It's a limited season - in terms of days played and races handicapped, but the Fall Championship Racing Season is always highlighted by the Breeders' Cup World Championships in early November. Typically I try to attend, and had every intention of going this year, back to Del Mar. But travel is resuming and we are booked on an Eastern European river cruise just days following. I'd fly back from San Diego, have a day to unpack and re-pack, then fly across the Atlantic AND across the European continent....decided that was NOT how I wanted to start that two week adventure. So, after a complete weekend off last weekend (Saturday September 11) - which I think was the first Saturday since last November I did NOT play the races - I was at it today. It was DeFrancis Dash Day at Laurel with multiple stakes on the card, Jockey Club Invitational Day at Belmont with three big added money turf events and a big marathon stakes, Woodbine Mile Day in Toronto with several supporting stakes on the undercard, and finally it was "Downs After Dark" at Churchill with four stakes on the card with the highlight being the Grade 3 Locust Grove. My buddy Keith was there for the festivities and we texted all night long. The day was a frenzy of activity.....College Game Day came on at 9 am, kickoff for the first game was at noon; the first post for the Laurel opener was at 12:40 and I had racing selections until 10:45 pm, just before the final whistle of the last college game I watched. Literally had three streaming videos going with the big screen showing the games - ALL simultaneously. It was nuts but I loved it!
Started off my first bet at Belmont was a Todd Pletcher 2yo who was 3/1 in the morning line and left the gate at an overinflated 8/1. Second best.....would have been a good way to start the day for sure. Missed with the 4/5 favorite at Woodbine before I claimed my first winner at Laurel. In the second, it was a Starter Optional Claiming sprint going six furlongs. Princess Kokachin had debuted for another barn in a high priced maiden claiming event, moved to another barn to break her maiden in MSW company had not seen a tag - besides that debut, with one exception.....a Starter Optional Claiming for $25K, like today, which she'd won! Uh oh. Went right to the front from the rail draw, dueled through the opening quarter, edged clear heading into the far turn and drew off by more than half a dozen lengths. And the best part....went off at better than 4/1 odds. Oh I wish THAT one had been a double investment. Still, cashed for nearly $30.
The next bet was also from Maryland. My original plan was to bet Brittany Russell's first time starter, Click To Confirm with a minimum play because I did NOT like the prohibitive 7/5 morning line choice. But when that one scratched everyone joined my selection and so I upped the bet. Tracked the leaders through the far turn, drew on even terms at the top of the lane and edged clear in the final 100 yards for the win at 4/5. The double investment got me back almost $20.
The fourth at Laurel was my BET of the Day in the Weathervane Stakes. As I said in my analysis, the bet is strictly Hello Beautiful, period. Toss her fading try in the OPEN Grade 3 Barbara Fritchie and the other five races dating back to October 2020 earned figures that would beat EVERY LIFETIME number earned by today's rivals except one. And that mare had faced Hello Beautiful and was soundly beaten head to head. 'Beautiful boasted a 7-for-8 mark over the track and a 6/4-1-0 record at today's six furlong distance. Add in she was the LONE SPEED - long gone. The gates opened and literally in two jumps she was four in front. Maintained that under a motionless hand ride to the top of the lane. Rider asked for a spurt and quickly the margin was a pole before he geared her down. Somehow she went off at a payoff of $2.40 and I cashed for almost $50 on the BEST OF THE DAY!
Next up was the first of the graded stakes at Woodbine, the Grade 2 Canadian. The locals all looked evenly matched and that made Chad Brown's shipper, La Dragontea even more appealing. She'd improved with each start in North America save one and in that one she'd had significant trouble. Jockey Joel Rosario sat just off the front runner, never moved all the way into the stretch and when the others began to really run he shook the reins and she scored by more than a length without being asked for her very best. Went off at a generous 6/5 so another $20 and change went into the Xpressbet account.
The first of the big stakes at Belmont was up next, the marathon mile and 5/8 Grand Prix Jockey Club Invitational on the main track. Lone Rock is tons THE marathon dirt horse in North America so no surprise he left the gate at 1/9. Before the race I reached out to hottie handicapper Acacia Courtney who was broadcasting live on "America's Day At The Races" on FX1 and said, "obviously the most likely winner of the day" to which she replied minutes later - YES, WHILE ON THE AIR - that she agreed (see photo below). I could tell as they came out of the far turn he wasn't going to run away with it but I was certain he had the measure of the front runner. Floated about five wide off the turn - which I thought interesting at best - which allowed the horse from last (in a five horse field) at 18/1 to shoot through up the rail. "INTERESTINGLY" this horse had the same owner as Lone Rock and won by about a quarter of a length. Was the fix in? I'd like to think not because the trainer was hottie handicapper Maggie Wolfendale's husband. The fifth at Laurel was another starter event, but this was a nine furlong turf race. Gator Bite shipped in from NY off a 4th in a state-bred stakes. Looked good enough to me for the minimum. Went off at 4/1 but was third. BUT.....Xpressbet was running another of their "money-back" promotions and so by hitting the board I got my money back. I "win" and "cash" even though I ran third. WHOOOO HOOOO. My pick in Laurel's 6th scratched and I went back and forth about making a play on my second choice, but opted not to in the end. Good thing, I'd have lost. In the fifth at Woodbine I liked the 9/5 favorite in a 7f turf dash. Rated right off the leaders to the stretch, got a head in front with a furlong to go and then was swallowed up by the late runners, eighth. Next up was the featured event in Maryland, the Grade 3 DeFrancis Dash. The question was, which Jalen Journey would we get today. In spring/summer 2019 he ran well enough to head out to Southern California in big graded stakes and ran well without winning. Off for more than a year trainer Steve Asmussen sent him out in an Oaklawn $40K event and he ran away....came right back and dusted $50K claimers. Asmussen MUST have seen something because he sent him to Dubai for the $1.5 Million Golden Shaheen. Didn't show up. He returned second off that trip to beat-up second level Belmont allowance runners and last time out blasted the field in Saratoga's Tale of the Cat. Good enough for me to gamble he was headed back to his best. He tracked the leader into the lane while third, was gaining as they hit the furlong pole, and the winner drifted out. Now to be fair, my horse never had to check, but he did have to run wider throughout the final furlong. After the race I waited for maybe an announcement, nothing.....but as the winner got close to the winner's circle the announcement came that there would be a steward's inquiry and there was an objection with the focus being on the run through the stretch and it involved the unofficial winner and the runner-up.
They looked at it for the LONGEST time, so much so that I told Kim when she walked by, that any time there is this long of a delay it almost always results in a DQ and that would mean I'd win....and I did cashing for nearly $35 instead of losing $15 - that's a $50 swing for those of you without a calculator!
Missed at Woodbine and then in the 9th at Laurel my triple investment on Phat Man in The Polynesian Stakes saw him run third, but again, I "cashed" for $10 to minimize the loss.
Dismal effort in the 8th at Woodbine and in Belmont's Jockey Club Oaks Invitational I thought Creative Flair was the LONE front runner. The Euro rider had another idea and sat third from start to finish. The ninth at Woodbine was the co-featured Grade 1 Pattison Canadian International going a mile and a half on the turf. Trainer Charlie Appleby had brought over two top-notch Shadwell Stables runners to a late spring Grade 1 at Belmont and ran 1st-2nd. Kept the two here and they ran 1st-2nd in a Saratoga Grade 1. Now he had Walton Street for the same outfit. Immediately he rated the nod for me over the locals. There was another Euro invader who...for what ever reason....the DRF morning line made HIM the program favorite despite the fact he was a 9yo who'd not won a race since 2019. Oh my. Finally, international superstar Frankie Dettori had made the trip "across the pond" to ride. This guy had won four in a row before missing in the Group 1 Dubai Sheema Classic to superstar Mishriff and then last time out ran erd behind an exceptional filly in a German Group event. Unless he didn't fire, he'd win for fun. Frankie had him in second some half dozen lengths behind a runaway longshot. Cut into the margin as they approached the turn, caught him and ran by without taking a deep breath. When Dettori cut him loose the response was instantaneous and the route was on. Won by a pole. After the winner's circle photo it was time for Dettori's patented leap from the saddle - ALWAYS a highlight event :)
Less than ten minutes later they were in the gate at Belmont for the $1 Million Jockey Club Derby Invitational. Much like the Woodbine Grade 1 event, the best runners in the field looked to be the Europeans and like Woodbine, the one I liked best was another Charlie Appleby/Godolphin runner, Yibir. Comparing his TimeForm figures to the other Euros he was clearly better. And all week I'd seen his name in the headlines as the one to beat. Heading into the far turn of the mile and a half contest I was thinking that, "well, it's difficult to judge Euro form based on the Racing Form" as he had been dead last from the get-go. But as the field entered the turn the runner gave him the "GO" sign and immediately he began to accelerate. Picked off horses one by one while running at least five wide. They straightened into the lane they were five across the track, ever-so-briefly, as Yibir was, as today's race announcer Chris Griffith (in from Parx) said, "Yibir is MOWING THEM DOWN" as he blew by and won going away. Best of all, somehow the "obvious winner" was let go at better than 5/2 odds and paid $7.30 allowing me to cash for well over $35. BINGO BANGO BONGO.
Less than ten minutes after that it was the finale at Laurel in a money allowance for turf sprinters going five and a half furlongs. Sky's Not Falling had no where to go turning for home, but found a seam, split rivals and burst through to win going away at 7/5 for my FIFTH win in Maryland. You NEVER know where you're going to get your winners. And that's particularly ironic because today I wanted to play the races because of the "Downs After Dark" card and multiple stakes at Churchill Downs. And there, I only cashed one ticket (but it was the big one)....while at Laurel, a "late minute addition to the program" produced more than half the winning tickets on the day.
Went on an eight race skid, the last six at Churchill - where four of the six were either second or third, but no money back specials, that's a shame. Probably was if I'd bet with Twin Spires. Keep an eye out for that next time Mr. Mark! And that win came in the Churchill Best Bet in the featured Grade 3 Locust Grove. Last year's Kentucky Oaks winner and multiple graded stakes winner Shedaresthedevil was the obvious choice. She was here off a trip out west where she rolled to victory in the Grade 1 Clement Hirsch. These gals should pose little problem I thought. The gates opened and from her widest-of-all post 7 she was in front and on the rail within three jumps as she outjumped the field easily. Cruised around to the top of the lane, but instead of running away she had to work hard to maintain the margin, but she did and I had my ninth winner on the day as I cashed for almost $50 to close out a most amazing day.
Social Media
It was a pretty "busy" week for my social media with the "celebrities" I am glad to call my friends. It started off on Thursday when my top anchor girl Lauren Pastrana was back from a brief vacation....that same day on a video she posted she posed a question about what her followers thought about the state of Florida dropping the end-of-year test for high school graduation.
Then on Friday Lauren posted a "shameless selfie" which I commented on and asked her about the previous day's question and the responses.....
Then on the evening news she was partnered with my other favorite CBS girl, Karli Barnett, so I reached out to them and like the first two posts this week, BOTH girls replied to me while on the air. I don't know but I just think that's super cool.
And then Saturday during the racing I was watching - as I watching college football - I reached out to hottie handicapper Acacia Courtney who agreed with my top pick of the day at Belmont. Ironically that was the 1/9 favorite that lost - wow.
And Saturday Lauren posted about her Mom telling her she wasn't a good oral reader, but now she's a news anchor. I reached out to remind her how much we appreciated her and got a response within minutes :)
Lastly, one of my former students, who I have been close with for years - and her story is one day right out of college she decided to change her life and left for Hawaii to become a Delta Airline attendant - posted that she was in Amsterdam. I reached out and told her how envious I was and that we were about to resume traveling....got right back to me. Such a sweetie.
