June 13

Houston Weekend

This weekend we were in Houston to visit Jeff, Cameron & Antoinette.  Saturday was "Downs After Dark:  White Party" - which we'd gone to in 2013!  The card featured three graded stakes and there was my "BET of the DAY" in California today in the Grade 3 Adoration Stakes.  There were three major "story lines" to the day......first, I had used some of my free time in Houston to handicap the entire Churchill card and Santa Anita card and came up with a dozen selections to play online.  But much like Belmont weekend Friday I thought I had tried to make the races fit me instead of the other way around.  And since I would not be watching them as they happened I decided to go with the three races I felt most strongly about - the races I originally wanted to play.  So I put in my investments in the morning for the Grade 3 Adoration at Santa Anita, and then two of the graded events under the lights in Louisville, the Grade 1 Stephen Foster and the Grade 3 Matt Winn.  The second story line came as a big surprise and honestly it was not only the highlight of the day for me, but - with the exception of the time with my grandson - was the highlight of the entire five day visit.  Jeff & Antoinette had just moved into their new house and they were busy the entire time we were there getting things set up and put away.  On Saturday, Jeff's day off, they were very busy but at one point he told his wife he just needed a break and asked me if I wanted to go on a "road trip" to Sam Houston Park to cash his Belmont Stakes tickets.  He legitimately wanted to cash them because they were leaving on vacation next weekend and he had made a $100 bet for one of his buddies (didn't want that fellow to have to wait for his money until they got back).  Obviously I wanted to (a) spend time with my son, (b) go to the races - even though they were not running live, and (c) add a new track to my list of tracks I've been to.  On the way out there Jeff looked at the clock in his truck and said we should be getting there right around post time for Belmont's feature, and he asked was it a big race.  I looked it up and unfortunately the feature had been a graded stakes that went in the fifth.  But then I noted that Dave Liftin's "Best" of the day was in the eighth and we would be getting to Sam Houston about 15 minutes before post of the eighth!  We both decided we would go with Dave's pick - Sister Sophia in a turf sprint.  As they hit the far turn the 3/5 favorite was dead last and not even in the monitor.  But then like a rocket she exploded from last, circled the field and won going away!  The fact that the trip was unplanned, the bet was TOTALLY unplanned, and then to win when it looked like we were hopelessly out of it just made for a great story & experience.  Of course we had to document the event with a photo!  

We  headed home and later Jeff took Antoinette out for her birthday.  Shortly after they left it was post time for the Grade 3 Adoration in So Cal.  On May 9 Breeders' Cup 2013 Distaff champion - who had made her 2015 debut in the Santa Lucia Stakes on Apple Blossom Friday (where I had her and Untapable in a 2-for-2 day!) - was scheduled to match up with three time stakes winner Warren's Veneda in the Grade 1 Vanity at Santa Anita.  I was so anxious for that match-up because I KNEW Beholder would romp and I'd get a fair price with Warren's Veneda being considered the "now" horse.  Beholder came down with a cough and had to scratch, and then Warren's Veneda was defeated (3rd) at 1/9 odds - ouch.  So today they were meeting in the Grade 3 Adoration.  Any chance that Beholder would even approach even money went down the drain when the results of the Vanity were official.  And it didn't help what slim hopes of a "fair" price there were when Beholder was listed as the 2/5 program favorite.  Now everyone "knew" what I did, she was a mortal lock.  She was 1/9 as they approached the gate, but finally floated up to an acceptable 1/5.  Beholder stalked the longshot pace setter, glided by to open up by daylight spinning out of the turn.  While jockey Gary Stevens sat motionless on the champion Warren's Veneda was surging.  But you could tell she was in an all-out drive while Beholder was just cantering.  The margin of victory, officially 1 1/4 length, could have been double digits if Beholder had been asked to run.  And later I read her trainer's comments that she wasn't even 100%!  I will anxiously await her next start, the Grade 1 Clemente Hirsch at Del Mar on my birthday!   Beholder had been my "BET of the DAY" with a $100 win ticket!  I cashed for $120!  Whoooo hooooooo.

 So as the Churchill Downs graded stakes approached I was 2-for-2 on the day.  But that was to be the end of the winning despite two valiant efforts where I was second by a combined margin of less than a length.  In the Grade 1 Stephen Foster my pick, Lea, was the 9/5 favorite and broke sharply.  But for some reason rider Joel Rosario eased him back off the pace by some five lengths.  He made his move coming into the lane on the lone speed front runner, but came up just short.....I am certain he'd have won if allowed to press that one into the stretch.  Then in the Grade 3 Matt Winn for 3yo colts, I went with 1/2 chalk Fame and Power.  He'd romped impressively in the Sir Barton on Preakness Day when I was in Baltimore to see him run live.  That alone would have made him my pick, but he was the LONE SPEED here.....looked long gone to me.  The gates opened and he was slow to start and squeezed - last.  He began to make up ground quickly but was checked and then blocked all the way down the backside.  Finally coming out of the turn he got free and chased the lone cheap speed and again, like Lea, just fell short.  

Still, it was a great day of racing considering we were in Houston vacationing and visiting our "kids"

June 13 Video Recap