Saturday April 24
Thursday morning Kim left for a Girls' Getaway Weekend in Daytona and so I was left to myself. Luckily for me I had a hockey game with my buddy on Thursday evening; would spend all day handicapping on Friday (literally didn't finish until 5 pm); and then spent all day Saturday at the track - both physically and virtually as I had bets from about noon until nearly 11 pm! AND had a hockey game to watch from 7 pm to 10:30 pm. WHAT a day. Here's how it all panned out......
For the day I had picks from Gulfstream.....was surprised at the number I had for a spring day, but was happy since my seats were outside in the grandstand; from Pimlico for their "Spring Stakes Spectacular" - which had been moved from Laurel due to track surface issues; Belmont, which had opened for the spring/summer this week; Oaklawn, which is about to wrap up their winter-spring meet; Golden Gate in San Francisco because it was their "Gold Rush" weekend of stakes; and a couple of stakes from Santa Anita as well. The day started with me running fourth with the favorite on the turf at Gulfstream as my second choice wired the field at 4/1. Then I ran 2nd at Belmont at 6/5 and second at Gulfstream at 5/2. At Belmont and Gulfstream I was clear with a furlong to go and JUST got caught. Next up was the opener at Oaklawn. On paper Purda Vita looked to be L-O-N-G gone on the front end. My question was that she'd been facing far richer in So Cal before coming here for this near the bottom level $16K maiden claimer. Still, SHOULD be clear. Right to the front, opened up by half a dozen early and the others just said, "go ahead you can have it, we'll never catch you." Wire to wire at 1-2 odds. When the betting was so solid I doubled my initial minimum bet. AND as a side note, my favorite tellers to bet with are twins Kim and Karen, but the few times I was out there this winter I never saw them. Today I found the girls. Nice to see them.
About ten minutes later the runners were in the gate for the fourth at Gulfstream and again, I liked what looked to be the LONE speed in Beeboo. He was dropping in sales price, going turf to dirt and clearly was the quickest early. Add in that this dirt sprint was only 5 1/2 furlongs and he too looked long gone. Easily, in hand at 6/5. Suddenly I'm 2-for-4 and having a very nice start to the day!
Ran fifth in the next at Gulfstream and then at Belmont my 6/5 favorite choice rallied to late to catch the winner, second again - for the third time today. This would become a common theme to the day as you are about to see. The sixth at Gulfstream was interesting as the two public handicappers had different top choices and NEITHER had the others' top pick in their top three. Ron Nicoletti and I agreed on Creative Cloud who was dropping in class for Saffie Joseph and going turf to dirt. The race was really exciting as at the top of the stretch Announcer Pete called, "SIX across the track, WHO DO YOU LIKE HERE!" But it was Creative Cloud who surged to the front and was clear under the wire as the favorite. And less than twenty minutes later Earner wired the fourth at Oaklawn. AND again, at about 3:30 in the afternoon I was swinging at better than 40$ clip having won four of nine on the day.
Then it happened. And thanks to my many years of experience I just "went with it" and stuck to my picks because I know how this works. My "Best" of the Day at Pimlico was in the Dahlia with Crystal Cliffs. Sat the perfect trip, surged to the front, opened up and was nailed on the line. Seventh at GP at 6/5, the eight at 4/5 in the Frank Whiteley at Pimlico. SECOND at 4/5 in the Crystal Waters at Santa Anita; SECOND at 3/1 at Belmont; SECOND at Golden Gate at 4/5; SECOND in the Henry Clark at Pimlico (another photo); SECOND at Golden Gate at 5/2; SECOND in a Belmont Stakes at 6/5 (in another photo); SECOND in another stakes at Pimlico; third at 4/5 at Golden Gate; SECOND at Gulfstream at 7/2 - that would have helped; and in the first race once I got home, SECOND in the Churchill Downs opener; and finally SECOND in the 9th at Oaklawn at 2/5 odds. Let me tell you something....you HAVE to have some patience and faith in your selections and handicapping ability to endure that stretch which ran from 3:30 pm to 6:00 pm over a span of fourteen races without a win!
Next up was the Golden Poppy from Golden Gate the first of the stakes events on the Golden Gate "Gold Rush" card. This mile and a sixteenth turf test featured two runners who had last seen each other in a graded event at Santa Anita. That day Red Lark, today's favorite, had run down Altea - who was the 5/2 second choice in the program. But I liked Altea. She had run at one time for Chad Brown and run well. Since moving out west she was under the care of Mike McCarthy. She exited four straight graded stakes and what led me to liking her here was that when Red Lark caught her, they were going a mile and a quarter. And from looking at the two past performance records, 'Lark looked to be much more effective going longer. Spinning out of the turn Altea swooped up three wide and got the lead. At the sixteenth pole Red Lark began her move. With each stride she was gaining, but she was too late! Best news of all.....the crowd had let Altea float up to 5/1 and she paid a nice $12.80 as I collected on my third win. I'm enjoying the racing at home!
The third from Churchill was next. It was a mid-level claimer and the question of the race was, why was Relentless Dancer in for this tag? Since winning his MSW debut he'd run in THIRTEEN straight stakes, winning three of them. After briefly trying the Derby trail - his early success had been in La-bred events - he'd backed off. He was coming in here off four straight dull efforts and I thought that this was meant to get him back into the winner's circle and get some confidence. I also thought that if they were giving up on him he'd have been dropped another couple of notches. He tracked the 9/5 second choice into the lane and then the match race was on. Edged clear late and I had my FOURTH consecutive win!
In Golden Gate's California Derby my pick was the 4/5 favorite. Parnelli pressed the leaders into the turn, made a bid then weakened to be third. The eight at Santa Anita was my BET of the Day. Bob Baffert not typically known for his fillies and mares has a budding superstar in As Time Goes By. Last time out she'd faced Swiss Skydiver and was a best of the rest second. While 'Skydiver had failed to fire in her next, the Gr 1 Apple Blossom, I thought front running 'Time was way WAY the best here. Hall of Fame rider Mike Smith took her to the front and she was tracked intently by the 2/1 second choice into the far turn. Smith flicked his wrists and As Time Goes By lengthened her stride without even asking. Glided home by a pole. The 3/5 price was a handicapper's gift - cashed for over $30 as I notched my fifth win since coming home.
Mixed feelings in Churchill's fourth as Launch Pad had been a solid fourth in a maiden claimer for the same price he was in for tonight at Keeneland. That had been at 35/1 odds - wouldn't get that tonight. I gave him extra credit for the effort as his first two had been over the Turfway synthetic. If he continued to improve, as he had in each start to date, he was a likely winner. He made his move on the turn, and it was not an acceleration just a steady grinding effort that eventually got to the tiring front runner in deep stretch. ANOTHER WIN for Mr. Mark! In the feature at Golden Gate, the Grade 3 San Francisco Mile I went with the 5yo mare, Keeper Ofthe Stars who was a perfect 3-for-3 in San Francisco. She was NOT going to be the favorite facing the boys but I thought she had a real shot. Sent off at a generous 5/1 she took the lead into the lane, was clear by a length with a furlong to go with the favorite bearing down.....WHERE'S THE WIRE. JUST failed to last - good handicapping, no reward. At this point I was watching the hockey game on one channel and had two live streaming windows open on the computer as I followed the rest of the Golden Gate program and Churchill Downs. For the next two hours I had five picks and won with only one of them while I ran SECOND in two more - both as short priced favorites at 3/5 and 6/5. The one win came under the Twin Spires in their sixth, a non-winners of two lifetime claiming event going six and a half furlongs. But, while it was a restricted race it was also for a very rich $50K price tag so there was some quality to this group. The two most likely were Convection and Extreme Force. The good news about the former was he exited a win at Keeneland, in his debut with a sharp 76 Beyer. BUT, that was for a $35K tag. The latter exited a win in Maiden Special company which would typically give him the edge. But hold on a tic.....not only did it come at second tier Sam Houston, but came in his NINTH career start - oh. I went with the former. Convection tracked the two leaders into the stretch, made his move....stretch duel to the final 16th and edged clear for the win as the 7/5 choice.
As we approached the Churchill feature, the William Walker Stakes, a turf sprint for three-year-olds, my top choice had been scratched. And oh, by the way, the Florida Panthers had fallen behind 1-3 in the third to their division rivals the Carolina Panthers. But scored two goals, one short-handed, to tie it and then won in overtime in an exciting finish. I looked over the field again and didn't have a firm opinion so I wanted to see what the two on-air analysts had to say. When both agreed that Field Day was a solid favorite I thought they were right so I invested in the race. Was away last, and in a turf sprint, that's never good. Into the far turn, STILL dead last. Sigh, well, so it goes. But then he began gathering momentum. He caught the eye of announcer Travis Stone as he began to pick off horses at the top of the stretch and in the final 100 yards he surged by. WOW - very exciting and as the 9/5 mild favorite he was my TWELFTH winner of the long day. One race to go.
In the Churchill Downs finale it was a second level allowance sprint going six furlongs. On the surface it seemed wide open but Bayerness caught my eye. First, she was exiting four straight stakes tries. Prior to that she'd won her first two career starts - a MSW debut at Keeneland and then an entry level allowance HERE in Louisville. It sealed the deal when I noted the filly she beat in her debut was none other than multiple graded stakes winning filly Swiss Skydiver. Into the far turn Bayerness was tracking the leaders and moved four wide. The front runner cut the corner smartly and was clear at the furlong marker but my pick had all the momentum and ran by through the final two hundred yards.
So despite the FOURTEEN race skid and a day's total of a remarkable SEVENTEEN second place finishes, I concluded the day 13-for-39, a sharp 33% win rate. Well done my friend!
April 24 Highlights
Social Media
So this week I had exchanges with two of "my news girls." Loved that Lauren laughed at my comment and was particularly pleased that Karli not only responded to my comment while on the air, but used the glasses emoji - which fit the comment exchange - "playing along" with me. Love my girls. Also exchanged comments with the cute Coach Kelly from Oasis High.
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