What can I say? Every race this weekend was a complete nail-biter. My only wish is that my personal selections on Saturday would've been better. Of the 9 races, only 2 contenders managed to find the winner's circle.
In the Marathon I wound up on Big Booster who, at least managed to finish a competitive 3rd.
In the Turf Sprint I knew there was a strong possibility that Mr. Nightlinger and California Flag would duel each other to a collapse on the front end, but I was unable to come up with correct horse to pick up the pieces. Three selections in this race came up as overlays, by my reckoning, indicating I didn't have a very good grasp of this race. The betting collective is not stupid by any means, so if I seem to run this far against the grain I stay out of the race.
The dirt mile was another complete whiff on my part. I split my wager between Surf Cat and Pyro. I knew Pyro would have his work cut out for him here, but I really thought Surf Cat would put in a stronger performance.
For the Breeder's Cup Mile, I clearly underestimated how good Goldikova is by making her 5-1. I played the 3rd place finisher, Whatthescript, but it wasn't close once Goldy found a seam and turned on the jets. Goldikova was one of the horses getting a lot of buzz all week long which just naturally raised my contrarian instincts. However the buzz was correct this time. And just think, this is the second best filly in Europe this year.
The BC Juvenile offered what I believed to be the first good Pick-3 opportunity of the day with the top selection of Bushranger going off at 5-1. As you know by now, Bushranger diappointed and killed both my Pick 3 and my win bet.
Not to be discouraged, the BC Juvenile Turf race was one race I felt very confident about and again my top choice, Bittel Road, was going off at nice odds. Another Pick 3/Win bet shot down quickly.
I really have to give Bob Baffert credit getting Midnight Lute ready for the BC Sprint coming off his last race. If I'd have given him credit before the race rather than after I might've been better off. Black Seventeen was my huckleberry in this race. Another win bet off the board.
The bright spot of the day was Conduit in the BC Turf. Soldier of Fortune was the buzz horse in this race, so this was a time when discounting the buzz horse paid off. Conduit, being my top choice, got my maximum bet and paid off a little better than 5 to 1. This race combined with a couple of max bet winners earlier at Calder Race Course made the day slightly profitable as well as entertaining.
The BC Classic lived up to its billing. I made a token exacta bet with Curlin on top of Colonel John just because it was Curlin's last race but otherwise decided to sit the race out. I really thought Curlin was going win and drag Colonel John behind him when he made the big sweeping move on the turn with CJ in tow. Then Curlin seemed to flatten out down the stretch and get swallowed by a wave of horse flesh with Raven's Pass clearly the better horse on this day. All the same, I'd happily trade places with Curlin as he heads off to a leisurely retirement of carnal pleasure.
Well there you have it. All in all I had a great weekend, and made a little money. After the classic, I took my lovely wife upstairs to the Ten Palms restautant where we enjoyed the all you can eat buffet with some of my winnings for the weekend. It was the least I could do after pretty much abandoning her for the entire weekend.
Well its back to my day job on Monday and the more mundane world, but easier to fathom, world of cheap claiming horses at CRC. Until next time.
In the Marathon I wound up on Big Booster who, at least managed to finish a competitive 3rd.
In the Turf Sprint I knew there was a strong possibility that Mr. Nightlinger and California Flag would duel each other to a collapse on the front end, but I was unable to come up with correct horse to pick up the pieces. Three selections in this race came up as overlays, by my reckoning, indicating I didn't have a very good grasp of this race. The betting collective is not stupid by any means, so if I seem to run this far against the grain I stay out of the race.
The dirt mile was another complete whiff on my part. I split my wager between Surf Cat and Pyro. I knew Pyro would have his work cut out for him here, but I really thought Surf Cat would put in a stronger performance.
For the Breeder's Cup Mile, I clearly underestimated how good Goldikova is by making her 5-1. I played the 3rd place finisher, Whatthescript, but it wasn't close once Goldy found a seam and turned on the jets. Goldikova was one of the horses getting a lot of buzz all week long which just naturally raised my contrarian instincts. However the buzz was correct this time. And just think, this is the second best filly in Europe this year.
The BC Juvenile offered what I believed to be the first good Pick-3 opportunity of the day with the top selection of Bushranger going off at 5-1. As you know by now, Bushranger diappointed and killed both my Pick 3 and my win bet.
Not to be discouraged, the BC Juvenile Turf race was one race I felt very confident about and again my top choice, Bittel Road, was going off at nice odds. Another Pick 3/Win bet shot down quickly.
I really have to give Bob Baffert credit getting Midnight Lute ready for the BC Sprint coming off his last race. If I'd have given him credit before the race rather than after I might've been better off. Black Seventeen was my huckleberry in this race. Another win bet off the board.
The bright spot of the day was Conduit in the BC Turf. Soldier of Fortune was the buzz horse in this race, so this was a time when discounting the buzz horse paid off. Conduit, being my top choice, got my maximum bet and paid off a little better than 5 to 1. This race combined with a couple of max bet winners earlier at Calder Race Course made the day slightly profitable as well as entertaining.
The BC Classic lived up to its billing. I made a token exacta bet with Curlin on top of Colonel John just because it was Curlin's last race but otherwise decided to sit the race out. I really thought Curlin was going win and drag Colonel John behind him when he made the big sweeping move on the turn with CJ in tow. Then Curlin seemed to flatten out down the stretch and get swallowed by a wave of horse flesh with Raven's Pass clearly the better horse on this day. All the same, I'd happily trade places with Curlin as he heads off to a leisurely retirement of carnal pleasure.
Well there you have it. All in all I had a great weekend, and made a little money. After the classic, I took my lovely wife upstairs to the Ten Palms restautant where we enjoyed the all you can eat buffet with some of my winnings for the weekend. It was the least I could do after pretty much abandoning her for the entire weekend.
Well its back to my day job on Monday and the more mundane world, but easier to fathom, world of cheap claiming horses at CRC. Until next time.
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