Looked long gone on paper.  But seriously....what are the chances that not one, not two, but THREE odds-on favorites win back-to-back-to-back races in these mid-to-low level classes?  But, the figures don't lie.  I tripled the bet.  Right to the front and when the stalkers made their move on the far turn she let it out and notch and was a runaway winner.  THREE FOR THREE!

The odds were a minuscule 2/5 but who's arguing with WINNING!  No bets until the 8th.  Strike N Spare was running for a first time tag at 5/1.  Pressed to the turn, stopped badly and finished last.  The ninth, well, ready my analysis.....

It just looked too good to be true, and with the roll I'm on today, c'mon, fagetaboutit!  Go Trumpy Go just galloped like he was out for a stroll in the park for my FOURTH WIN of the day!

In the final race, Go Trumpy Go was trained by top Monmouth conditioner Jorge Navarro, and with that win he broke a 41 year record for wins at a meet with 56 (my high school number!) wins, including Go Trumpy Go.

So I decided to go back through my records to see how often he'd been the trainer of my winners this summer.  As of this day, Sunday September 18, I have selected exactly 100 winners at Monmouth Park!  WHOOOO HOOOO!  And of those 24 were trained by Navarro, almost half of his winners had my  money on board :)

What a wonderful day - the results....

This would normally be the end of the racing week but tomorrow is Presque Isles Masters Stakes Day - we had planned to be in Erie for the big event, but with Kim's medical issues we're still in So Fla.  But that won't stop me from playing the races!  My totals for Wednesday through Sunday are a spectacular:  36 / 16 - 6- 7 .... that's 44% winners for those of you without a calculator!  WHOOO HOOO!