August 30

End Of A GREAT Week

(in spite of Am Pharoah loss)

End of August - 1st Month of Woodbine Project

The week ended with a very good day at the virtual races as I won with three of five selections - considerably better than I'd anticipated after learning early in the day that two of my four picks at Woodbine had scratched.  I knew I had plenty of time to get my picks in as I had passed the first two races at Woodbine, so Kim and I headed out to Coral Springs Nissan to turn in her 2012 Nissan Altima lease and pick up a new one.  We were promised we'd be "in and out" as we'd already done the preliminaries.  Well, the beginning went well.  And we were signing paperwork within 40 minutes.  Out of here in an hour I thought - that's great.  Then we waited, and waited for the car.  Several people from the dealership tried to help us find our sales rep and he was no where to be found.  Finally after waiting about 45 minutes here he was and he greeted us with, "I so apologize, but there's been an accident."  I was sorry to hear that but why was that our problem?  Then he continued as we walked out the door, "......with your new car...."  WHAT!!!????  Yes, he took full responsibility but the automatic door to fill up the car with gas didn't open and he drove right into it.  So he insisted we go to lunch while he got us a brand new car, his treat.  We said we didn't have a car and he said he'd get us one.  As we went inside we said we'd take the one that was supposed to be ours - it was already in front and running.  He said ok and switched the tags.  We told him we were running up to Panera Bread about a mile and a half away and he promised to have the paperwork done.  We chuckled about what a great story this would be.  Then we get there and as I turned off the engine I realized we didn't have the key and couldn't get the car back to the dealership!  Just then the sales rep called to ask about colors and I told him about the key.  "Oh my gosh, I'm coming right now" he replied.  So he got there with the key and asked if Kim liked the light chocolate color he was driving.  She said she preferred the stone blue she'd had, but that was fine.  We finished lunch and went back.  He met us and told us he'd explained to his boss what had happened and that the only car in the blue was a better, more expensive package.  The manager said to give it to us at the same price!  So the "accident" got us a $2,000 better car.  We didn't get out of there until three pm, but all's well that ends well! 

 

So, the racing.....as I said I'd passed the first two and then the third was a scratch and I'd passed on the fourth.  First bet was in the fifth where I liked Mechanical who was a Woodbine 40% Club play for trainer Norman McKnight and jockey Luis Contreras.....yes, the same combo that had produced Friday's $49 winner.  Mechanical made a big move on the turn and quickly opened up four.  A closer made it interesting late but never was a win threat.  A nice $5.60 payoff resulted in a return of nearly $30.  In the featured Belle Maone it was a small five horse field and Checkered Past was OH SO OBVIOUS.  Top jockey Eurico Da Silva on a two-time stakes winner who was 8/5-1-0 on the Toronto track.  Duh.  Sat off the three dueling leaders into the lane and then in spite of the small field found herself stuck with no where to run.  By the time he finally got out at the 16th pole the winner was too far in front - third.  That prime time investment would cost me.  I had two picks from other venues.  At Monmouth I liked Bradester in the Grade 3 Iselin Handicap.  He' won two straight here in graded company and looked like the controlling speed again.  But, unlike Untapable who should not have gone to the lead but did, he did not go to the lead like he should have.  Tried to rally against a lone speedster and he was 2nd at 6/5.  Grrrrrr.  But the good news was that while we were waiting, for the SECOND car, I had checked out the Saratoga feature and saw that Lady Shipman was the favorite in the Smart N Fancy turf sprint.  You may remember that I won the Blue Sparkler at Monmouth last weekend with Joya Real who had been favored against Lady Shipman in spite of that one's 5-for-6 record in her last.  And after beating Joya Real she'd come back to take a Saratoga Stakes.  Based on those facts and that Joya Real had won as much the best I didn't need anything else.  But I looked at Dave Liftin's comments anyway.....she was his BEST of the day!  She is a front runner but the rider wisely let her sit just off the pace from post six when Javier Castellano insisted on the lead with a price horse.  She took off on the turn and just was hand ridden to the wire in a dazzling display of speed.  AND she broke the track record! 

 

I had tripled the bet, so I got back over $20.  The final race on the sheet was the Grade 3 Torrey Pines from Del Mar.  Multiple graded stakes winner Stellar Wind simply outclassed this field.  The only question was would she get enough pace and have enough ground to close considering it was only a mile race.  No problem as she made a strong middle move to be in a pressing spot hitting the far turn and then just took off.  As announcer Trevor Denman often says, "they would have had to sprout wings to catch her!"  Easily best, wish I'd bet more.....still cashed for $15 on an obvious play. 

 

So for the day I was a strong 3-for-5.  The day ended one of the best week's of the summer for me: 

 

41 Selections / 14 wins 34%

Profit of nearly $100!

For the Month of August

266 Selections / 81 wins - 30.4%

For the four months of the season

646 Selections / 225 WINS - 35%

 

Week 4 Video Recap