Christmas Week Racing

 December 26 - 29

After having just a few days to recover from the amazing Danube Christmas Delights cruise with my niece, Christmas Day arrived, and then on the next day it was the traditional "Day After Christmas Opening Day" at Santa Anita with six big stakes events.  Got the week started off with four wins at Santa Anita.  Madaket Road was off slowly for Bob Baffert and was chasing his stablemate, a first time starter spinning out of the turn, but found his feet and blew by late for the first win.

The lone win of the day at Gulfstream came in the Via Borghese Stakes going a marathon distance.  I thought the race looked wide open but felt that La Mehana for Christophe Clement had a more than decent chance.  Tracked the leaders in third to the far turn, took command and narrowly held off the favorite closing through the stretch.  It was a BIG bonus that when they went into the winner's circle, instead of Christophe Clement with the horse, it was his assistant, his son with his wife, my long time online gal-pal Acacia Courtney-Clement.  I grabbed a pic of the presentation and sent her a message.  Within minutes she replied back to me.  Big smiles for me.

After running 6th as the 3/2 favorite in the first Santa Anita stakes it was time for my BET of the Day on Johannes in the Grade 2 San Gabriel.  Rated kindly and blew by under wraps to score.  But the best part of this big win was in the post-race interview, the owner said that if he came out of the race well, their next target was the January 25th Pegasus Turf here at Gulfstream.....I'll be there!

Ran fourth in the Gr 1 Malibu for 3yo at SA and then it was time for the Grade 2 Mathis Brother Mile on the turf for 3yo colts.  I thought King of Gosford looked best AND it was going to give jockey Flavian Prat a legitimate chance to set a new record for graded stakes wins in a year.  In the pre-race comments the FanDuel on-air analysts talked about the lack of pace and that Prat would be smart to take advantage of that.  That's why he's one of THE best riders around....right to the front and never looked back.

I was up in the air about the Grade 1 La Brea, even more so when the filly I'd settled on - Bob Baffert's graded stakes winner Kinza - went off at double digits.  As they went into the gate I told myself, "If I don't win here, I'm upping the bet on She Looks Pretty in the Oaks" in the next race.  Kinza showed little and I followed through.  WOW was She Looks Pretty dazzling!  The connections didn't say so, but I would LOVE to see her run in the Pegasus Filly & Mare Turf!

Friday saw me only score once with Todd Pletcher's 3yo firster Indeed.  And on Saturday, there was a 1pm hockey game so I only played Gulfstream.  Very disappointed, but wasn't totally surprised to watch the bet of the weekend, White Abarrio finish a just miss 2nd in the Gr 3 Mr. Prospector.  Did cash twice on the first two bets while at the game with Now Showing in a claiming event and Tappan Street in a MSW for 2yo's.

Sunday I handicapped the Fair Grounds card as well because there were two juvenile stakes that I was pretty certain the favorites would be open air winners.  Sure enough in the first of the Louisiana Futurity Stakes for the colts, Smoken Wicked drew off easily to score.  Came right back in the Gulfstream feature when Sand and Sea easily made the front and walked through the opening four furlongs before dashing home a winner in the Key West overnight handicap.  Doubled up winners in Hallandale when King D'Oro drew off as the favorite.  And topped the four-win Sunday to end the week feeling better about my handicapping when Secret Faith justified my "prime time" bet and she won by a pole under wraps in the filly division of the Louisiana Futurity.

Social Media this week....

First, as I mentioned on Dec 26 my gal-pal handicapper/analyst Acacia Courtney-Clement replied to my pic and message after their horse scored in the Via Borghese Stakes.

And let's give kudos to gal-pal Lauren Pastrana who's been following our trips recently and on the just completed trip she reacted every single day to my pics to her.  Much appreciated.

My all time favorite former and now adult gal pal Kimmy also followed along on the trip, and while I didn't send daily photos like I did to Lauren, I did send them a few times and she always commented, such as on this video from our day in the Czech Republic.

Karli Barnett posted a cute photo of her making gingerbread and gave me a nice response when I commented on it.

Several of my online pals - and is almost always the case, all girls - sent out Christmas greetings to me....

Weekend anchor & gal-pal Teri got married on the day Khloe & I left on our trip.  Prior to that she'd asked that I send her "best of" pics after our return and she liked them all.  Then as is usually the case, on Saturday AS SHE WAS ON THE ANCHOR DESK we had a "conversation" - this week we "talked" alot about her wanting to be retired like me.

Fort Lauderdale Saturday - Finishing The Christmas Cruise

 Saturday December 21st
"Christmas Delights On The Danube"
With Viking River Cruises

It was the final day of our epic Christmas cruise down the Danube and as Khloe and I packed for our 5:50am departure on Sunday morning I had my son Brad make the best for the day's racing at Gulfstream where it was "Pegasus Preview Day," featuring the Grade 2 Fort Lauderdale going nine furlongs on the turf.  After running fifth with my first selection I scored with the "best" of the day in the Sugar Swirl.  This formerly graded sprint for fillies and mares featured Mystic Lake who could be excused for her failure to last two turns in the Grade 1 Cotillion behind super star Thorpedo Anna after winning back-to-back graded sprints.  Stalked in third through the turn, took off heading for home.  Opened up and "held on" confidently for the win.

This was followed by a PASS and not one but two scratches.  Then in both the Janus Stakes and the Grade 3 Harlan's Holiday I ran second.  This brought us to the featured Fort Lauderdale.  As I looked through the past performances it looked wide open because the glaring fact from the running lines was that NO ONE was a fan of today's 9f distance.  But Todd Pletcher's Major Dude loves the Gulfstream course and was a multiple graded stakes winner.  At Gulfstream you can't go wrong with a Pletcher runner in a big race.  Split rivals in upper stretch and rallied with a fury to be just up in time!

Ran fifth in the final to finish 2-for-6 for the day.  Next week is Opening Day at Santa Anita on Thursday that features six graded stakes!

Social Media this week......

Three of my gal-pals had birthdays this holiday week.....Florida Derby partner Chloe and Gator-gal friend from my teaching days Mishelle; and Stephanie from NC who became a friend on our one and only visit with our pal Shelly to So Fla many years ago.

CBS evening anchor and gal-pal Lauren Pastrana who "liked" every single day's set of pics also liked my comment about her reunion with former morning news girls.

Had many of my girl......friends follow my adventure (next to none of my guy pals).  Appreciated everyone following along. 

Lauren / Chloe / Kimmy / Petra

Mishele / Manuka / Melissa / Mandy

Tropical Park Derby/Oaks Weekend

 December 12-15:  Christmas Markets Weekend

As we headed into the third week of the Championship Meet I was preparing to take off for Europe for an eight-day adventure with Viking River Cruises to sail the Danube River with my niece Khloe and explore the Christmas Markets in five different countries.  The racing week started Thursday, filled with "you've got to be kidding me" races as through the six races I wagered on I ran second FOUR times and third once.  Had the lead and got caught.....closing fast, couldn't get there, and every other way to miss.  Sigh....oh the racing game can humble you quickly!  Finally on Friday got a couple of wins.  In the second race on Friday the 13th (YIKES) War Beat tracked the leaders in a three-lifetime claiming event to score over the all-weather surface.  Paid a nice $6.00 so I cashed for 30 beans :)

When I opened the Racing For to R6 and saw it was a 2yo MSW going a one-turn mile I immediately thought, "This would be an ideal spot for a Todd Pletcher maiden" runner.  Sure enough, there was Ruth in the entries.  The daughter of Uncle Mo had a dozen well-spaced works and Irad Ortiz on board.  Duh.  Should have upped the bet but there was a Bill Mott firster that also looked talented.  Ruth was shuffled back to fifth, but found her stride in mid-stretch and blew by under a hand ride as easily best.

Saturday was the BIG Day in several different aspects.....first and foremost, it was departure day for Khloe and I as we headed out from Fort Lauderdale International at 2:30pm for Newark....connecting to Frankfort overnight.....and then finally an hour and a half on to Budapest.  I enjoyed a final cup of Wawa coffee as I awaited our Uber ride which I'd scheduled for a noon pick-up.

A little after 11am I logged into my account and made the wagers on the twelve races from Gulfstream and the Fair Grounds for the day and was hoping I'd be able to watch the replays before we headed out on our international flight, seven-and-a-half hours from Newark to Frankfort.  I was able to see the first race - a good third at 8/1 - from FLL as we awaited our initial flight.  We landed in Newark about 5:30 and made the trek from Terminal A to Terminal C, long walk and bus ride, followed by a long walk again to our departure gate.  But once we were settled in I had about 40 minutes before boarding and I pulled up the replays.  After another miss at Gulfstream my BET of the Day came in the Louisiana Champions Classic where Touchuponastar looked formidable.  In his last seven starts against La-breds he was unbeaten AND today he looked like the lone speed.  That he paid $2.40 for handily leading them on a merry chase was "FREE MONEY" in my opinion.

Missed two more before winning three in a row.  The first of those was in the Gulfstream Park Oaks where I thought the field was very evenly matched.  But I did think that Christophe Clement's See You Around held a slight edge as a Euro import.  Tracked the 6/5 favorite into the stretch, switched outside into the clear and suddenly burst by with a quick turn of foot to score at a nice 9/2 price.

Came right back in the La Champions Juvenile with Smoke Wicked, in another race that looked pretty evenly matched.  But he had run well against open, graded company at Saratoga and was coming off a big-figure win in an open $100K AOC race at Churchill.  Any of those three races would win here.  Tracked in the clear three-wide in third to the lane then took command and drew off.

Topped off the trifecta of wins with Vassimo in the 9th at Gulfstream.  I had noted to watch how Todd Pletcher Majorca ran in the fifth as a guideline for this race, but since I'd made all my bets up front that didn't impact my wagering.  Good thing because that one was a non-threatening fifth while Vassimo gamely held on to win at a generous $6 payout.  Many has been the time I've shaken my head and asked how I let a Todd Pletcher first time maiden at the Gulfstream Championship Meet with the top rider on board win and pay $6.  Not very often any more as those are nearly an automatic play!

Got my final win of the day in the Tropical Park Derby.  Unlike the Oaks I had a strong opinion here.  Hall of Fame trainer Shug McGaughey sent out the talented Cugino and got Irad Ortiz to ride.  He'd already won a similar stakes, the Audubon at Ellis Park, but more importantly he'd run second in three other stakes including both a Grade 3 and a Grade 2.  His best made him the clear choice.  Mid-pack through the far turn he shot through an opening between horses into the clear and rallied to be up in time for the score with my triple investment on board.

Once we'd arrived in Budapest aboard the Viking Embla Sunday, I checked my phone and computer.  Often the case in Europe, none of my betting platforms are available.  So I'd arranged with my son Brad to cover my bets using my account.  Checked the results later and only had one win, Saffie Joseph's Mish looked on paper much the best.  I considered making him a "prime time" play but his last out dismal effort that earned a "7" on the Beyer scale was just a lot to dismiss.  Ran as anticipated and got me the lone victory on the day.

As I write this week's wrap up we are on our third day of the Christmas Markets Cruise and it's been great so far.  We spent the first two days in Budapest and today we are sailing the Danube, heading to Slovakia where we will enjoy the Christmas Market in Bratislava.  Racing this next week.....we'll see how much "free time" I have and if I've got interest in handicapping and betting while enjoying my 18th Viking cruise adventure!

Social Media this week.....

I am just so proud of my wife Kim who is so strong, so brave - much more than I would be on either count as she goes through this double knee replacement.  This week was a big day as the surgeon met her for the post-op evaluation.  He was just giddy with her progress and when the nurse removed the bandages Kim was all smiles.  Her walking improves with each day and slowly but surely her sleep is improving.

Last Christmas I'd sent a Christmas card to gal-pal, news anchor Lauren Pastrana and she had seemed genuinely appreciative.  So this season I decided I would add my long-time gal-pal Karli Barnett to my Christmas card list.  I was so excited when she sent me a message via Instagram with a photo of her holding my Christmas card, thanking me for the gesture :)

Shortly after arriving in Europe it was my Derby gal-pal Chloe Nelson's birthday so I sent her my best from atop the Viking Longship and she was very appreciative.

The week continued to give me warm fuzzies so to speak via my social media pals when long time most favorite former student Kimmy responded to me.  But what made me smile so much was for one of the very rare times, she sent a photo.  Her daughter Livvy is so adorable, just like her Mom.

Finally, gal-pal and regular Instagram message exchanger Lauren Pastrana exchanged several messages this week.  So very appreciative that she enjoys following along on our trips.  Felt badly for her when she missed some time from work with a scratched cornea - ouch!