Day 32

A  B-I-G  Day To Start The Week

Boom - Boom - POW!

Coming off the long six day handicapping week, and the excellent results I was glad to get a couple of days to "freshen" before starting back on the handicapping trail today.  The "time off" paid big dividends as I scored FOUR times today, including both "Best" bets of the day.  Even though I passed on the opener by top pick won!  Then in the second I liked Do Not Enter who was sent off as the 4/5 favorite.  He tracked the leaders to the stretch, but ran evenly to the wire, third. 

The second race was the first of my two "best" plays on the day.  And you can tell how much I must have liked this horse when I tell you I went AGAINST a Todd Pletcher horse who had GP 40% Club angles going for him!  My pick was Trading Secrets who was coming out of the Jorge Navarro barn, and they've been on fire the entire meet.  The Pletcher horse was Tizracer but I did not like him at all because in his latest he was dropped into a claiming spot for the first time and it was also a nw2L like this.  A Pletcher horse making that kind of drop SHOULD win....instead he didn't run any faster than when in allowance company and was solidly beaten when second.  I saw no upside in him.  Where as Trading Secrets was coming first off the claim, a sharp 48% winning angle for Navarro with a big $2.60 ROI!  AND, he was making a surface switch from turf to dirt, another big winning angle for the barn - 46% for an even bigger $3.12 ROI!  I thought he not only looked much the best, but would be a more than fair price.  Trading Secrets was right up on the front and dueled from the gate through the first six furlongs into the turn.  As they came out of the turn he forged to the lead and Tizracer was gaining momentum four wide.  But that one flattened out and my top pick went on to the wire to score!  WHOOOO HOOOOO! 

He had taken some money late and went off at 2/1, but the $6.60 payoff was terrific....with my triple investment returned nearly $50!  NICE!  I didn't like anyone in the 4th, but I had a nice price play in the fifth.  It was a starter-optional claiming on the turf at a flat mile.   likd Take Off Your Hat who had just broken out of the maiden ranks last time out.  What le me to her was that she had the best come-home time fraction AND there looked to be at least four in the field that would want the lead or would press the leader.  She left the gate at a nice 5/1 price.  She tracked the dueling leaders on the rail into the turn.  She had no where to go, except to wait for an opening on the rail.  Finally when the field spun out of the turn a narrow opening appeared along the rail and jockey Luis Saez sent her through.  She accelerated to the front and then held off the closers on the outside to WIN!  HORRAY!!!!!! 

The price was a generous $12.40, and I cashed for over $30!  I am now guaranteed to win for make a profit for the day!  But I was far from done yet.  In the very next race I had a Chad Brown filly, Texas Zip dropping out of a Maiden Special race into this $75K seller.  Brown is a Gulfstream Park 40% Club member with a gigantic 71% win rate with class droppers.  Jockey Alan Garcia sent her right to the front and she had no challengers so Garcia "walked the dog" through pedestrian fractions of :25 and :51....the field would have little chance catching any front-runner with those kind of pace figures, much less a Chad Brown class dropper.  It was a little closer than I would have thought it would be after that controlled pace, but a winner is a winner!  My THIRD WIN OF THE DAY! 

The $5.80 payout resulted in nearly $30 added to my winnings!  I am having a great day!  My top pick in the 7th was a Team Calabrese runner who was 2/1.  But Ishka was never in the race and was a disappointing 6th.  The 8th race was my second "best" of the day, and Speechify figured to be short odds.  She laid over the field in every which way but one.... the barn was a weak 3-for-31.  But as I wrote in my analysis, I was going to bet the horse.  And it was curious that it was an allowance race with the conditions of nw3L - most of the time it's a non-winners of.....allowance races.  In his first two races at Gulfstream Speechify had blown away the competition with big speed figures.  In his last he was turning back from a one mile experiment to a sprint.  He'd pressed the fastest fractions he'd ever run and while he didn't win, he was a field best-of-the-rest second over three lengths in front of the show runner.  He was sent off as the 3/5 favorite under Joel Rosario who pressed the leader from the outside to the far turn.  Rosario let him go and it was all over......LONG gone under a hand ride!  My FOURTH WIN of the day! 

The payoff netted me a return of nearly $25.  In the finale I had an upset pick - #11 Slews Golden Rule who I thought would steal it under Joe Bravo.  At 12/1 in the program he was a good bet.  Bravo took him back to mid-pack but rallied strongly......not enough late, but a good 6/1 second.  So for the day I won four of seven, a big 57% win average....and better yet a big profit of over $60!  An EXCELLENT way to start the week!