June 8 - 11
What a great weekend! After losing the first two games of the Stanley Cup Final in Las Vegas our Panthers came home and had a dramatic overtime win on Thursday. The arena was SO electric and loud. The Belmont Festival of Racing was originally supposed to start on Thursday but smoke from fires in Canada made racing a health hazard. But it had all cleared by Friday and I played both there and at Monmouth on Friday. Saturday our 'Cats were home again and in spite of a valiant comeback, fell just short 3-2. But the racing was another big success on Belmont Stakes Day. Closed out the weekend with a good Sunday at Monmouth. So let's see how the weekend's racing played out......
Stanley Cup Final Thursday: Game 3
The racing kicked off with a first post at Belmont at 12:50 and the Friday Monmouth first race was slated for 2pm. But from 12:50 until nearly 3:30 I had SIX "PASS" races so the activity was on the light side. I ran 2nd at even money to start the day in the Jersey Shore opener but in the BEST Bet of the Day, the fourth at Belmont I was the easiest of winners. The Grade 1 Just A Game was a one mile turf race and Chad Brown's In Italian looked awfully formidable. First a short field of four opponents were lined up against the odds-on favorite. Second, she looked to be loose on the lead. And to seal the deal, the combined fifty starts by the opponents showed ZERO triple digit Beyers. In Italian had posted figures of 102-104-104-and 100 in her last four. Oh. Right to the front and never looked back as the EASIEST of winners representing the BEST Bet of the Day.
Ran 2nd at Monmouth again and then off the board at Belmont. Race 7 at Belmont was a seven furlong turf sprint and I had the $8.20 winner - the minimum bet allowed me to collect over $20. Right back with the eighth at Monmouth where my "best" of the day at Monmouth Lost Ark was running in a two-turn, second level allowance race. The Todd Pletcher colt had flashed talent as a 2yo which included a win in Monmouth's one-mile Sapling Stakes. Two Gr 1 efforts without success had ended his juvenile season and today he was making his 3yo debut. IF he ran back to his 2yo form he would be tough to beat I thought, and Pletcher rarely runs them if they aren't really ready. He rated comfortably on the rail, fourth about five off the lead to the far turn. Swept into the clear and then with long strides he swept by the leaders wide into the lane and drew off.
Lost back-to-back stakes in New York ... the one I wasn't surprised the other I felt that jockey Joel Rosario did not read the pace very well and let War Like Goddess stay too far off a very slow pace. No chance to rally in there. But I closed the day out strongly by winning the finale at Monmouth, the two-mile Grade 2 Belmont Cup with Euro invader Siskeny and then got my money back in the Grade 3 Intercontinental going 6f on the turf at Belmont when Amy C finished third.
Saturday I decided, because there was another Stanley Cup Final game and our youngest son & his family were coming mid-afternoon to join us in attending the game, that I'd only play the Monmouth card along with the Belmont Stakes Day card. It was a late morning start in NY with an 11:20 am first post, but the first two races were "PASS" for me - even though my top choice in the opener did win at 9/5. The third race was the first of the graded events, the Grade 2 True North. Eclipse Award champion sprinter Elite Power was in the line-up and if he ran his race that would be the end of the story. He was working on a six race winning streak and in his last, the Group 3 $1.5 Million Riyadh Sprint he'd bested Gunite who won a stakes last weekend earning a 108 Beyer. That would bury this field. Confidently ridden in fourth behind the speed into the turn. Easily glided up outside of runners and took off easily with little if any urging. Cashed for over $15 with my triple investment.
Came right back in the opener at Monmouth to score. The opener was a MSW turf route and the first thing that was a certainty was that Chad Brown's Surge Capacity would never be the 15/1 price offered in the early daily double. I liked the 39% win rate Brown had posted to date on the Jersey Shore and that jockey Sammy Camacho was 35% with nearly 100 mounts for the barn. Looked very live as a first timer. And I thought MAYBE I'd get a "fair price" with Paco Lopez on Graham Motion's Rugelach who'd run THREE Beyers faster than par. Why not bet her? Was bothersome to me that over the last two years Lopez and Motion were 0-for-12 together. Surge Capacity went right to the front dueling with two longshots into the lane, the accelerated to a daylight and easily held off the Motion filly. Cashed for nearly $40!
Race 2 at Monmouth looked like another good bet with Paco this time on Knowing Glance in a starter allowance with a $30K requirement as she'd been beaten a neck for $50K last summer. Paco was on board and she'd posted back to back bullets. But like the opener there was another rival who figured to be one of the favorites. 'Glance pressed her 7/1 uncoupled stablemate to the top of the lane under a tight hold. Slid off the rail into the clear and was L-O-N-G gone as the 2/1 second choice, so I cashed for over $30.
But the BEST part about the opening races at Monmouth was that when I looked at these two races I felt nearly certain that (a) the winner of both races was nearly certain to be one of the two choices I'd written about, and (b) my bet had a good chance of NOT being the winner. But on the off chance that my bet didn't win I thought I could still make a little money on a daily double. So I played a $3 double using both horses in the two races.
That was a pretty easy profitable scenario! A miss at Belmont in the Grade 3 Poker but then on the return to Monmouth in Race 5 for a turf sprint, I scored with Balistico when Paco Lopez shot to the front and never looked back. Less than half an hour later it was time for the Grade 1 Ogden Phipps going a one-turn mile and a sixteenth at Belmont, a "Win and You're In" event for the Breeders' Cup. Even though it was a short field it was full of quality. But I thought Steve Asmussen's Clairiere was very much the best. Of her stellar record 7-for-18 wins, she was 6-for-11 at this trip. AND she had the most triple digit Beyers in the field. Patiently handled in mid-pace behind a very slow pace. Split rivals at the top of the lane and wore down her chief rival to score with my triple investment on board!
Missed at Belmont in the eighth when General Jim was off the board. Missed again at Belmont in the Grade 1 Jaipur when Casa Creed was trying to win this turf sprint stakes for the third straight year. Came FLYING from the back at a solid 7/2 and was up for the show, so I got my money back thanks to the weekend-long TwinSpires "Bet Back" promotion. Ran second in Monmouth's feature, the Lady's Secret before getting my next win with the BEST Bet of the Day. Bill Mott's Cody's Wish has such a back story about what he's meant to his handicapped namesake. But the horse is one of THE most talented in training. He was working on an eight-of-nine streak with the lone loss coming in his first graded stakes try many many months ago. He'd come from off the pace on Derby Day going seven furlongs in the Grade 1 Churchill Downs and won with devastating ease despite a pedestrian pace. This one-turn mile trip in the Grade 1 Met Mile looked ideal to me. Much like the first Saturday in May the pace was anything but moderate but still he was handled patiently. Saved ground through the turn, then slid outside into the clear and blew by effortlessly in a "WOW" finish that led me to say that, out loud as he scored. Cashed for almost $50 with my eighth winner on the day.
Off the board at Monmouth and then it was time to leave for Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Final. We fell behind 3-0, rallied to make it 3-2 and soooo close to tying it. Loved being at the game with our youngest son Brad, his wife Lauren, and our grandson Oliver (who spent the final two periods sitting with his Grandpa!) In between periods I watched the last three races from the day. Rand 3rd in the Grade 1 Manhattan and I had Forte in the Grade 1 Belmont and the juvenile champ and Florida Derby winner came flying late in a gutsy race to finish second despite not having raced in ten weeks and today going a grueling mile and a half. So I got my money back on both these races. And then I scored in the finale at Belmont, an entry level allowance on the turf. So I finished the day a strong 6-for-19 and made a considerable profit.
Sunday started off with a family hockey game. Our long time friend Enzo brought his oldest son, both our boys had their boys on "the ice" (actually the concrete rink) and we played adults boys against the "kid boys." The first star of the game was the one player with a hat trick - that would be yours truly!
That afternoon I played only the Jersey Shore. In the opener I did not have a good "feeling" about Todd Pletcher's Abadin who was even money in the program but he LOOKED best by every handicapping angle. Should have trusted my instincts - 3rd at 2/5. But I won the next two races to get back to nearly even. Lost two minimum bet plays when off the board and then won with my "Best" of the day before running third and second in the final two races. Still, about broke even for the day.....
For the Belmont Festival Weekend my numbers were outstanding:
In addition to WINNING 50% of the picks, I had another five races where I got my money back. An excellent weekend of handicapping. Next week is "Haskell Preview Day" at Monmouth on Saturday.
Social Media this week......
Early in the week my gal-pal from Cape Coral Jessica posted a birthday pic of her little daughter.
Twice I exchanged messages with CBS-Miami anchor Lauren Pastrana about our Panthers.
And twice I interacted with CBS-Miami reporter Trish Christakis who was covering the Panthers.
One of my "formers," Michelle posted she was planning a trip to Scotland and asked for suggestions of places to go, so I sent her a couple of ideas from when we were there.
Kim and I are good friends with Ben & Melissa - she used to work with us at Cypress Bay High before they moved to Naples. But we keep in touch. I so admire that Melissa works out every day and posts her progress as an inspiration to others.
And finally, I saw a picture of former CBS-Miami weekend anchor Karli Barnett who'd done a story on a construction site. We exchanged comments :)
No comments:
Post a Comment