Memorial Day

After taking the weekend off from racing, I headed out to Gulfstream for a special Monday holiday card of racing with my best pal Keith (who's down for the summer).  I handicapped eight tracks and originally had 40 selections on my sheet as we settled into the Silks Simulcast center at our own desk with personal monitor.  I missed on three of the first four when the first two picks didn't fire and I was second at Pimlico.  But the first win of the day came at Gulfstream with Dreaming of Neno.  He was sent out in this claiming sprint by owner Frank Calabrese and trainer Michael Petro for a first-time tag since at least 2013 (off his pp's).  He'd paired recent figures and that, I thought might be the sign that he was ready to run back to his huge figures from last May through November.  He burst out of the gate and set sizzling fractions of :21 and change and :44 and change will in front by nearly half a dozen lengths.  I thought he might have gone too fast, but he never slowed down and everyone else was running for second money.  Cashed for nearly $20.  After the second at Pimlico I scored in back-to-back races.  The second at Monmouth was a claiming route race where I fell back on last summer's Monmouth Handicapping Project for the winning angle.  Last summer I cashed a bunch of tickets when trainer Edward Bromme gave a leg up to top rider Paco Lopez - a Monmouth 40% Club play.  Such was the case with Allstar in this spot.  He saved ground into the stretch, shot through a narrow opening on the rail and was clear late.  And at a nice $6 for a $30 payoff!  Right back at Belmont where I was on the odds-on favorite, Todd Pletcher's One Sided in this maiden special sprint.  He'd failed to score twice already, but today looked to be his day.  He pressed to the turn, challenged for the lead, and dueled to the furlong marker.  The outside runner got his head in front and that's nearly always the sign of an impending loss.  But he would not go away and surged on the wire, PHOTO FINISH! 

 

He won-oh so narrowly, but a winner is a winner!  I'd doubled the bet so I collected nearly $15.  At Gulfstream Devilish Kitten - a 2-year-old filly - was absolutely flying on the outside and just missed when second in a MSW for juveniles.  But I came right back to score in the third on the Jersey Shore with Lookingoutforyou.  This one was dropping out of open company into this 3-lifetime spot.  The only time this miss had seen conditioned company it was a win - and for $35K.  Today's race was for a lowly $10K.  She broke behind the field, which seemed to be a consistent theme today, but rallied up the rail going away handily for my fourth win on the day.  In the first of the NY state-bred stakes, the Mount Vernon, Old Harbor was a disappointing third at 7/2 over the Belmont turf.  But then I scored with my "BET of the Day" in Maryland.  It was quite an unusual pick because while I often say that you don't have to be betting a Grade 1 Breeders' Cup Championship race to have a "best bet," it is pretty unusual to find such a horse in a Maiden Claiming event for any price, much less for a bottom-of-the-barrel $7K!  But such was the case with I'myoursugardaddy.  This three-year-old gelding was send out by a 40% barn that had a rider winning at 27% with a $2.38 ROI for the outfit.  The last two races were turf routes and this trainer was a 35% winner with surface changes and 30% with turn back runners.  Even better was the fact that the COMBINED record of the other trainers in here was 13-for-141, YIKES!  Trainer Kieron Magee, who trained I'myoursugardaddy, was 16-for-40!  He dueled into the stretch while looking to be under wraps and when the rider asked he burst away from the field.  It was humorous that his odds were a very generous 7/5 as they were loading into the gate.  Keith got up to bet and as he walked back the odds plummeted to 1/5.  I'm not saying how much he bet, I'm just telling you what happened!  It wasn't so much the near $30 I collected, but that I'd been right, and in a big way! 

 

Missed at Pimlico in their 4th when The Camden Comet took the lead, but was caught late, second, at a fair 2/1 price.  But I scored in the fifth at Monmouth when Tashreeh took this maiden special weight field on a merry chase from gate-to-wire at 3/2 odds.  And so I turned the page with six wins already from twelve selections. It had the makings for a good day! 

 

For the first time on the day I missed three in a row and went back to make my next sequence of bets without a ticket to cash.  Meghan's Faith was a fading sixth at 5/2 at Arlington in their second race; Discreet Duke rallied over the Monmouth turf at 7/5, but was well behind the winner while clearly second best.  And in Arlington's third Autumn Dreams stopped as the turned for home at 4/1, when crossing the wire 8th.  In the fifth at Belmont it was The Mike Lee Stakes and I really liked Todd Pletcher's Ostrolenka.  He had won his second start as a juvenile and come right back to win the state-bred Sleepy Hollow Stakes.  Both of those at a one-turn mile, very similar to today's seven furlong configuration.  After finding graded company too much for him he was second best off the shelf and then wired an 8 1/2 furlong allowance last out.  Third off the shelf today and turning back to a better distance while boasting a perfect 2-for-2 record at Belmont cinched the deal.  He stalked into the lane and then opened up as TONS the best. 

 

I cashed for nearly $40!  WHOOO HOOOO!  Second best in Gulfstream's featured mile and a half Raymond Earl over the turf but came back to score an easy win at Lone Star with Get In Da House who ran his winning streak to four in a row.  Keith and I remarked at this point in the afternoon that I was hitting at a good clip for the day and I told him I'd found that I seemed to find winners easier since I wasn't pressured to win today, I knew there would always be "another day at the races" and so I was hitting consistently.  Then I remarked that even with the short prices I was always in good shape, I just couldn't go through a long streak without winning. 

 

Should have kept my mouth shut.  When Get In Da House scored in the third at Lone Star it was about 3:30.  The next thirteen, yes THIRTEEN races over the next two hours I had no wins while running second four times and third four times.  If just two or three of those horses would have won the day would have been fine, especially when I ran second at 5/1 in the feature at Monmouth, second with my "best" at Arlington at 6/5, and King Kreesa was loose on the lead in Belmont's Kingston Stakes with a prime time bet at 7/2 before weakening late.  Those three would have added over $175 to the pot for the day and certainly I would have felt a L-O-T better about the bottom line on the day.  We headed out as Keith had shot his bankroll for the day.  I scored twice more with late races.  The 7th at Lone Star came off the turf when they were rain delayed, twice, for nearly two hours.  Prospect Knight was my "main track only" pick and he dueled into the lane before drawing off with authority at 1/2 odds.  Curlin's Fox was the best price play of the day as it turned out in Santa Anita's sixth race.  It was a turf sprint down the hill and she was one of the few with experience down the unique course.  She dueled on the inside until they got to the main track crossover and then accelerated to the wire with a convincing winning effort.  The $80 pay out means I'll cash on that ticket alone for $40 on my next visit.  The last two bets were in graded stakes.  I really thought today was the day for Tapiture.  He'd not shown a lot in either start at Oaklawn, but today it was third off the layoff and the Grade 3 Lone Star Park Handicap looked ripe for the picking.  I truly believe he was the best horse, but when the gates opened he was squeezed back and spotted the field about four lengths.  He made a monster move to rally, but was third, beaten two lengths......he SHOULD have won.  And in the last race on my sheet, the Grade 1 Gamely from Santa Anita I went against the lone Grade 1 winner in the field to back Chad Brown's Danza Cavallo.  She'd run sharply in her US debut in a graded stakes, and then scored convincingly in an allowance last time out.  I didn't think that top NY jockey Irad Ortiz would give up all his mounts on the big stakes card in NY to ride a last-out allowance winner in a Grade 1 if she didn't have a big chance.  I was disappointed she was bet down from 4/1 program odds to 3/2 favoritism, but she rallied boldly into the stretch, only to hang through the final 16th and finish 5th.  For the day I'd cashed 10 of 37 tickets, nearly 30%.  And while today wasn't a good day it closed out the second month of the "Road to the Breeders' Cup" summer/fall project, and when I did the numbers it showed I'm having a great summer to date!