February 26 - March 2
Another week of sub-par racing, with the accompanying difficulty in picking winners.....or should I shoulder the blame for either (a) not being able to find the winners or (b) for betting when I don't have enough of an edge? Regardless, for really the first time all winter the Saturday card was stellar! All fourteen races had multiple win options and full fields. Being at the track on Saturday was just so ultra cool with the big crowd and big races. And SOOOOO many thrilling finishes! Just awesome, and THAT is why I love winter racing......appreciated it even more so considering the lack of quality and success generally for most of the rest of the season. And a shout out to ME for AGAIN out performing the PAID experts on the big day! WHOOOOO HOOOOO!
I really don't need to talk about the other four days of the week as I had only three other wins (two on Sunday), so let's focus on Saturday, eh? With a first post of 11:30am at Gulfstream we left the house at 10:15am. Got there in plenty of time for the first and my pick was 8/1. Bold move on the turn, maybe....nope, second best. In the second I was 7/2 with Rothschild on the turf and as you see above, just missed in a photo, costing me over $20 in winnings. I was REALLY confident with Todd Pletcher's talented and lightly raced Speak Easy in the third. Took control at 4/5 turning for home and looked home free. Nailed on the line costing me over $35 in winnings. The fourth was the first of the EIGHT graded stakes, the Gr 3 Herecomesthebride for 3yo fillies. Both Vixen and Civatta had won stakes earlier in the meet and I thought they were pretty much on even terms, but preferred Vixen. I was surprised that from the opening of the betting she was hammered at the windows. Left the gate at 4/5 and tracked the leaders in third to the stretch. To the furlong pole she didn't seem to be making up any ground, then she found her best stride. Even though it was close at the wire I never was in doubt.
I was off the board in NY and missed in Gulfstream's 5th before getting my second score on track. Todd Pletcher had sent 3yo Disruptor out a month ago in a 7f MSW. Made the lead into the lane and weakened to be third. I thought this was likely due to (a) jockey Irad Ortiz moving a bit too soon and (b) traveling 7f on debut is always tough. Thought he'd be hard to beat today. Cruised up three-wide on the turn and ran off by a pole while geared down late.
Off the board in three straight, two out of town and the next at Gulfstream. As I got up to head downstairs to watch the next two out of town Keith said, "Have you had any luck out of town?" That was the key that turned the tide as I watched first Blue Fire go wire to wire in the Louisiana Broodmare Stakes at the Fair Grounds and then Navajo Warrior runaway in a commanding score out west in the opener at Santa Anita on Big Cap Day.
Over the next five selections my string of wining or running second continued. In the Grade 2 Davona Dale at Gulfstream, with 50 points towards a berth in the Kentucky Oaks I was surprised that La Cara went off as a short priced favorite. The winner slipped thru on the rail while my rider took the outside route and that proved to be the difference as I finished second. The Red Camila Stakes at the Fair Grounds was next going a mile on the turf. Highly Wicked tracked the leaders into the lane, collared the front runner a furlong out and edged clear late at a generous $7.50 price so I cashed for almost $40.
At Santa Anita I was the 1/2 favorite but only second best. Then in the Grade 3 Canadian Turf Mile I had Todd Pletcher's Major Dude. In the final strides I really thought I'd won despite it being a blanket finish (see photo finish pic above), but I was second by the narrowest of margins, costing me over $30. Back into the breezeway to watch Just A Touch make his comeback at the Fair Grounds. He'd run in graded stakes as a 3yo and was now running against entry level allowance runners. Right to the front but hounded every step of the way. Yet, as I watched the race it seemed to me he was doing it easily enough. As they approached the top of the stretch the riders trying to catch me began urging their mounts vigorously, while my rider remained motionless. Once heads were turned for home he shook the reins and Just A Touch took off like a rocket. The narrow margin quickly became a double digit lead and he won off under wraps. Track announcer John G. Dooley labeled it the "performance of the day" in New Orleans.
Next up the Grade 3 The Very One going a marathon mile and three-eighths. I landed on Beach Bomb who was a Euro import but had not won a race since arriving in North America. But the company she'd faced were all much stiffer than what she saw here I thought. Jockey Luis Saez shot to the front and when the opening half mile was a pedestrian :50 and change I knew we had a good chance. Asked to accelerate turning for home she responded, spurted away and was a clear winner in wire-to-wire fashion. The best part - went off at better than 7/2 odds and I cashed for nearly $50 - and for once Keith went with me and he remarked that it "saved his day!"
Ran second in Aqueduct's Grade 3 Gotham, their Derby prep and thanks to the Xpressbet promotion I got my money back. Now it was time for the BET of the Day in the Grade 2 Gulfstream Park Mile. Todd Pletcher's lightly raced Mindframe. The talented $600K son of Constitution had began his career here and ran off by more than a dozen lengths in his 7f debut. Ran off by daylight in a Churchill two turn allowance next so Pletcher sent him to the Gr 1 Belmont. Took the lead into the lane then began wandering about and by the time he straightened his path he'd lost by less than a length. Came back against that same winner in the Gr 1 Haskell and I was sure he'd win but he stumbled out of the gate yet still ran second. The only mild concern was the layoff since last summer but Pletcher doesn't run them to "get a race in them," especially at this level. Of the 159 combined starts of his rivals there were three speed figures that would beat his WORST effort, none would beat his best three. Tracked the leaders to the stretch and then ran off under wraps justifying my $50 WIN bet!
Ran second at the Fair Grounds and I was glad I'd only put $5 to win on the surprisingly prohibitive (1/5) favorite. Watched the fifth from Santa Anita on my phone and in this six furlong turf sprint Quick Brown Fox was threading through the field when he had to slam on the brakes when checked AND steadied! Top national rider Flavian Prat settled his horse down and when a seam opened at the 16th pole he shot through and won going away.
In the highlighted Gr 2 Fountain of Youth lightly raced River Thames took the lead and turning for home with the short stretch was clear by daylight. I was certain I had the winner. Then a flash of brown came flying on the outside.....PHOTO FINISH. The slo-mo replay showed I lost another photo (see above) which cost me over $45 to run the four-race photo finish 2nd's to a missed winnings of nearly $150. But because of the money-back promotion I got back $10. Same in the Grade 2 San Vicente at Santa Anita when Bob Baffert's $3.2 Million colt Barnes had the lead and was nailed in deep stretch. But I closed the day on a high note when Todd Pletcher's Locked was a runaway winner of the Grade 1 Santa Anita Handicap.
FOY Day Highlights
Social media this week......
When we worked with my oldest son Jeff at Oasis High, Madi was our lead manager and "Head Drone Flyer." We became good friends and we've kept in touch ever since. When we drove to Naples last week I reached out to her and she replied this week. She has certainly blossomed from a cute teenager to a very attractive college coed. Such a sweet kid.
My most fav former student Kimmy replied to me a few days after I'd sent her my travel preview collage and told me she'd just landed from a trip to London for work. I replied that she needed to fly to So Fla so we could trade stories and catch up.
Another former student Amber - who will always be remembered by me as the first WISE student I ever mentored (co-mentored her with asst. principal & good friend Brad Mattair). She posted pics of her growing kids and those girls look SO much like her Mom.
I continue to keep in touch with weekend anchor Teri as she recovers from her ankle surgery and this week she told me she was hoping to be back on the anchor desk in a month.
Finally, evening anchor / gal-pal Lauren and I exchanged several messages. The one I enjoyed the most came after I decided to "return the favor" and do a "Walk & Talk" video to share with her. She enjoyed it and told me so.
