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.
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.
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