September 30/October 1
After an EPIC adventure to ancient Egypt, having our own "Death On The Nile" river cruise experience (sans the death part) and visiting Jordan to explore the Lost City of Petra, I was back in time to play the Breeders' Cup Preview weekend races where I had selections at Belmont at Aqueduct, Churchill Downs, Laurel Park, and Santa Anita. The racing turned out to me NEARLY as epic as the cruise adventure! When I handicapped for the weekend I intended to just play on Saturday and had several bets in New York. But Friday the area had torrential rains that flooded the city and so racing was called off for Saturday with the card moved to Sunday. This pushed back my first bets until after 2pm, giving me time to watch some college football before the racing began. I ran third and then second twice in my first three selections before hitting the winners' circle. In the sixth at Laurel it was the first of their multiple stakes, this one the Selima for juveniles going two turns on the turf. All of them were lightly raced with but a maiden win. Brocknardini had been outrun in the Grade 1 Natalma at Woodbine last time out off of a maiden debut win at Saratoga. I was willing to toss that try as he dropped in against listed foes. A run back to the initial start would easily score. But as they moved through the far turn and he was at the back of the pack it seemed like he was not running that race. Then the rider moved his hands and the colt circled the field, moved five wide into the lane, STILL at the back, but cleared all of his rivals by the time they hit the 16th pole and widened the margin to nearly two lengths under the wire. Impressive for the first winner of the day.
The next race, nearly 45 minutes later, came from Louisville, a second level allowance sprint. No one in the field looked like they had a clear advantage but if you were willing to toss the last for Your So Sillea, which came off the layoff AND in the mud at Ellis Park, then his previous tries were all good enough to beat these. I was concerned about his 12/2-5-0 lifetime record so I only bet the minimum. Burst out of the gate and quickly was clear. Never threatened, never looked back. Two in a row!
The next selection saw me back in Maryland for the Japan Turf Cup, a marathon race going a mile and a half. Trainer Mike Maker seems to ALWAYS have the top contender in any turf marathon race around the country, and his Yamato looked best to me. Two back and three back he ran very competitively against graded foes so on the drop today I expected a sharp effort. Mid-pack to the far turn he began his move but was shut off and checked sharply. Sigh, there goes his chances I thought. But within a few strides he was back in full flight pursuit of the leaders. Swept up three wide into the lane and drew off to score handily! THREE in a row :)
The eighth race under the Twin Spires in Louisville was the first of four straight stakes events in Kentucky. This was the Jefferson Cup for 3yo on the turf. There were three rivals who had speed figures that said they would be competitive with Cherie Devaux's More Than Looks, but he CLEARLY was the class of the field. In four starts on the grass he had two wins, a photo finish 2nd and a third. The photo came in his first try vs. winners and going long; the 3rd came in the Grade 2 Hall of Fame at Saratoga where he was beaten by talented Carl Spackler, and only by three lengths. The two wins included a score in the Grade 3 Manilla in New York. Much like the first winner today he was well, WELL back heading into the turn and announcer Trevor Stone even called at the top of the stretch he was "hopelessly out of it" turning for home. Then he accelerated and just blew by his rivals to win going away. AND I'd tripled the bet on this one! WHOOOO HOOOO - four in a row :)
The 9th at Laurel was the Twixt Stakes and as you scanned the past performances about the ONLY reason you'd have to NOT bet on Brad Cox's Interstatedaydreams was that she seemingly was TOO GOOD to be running in this listed event. She was a multiple graded stakes winner with a decided edge in speed figures. Hard to imagine she would not score and she was hammered at the windows as if she would run to her advantage. Like earlier winners I found the odds-on favorite at the back into the far turn. Began weaving through traffic, swung five wide into the lane and blew by handily to justify the very short price and provided me with the FIFTH WIN in a row. Oh I'm having a good day in my return to racing!
The ninth at Churchill was the Grade 3 Ack Ack going a one-turn mile. I'd scored with Brad Cox's Zozos before and knew he was talented. You might wonder about his fading fourth last time at a short price but for me I tossed it. This one-turn configuration seemed ideal for him and best of all he looked like the lone speed. Right to the front and if you were not used to watching races you might have thought he was being pressured by two longshots all the way to the turn. But though the margin of his lead was small, the rider seemed very confident. When he asked him to open up he easily widened on the field. Got a little tired nearing the wire, but was never threatened as I rattled off my SIXTH winner in a row.
As the adage goes, "you can't win them all," and in spite of the fact that when I make a selection I fully EXPECT to win, I know that winning at a 35% clip - which is my average over 30,000 races - is a very big winning percent. So sitting at six-for-nine at this point you knew it had to end at some point. I was off the board in three straight before getting back into the WIN column in back-to-back picks at Santa Anita. The fourth out west was a MSW dash and was DRF analyst Brad Free's BEST Bet of the Day. Those picks win at a high rate and Trejon Pass was no exception. Followed that up by a thrilling win when Dr. Schivel made the front turning for home in the Grade 2 Santa Anita Sprint Championship. But his best win alternative rival came to him strongly with all the momentum at the furlong pole but the good Doctor would NOT let him by!
Originally when I saw that the Belmont card was cancelled I told Kim I'd be playing the races on Sunday since I'd already handicapped them. But after having such a great day on Saturday I did not want to see a good weekend turned into an average to "ok" one and so I thought I'd just pass the day. But Sunday morning I re-changed my mind and decided to bet the two best bets of the day. The first had been the BET of the Weekend - Cody's Wish in the Grade 2 Vosburgh at Belmont, a seven furlong test. He'd rattled off six wins in a row, all ultra impressive (including the Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile last fall) before having the win streak snapped trying nine furlongs in the Grade 1 Woodward last time. A mile or less seems to be ideal for this superstar and I had little doubt he'd win, even with a less than stellar effort. Tracked the leaders into the lane and collared the front runner. That one would not give up easily but in deep stretch he was no match for the best bet of the weekend.
Several hours later the "mortal lock" out west was Bob Baffert's Adare Manor in the Grade 1 Zenyatta. Only a four horse field and much like Zozos on Saturday, not only was she the "best" on paper in terms of class and figures but she was the lone speed. Handily. This led to a weekend final total of 10-for-19 and a generous profit for my efforts. More big Breeders' Cup prep races next weekend as Keeneland opens!
To see all the photos and read the stories from our Nile River Cruise, click HERE.
Social Media While On The Trip......
First, many thanks to the 1,894 people who contributed to that "record number of social media hits while we were gone. But, I must say I was so very happy that so many of "my girls" (and interestingly none of my male friends) were so active in their comments and messages.
Our adopted daughter Jillian wished us well early on the adventure, on she and my "Friend-versary" on Facebook.
When we rented in Cape Coral to help my son Jeff with his high school football job I became good friends with Jessica Jordan who was our favorite waitress at our favorite restaurant, Ford's Garage. We've since remained friends and she was a follower as well.
CBS-4 anchor Lauren Pastrana also was following along, which I was happy that she was. And right after we returned she had a BIG smile when talking about the change in the weather on the 11 pm news so I snapped a pic and sent it to which she reacted :)
Former CBS-4 Weekend anchor Karli Barnett not only followed along but several times took time to write me private messages.
CBS-4 Morning Weekend anchor Teri Hornstein and her partner in crime, weather girl KC Sherman also followed our trip.
I was very happy that long-time gal-pal Kimmy and I texted every day of the trip and she followed along enthusiastically.
And finally, while on the trip we became good friends with our favorite Viking staff girl, Petra. She joined me for a video clip for the highlight video and we became Facebook friends leading to messaging throughout the remainder of the trip once we'd left the ship and continuing after we returned home. Hopeful she can visit us in the future here in So Fla.
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