It's the end of the first month of the spring/summer/fall racing season as we close out Week 4 at the Keeneland Spring Meet and move to Churchill Downs with next Saturday being Kentucky Oaks and Kentucky Derby weekend. Of course we'll be sailing the Mediterranean - we'll be on our last day in Greece on Oaks Day and in Montenegro for Derby Day. But, through the wonder of the Internet I'll be posting my analysis & selections and making my wagers. With a SEVEN hour time difference it will be after dinner when the races go to post for the first race each day! The week started out with our Florida Panthers continuing their quest towards the Stanley Cup with two more games against our arch rivals, the Tampa Bay Lightning. The first game this week was a home game and Kim and I sat with new pals from FAU Matt & Meghan. We jumped out to a 2-0 lead but Tampa rallied. The third was back and forth but no one scored so it went to OVERTIME. We scored early in the extra period to move to a 2-0 lead in the series. One of the many highlights came when our goalie Sergei Bobrovsky made the "save heard 'round the world" that was the talk of not only all sports venues but even on the general news - just stunning.
On Thursday, Kim was out of town taking her Mom to the condo for our trip, and I watched the 'Cats take on Tampa at their place. We jumped out to a quick 1-0 lead but Tampa again rallied and took their fist lead of the series. The boys battled back - tied it, took the lead opened up a two goal lead and held on for the win to go up three games to none with a chance to sweep on Saturday!
Friday's racing started off in a very disappointing way. The Bet of the Weekend was in Keeneland's Closing Day feature, the Grade 3 Bewitch Stakes going a mile and a half on the turf. Warlike Goddess was a three-time winner of the race and looked so much the best. But she scratched out of the race. Still, it was a good day and a profitable one. I swept the early double as trainer Wesley Ward sent out two first time starting two-year-olds in MSW contests. Saturday Flirt was much the best in the opener on the grass and Burning Pine was as impressive winning the second in a dirt sprint as I had triple investment wagers on both.
Ran 2nd and 4th in the next two races and eye-balled the final two races. On paper, even if I lost them both I'd come out in front by just a smidge. But Royal Spa was the tepid 7/2 favorite in a wide open race and I had her to cash for more than $20 to seal a 50% winning day in Lexington with a tidy little profit.
Saturday was Opening Day at Woodbine and Opening Night at Churchill Downs with a first post of 6pm under the Twin Spires. Originally I only intended to play those two tracks, but thought I'd get a little more action for the afternoon by adding the races from New York. In the opener at Aqueduct Practical Miss was part of an entry. Went right to the front, was confronted by the stablemate, put that one away and held off the closers to give me my first win of the day.
I wondered how the track would play and how the horses would run in Toronto as the vast majority of the runners entered at Woodbine today had not run since they closed their doors in December. And is their usual practice, all the races were on the synthetic and all were super short sprints. My recollection is that often times in the early part of the meet it's all about speed. Sure enough, the winner of the opener, which was too confusing to find anyone, went wire-to-wire and in the second my top choice, Summer Snot burst out of the gate to quickly clear and never looked back. One-for-one at Woodbine for the season!
Ran second in the second half of the early double at Woodbine when my pick tried to catch the long gone front runner. But I was back in the winner's circle when Rock To Fame wired the third. I then won back-to-back races in New York when Lady Mia shot up the rail on the turf to win a turf sprint in their fourth race and Printrack wired the fourth. Six races on the day and I've scored in FIVE of them with a second in the other. It's starting off like a very good day!
Much to my "surprise" I missed the next three when second and third at Woodbine and fourth in New York. But in Aqueduct's eighth, a two turn turf allowance, Overacting was patiently handled off the insane splits set by a 96/1 front runner to the far turn, then swooped by to score.
The final bet of the day in Toronto came in their ninth race where Star Candy did NOT go to the front, but when asked to run down the leaders proved the best and I closed out the pre-Churchill Downs part of the day with six winners.
At 5pm - an hour before post time at Churchill, the Florida Panthers looked to close out their Round 1 series of the Stanley Cup playoffs in Tampa. But we quickly fell behind 3-0, then 4-1. Closed it to 4-3 mid-way through the third, but couldn't sustain it and lost. Game 5 to seal the series will be at home, but of course we'll be in Athens so I put the seats up for sale. Hoping to make some money! In the opener under the Twin Spires my pick ran 2nd, but all week TwinSpires is running a promotion where you get your money back (up to $10) if you finish second or third, so I "cashed" on the first bet. Barnaby was my choice in a two-lifetime claiming event in the second. He was hard pushed on the turn and that usually means they won't sustain the run, but he would not give up and pushed by in the final fifty yards to give me my first winner at Churchill for the spring meeting.
I ran fourth in the third race but I won again in the fourth, a turf sprint. Outadore was sent off as the favorite and most likely winner I thought. I pressed a 4/1 runner who was a multiple stakes winner, but his age had caught up with him - I should know I backed him THREE times at Gulfstream and he failed to deliver. Got the best of the duel into the lane and held on for the win.
After finishing a well beaten seventh with my next two bests, the most impressive winner of the night came in Race 9 - a mile and a quarter maiden event where NO ONE had ever gone that far. Just Basking was last through the first turn, but began moving up down the backstretch. On the turn he noticeably accelerated and I could tell I would win. He blew by and widened the margin by double digit lengths through the stretch in a very good looking win. My pick in the featured Roxalana scratched and I debated going with my second choice but in the end I opted to just pass the race. I would have run second and got my money back :)
For the weekend I had excellent stats.........and a profit too!
With the end of the first month of the spring racing season I totaled up my numbers......
Social Media this week.......
I was so, not even sure how to describe it, "touched" maybe that my gal-pal Lauren Pastrana took time to write me an email early in the week after having looked over the "script" one last time. And we had more than one interaction through this week, again.
The same day that Lauren responded via email her newscast made the Panthers part of their first segment, and she reacted to that message. And when the game went to overtime she liked that post I sent her. And through the rest of the week she "liked" my personal messages to her on Instagram, including when I shared the amazing upgrade we got for the upcoming cruise to a Junior Suite.
And on Friday, the final news broadcast we'd see before the trip I reached out to Lauren while she was on the air and asked what she thought of the Panthers sweeping on Saturday.....and told her I'd be in touch from Greece! You'll note I did send the message just as they were going off the air for the national news thinking she'd have a better chance to see it and reply while NOT on the anchor desk, but you can see from her time stamp that she replied while anchoring the 7pm news :)
Finally, on Saturday after the Panthers failed in their bid to sweep the first round series with Tampa I sent Lauren the pic of our luggage and said "I think we should go somewhere" and she immediately "liked" the message :)
Also was very happy that our manager at Oasis High, Madi, reached out to me. It's not uncommon for Madi and I to "chat" via FB messenger, but it's almost always when I initiate the exchange. Not this time as my girl reached out to me first :)
Gal-pal Chloe shared on the Friday morning radio show about some health concerns. I thought it was so very brave of her to open up like that so I reached out to her.
Former student Amber had a "Disney Weekend" and as I told her, the "best" pic to me was her collapsed on the hotel bed after one of the full days of fun.
Finally, last week CBS-Miami weekend anchor had posted on FB to follow her on Instagram. I did immediately, but it wasn't until this week that she saw and responded to my message to her.
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