Haskell Preview Weekend

 June 16 - 18:  Haskell Preview / Father's Day Weekend

Father's Day FB Post From My Sweet Wife

To be honest I was disappointed with the results from the weekend despite winning about what I usually get for the three days of racing.  I had four picks from the eight race Monmouth Friday Twilight card and scored with three of them......but as they were all three favorites I lost a small amount of money on the day.  I was most excited for the third race which featured the debut of MY 2yo filly Lady Blitz for trainer Todd Pletcher.  Since buying into this filly I've watched her move from the farm to the training track and there was quite a bit of excitement - so it seemed - for her debut.  She was exiting a sharp bullet work and looked to wire the five furlong field of maidens.  But she broke slowly in the slop and ran evenly around the track.  Found it somewhat interesting that the rider, in his post-race comments to the owners remarked that he thought she'd like the turf.  I found this interesting because what appealed to me when I bought into her through MyRacehorse was that she was described as a "classic, two-turn dirt horse."  The same was true of my 3yo filly Balletic who after one dirt try ran on turf and then broke her maiden on turf - both the latter in sprints.  

Saturday I started off by continuing my hot streak.  I won three straight races, including the first two on the Jersey Shore.  And my win at Belmont was a nice $6.40 winner who I smiled when he crossed the line because neither of the NYRA handicappers - grouchy Andy Serling and hottie Acacia Courtney-Clement - had my choice in their top four selections.  In the next five races I ran second three times, third once and scored with a Todd Pletcher firster.

I was disappointed with the results from Ellis Park on the day which I played because it was a day transferred from Churchill to the "Pea Patch" since the concern over the number of injuries at CD had led to the move and there were stakes races where I liked some of the runners, including my pick in the Grade 1 Kentucky Oaks Wet Paint.  But I had only one win at Ellis and that was in a maiden event.  Over the last eleven races on the day I had just this win at Ellis, an allowance win at Belmont and the feature at Belmont.

The good news about the final win was the BET of the Weekend.  Goodnight Olive won the Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Sprint and made her first start of this season an easy win in Keeneland's Grade 1 Madison.  Looked formidable on Derby Weekend in the Grade 1 Derby City Distaff but had a terrible trip - poor riding judgement I felt - and so I expected a big rebound today.  The good news - she got clear in the lane and won - the bad news it was oh-so-close, far from a dominant win.  Will be interesting to see how she moves forward from this race.

Then Sunday I went winless at Monmouth - sigh.....so for the three days I finished 10=for-28, a good 36% but it seemed a lot less than that with the money loss and the winless Sunday.  The big event for next week is the stakes-filled Wednesday night card from Canterbury!

Social Media this week.......

Ciara with Viking TV 

While I didn't have a lot of wins on the race track I did have many interactions on social media as again I don't have many "live" friends to interact with, so I appreciate having "virtual friends" and in particular I was appreciative of the many well wishes on Father's Day from people I typically only interact with online.  The first very cool social media interaction I'll share came when I had a forty minute online meeting with Ciara from Viking TV during which we were discussing my possibly hosting a TV episode and she asked if I'd be interested in hosting a SERIES of episodes.  How cool is that :)

Early in the week I posted that Kim and I were about to go on a travelling odyssey with seven trips over the next sixteen months.  In response to that my "adopted daughter," cutie Jillian exchanged messages with me.

Later in the week it was Jillian's birthday and again we interacted on two different occasions.  And on Father's Day it was Jillian who first reached out to me - truly a special girl.

I messaged CBS-Miami anchor Lauren Pastrana more so for me than what she'd posted or said.  In the past she's taken note and said to me that she appreciated me being a "loyal viewer" and I had had several exchanges with her during the Florida Panthers epic playoff run.  So today I just wanted to let her know that despite no "big news" to me personally that I was still watching.  Then on Monday (ok, technically not this week but I had not written up the week's journal yet) when I turned on the evening news I quickly noticed Lauren's hair looked far darker than usual.  I pulled up a couple of pics quickly and certainly it was much darker this evening.  I know how women are - they like to be noticed, especially when something as important as their hair changes.  So I messaged her.  Minutes later, WHILE ON THE AIR she messaged me back that yes indeed she'd redone her hair :)  I thought that was very cool.

Note the hair color difference from recent pics

I had reached out to gal-pal Kimmy a few times recently and in each text I inquired about her health as I knew she was due to deliver her second little one.  In reply to my notice about being asked to do a Viking TV episode she FIRST replied how cool that was, but then let me know that THAT day she'd given birth to her son.  Such a sweetheart.

Karli Barnett, my gal-pal who was the weekend anchor for CBS-Miami and has since moved to Atlanta but we've kept in touch, had multiple interactions this week.  First I exchanged several comments with her on her weekly Saturday evening live chat.  What I found most interesting about these was that when the conversation turned to her sharing herself with people online like this and I commented to that effect, she replied how she liked doing that BUT the majority of her comments were about "ask me anything about my job and what I do, I love to share...." and all of OUR interactions have been much more personal in nature.  This was particularly interesting to me because the day after the live chat she got around to seeing two of my private messages to her.  Two weeks ago the conversation had circled around to travel and Karli had said she'd like to go to Greece and I remarked in the chat we were going there.  Then I private messaged her she should take off work and join us - she responded positively (see below).  Then later when the Viking TV thing came up I'd messaged her.  You can see below that she seemed genuinely interested and happy for me and wanting me to follow up with her - again, very personal and not job-related at all.

Belmont Festival / Stanley Cup Final Weekend

 June 8 - 11

What a great weekend!  After losing the first two games of the Stanley Cup Final in Las Vegas our Panthers came home and had a dramatic overtime win on Thursday.  The arena was SO electric and loud.  The Belmont Festival of Racing was originally supposed to start on Thursday but smoke from fires in Canada made racing a health hazard.  But it had all cleared by Friday and I played both there and at Monmouth on Friday.  Saturday our 'Cats were home again and in spite of a valiant comeback, fell just short 3-2.  But the racing was another big success on Belmont Stakes Day.  Closed out the weekend with a good Sunday at Monmouth.  So let's see how the weekend's racing played out......

Stanley Cup Final Thursday:  Game 3

The racing kicked off with a first post at Belmont at 12:50 and the Friday Monmouth first race was slated for 2pm.  But from 12:50 until nearly 3:30 I had SIX "PASS" races so the activity was on the light side.  I ran 2nd at even money to start the day in the Jersey Shore opener but in the BEST Bet of the Day, the fourth at Belmont I was the easiest of winners.  The Grade 1 Just A Game was a one mile turf race and Chad Brown's In Italian looked awfully formidable.  First a short field of four opponents were lined up against the odds-on favorite.  Second, she looked to be loose on the lead.  And to seal the deal, the combined fifty starts by the opponents showed ZERO triple digit Beyers.  In Italian had posted figures of 102-104-104-and 100 in her last four.  Oh.  Right to the front and never looked back as the EASIEST of winners representing the BEST Bet of the Day.

Ran 2nd at Monmouth again and then off the board at Belmont.  Race 7 at Belmont was a seven furlong turf sprint and I had the $8.20 winner - the minimum bet allowed me to collect over $20.  Right back with the eighth at Monmouth where my "best" of the day at Monmouth Lost Ark was running in a two-turn, second level allowance race.  The Todd Pletcher colt had flashed talent as a 2yo which included a win in Monmouth's one-mile Sapling Stakes.  Two Gr 1 efforts without success had ended his juvenile season and today he was making his 3yo debut.  IF he ran back to his 2yo form he would be tough to beat I thought, and Pletcher rarely runs them if they aren't really ready.  He rated comfortably on the rail, fourth about five off the lead to the far turn.  Swept into the clear and then with long strides he swept by the leaders wide into the lane and drew off.

Lost back-to-back stakes in New York ... the one I wasn't surprised the other I felt that jockey Joel Rosario did not read the pace very well and let War Like Goddess stay too far off a very slow pace.  No chance to rally in there.  But I closed the day out strongly by winning the finale at Monmouth, the two-mile Grade 2 Belmont Cup with Euro invader Siskeny and then got my money back in the Grade 3 Intercontinental going 6f on the turf at Belmont when Amy C finished third.

Saturday I decided, because there was another Stanley Cup Final game and our youngest son & his family were coming mid-afternoon to join us in attending the game, that I'd only play the Monmouth card along with the Belmont Stakes Day card.  It was a late morning start in NY with an 11:20 am first post, but the first two races were "PASS" for me - even though my top choice in the opener did win at 9/5.  The third race was the first of the graded events, the Grade 2 True North.  Eclipse Award champion sprinter Elite Power was in the line-up and if he ran his race that would be the end of the story.  He was working on a six race winning streak and in his last, the Group 3 $1.5 Million Riyadh Sprint he'd bested Gunite who won a stakes last weekend earning a 108 Beyer.  That would bury this field.  Confidently ridden in fourth behind the speed into the turn.  Easily glided up outside of runners and took off easily with little if any urging.  Cashed for over $15 with my triple investment.

Came right back in the opener at Monmouth to score.  The opener was a MSW turf route and the first thing that was a certainty was that Chad Brown's Surge Capacity would never be the 15/1 price offered in the early daily double.  I liked the 39% win rate Brown had posted to date on the Jersey Shore and that jockey Sammy Camacho was 35% with nearly 100 mounts for the barn.  Looked very live as a first timer.  And I thought MAYBE I'd get a "fair price" with Paco Lopez on Graham Motion's Rugelach who'd run THREE Beyers faster than par.  Why not bet her?  Was bothersome to me that over the last two years Lopez and Motion were 0-for-12 together.  Surge Capacity went right to the front dueling with two longshots into the lane, the accelerated to a daylight and easily held off the Motion filly.  Cashed for nearly $40!

Race 2 at Monmouth looked like another good bet with Paco this time on Knowing Glance in a starter allowance with a $30K requirement as she'd been beaten a neck for $50K last summer.  Paco was on board and she'd posted back to back bullets.  But like the opener there was another rival who figured to be one of the favorites.  'Glance pressed her 7/1 uncoupled stablemate to the top of the lane under a tight hold.  Slid off the rail into the clear and was L-O-N-G gone as the 2/1 second choice, so I cashed for over $30.

But the BEST part about the opening races at Monmouth was that when I looked at these two races I felt nearly certain that (a) the winner of both races was nearly certain to be one of the two choices I'd written about, and (b) my bet had a good chance of NOT being the winner.  But on the off chance that my bet didn't win I thought I could still make a little money on a daily double.  So I played a $3 double using both horses in the two races.

That was a pretty easy profitable scenario!  A miss at Belmont in the Grade 3 Poker but then on the return to Monmouth in Race 5 for a turf sprint, I scored with Balistico when Paco Lopez shot to the front and never looked back.  Less than half an hour later it was time for the Grade 1 Ogden Phipps going a one-turn mile and a sixteenth at Belmont, a "Win and You're In" event for the Breeders' Cup.  Even though it was a short field it was full of quality.  But I thought Steve Asmussen's Clairiere was very much the best.  Of her stellar record 7-for-18 wins, she was 6-for-11 at this trip.  AND she had the most triple digit Beyers in the field.  Patiently handled in mid-pace behind a very slow pace.  Split rivals at the top of the lane and wore down her chief rival to score with my triple investment on board!

Missed at Belmont in the eighth when General Jim was off the board.  Missed again at Belmont in the Grade 1 Jaipur when Casa Creed was trying to win this turf sprint stakes for the third straight year.  Came FLYING from the back at a solid 7/2 and was up for the show, so I got my money back thanks to the weekend-long TwinSpires "Bet Back" promotion.  Ran second in Monmouth's feature, the Lady's Secret before getting my next win with the BEST Bet of the Day.  Bill Mott's Cody's Wish has such a back story about what he's meant to his handicapped namesake.  But the horse is one of THE most talented in training.  He was working on an eight-of-nine streak with the lone loss coming in his first graded stakes try many many months ago.  He'd come from off the pace on Derby Day going seven furlongs in the Grade 1 Churchill Downs and won with devastating ease despite a pedestrian pace.  This one-turn mile trip in the Grade 1 Met Mile looked ideal to me.  Much like the first Saturday in May the pace was anything but moderate but still he was handled patiently.  Saved ground through the turn, then slid outside into the clear and blew by effortlessly in a "WOW" finish that led me to say that, out loud as he scored.  Cashed for almost $50 with my eighth winner on the day.

Off the board at Monmouth and then it was time to leave for Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Final.  We fell behind 3-0, rallied to make it 3-2 and soooo close to tying it.  Loved being at the game with our youngest son Brad, his wife Lauren, and our grandson Oliver (who spent the final two periods sitting with his Grandpa!)  In between periods I watched the last three races from the day.  Rand 3rd in the Grade 1 Manhattan and I had Forte in the Grade 1 Belmont and the juvenile champ and Florida Derby winner came flying late in a gutsy race to finish second despite not having raced in ten weeks and today going a grueling mile and a half.  So I got my money back on both these races.  And then I scored in the finale at Belmont, an entry level allowance on the turf.  So I finished the day a strong 6-for-19 and made a considerable profit.

Sunday started off with a family hockey game.  Our long time friend Enzo brought his oldest son, both our boys had their boys on "the ice" (actually the concrete rink) and we played adults boys against the "kid boys."  The first star of the game was the one player with a hat trick - that would be yours truly!

That afternoon I played only the Jersey Shore.  In the opener I did not have a good "feeling" about Todd Pletcher's Abadin who was even money in the program but he LOOKED best by every handicapping angle.  Should have trusted my instincts - 3rd at 2/5.  But I won the next two races to get back to nearly even.  Lost two minimum bet plays when off the board and then won with my "Best" of the day before running third and second in the final two races.  Still, about broke even for the day.....

For the Belmont Festival Weekend my numbers were outstanding:

In addition to WINNING 50% of the picks, I had another five races where I got my money back.  An excellent weekend of handicapping.  Next week is "Haskell Preview Day" at Monmouth on Saturday.

Social Media this week......

Early in the week my gal-pal from Cape Coral Jessica posted a birthday pic of her little daughter. 

Twice I exchanged messages with CBS-Miami anchor Lauren Pastrana about our Panthers.

And twice I interacted with CBS-Miami reporter Trish Christakis who was covering the Panthers.

One of my "formers," Michelle posted she was planning a trip to Scotland and asked for suggestions of places to go, so I sent her a couple of ideas from when we were there.

Kim and I are good friends with Ben & Melissa - she used to work with us at Cypress Bay High before they moved to Naples.  But we keep in touch.  I so admire that Melissa works out every day and posts her progress as an inspiration to others.

And finally, I saw a picture of former CBS-Miami weekend anchor Karli Barnett who'd done a story on a construction site.  We exchanged comments :)