Day 16

Bringing Down The Curtain On 2013

It was a light day of racing as the racing year ended.  I had only three selections on the Gulfstream card, but really thought I had two near-certain winners.  In the third Little Jimmy was going to be the favorite, and being out of the Ramsey stable for trainer Mike Maker he would get pounded regardless of any other facts.  But as a class dropper, a big 50% win angle according to the Gulfstream Park Handicapper 40% Club, he looked to be very deserving of all the attention.  He opened at 1/9 and stayed that way until about five minutes before post time.  He floated up to 1/5, then all the way to 1/2 - that was a huge overlay as the gates sprung open.  By the time they hit the far turn and he opened up his odds had plummeted back to where they deserved to be, at 1/5.  But under the most confident of hand rides he drilled the field by daylight! 

That would be the final winner on the day.  My Pal Chrisy was the 3/5 favorite in the Ocala Stakes and as they were in the paddock I had the thought that her uncoupled stable mate would probably be the one to fear, for no other reason that "race track logic."  Sure enough, in spite of facing her 3-time stakes winning stablemate Devil's Cave wired the field and paid nearly ten dollars in a six horse field.  Not right if trainer Marty Wolfson knew this was a strong possibility.....sneaky!  The last race of the day, month, and year was an 8th place finish on the turf with a Ramsey runner at 5/2. 

For the month of December at Gulfstream I was happy with the winning percentage, but the parade of short-priced winners led to a much lower ROI than I like. 

177 / 55-39-21

WIN Pct:  31.1% / ITM Pct:  65.0%

For the year I had excellent numbers: 

Check out my "Top Ten Racing Momements" from 2013: