August 25 - 27
This racing weekend coincided with a weekend getaway to Orlando as we celebrated our grandson Oliver's seventh birthday and got to see our youngest son Brad make his ice hockey debut. Kim picked up our other two grandsons Cameron & Anthony from school Friday around lunch time. We piled into the car and headed to Orlando where we drove straight to the ice rink where Brad, Oliver and Cameron all took the ice for some free skating/hockey time. We then headed off to Chic-Fil-A for a birthday dinner as today was Oliver's actual birthday, with the big celebration set for Saturday. I'd made the bets for the day before leaving home and once back at Brad & Lauren's house I checked the replays. Rain had washed off my selections on the turf at Monmouth leaving me with just two races. Off the board in the first and second in the other. But I had also handicapped the Charles Town races where it was their big, signature night: Charles Town Classic Night. My first bet there came in Race 4, a non-winners of three lifetime sprint going the two-turn 7 furlong distance. Foxy Sista had two recent Beyers that would win this race by a pole. She was the 9/5 favorite when the gates sprung open, but she missed the break and was at the back of the pack. Recovered quickly to get into a stalking spot. She was hard ridden and got to the front turning for home and I thought for just a minute that the use of early energy might not be enough to cost her, but she was caught and finished second. The fifth was the Last Enchantment Stakes going 4 1/2 furlongs. Little Roo had won six of her last eight and her LAST FOUR Beyers would beat everything on the page. She was the prohibitive 3/5 choice going into the gate but in an identical start to the previous race she was away last. Got to the leader on the turn but could never get by....second, again. Next up was the Autumn Stakes and Great Spirit was the 8/5 favorite. AGAIN left the gate slowly and trailed to the far turn before making a big run, but only good enough to get the "show dough." Race 7 was the Russell Road Stakes and my upset choice was Coastal Mission. There were a couple of out-of-town shippers who looked to take a lot of money but I went with the local heroine. 'Coastal had won four in a row and boasted a remarkable 9/8-1-0 local resume. She tracked the pace into the far turn while third, moved to challenge heading for home and edged clear late. Best of all she was a generous 4/1 and paid $10.40 allowing me to collect nearly $30 on my first winner of the night.
The Pink Ribbon was my "best bet" of the evening as it looked to me like Society would be a runaway winner. She'd won six of her ten career starts with her losses coming to Breeders' Cup champions Goodnight Olive, Malathaat, Gr 1 winner Nest and a loss in Churchill's Grade 1 La Trioenne. The main threat looked to come from Bill Mott's talented Frank's Rockette who won this race last year as the odds on favorite. She'd been stellar at Gulfstream, winning two graded stakes - as my big bet choice - but her most recent had earned much slower figures that put her well behind Society. Jockey Tyler Gaffalione put Society on the lead and she ran away as much the best.
The Robert Hill Memorial was next and my pick ran off the board at 7/2. The Grade 3 Charles Town Oaks was next and I went for the mild upset with Chad Brown's Undervalued Asset. I didn't like the top two betting choices and nearly got paid for my opinion, but she was 2nd at 3/1 behind the morning line and post time favorite. The last bet of the night was in the the featured Grade 2 Charles Town Classic where the nine furlong event would go three turns. Skippylongstocking was the class of the field, having run in ten straight graded events - hitting the board in five of them and winning three of them. Jockey Tyler G was on board the top choice and like with Society he went right to the front and was long, long gone to cap off a big night.
And best of all, I'd played Charles Town on my Xpressbet platform which was offering a "Bet Back" promotion. And so for the night I'd played eight races....won three and got money back on FOUR of them so I "cashed" on seven of eight selections :)
Sunday, unlike most visits to Orlando where we leave around lunch time to be home in time for dinner (and drive while it's light outside) we stayed through an early dinner because Brad's first ever ice hockey game started at 5:30pm. It was so fun to watch him play, to watch his son (and his nephews) be so excited to see him play, and for his sister to join us for the event. AND after trailing throughout the game they scored with 3 minutes left in the final period to tie the game and won it dramatically in overtime. Couldn't have been a better way to end the day. As for racing, I went winless through the first five races I bet, but then closed out the day with three out of five wins including the featured stakes at Monmouth and two stakes at Woodbine.
Social Media this week......
This week I had very little contact with my social media pals. But I was excited on Friday before we left for Orlando "my Viking TV girl" Ciara replied to my email about setting up a planning meeting and we exchanged a series of emails in a "conversation" over the time span of about half an hour. On Tuesday we'll meet in a video call to set up the following week's presentation which she told me to regard as a "pilot" for a series of episodes. Very cool.
Also I was very pleased when my gal-pal Trish from CBS-Miami, who's in Greece on vacation reached out and "hearted" three things I'd posted on Facebook :)
Finally, after "talking" with Ciara I messaged my gal-pal Kimmy with the news and she and I texted for a bit regarding my "new job."
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