Charles Town Classic/Travers Weekend - End of Summer Racing

 August 23 - 25

It was a full three days of stakes action as the Summer Season closed - for me.  This coming week we head off on our next big adventure, a Viking Oceans "British Isles Explorer" and when we get back it will be mid-September with the Fall Racing Season well under way.  Kim and I left our home in Sunrise on Friday morning, bound for Orlando to help celebrate our grandson's eighth birthday.  But I had made selections for the late afternoon Monmouth card, as well as the "rebooted" King's Plate Day card that had been washed out last Saturday.  

Happy Birthday to "The Boy!"
By the end of the day Sunday I had FIFTY social media hits honoring his special day from friends & family

The day started out "OK" as I finished 3rd at Monmouth, followed by back-to-back 2nd place finishes at Woodbine.  Then in the sixth in Toronto Journeyman went RIGHT to the front, slowed the pace down through the middle fractions then shot home to the wire a clear winner.

Then it was time for the "BET of the Day" at Woodbine in the Grade 2 King Edward as I went "prime time" on Filo Di Arianna.  Right to the front, comfortable on a relaxed, daylight lead and opened up turning for home.  I was just about to begin counting my money when here came a closer.....oh this is going to be close!  Collared me in the final fifty yards, head bobbing....PHOTO FINISH - but I held on by the narrowest of margins, whew!

Ran second in the last two Woodbine stakes before closing out the Toronto program with a tiring sixth as the 3/5 favorite.  Charles Town kicked off at 5pm and in the first six races there I ran 4th, 5th, and 6th on the other four.  This is NOT the way I saw the day going.  It was around 10pm at this point with three stakes left on the card, but I was beat.  My pick had scratched out of the Grade 2 Charles Town Oaks, so I went with my back-up, Mystic Lake.  I decided to up the bet on both of the last two stakes, and I fell asleep.  In the morning I got up and pulled up the replays.  In the Oaks, Mystic Lake pressed the 40/1 leader into the far turn and as they entered the turn the two of them were multiple lengths in front of everyone else.  The odds flashed at the bottom of the screen as I realized I had an outstanding chance to cash here.............oh my, Mystic Lake was a whopping 6/1!  Drew off by daylight and suddenly I was "back in the game" by cashing for $70.

Next on the agenda was the featured Grade 2, $1 Million Charles Town Classic going a mile and an eighth, around three turns.  Skippylongstockings had gone wire-to-wire last year as my top choice and he looked clearly best to me.  Again he easily cleared but was hounded around the first two turns and into the third by a 40/1 longshot.  Did it take something out of him?  Oh no Webby - opened up and ran off by a pose with my "prime-time" bet on board allowing me to cash for another $40+

The finale was the Autumn Stakes going an abbreviated 4 1/2 furlongs.  Maggie's Girl would take some beating in this spot, and the crowd bet as I did, pounding her down to 3/5 odds.  Pressed the leader to the top of the stretch then drew off in hand without being asked for her best.  So, after starting the day a woeful 2-for-13, I finished with three straight to hit 31% winners AND showed a flat bet profit!  What a surprising turnaround at the end of the night....and while I was sleeping!  

Saturday was a struggle.  After winning two-of-the-first-five and three-of-the-first-eight, I only cashed tickets on three of the last sixteen bets of the day.  I had SOOOO many photo finishes and so many close 2nd and 3rd place finishes.  Sigh......you can never take this game for granted.  Fortunately I was able to get some money back on "Bet-Back" promotions, but that hardly made a dent in the bottom line for the day.  In the opener Geopolitics finally held on to win after starting his career with four straight weakening second place finishes.  In the fifth, Bring Theband Home quickly got to the front in an allowance turf sprint and wired the field.  And I topped off the early winning ways with a heart-thumping three-way photo when Todd Pletcher's first time starting 2yo, Tip Top Thomas got his head in front with my triple investment on board.

Today in Philadelphia it was the preview day for the big Pennsylvania Derby Day next month.  I had five bets, all in stakes races.  Accounted for one of the photo-finish seconds, had three show finishes and one oh-so-close win when Adero (who was my bet by default when my top choice scratched) was JUST able to finish in front in the Mayor's Mile.

I did win the feature at Monmouth - the lone winner on the Jersey Shore - when Social Forteress burst out of the gate to the front and never looked back, widening the margin through the stretch.  And I got my lone winner at Del mar in the opener when Bob Baffert's second time starting 2yo Emerald Bay easily broke his maiden.

Just some of the Oh-So-Close-Seconds, including (top photo) when the 3yo filly Thorpedo Anna JUST missed catching Todd Pletcher's Fierceness on the wire in the Grade 1 Travers.  Note I'd have collected over $120 on just these three bets - oh the difference between winning and losing can be sooooo close my friends.

Sunday was another big day as it was "New Jersey Bred Festival Day at Monmouth" AND Canadian Millions Day at Woodbine.  For the day I went five-for-fourteen (a solid 36%) with four of the winners being in stakes races, including the "BET of the Day" at Monmouth when Sea Streak was much the best in the Charles Hess Handicap.

With the close of racing Sunday, and with the next big trip starting, this made it time to "run the numbers" for the season:

Spring-Summer Final Totals

This week we set sail around the British Isles with Viking Oceans.  Click the pic to follow our adventure onboard the Viking Neptune:

Social Media this week.....

I'm so looking forward to our adventure with Viking because, again this week was another example that I really have very little contact with anyone outside my wife, except online.  And that, again, makes interacting with my social media pals, nearly exclusively gal-pals so good for me to be able to have some human interaction.  My good buddy Jeff Nelson's daughter Chloe and her DJ Country Radio pals hosted a concert where they all wore boots and Chloe's blue boots stole the show.

My former student, and TV anchor Erica has THE cutest kids.  She posted a pic of her and one of them and I commented to which she reacted.

My gal-pal Karli Barnett, former CBS weekend anchor, and I used to communicate a lot more frequently but she still enjoys following our adventures and we do have "delayed" chats because she's so busy.  Two weeks ago I sent her a message about a movie we went to see and this weekend she wrote back to me.  I enjoyed her comment about the pumpkin spice creamer as we've often talked about pumpkin spice coffee and cappuccinos!  

New-found gal-pal Teri posted about how sick she was ahead of a getaway girls' weekend to celebrate her upcoming wedding.  We exchanged messages as I offered my sympathy.  She later posted pics from the weekend and it looked like a great time for her and her girlfriends.

Like most weeks these days, my most frequent social interaction came with CBS anchor Lauren Pastrana.  The Democratic National Convention was last week and it ran VERY late each night to which I commented to her about what troopers she and the local CBS news team were to stay up oh-so-late.  Lauren also aired another investigative piece, this one about dealing with grief - like all her specials, it was insightful and she appreciated my reaction to it when it aired.  On Friday's broadcast she had a "new look" with her hair.  She reminded me that at one time she'd told me that she planned to curl her hair on Fridays to make it a "Funday Friday."  And finally, I was appreciative that she "liked" my photo that I sent her of me.  Almost always the photos I send her are of her doing the news or something she's done on air or with her kids.  So I thought it only fair that I send a photo of ME doing something.

Alabama Weekend

 August 16 - 18

It was a workman-like weekend of handicapping with just a couple of big stakes on the calendar.  The one big stakes-laden day was at Woodbine where it was Kings Plate Day.  But unfortunately, despite starting the day with partly cloudy skies, in between Races 1 and 2 there was a torrential downpour which led to a 45 minute delay.  They got off a few more races before the downpours came again and again leading to cancelling the big day's stakes races and rescheduling for next Friday.  It was also a cool social media week for me :)  Here's how the weekend played out......

Friday started off in what was a prelude to a very good week of handicapping.  The opener on the Jersey Shore was a maiden claimer going a mile and a sixteenth on the grass.  I started the analysis by saying that "all handicapping logic" pointed to my pick, First Reign.  But the problem to consider was that this filly had already been out ten times AND had only hit the board twice.  And nine of those ten were against state-breds.  BUT those were all MSW state-bred events.  The one time she faced open company came at this same level, here and she was second best.  So IF you were willing to look past the ten tries......  Heading into the backstretch she lagged behind the field, but began gaining ground through the turn.  The rail opened and she shot thru - burst to the front and drew off.  But the best news was that she went off at a big 5/1 and paid a very generous $12.60 so even with my minimum bet I was off to a good start by cashing for over $30.

The next four races saw me fail to hit the board (4th, 4th, 4th and 5th) and so the day's bottom line came down to the finale where Lloyd looked to be a short priced favorite in a starter optional claiming event going six furlongs.  It was a race only requiring a start for $6.25K so consistency is NOT a hallmark of this level of racing.  Lloyd had run away with a $5K sprint three back earning a big 84 Beyer.  Then facing far better than he faced today he'd run back-to-back photo-finish 2nd's with nearly identical Beyers.  Any of those three made him a standout.  Because of the nearly 5:30pm post time I'd sat down to dinner with Kim and watching our TV programs so I tuned into the replay a while later.  He pressed the longshot duo into the far turn then swept by three wide and drew off handily, much as I expected.  What I did NOT expect was that somehow he'd gone off at better than 2/1 and I cashed for over $15 on my minimum play so I finished 2-for-6 on the day but with a flat bet profit :)

Saturday started off quickly as I scored with three of my first four selections.  In the King's Plate Day opener North Warden was being well bet prior to post time so I upped the bet in this Maiden Optional Claimer to a double investment.  Pressed the leaders to the top of the long stretch, drove to the front and was hard urged to the wire while keeping the closers safe.  Ran second at Saratoga before coming right back with wins at both Monmouth and Gulfstream.  In the second at Monmouth, much like the Toronto opener, Made Birdie was being strongly bet so I upped the wager.  Was last of six, but only about a half dozen off the lead into the far turn of this 6f claiming event.  Swept up three wide and dueled to the 16th pole before drawing off.  Then the best of the early bets came in the 2nd at Gulfstream, a maiden claimer sprinting five furlongs on the synthetic.  Blue Spearman was a clear choice for me.  This was a basement level, $12.5K maiden event and EVERYONE else in here had lost at this level before - he'd never been this low.  Immediately he gets an edge.  Top trainer Saffie Joseph was cutting the price tag in half AND adding blinkers.  Put that with the fact he showed the strong win angle "Early Speed, Class Drop" by showing speed for a half mile last time out and he was a clear pick for me.  Split the early pace rivals before they'd gone the opening quarter and opened up.  Drew clear by daylight and never looked back.  The very best part.....went off at a big 9/2 so I cashed for over $50!   WHOOO HOOOO I'm off to a very good start!

Missed on the next two and Woodbine was going through a rain delay before in their third, Ready Shakespeare looked like a solid pick, TO ME in this $25K nw2L sprint going 6 1/2 furlongs over the Toronto synthetic main track.  Debuted with a win at this same distance here then was sent long on the turf against allowance foes.  Back to the winning distance and surface.  Was a bit concerned that they immediately dropped not only in for a tag but a 2L tag, still.....Last heading into the turn, oh, this is why he was being up for sale.  But then he began gathering momentum picking off horses.  He was third turning for home and gradually gaining....one last surge and UP IN TIME.  And much like the pick on Blue Spearman his odds were a delightful 3/1 with the big $8.80 payout generating a return of nearly $45 for me :)

The next fourteen picks produced but two winners - YIKES.....it was a long stretch, especially with the extended delays at Woodbine and then finally their cancelling the program.  The two wins came when Cadron Settlement burst through at Gulfstream to score late and when Call Me Harry wired a 2nd level allowance, turf sprint at Saratoga.

Two of the losses in that skid came in the two graded features at Saratoga.  In the Grade 2 Lake Placid for 3yo fillies on the turf, odds-on favorite She Feels Pretty was poised to score turning for home but could not hold off a late charging price play.  Then in the featured Alabama, Todd Pletcher's Candided came calling for the lead but could not quite get by....back-to-back photo finish 2nd place finishes :(

But in the final two stakes of the day I cashed!  In the Grade 3 Islin at Monmouth I literally chuckled out loud as Subsanador made a sudden blitz to the front on the far turn.  Why?  Well this South American import had gone 0-for-3 in North America with two graded stakes fourth place finishes and a photo-finish 2nd in a Grade 1.  Conservative trainer Richard Mandella would have had plenty of good races to choose from out of his own barn at Del Mar, but shipped across the country.  That in and of itself was a big clue.  But sealing the deal was the fact that "Money Man" Mike Smith gave up all his west coast mounts to fly to the Jersey Shore to ride.  Once Subsanador hit the front he was long gone.  My triple invest returned nearly $40.

The Gulfstream feature was the Sheer Drama Stakes.  And as I said, you could look at this race and say MAYBE a price play jumps up to win, but the most likely scenario was that the hot as a firecracker Beth's Dream would extend her three-race winning streak and score again.  Tripled the bet and watched her "duel" while well in hand to the far turn, then draw off in little more than a public workout.  Cashed for nearly $30.  And closed out the day in the 11th at Saratoga when Yo Daddy blew by on the turn of a 1 1/2 turn dirt mile event and drew off as easily best.

For the day I'd gone 9-for-24, a solid near 40% win rate.  AND I'd cashed for a clear profit on the day.  BUT.....TwinSpires was running not one but two promotions.  The on-going $10 Bet-Back on 2nd and 3rd place finishes in selected races and a special "15% Profit Boost" on Woodbine winners.  The two photo finish 2nd place finishes in the Saratoga stakes and the two Woodbine wins added another near $30 to my bankroll so that for the day I had a final profit of almost $60.  WHOOOOO HOOOO.

Even though I went winless on Sunday those bonuses more than off set the losses as I had a reduced number of plays at Monmouth where we were washed off the turf.  The social media "event" of the weekend came on Friday.  When I was waking up I turned on the CBS morning news as per usual and at the end of the broadcast the four on-air personalities shared photos of them in grade school as a tribute to the first week back to school.  I thought that was clever so I posted a photo of me getting my coffee with an inset of me during my early years.  Such a reaction as over 30 of my social media pals reacted :)  Ironic that on several of the previews of our upcoming amazing trip to the British Isles I got less than half a dozen reactions!  Close ups of some of my favorite social media gal-pals that reached out :)

Social Media this week.....

Former student Jen posted pics of a beach weekend with her cute daughters that drew a comment from me and a reaction in return.

It's hit-or-miss with my most favorite of all time Kimmy, but she's told me over and over again to keep messaging her.  Working full time with two little ones I understand my text are not a high priority but she's so genuine when she reaches out which she did in reaction to my back-to-school pic, and we had a nice "conversation."

Similarly, former CBS anchor Karli Barnett seems really busy and I don't hear from her often but Sunday she saw my preview posts and responded :)

I'd not heard from our "Egyptian girl" Petra in a while but she and I chatted this weekend.  She lost someone close to her and she apologized for not being in touch.  Nice to catch up with this sweet girl.

My two gal-pal anchors at CBS-Miami Lauren & Teri both reacted to a message I sent them Sunday when I looked up the very cool-ish temperatures we are going to enjoy on our trip.

Heard from Lauren twice early in the week, the most "shocking" was when she shared she does not like pumpkin spice coffee.  WHAT????  I responded to a story they did on big cruise ships and she reacted to my thoughts.  Try not to read too much into it, but the facts are what they are.....because I know Lauren knows the morning crew I sent her a message about the back-to-school photos and I put together a photo of the four morning peeps with those inset.  Then I added my photo.  She sent the "like/heart" in response, but note she sent that to my message and to MY photo....not the one of the team - likes me best?  :)

Teri and I had quite a week "together."  Started with a standard "like" to my Br Isles preview post, which she faithfully liked and/or commented on EVERY single day.  Then when she posted a photo of a sunrise on the beach on Facebook and I replied, she responded back to me.  I got a big smile knowing that (a) she recognizes me on all three social media platforms and (b) referred to me as "my world traveling friend" - how sweet is that?  She appears to like pumpkin spice coffee judging from her initial reaction to the coffee coming out this week.  And unlike everyone else who reacted to my back to school photo, Teri added the "OMG I love it" comment :)  But the most interesting and most appreciated interaction this week came on Saturday.  I tuned into the news as she was anchoring and sent a pic of my frozen cappuccino (the very bottom pic) and got a reaction.  But then about an hour into the broadcast she messaged me, while on air, that she thought she was "messing up alot" today.  For the next fifteen to twenty minutes - while she was anchoring the news - we messaged back and forth.  And her reaction to my suggestion that we need to get together was a positive one!  Would love to share some of my stories and have her tell me her back story and about her upcoming wedding plans.