May 25 - 29
The extended holiday weekend was full of highlights as I played the races from the Sunrise Simulcast Center on Thursday, then Saturday through Monday. Meanwhile our Florida Panthers swept the Carolina Hurricanes to earn a berth in the Stanley Cup Finals for the first time since 1996. AND prior to Game 3, at home I was interviewed on the local news! And our youngest grandson along with our son and his wife came for the weekend and we got to have a "flashback" to when our kids were young and we'd play family hockey games together. It was a wonderful week for sure!
First up.....on Wednesday the Panthers were coming home after an epic 4-overtime win in Game 1 and dramatic overtime win in Game 2 to host the Carolina Panthers for Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Eastern Conference Championship. I was sitting in the living room and at about 3pm my phone lit up and I saw that I had a notification from CBS anchor Lauren Pastrana. My first reaction was that I didn't think I had put out any recent posts that she would respond to, so I opened my Twitter and sure enough I did NOT have any new notifications. But then I noticed that the icon on the far bottom right, an "envelope" icon indicating a private message was lit up. I never get private messages. It was from Lauren Pastrana - or so it said. She asked if I was going to the game and was I a season ticket holder. I felt somewhere between suspicious that this was really Lauren and convinced it was a fake, but I replied yes and we had been since they came to Sunrise. She told me a reporter would be there and if I'd give her my contact information he'd call me. OK, this has to be a scam. So I googled the reporter's name she gave me - no HE'S REAL. Oh my, Lauren really was reaching out to me.
So after the exchange you see above I called Larry Seward. I walked him through my history as a fan, how the oatmeal raisin cookie story had been a "thing" for years, and about playing roller hockey with my kids. He asked if I had any photos - duh, do I have photos :) I sent them to him and we agreed to meet outside the arena between 6:45 pm and 7:00 pm. We arrived and there he was. I wasn't about to try and force my stories on him so I let him roll with it, and as you watch the video below you can see that the story he put together, based on the questions he asked me were all about those same topics.
CBS-4 Evening News: Panthers Fans Interview
And to top off the evening we won in a dramatic 1-0 victory. Got home and had recorded the 11 pm news, and there I was / we were. SOOOO cool. Posted it the next morning on FaceBook and Twitter and got tons of responses. Then on Thursday night I had six races from Woodbine that I liked - first post was a twilight one with the last race going off around eight. Won two of the six, so that was "entertaining" and a good way to kick off the week's racing.
Friday morning I got online to begin getting past performances for Sunday and on my FaceBook Memories there was a post from twelve years ago.....on THIS very day a dozen years ago I walked out of Cypress Bay High School for the last time and began my retirement. I re-posted that and was rewarded throughout the day when several of my "kids" responded to it. Included in that collection were three of "my girls" who I had been close to and had posted pics with them several years ago.....
Then, that night it was game time as we went for the SWEEP and a chance to play for THE Stanley Cup. Jumped out to a 2-0 lead, then were caught. Got the go ahead goal and with just less than four minutes to go we looked to seal the deal. But then Carolina scored. Sigh....another overtime game? With a little less than a minute one of the Carolina players tripped our guy and we were on the power play with about twenty seconds in regulation. Same Reinhart rang one off the post - the crowd went wild. Into the corner to our captain Sasha Barkov who found our star player Matthew Tkachuk. He glided around the front of the net, found a seam and with 4/3 seconds left SCORED. The roof literally came off the building as 20,000 and change exploded cheering - including Kim and I. Just unbelievable - see the short video of the conclusion of the game. WOW....
Game 4: Eastern Conference Series Sweep
Winning Goal With 4.3 Seconds Left!
Saturday, still basking in the glow of the big win and series sweep, we were awaiting the arrival of our son Brad and his wife Lauren and our grandson Oliver as racing started. It was a pretty light day as I only had picks for Monmouth and Delaware during the afternoon, and then I had selections for Opening Night at Canterbury Park. It's not out of the ordinary for the day to start off with several losses, but nearly always the "numbers add up" and balance out by day's end. Today....not so much. Today, the highlight CLEARLY was the return of racing to Minnesota at Canterbury Park where typically I have pretty good luck. Been there twice and I'd enjoy returning for sure. On their opening night program they were offering two stakes events. The day started when I dueled into the lane at 6/1 in the 2nd at Delaware before weakening late to be 2nd. Was 1-2 in the Monmouth 2nd...dueled into the lane, weakened to be second. Loose on the lead in Delaware's third - caught at 3/1 to be 2nd. Loose on the lead in Monmouth's third, caught to be 2nd at 7/5. Fourth, 3rd, 7gh, and then 2nd at 5/1 at Monmouth in their 6th. Had the prohibitive 1/5 favorite in Delaware's Obeah Stakes. Moved to the front runner in the lane....couldn't get by, second - WOW. Fifth and third to close out a winless afternoon. THAT my friends next to N-E-V-E-R happens. The good news from the day, I made up some ground at Canterbury as I won three times, including a clean sweep of their stakes events - one of which was my BEST Bet.
Sunday morning we had arranged - to the excitement of our 6yo grandson Oliver - to have a family hockey game. Flashback to some 20 plus years as this was a regular event when our three kids were growing up. And now here's our son Brad, taking HIS SON to the rink for a family game. Pretty cool. The grandson had been so, SO excited and had called me for several days discussing who would be on who's team, what jerseys/shirts we'd wear, etc. So much fun. And to my surprise, I held up quite well physically as we ran over two miles over the course of the hour on the rink. Just an amazing morning and a good way to kick of a Sunday, followed by some racing.
Missed in the 2nd at Monmouth to start the day before winning three of the next four bets. It was ironic in that the next three races I had upped the ante to triple investments in Races 3-4 on Sweeping Giant in a nw2x turf route and Granny's Connection in a conditioned allowance sprint. But in the fifth, the featured Miss Liberty I went prime time on Scottish Star to win the turf route. And to finish the sequence I only had the minimum on Self Isolation in a five and one-half furlong claiming sprint. Both Sweeping Giant and Granny's Connection walked with their races, but Scottish Star was only second best as the prohibitive 2/5 favorite. WOW. Then in the final race, Paco Lopez was on board Self Isolation who left the gate at a big 6/1 and he drew off for fun!
So despite losing on the "prime time" play I made a profit on the four races! Missed on the final two picks from the Jersey Shore, but I had three picks from Santa Anita. In the mile and a sixteenth Melair Stakes for three-year-olds. I wrote in my analysis that you had two choices here......play for "value" and toss your ticket away afterwards, or up the bet to make some semblance of a profit on Ceiling Crusher. The ONLY issue would be if she would get the two turns, which by her breeding and Tomlinsons looked to be no problem. But, in that last runaway win by a whopping 15 1/2 lengths - yes fifteen and a half lengths - in the Evening Jewel Stakes she'd earned a massive 94 Beyer which was nearly the length of the stretch faster than anyone else in here. AND it had been the second fastest Beyer earned by ANY three-year-old filly in 2023. WOW. Right to the front and took pressure through pretty legitimate fractions (23-47-110), but on the turn she said "enough of this" and set sail for the wire, cruising home by seventeen lengths officially according to the charts. Came right back to win again in an allowance with Bus Buzz before betting on Brickyard Ride to get the best of The Chosen Vron even though I "knew" 'Vron would win, and he did.
So for the day Sunday I finished 5-for-10 and a flat bet profit. Well done. Monday, Memorial Day we made plans to spend the afternoon at our oldest son Jeff's new home in Boca Raton so I began putting in my wagers online a little before noon. I had a few selections from Lone Star Million Day in Texas but couldn't find their track on the menu. I recalled that months ago I had wanted to play Sam Houston race track in Houston and found out that the state of Texas was in a dispute with horsemen and was blocking the simulcast signal from going out. Certainly this wasn't STILL the case - yes it was. We were with family until about 5pm so when we arrived home I ran through the replays. It was Big Apple Showcase Day in New York with several state-bred stakes. I won with two of them, both added money bets. In the Critical Eye going a one-turn mile and a sixteenth Classy Edition pressed the pace then drew off impressively. But in the mile and a sixteenth turf route that was the Kingston Stakes, City Bay ran into traffic problems rallying from the back when turning for home. Got free a little before the furlong pole and flew home to be J-U-S-T up in time with my prime time bet on board.
When I was handicapping the Lone Star races, early Monday morning ironically, I was going to make Steve Asmussen's multiple graded stakes winner a big bet in the Memorial Day Sprint. But I read in the DRF analysis that Asmussen had already committed to running right out of the barn at Churchill Downs in their featured Winning Colors Stakes today. So sight unseen I made her the prime time play. Right to the front, took heat to the top of the lane and was actually headed briefly before unleashed and ran away as MUCH the best.
I had five late bets at Santa Anita and missed on four of them, but the one I hit was THE BIG ONE for the weekend. I'd seen Defunded win the Grade 2 San Antonio when he looked like the lone speed, but instead he hopped at the start and was dead last. Patiently handled to the far turn he blew by them all to win in a visually impressive race. Here, again, he looked like the lone speed and I thought with any kind of break - even stretching out to the classic mile and a quarter distance - he would be long gone. Took pressure all the way into the stretch before edging clear to win. And prior to making the bet, I decided I would double my intended triple investment, so I had $30 to win and cashed for nearly $50 on the final win of the weekend.
For the weekend I went 15-for-49 which is a "good" 30.6% but is a little sub-par for me. Still, as the next day of racing for me will be on June 1, I compiled the statistics for the first two months of the spring-summer season. Over the span of the nearly 300 races I've bet since Gulfstream's Winter Meet ended I've won with a big 37% average. Counting the promotions where I got my money back for hitting the board I "cashed tickets" in a whopping 44.8% of my races. WHOOOO HOOOOO.
Social Media This Week......
On Monday I reached out to Lauren Pastrana as she did a story on our Panthers and she was wearing a "Panthers Red" dress. She replied that she'd originally had a purple one on :)
When the interview from Wednesday's game hit social media I sent it to our cute Panthers Account Manager, Emma who messaged me back.
Thursday I reached out to my best gal-pal Kimmy and asked how she was doing and during that exchange she saw my earlier text with the video of me on the news. She was so sweet to be excited for me.
Before we left for Friday's game I messaged Lauren again, telling her we'd be at the game AND that I'd have my cookie in hand. Then at the game I had Kim take a pic of me with the cookie and I sent it to her.
Once we'd clinched with the dramatic last second goal, I watched the 11 pm newscast the next day. For a news program that rarely even mentions the Panthers and only gives them precious few minutes or seconds typically. Tonight after the big win over 10 1/2 minutes of the broadcast - AS THE LEAD STORY was about the Panthers with three reporters at the arena. So I messaged Lauren and CBS News to express my appreciation.
One of the reporters is new social media gal-pal, Trish Christakis posted on two different platforms and we exchanged three different messages.
Friday, remember, was the day that I posted about it being the anniversary of my retirement. Close-ups of my girls & their messages.
I also was in touch with two other former students - Amber, who was one of my very first WISE students and Samantha who has the distinction of having turned in the LAST assignment I would ever grade :)
Finally, I had several interactions with gal-pal and now Atlanta News anchor Karli Barnett. The first came when I sent her a link to the video of me on the news and told her of our booked trip to the Arctic Circle. Then on Saturday I enjoyed three back-and-forth exchanges on her live chat - especially when she asked me what countries I'd been to in the last year as "our resident traveler :)
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