October 7
We were in Orlando for a birthday celebration for our youngest son Brad and to see some hockey as our grandson had a hockey practice and Brad had a game Sunday evening. The drive up was "an adventure" as we twice were stopped dead in our tracks on the turnpike. What should have been about a 3 hour and 15 minute trip was nearly five hours long. But we made it. Saturday morning we went to the rink to watch our seven-year-old grandson Oliver go through hockey drills - so impressed with how much he's progressed and improved. And on Sunday we watched our youngest play in his adult league. Prior to the game his wife, Lauren, made us all sweatshirts sporting his team logo. It's really difficult for me as a Florida Panther fan to wear the blue & white "Bolts" colors & logo since that team from Tampa is our most hated rival. But for our son, I will. They quickly fell behind and rallied to tie the score when Brad fired a shot from the slot and the rebound was punched in. Got a chance to win with a minute and a half to go on the power play but quickly gave up a short handed goal. Oh no. But with just :19 on the clock Brad scored to tie the game. SO very excited and proud. No one scored in overtime. Went to a shootout where the first team to outscore the other would be the winner. The other team went first and converted. Brad had to score as the first shoot out player for the Bolts or the game was over. He skated in, made his move and buried it between the goalie's pads. SO proud. Even though they eventually lost the shootout it was a good game to watch and to see our boy net two goals and get an assist was very cool. During the day on Saturday I played the races from Keeneland - where it was opening weekend of their Fall Meet - Gulfstream, and the late races from Santa Anita.
The third from Gulfstream was a five furlong, synthetic dash for two-year-olds under Maiden Special conditions. Even though Great Venezuelan had debuted for a $25K tag, his sharp effort and big BSF made him the logical choice and a very likely winner to me. Early in the betting he was 10/1 and I was just amazed. I took great pleasure when the two GP analysts - neither of whom I think are particularly adept at picking winners - BOTH said they were not buying into Great Venezuelan as a viable win candidate. I'm sure their skepticism played into the fact that he went off at an inflated price. He pressed the pace through the turn while in the clear three wide, made his move into the lane while four wide and drew off and paid over $6. WINNER numero uno!
The fourth at Keeneland was a second level allowance on the turf. I could see how you might be skeptical of Chad Brown's returnee Saffron Moon, but Brown does very good work with horses coming off a layoff. Also, she was the ONLY runner in the field who'd EVER met par for this level of competition. Add in that the first time she'd tried turf last season came HERE and she WON! Came right back to win an entry level Tampa event over the winter. Her come back at Saratoga was s sharp effort and I was convinced she'd run big second off the bench. Rated under a firm hold through the far turn she was cut loose in the lane and ran off as easily best.
The fifth at Gulfstream was another two-year-old MSW dash, this one on the main track. For me, especially with lightly raced 2yo or 3yo I look for two things. Either someone who had a dazzling debut and looks to be sitting on a win, or conversely if all the runners with experience were not that impressive, I look for a firster from a barn that can win with such. The latter was the case here as Catalytic came from the Saffie Joseph barn with some sharp works. Tracked the pace in the clear while four wide through the turn. Asked to run turning for home and kicked away as the betting choice was way to late to threaten.
The second of the big stakes at Keeneland came in Race 7, a "Win & You're In" Breeders' Cup event, the Grade 2 Thoroughbred Club of America Stakes - a sprint for fillies & mares that would punch the winner's ticket to the Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Sprint. The first thing that caught my eye was that for a Grade 2 with BC implications, the field was pretty light. All of the runners with past credentials did not look intimidating to me. The lightly raced and improving Yuugiri caught my eye as a potential win bet. She was exiting a score in the listed Open Mind Stakes at Churchill Downs where she'd run away from the prohibitive favorite Wicked Halo who'd been 2/5 that day. Prior to that effort, Wicked Halo had six straight 90+ Beyer figures and had won six of ten, including the Grade 2 Raven Run here. What had happened? No troubled trip or comments and following the race she had a 32nd best of 32 works. On her past efforts she would be a threat, but I didn't like her chances. Yuugiri dueled with a 6/1 front runner into the turn and turning into the lane got her head in front. But Wicked Halo was on the move and she collared my top choice. Got HER head in front and looked poised to inch clear, but Yuugiri - along the rail - was not done. She battled back and inside the sixteenth pole they were on even terms, bobbing heads for the lead. The wire came up and I THOUGHT MAYBE I'd won but was from from confident, even when they showed the slow-motion replay on the wire. But when the numbers were posted I was indeed the official winner!
The 8th at Keeneland was the Grade 1 First Lady going a mile on the turf and I thought Chad Brown's In Italian was a loose-on-the-lead winner. Made her a prime time bet and she was clear into the lane, looked home free only to be nailed by her 11/1 stablemate in a photo finish as tight as the winning one I'd had with Yuugiri. Sigh.....you win some, you lose some. In the 9th, it was the Grade 1 Breeders' Futurity for 2yo colts looking to head to the Breeders' Cup Juvenile and become an early leader on the 2024 Kentucky Derby trail. The first thing worth noting when I began analyzing the race was that only ONE of these colts had ever gone two turns. And he was 20/1 on the morning line. So the question was who could get the trip? Todd Pletcher's 2yo Locked was a son of Gunrunner so he should appreciate the added ground, and as a $425K sales grade there were obviously high expectations. He was checked to last in his Saratoga sprint debut but showed courage to rally for third. Then last time out he went the unique mile trip at the Spa. Was sent off at 3/5 and dazzled with a daylight score and monstrous 96 Beyer. Was five wide through the first turn and seventh of eight entering the backstretch. With the finish line being at the first wire of a short stretch I was concerned. At the top of the far turn he began his sweeping move and while wide into the lane hit the front and drew clear. Impressive! That made for my third win on the day in Lexington which would play into the final outcome of the day for me!
I had five late bets at Santa Anita on their Breeders' Cup Preview Day and scored with three of them. Slider was way too good for his overmatched rivals in the Speakeasy Stakes going five furlongs on the grass. Then in the "Best Bet" on the card, Didia drew off impressively in the Grade 2 Rodeo Drive - a ten furlong turf test - to stamp her ticket to the Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Turf. And finally, Bob Baffert's $2 Million colt Muth was ultra impressive winning the Grade 1 American Pharoah to head into the Breeders' Cup Juvenile as one of the top betting choices.
It was ironic - to me at least - that as the final race went official and I totaled my numbers on the day that I had a big winning percentage, much like last week. But I chuckled as I shared my stats with Kim telling her I had wagered a grand total of $200 on the day and had collected $200.70. BUT as I noted to her....I'd had three BIG bets on the day and lost two of them, and the one I won with brought me a profit of merely $2. So to come out "ahead" was more than acceptable to me.
I'd mentioned earlier that the wins at Keeneland would be a key. Well, TwinSpires ran a promotion that was NOT a money-back for finishing 2nd or third, but that you would get a bonus payout depending on how many races you won at Keeneland. With my three wins in Lexington I upped the total profit from just under a dollar to just over TEN dollars. Again, I will gladly take that for a day's worth of fun!
Social Media this week.....
One of the biggest adjustments for me upon our return from our amazing trip to Egypt was going from having every day social interaction with real people, all day every day, to spending the majority of my days alone and without any human interaction except for a little with my wife. So the interaction online for me this week was again of importance. The first came when Oasis student-athlete Emma celebrated her 20th birthday. Her older brother played on our football team; he Mom Mindy and I were good friends as she was always on the sideline helping out as a quasi-trainer; and Emma's dad Nathan and I became friends with a common interest in horse racing. I saw her birthday posted on Mindy's page and when I wished Emma a happy birthday she reacted to it.
Over the weekend while in Orlando I had a long text-chat with my "Disney girl," Amanda. Among other things was we continued our discussion about needing to meet in person over a glass or two of wine to catch up on her things were going.
Twice I had "conversations" with former local news anchor and now gal-pal Karli Barnett. I had been disappointed last weekend when there wasn't a Saturday Facebook Live chat as I was hoping to "talk" with Karli about our trip. And so by mid-week when I still had not "seen" Karli online I sent her a message expressing "concern" that I hoped everything was all good and she was happy. I was rewarded with a personal message back. Then this Saturday as we were headed out to the roller rink I saw a notice that the Live Chat was on. I checked in quickly and thanked her for following our trip (you can see her multiple posts in reaction to the pics & videos in last week's journal). She immediately reacted to my comment and as Kim said when I showed her Karli's live comments, ".....she went on and on about our trip didn't she?....." I snagged the clip and added it to the end of the highlight videos on the trip!
I continue to have nearly every day "conversations" with our girl Petra from the Viking Osiris. She continues to lead me to believe she wants to visit us and I do enjoy looking forward to a comment or two each day from her.
Finally, on the mid-week evening news gal-pal and evening anchor Lauren Pastrana was airing a story about the growing jackpot of over $1 BILLION for the national lottery. I messaged her that we should share the big prize to which she reacted :)
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