Summer/Fall Racing: Closing Weekend At Churchill Downs

July 28 - 30

It was a MOST EPIC week as our Florida Panthers won a dramatic, winner-take-all Game 7 in the Stanley Cup Final on Monday in front of a thunderous and electric crowd which included me and my grandson Oliver, as well as our oldest son Jeff, his girl Trista, and our buddy Enzo & his son. Just stunning, and so long in the making. Kudos to my wife Kim who made the ultimate Grandma sacrifice by giving up her seat so Oliver could go.

In the racing world, Friday......

I couldn't watch the live race but I did see the replay from Lone Star (because they block their simulcast signal as part of a three-year dispute between horsemen and management over purses), but in their second, my own horse, Classic Cut proved a winner on the comback trail. Because his account is in the red, I and the rest of the owners did not get any money. Oh well.....the thrill of thoroughbred ownership!

It was the second Friday card offered on the Jersey Shore and after passing the first I liked Namesake in the second, a two-lifetime, two-turn mile. Earlier in the spring he’d raced in richer, open races but last time out plummeted to $8K nw2L and missed the break. Still, rallied to be second best. He SHOULD win I thought. Tracked the leaders into the turn, surged three wide and drew clear. The 6/5 price was “fair” all things considering.

Passed the third and came back with my second winner in as many bets when Spouty’s Girl was sent out as the favorite in a moderate $15K maiden claimer. Again, caution was a key word as she’d run well in MSW races prior to today, but she was coming off of a year-long layoff. I’d probably have either passed or gone just a minimum play except it was trainer Kelly Breen and jockey Paco Lopez teaming up on the likely favorite. Right to the front, cleared by daylight without ever being asked and when give the cue took off as TONS the best. Again, the 6/5 payoff was more than fair.

After running third at 6/5 in an entry level allowance I saw on the Fan Duel broadcast that Gulfstream had a prohibitive favorite running in their 7^th. Looked like, as Announcer Pete would say, “Eeeeeeaaasy Money!” so I laid a double investment down and watched Proverb walk with it.

Missed with the last two, both minimum bets to finish the day 3-for-6.

Saturday started as just my grandson Oliver and I were at home, Kim having left Friday late afternoon to take her Mom back to Pa. It was Stephen Foster day at Churchill and it was a multi-stakes race day at Woodbine, so I played those two tracks along with my regular handicapping at Monmouth. Missed the first two at Churchill, both of them claiming events before getting my first winner with River Dog. He was running in a claiming event at Monmouth and like all the rest you had to filter through several races to make a case for him, but he looked best and fastest. Went right to the front, but when asked to finish turning for home he was collared. Almost always a certain kiss of death, he battled to the final two hundred yards and surged to keep the lead and get the win.

Off the board with the next two and then only second best as the 3/5 favorite in Churchill's fourth. Got back to the winner's circle in the fifth from Louisville in an entry level allowance with Scalable. As I noted in my analysis, even though we've been racing at Churchill since late April, still amazes me that the optional claiming tag is a big $100K and the purse for this first level allowance is a rich $127K. That's more than some graded events at the "Championship Meet" over the winter at Gulfstream Park. Trainer Todd Pletcher and the owners had high expectations because after an "OK" 4th at Saratoga on debut she was sent to Santa Anita to run in the Grade 2 Chandelier, yes....as a maiden....and ran 2nd. Right back in the Breeders' Cup where she was away slowly but rallied for a credible fourth. Walked with a one-turn mile in a MSW at GP where Mr. Todd is king. Then 4th in the Grade 3 Forward Gal and split the field in the Grade 2 GP Oaks. Now in allowance company she should be good to go. Could not find running room and with only about two hundred yards to go and behind horses she found a narrow seam, shot through and was up in time. WOW, exciting.

Made it two in a row when Veterans Beach went right to the front in a turf claiming route on the Jersey Shore, walked through an opening quarter in :25 and change and was long gone.

After an off-the-board finish at Woodbine it was time for some stakes action at Churchill Downs where the Grade 2 Wise Dan was set to go a mile and a sixteenth on the turn. Wise Dan had been Horse of the Year and one of my all-time favorite horses, in fact his photo from winning the BC Mile at Santa Anita when my son Brad made a big bet on him hangs on the wall in our family room Today Ottoman Fleet looked best after winning the prep for this, the Grade 3 Arlington a month ago. I looked for a "new shooter," but he was just the best. Inherited the lead when no one else wanted it, waltzed through a :48 opening half mile and the race was over. EEEEAAASSSSY Money as Announcer Pete would say. Less than five minutes later Like What I See was much the best wiring a turf sprint at Monmouth.

The Grade 2 Fleur de Lis was my BET of the Day at Churchill and when I handicapped the race I thought I might get a "fair" price on Bill Mott's rising star, Scylla. And in the initial betting the filly she'd beaten handily in the prep for this - the Shawnee Stakes - was the short priced favorite. But by post time the money showed on Scylla. Made her move into the lane and there was a three-way battle for a couple hundred yards with some bumping and shifting going on before she drew off as much the best. Immediately the INQUIRY sign lit up and there were riders objections. The first thing going for me was that all spring the stewards have been exceptionally reluctant to DQ anyone. The second thing was if you watched the head-on replay it seemed pretty clear that while Scylla was part of the exchanges, it also seemed like she'd run the straightest course of the three involved. Long LONG look at the replays before "NO CHANGE" was announced. :)

Ran 2nd in the Monmouth feature before winning back to back stakes. First, Filo Di Arianna pressed a longshot front runner to the top of the long Woodbine stretch before setting sail for the wire, a daylight winner as my lone score in Toronto on the day. And then Brilliant Berti was an upset, 5-1 winner in the American Derby at Churchill for me.

The final winner on the day came in the finale at Monmouth where Wandering West proved best in a cheap claiming event to notch his second win in a row - that's unusual at this lower level of racing.

Closing Day at Churchill Downs - Sunday

Nearly right after Oliver and I woke up we were in the car to get our Wawa morning drinks and then hit the road for his return home, back in Orlando. Because it was early on a Sunday morning the drive was smooth. The boy was such a good traveler, and for that matter was just a pleasure to have here all week long. I especially enjoyed the day and a half of just us boys :) The racing started with an easy winner in the CD opener when Musical Mischief ran off by daylight. You had to figure his graded experience would tell in this mile and a sixteenth test at the second allowance level, and it did as he was long gone under the wire.

Missed at both CD and Monmouth - the two tracks I was playing today - before In The End was the easiest of winners on the Jersey Shore. Was the favorite heading into the gate, but at the last minute he was pounded to 1/5 odds. Under a stranglehold while coasting on the lead, he took flight for the wire turning for home and it was more like a public workout than a race.

The first of the multiple stakes in Louisville was a 2yo filly event, the Debutante. Vodka With A Twist had won on debut with a field-best Beyer of 73 six weeks ago. The owners must have thought they had something special because they quickly moved the filly out of a blue-collar barn to one of the top barns in Southern California, Phil D'Amatto and replaced journeyman Declan Cannon in the saddle with top national jockey Flavian Prat. Right to the front where she whistled the opening quarter in :21 and change. Turning for home any hope by the other fillies that she'd tire were quickly dismissed as she opened up and ran away. WHOOOO HOOOO.

Oliver and I were headed out to lunch with his parents and his other set of grand parents when I got a text from my oldest son, Jeff "you're on fire again today." I must have won the fifth race. And when I turned on the replay I could see that Gulfport had the winning move heading for home, but what I'd not anticipated was that he went off at better than 5/1 so I cashed for more than $50!

Before I made my bets for the day at Churchill Downs I'd noted on Twitter that all three local analysts had their BET of the Day in the Maxfield Stakes. And what was curious to me was that my pick, Raging Torrent was NOT their choice. I pulled up the past performances and while I could see what they were thinking, to ME that their choice was an impressive last out maiden winner did not hold water with the proven record of Raging Torrent. The gates opened, he rocketed to the front and it was all over but the shouting! My fifth win from seven selections. YOWZA. Well you know this probably can't continue and it didn't. I was done for the day but the early success enabled me to win at a near 40% clip and have a profitable third day. For the weekend I finished at better than 40% and with a clear profit for the three days of racing.

With the end of racing Sunday, it brought down the curtain on the first three months of the spring/summer racing season. Time to add up the stats, and the numbers were very good!