October 22
Home for the weekend! The day did NOT start out as I anticipated. First post for my first selection was a little after noon. From that point until about 3:15 I had eleven selections and won with a single bet. OUCH. That lone win came in Keeneland's opener when California Twirl went wire to wire in a two turn maiden claiming event for two-year-olds.
My second victory came in Belmont's sixth, a seven furlong maiden special for juveniles. The full field of ten included five first time starters. None of those with experience impressed me. Of the firsters, I probably would have leaned to Todd Pletcher's Rudder's Men anyway, because....well, it's Todd Pletcher. But this colt had fired a blistering best-of-108 bullet work for today - yes, one-hundred-and-eight. YOWZA. When he took a lot of money at the windows I upped the wager and he ran away while under wraps.
Came right back less than ten minutes later with my first stakes win on the big Maryland Million Day card in the Maryland Million Lassie. The earlier 4th at Laurel had been the Md Million Nursery for 2yo colts and I remarked for that one that these were all lightly raced runners which could have a form reversal in either direction. My choice had run fifth at 3/1. Here in R8 for the fillies, I again reiterated that anything COULD happen, but for me it was hard to go past Chickiness who was the program favorite. The ran a best-of-the-rest 2nd on debut then waltzed home in her second start. Since then she'd run second in back-to-back stakes races behind a filly who's now a perfect 4-for-4. There wasn't anyone in the race that would match up to that one. But on the far turn she was about three off the lead and the rider seemed to be asking her, hard, to run to keep up. Give him all the credit because he kept pushing and pushing the filly. Finally at the eighth pole she found another gear and mowed down the top two to win going away. Note I made her a PRIME TIME bet!
I finished off a three-race winning streak with the co-feature at Keeneland where I made Steve Asmussen's Gunite my "Keeneland BEST Bet" of the day. As I noted, it was a horse race and these were three-year-olds so anything could happen. But much like Chickiness in Maryland, you'd be hard pressed to convince me you had a strong opinion on anyone but the top choice. His last three Beyer figures were 101, 102, and 101.....the ONLY triple digit Beyers on the page. Those three numbers topped the combined fifty-six figures earned by the rest of the field. AND with the outside draw he looked to get the most ideal trip. Exactly as I'd seen it. Pressed three wide to the turn, ran by readily and drew off as tons the best. Two-for-two with PRIME TIME plays!
Ran 8th with my "upset special" at Belmont on the turf before it was time for the BET of the Day - this came in the 10th at Laurel, the Maryland Million Sprint. Again, much like the previous two "big bets," you could say "I'm not taking a short price." And like with Chickiness you could add, "I'm not taking a short price on a horse who's never raced over the Laurel track." But, I was betting - literally - that to take anyone else was an exercise in futility that would end up in you throwing away your losing ticket as you sought to "get some value." In Fortheluvofbourbon's last five starts he'd earned Beyers of 92, 98, 92, 91, and 94. The other fifteen runners on the page had been out a combined total of one-hundred and fifty six times had ONE, count them, ONE Beyer in the 90's. Uh oh. This guy was 11 for 22 lifetime and had won five in a row, including three stakes. Doesn't get much better than this. How the fans let him float up to 1/2 odds at post time is just beyond me. Tracked in the clear from post eleven through the far turn while in hand under Paco Lopez. Accelerated to the lead and held everyone safe while never being asked for his best. WHOOOO HOOOOO!!!
The final win on the day saw me sweep the featured events at Keeneland. The Grade 2 Raven Run at Keeneland looked on paper to be wide open generally. But for my own opinion, I thought that Steve Asmussen's Wicked Halo was either a run away, dominant winner.....or would finish off the board, which would validate the fact that she was NOT the program favorite, nor the choice in the Daily Racing Form. But for my purposes, it was hard to look past that she'd won three in a row, was exiting a win in Saratoga's Grade 2 Prioress, and that she'd never run a bad race while building a 5-for-9 resume. So I put her on top but on as a minimum bet. But in watching the pre-race day analysis on the Keeneland feed, hottie handicapper Gabby Gaudet had a strong opinion about the filly.....
I have also respected Gabby's opinions and in this instance, her strong belief in my choice led me to double my original bet. Just as I had thought, and as Gabby had said on air, Wicked Halo got the dream trip. She sat three wide off of two dueling pace setters. Swept up in hand on the turn then ran off as much, MUCH the best. And the even better part was that as she hovered between 8/5 and 2/1 leading up to the race, when they left the gate the crowd let her float all the way up to 5/2. The payoff of more than $7 led to me cashing my final ticket for over $35! WHOOO HOOO. It was a good day my friends!
And as a footnote, what was very cool about the way the day ended......with the nice payoff for the Wicked Halo selection I was close to breaking even. But then it occurred to me - I'd played today on Xpressbet and I'd opted in on one of their "Bet Back" promos.....
In addition to the two stakes wins I'd run 8th, 5th, 5th AND in the Maryland Distaff, Malibu Beauty had run 2nd with my $10 wager on board. So figuring in that rebate, I know finished in the black for the day! WHOOOOO HOOOOOO squared!
Maryland Million Day Highlights
Social Media.....
While we were in Hawaii the National Hockey League season had begun, and fortunately for Kim and I our Florida Panthers opened the season with three straight road games. This past Wednesday was the home opener and we were there in our regular season to cheer our Cats on to a 4-3 win over Philadelphia. Then on Friday we played our arch-rivals Tampa Bay and we were joined by our pals Joanie and Michael-Anne (her daughter) for a bite to eat before the game and then they sat right behind us. Lost in overtime, but the four of us were back at the arena for a Sunday 5pm matinee puck drop where we beat the New York Islanders to get five points of a possible six on the home stand.
I was very happy when we returned from Hawaii to find that my social media gal-pal, CBS Weekend Anchor Karli Barnett was indeed following our trip. She'd been an enthusiastic follower of the Alaska pictures and before we left for Hawaii she had wished me to have an amazing trip. So upon our return I messaged her some of the best photos and the two videos. She responded and later in the Saturday evening chat talked about those pics and videos.
Wednesday night prior to the hockey game the CBS-4 evening news, hosted by my gal-pal, social media friend Lauren Pastrana did a spot on the home opener. I messaged her that we were on our way to the game and she wrote back.....WHILE ON THE AIR :)
My hottie gal-pal Kimmy's "partner in crime" Christy posted a photo in the fall leaves and I commented how pretty this was, and the leaves too. She liked the comment.
Saturday evening Karli Barnett hosted her weekly chat and I opened by saying I was watching from my home in Sunrise. Without any prompting her reply was that I'd been on an "fantastic vacation" to Hawaii and that both my photos and videos were amazing.
I replied back to her that we did indeed have a great time in Hawaii and were now looking forward to our November 1st departure for Antarctica. Karli again wished us well, was happy for us and told us to have an amazing trip! She also mentioned taking more great pics, so I will again be reaching out to her with the best of the photos so she can appreciate them!
And lastly, we have two great friends who live in Naples - Ben & Melissa. I worked with Melissa and as you can see, she is quite attractive. A couple years ago they moved to the west coast of Florida and so we don't see them as often. I noted during the hockey game Sunday that she'd "liked" our photo at the game and commented. So I reached out to her and told her we missed them. That started an online conversation during which she told me how jealous she was not to be going to Antarctica with us and I offered to let her come along, stowing away in my suitcase. And she agreed to come :) LOL
When we got home from the game, I watched the recap of the game and then on the CBS Weekend news they did a recap of the game as well. Because I know Karli puts together the show I reached out to her and thanked her and the sports anchor guy Mike Cugno for highlighting our big win. Karli wrote back :) And I know I've mentioned this before, but when I contact her via Twitter my "handle" is mallan56racing, but she ALWAYS replies to me using my first name :)
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