Kim and I flew into Arkansas on Thursday night, and before the adventure even began, it was truly AN ADVENTURE! The first sign of our soon-to-be-tale-of-travel was when we arrived at the gate at Fort Lauderdale International and our flight was delayed by 20 minutes. But no worries, we had a layover of more than an hour; and we made it up in the air to actually arrive "on time." But when we got on the plane to leave Dallas for a 45 minute connecting flight we taxied to the runway and sat for about 20 minutes......what's going on? Then the captain came on and said there was some weather and outbound flights were being spaced out and hopefully we could take off soon. Another 15 minutes and they said there was "good news and bad news." First, we could take off "soon," but we'd have to file new flight plans and if we couldn't get out soon we'd have to go back to the gate and get re-fueled. We taxied back to the gate soon and sat. It was about an hour and we should have been landing when we finally took off. We headed to Little Rock and the weather was not too bad. We landed about two hours late and as soon as we arrived at the luggage area our bags came out! And no wait for the car. But then the drive......oh my! The first half hour, not so bad on the Interstate in rain. But the last 45 minutes - in off-and-on driving rain on a mountain, winding road......very "exciting!" We arrived about 10 pm in Hot Springs and stopped for Wendy's and then checked in. The room, spectacular - even at night. But the next morning........
I had told Kim before we left that I had hoped that the New Orleans Bed & Breakfast would be really cool for our Fair Grounds Racing Adventure and it had exceeded our expectations, but that I thought this one would be even better. And we were NOT disappointed. Just loved the view, loved the room, loved the breakfast. Just amazing. We went out to a woodlands garden and walked for two hours in the early afternoon and that was amazing. Finally we were back to change and headed out to Oaklawn around 3:30 for the 5:00 running of the Grade 1 Apple Blossom. There was no parking so we parked across the street where we were guided into the narrowest of spaces on an abandoned lot - never would have made it with the low clearance of my little sports car, but we were in a Toyota Camry so it was all good. We toured around Oaklawn - pretty nice, liked the "oldness" of it, but didn't like that besides the apron there is no outdoor area, even the paddock is inside of the main building. We hit the gift shop and I bought to racing pins and a polo shirt. Soon it was approaching time for the Santa Lucia Stakes at Santa Anita, which was going to go off minutes before the Apple Blossom. In the Santa Lucia 2013 Breeders' Cup Distaff winner Beholder was making her 2015 debut. Ironically the original plan of her connections had been to run in the Apple Blossom! She stalked the pace to the far turn and just blew the field away in little more than a workout - the girl's still got it! I knew before we event took from Ft. Lauderdale that the "success" of the racing this weekend fell squarely on three bets - I was pounding Beholder with a $50 WIN bet......mission accomplished, Part 1!
I was watching the race on twinspires.com on my phone they broke from the gate in the Apple Blossom where I liked Untapable. Unlike Beholder, who was making her 2015 debut, the 2014 Breeders' Cup Champion - Untapable - was making her second start. She had debuted here at Oaklawn on March 14 in the Grade 3 Azeri and had left the gate at a prohibitive 1/9. The concern that day, in addition to the layoff - had not been out since the Breeders' Cup win - was that the weather was miserable, and Untapable had never run over a wet or sloppy track. And because the weather had been unsettled in the last week or so, trainer Steve Asmussen had not had a chance to work her over the surface as he decided it was better to get her works in on time, over a predictable track at her winter home base of the Fair Grounds that get travel plans messed up or throw her training schedule off. I did not have any concerns about any of that, other than the wet track I thought might make the race a little closer than if the track were fast. But as it turned out that day, these two factors did contribute to the outcome, but not as much as one other factor......there had been two front-runners in the field, but with the bad weather one scratched. So as Untapable had left the post in March she was over an unfamiliar track for the first time, coming off an extended layoff, on a sloppy track for the first time AND chasing a lone front runner! Still when they hit the far turn she looked ready to go by but couldn't - second. So today the question was, did her loss in the Azeri indicate that she simply would not be the same at age 4 - a la Rachel Alexandra - or was it simply a combination of all those factors creating the "perfect storm" - literally - for the upset? I was convinced it was the latter, and I was ALL IN today - another $50 WIN bet, the second "must win" of the weekend.
Untapable had pressed the lone speed in the Azeri, but today she was in a tracking fourth position as they hit the far turn. There were three of them pressing each other and it all seemed to be the perfect scenario if "she was back." As soon as they hit the turn jockey John Velazquez gave her the cue and she came storming up on the outside just like the "old Untapable." I knew I was about to see a show! As they spun into the stretch Untapable was clear on the lead. Velazquez wasn't coasting, but he also wasn't imploring her for her utmost as she raced by me where Kim and I stood on the upper level of the apron/stands. Mission accomplished, Part 2! It was interesting to me that the whole plan for this weekend had begun in earnest when I got on the plane after my 2013 Saratoga visit for the Travers and was sitting beside a couple who were from Hot Springs and told me what a great place it was to visit, so I had wanted to come for the Apple Blossom. It wasn't until after I had begun making plans that I realized that not only was it Apple Blossom weekend, but it was Arkansas Derby weekend! Two for the price of one! As Untapable was headed back to the winners' circle I checked the results of the Beholder race and noted that she had paid $2.60 - I'd collect $65 on her. And then the prices came up for the Apple Blossom - $2.40......collect $60. So tomorrow I'd start the day with $125 in cashed tickets as I closed out a great day TWO-for-TWO! 
April 11: Arkansas Derby Day
Arkansas Derby Day dawned as a BEAUTIFUL morning with crisp temperatures in the upper 40s and highs predicted in the low 70s. Such a change from the extended forecast from a week ago when it was 80% chance of thunderstorms! After another superb breakfast at the Lookoutpoint Inn (where we were staying) we enjoyed the view during the morning and then left around 11 for the track. With a first post time of 12:30 and the stakes races not starting until nearly 4 pm I KNEW we'd be able to park on site. Within two miles of the facility while we sat in traffic I knew that wasn't going to happen! We got past Oaklawn and figured to park on the "other side" but there was no parking in that direction. So we headed about two blocks past Central Ave. (the main drag where the track is) and found a guy selling limited spots in his front yard for only $10. And it only a block and a half from the track! The first thing we did - for Kim - was head into the attached casino and applied to become "players." For signing up and having my racing program we got $10 free dollars for Kim to use at the casino. When the gentleman told us only I would get it (because we only had one program) he told us if we BOTH told him an email then we BOTH would receive another $10.....for a total of $30! Which, duh, we did....and then it wasn't a voucher to use in a slot machine, it was a voucher to take to he cashier and she gave us three crisp $10 bills! One came right back to me (for $10 I had spotted Kim and she lost yesterday). And then she stayed and played before the races. She wasn't there long before she turned her first $10 into $26! It's going to be a good day! (Little did I know!!!!)
It was a huge crowd today - all decked out in their Derby best, well some of them (see at the bottom) as we were. And the longer the day went, the more crowded it became - I later read it was estimated at 67,500 fans were in attendance. I missed in the 2nd (passed the first where my top choice was off the board, but my second choice won at 6/1). My pick, World Elite, pressed the issue to the stretch at 2/1 and then weakened. Passed the third (where my top pick was scratched). IN the fourth I like Copse who left the gate at 5/2 odds. He'd ben beaten last time out by the co-third choice in the race today, but I didn't see that happening again because the barn of THAT horse was 1-for-31! Copse went to the front and dueled to the far turn with a 10/1 shot. Seemed to have plenty left and opened up turning for home, but was quickly collared by the favorite and they dueled to the wire where he was narrowly beaten a head. In the fifth I thought the field was W-E-A-K! Kim remarked when looking over the program I'd made for us that I only mentioned my top choice, Roll Tide Roll. I told her that he was a first-time starter and the rest of the field had already proven they didn't want to win. The crowd bet him down from the unreasonable 30/1 DRF odds - like what goes on in that linemaker's head? - to the 8/5 favorite slot. He rode the rails to the far turn, swung out and blew by the field to WIN! My first win on Derby Day! I had Kim take the photo to the left, figuring I'd only do "congratulatory videos" after stakes wins! The sixth was a nw1x allowance-optional claiming vent going a mile and a sixteenth. Aces High was hovering around 2/1 and 5/2 for the majority of the betting, and I'd noted he was one of the top picks of the day by the guy in the local paper. I liked him on the basis of a FOURTEEN length romp in his MSW debut earning big 99 figure three back. He was a good third in an allowance try two back and then earned a 91 last time out when second by a nose. He went right to the front and was under pressure from the get-go (just like Copse). But as they raced through the lane he would NOT surrender any ground and held off the field safely by a diminishing length and a half. Without my glasses on I thought he'd been 2/1 at post time. I went up into the betting area to look at the monitor for the payoffs and that's when I saw it......he'd been an amazing 7/2 at post time and paid $9.20! I went to cash my two winning tickets and I was cashing for $36 - suddenly I am ahead for the day. The next two bets were in stakes races and I was upping the bet. The first was the Grade 2 Oaklawn Handicap for older horses. On the day Untapable was upset in the Azeri, I'd cashed in the Grade 3 Razorback with Todd Pletcher's Race Day. This guy had been third for me in the Grade 3 Hooper at Gulfstream, but had earned a third triple-digit Beyer that day. The narrow in in the Razorback earned him another one. I thought he might be overbet, but in looking at the field he was simply the best horse. Of the 122 races run by his rivals, 119 of the figures could not match HIS LAST THREE! And he had a bullet work since that last outing! He was in the #1 post, but I figured John Velazquez would sit just behind two other front runners, track them to the turn and then run away. He broke third, but as he saved all the ground he was on the front so Velazquez went on with it. The pace was quick and the other speed horse would not go away as they dueled into the lane. But then that, was that and Race Day blew through the stretch as Kim and I stood on the upper part of the outdoor apron/stands and cheered him home! 
He had been a very fair 6/5 favorite and I was now cashing for $22 with my THIRD winner in a row! The next race was a six furlong sprint, The Instant Racing Stakes. My pick was what figured to be the favorite, Promise Me Silver who was a perfect six-for-six AT six different tacks, including a win here! Ironically that was the only race she was not a daylight winner. I had been noticing all day that by and large speed was holding. A couple of winners came from off the pace, but most had been either on or near the lead. So as this group hit the far turn and Promise Me Silver was still in sixth AND five-wide, I had some concerns about my triple investment and my three-race winning streak. But the rider asked and the acceleration this filly showed was amazing! From sixth to third in a blink of an eye, and in spite of running about multiple extra lengths into the stretch she was now on even terms with the leaders. That lasted about 50 yards before, again in front of Kim and I, she found yet another gear and was L-O-N-G gone as easy as you please as she recorded her SEVENTH consecutive win!
It was my fourth in a row, and second stakes in a row! Promise Me Silver should have been 2/5 (as Jeff said when he called, where he also told me that he and Antoinette had put a bid in on a house! Which they later got!). But instead she was a juicy 4/5 and I was collecting another near-$30. I went to cash these last two tickets and make "THE BET" on the Arkansas Derby! This is the thing.....I'd known - as I said earlier - that the weekend would come down to how did Beholder, Untapable and finally American Pharaoh run? And of the three, American Pharaoh was the big bet, and would be the shortest price of the three. He, alone could ruin the weekend's bankroll numbers AND even if he won with the bet I anticipated making, I was NOT going to make a lot of money. Still, as I've often said, it's as much a rush for me to be RIGHT and back up my convictions with the amount of money I bet. EVERYONE said that American Pharaoh was their "BEST" of the day, like me. But I just wasn't so keen on the fact that trainer Bob Baffert had said "We'll learn something about him today." I took that to mean that either (a) if he could get the nine furlongs, because he'd never gone this far.....and today was not the day I wanted to "find out" if he could, I want the trainer to at least pretend he thinks he can get it! Or, (b) today they were going to rate him off the lead thinking he'd never go wire-to-wire in the Kentucky Derby. And I thought he could do that, but again today - with the bet I wanted to make - was not the time to find this out. I stewed about it on Friday and most of the day today. I re-read my comments and in the end I was pretty certain that he was simply way, WAY too good for these. I told Kim after I'd made the bet that IF he lost it was not going to be because of something I should have seen. So I made a bet for the 10th - and then THE BIG bet on the Derby. In the Northern Spur Stakes I told Kim, as I'd written in my analysis, you just HAD to wonder why top trainer Bob Baffert would ship an 0-for-2 maiden, yes a MAIDEN, to run in this stakes race at Oaklawn......unless he "knew something." Even more disconcerting was the crowd bet he maiden down to even money early on, in spite of facing winners, and a STAKES winner over this track (my bet). As I coasted on the lead and the maiden was carried four wide through the turn I was certain I was the winner. But no, the Baffert maiden ran right by horse like he was tied to the rail. Wow......but hey, if I'm going to lose, better here than in the Derby. I stayed out on the upper apron/grandstand area to wait for the Derby and the guys around me voiced what I thought......American Pharaoh was just going to dazzle today. He opened at 1/9 and briefly went to 1/5, but was 1/9 when they left the gate. Sure enough jockey Victor Espinoza let another runner run off with the lead. OK, I thought, we are now going to find out if he's a legitimate star and can watch another one take them on without getting discouraged. As they approached the far turn he was still two off the lead and I have to admit I was like, "c'mon, let's make our move!" But then in the blink of an eye he was up to the leader, by the leader, and clear into the lane WITHOUT BEING ASKED! And all this going a new distance for the first time. It was a W-O-W performance.
I mean he was sensational, dazzling, eye-catching.....just WOW. I felt so fortunate that we'd gotten the chance to see him run live. I am now so hopeful he wins the Derby and heads to Pimlico for the Preakness to try to make a run at history in the Triple Crown as I will be at the Preakness for my next racing adventure! For the day at Oaklawn I had eight selections and I won with FIVE of them! It was an amazing day at the races - and even better, on the biggest day of the season for Oaklawn, and EVEN BETTER at a racing venue / on a racing adventure to a place I'd never been before! Kim had a good day and won at the casino as well, and the weekend has just been fabulous here in Hot Springs.
Arkansas Derby Weekend - April 10/11 Recap
Arkansas Fashion PhotosOBVIOUSLY NOT as cool looking as us!
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