Wednesday February 12
So I thought I was going to have a big day......before my Mom and I went out and the first bet confirmed it. The third race was my first bet of the week and I'd tabbed Dale Roman's debut runner, Talons of Tuscany as my top pick. He'd been flashing really quick works for today and I thought he'd be a fair price. But once the betting opened he was hammered to 3/5. For fifteen minutes he went no higher than 1/1, and so I made a command decision. When a first-time starter is taking that kind of money AND comes from a barn that is not known for scoring with debut runners, "somebody knows something!" So I decided to double the investment. The second choice took the lead and Talons of Tuscany was right on his hip. They raced this way into the lane, separating themselves from the rest of the field. But as they continued to race towards the wire I was NOT going past the long-time leader. But finally in the final hundred yards he drew clear! HORRAY! One bet for the week, and one WIN.
Great decision to up the ante Mr. Mark! In the 4th I thought Take My Time would be a fair price for trainer Jane Cibelli. She's a Gulfstream 40% Club member with runners first off the Gulfstream claim, like Take My Time was. The crowd made him the 9/5 favorite. I had written that the value play of the race was Chad Brown's Monomoy who was debuting today. But I also noted that most of Brown's winners at Gulfstream were on the turf. You don't have to guess......even though it was a photo, it was Monomoy who wired the field at 3/1 while I could not get by and was second. In the 5th I thought Steel Guitar had a real chance at 12/1 in the program. But he trailed the field to the far turn and then only made up mild ground to finish a well-beaten sixth.
Now it was time for the "BEST" of the day. Kiss the Stars was 5/1 in the program and was breaking from post two in this one mile turf claimer. He was 5-for-8 going the distance and was the LONE SPEED of the race. I thought I'd get a fair price because jockey Kendrick Carmouche was winning only 9% at Gulfstream but was a 29% winner for this barn. They broke out of the gate and he was loose on the lead. As you can see in the sequence of photos below he had an easy trip with comfortable fractions and as they turned for home with Kiss the Stars two in front I thought I was home free. As you can see, no such luck. WOW.
In the 7th, the last race we were going to watch live I had pointed out to Mom early in the day that I liked #7, Zindaya from the Christophe Clement barn, but that my fear was that the #2, Henry's Song would win because he was an uncoupled entry from Clement and would certainly be the bigger price. But Zindaya stood out to me. He'd been twice but had a zillion excuses last time out. He was a deserving 4/5 favorite. He stalked the leader into the stretch, surged to the front inside the final 16th.....only to be run down by, yes, wait for it, yes, his stable-mate who paid over $9. DOUBLE WOW. We headed for home and I watched the replay of my last bet....set the pace to deep stretch at 7/2 before being caught by two closers. Sigh......after the big start, no more wins.
We had a great dinner at Tropical Acres and then the torrential rains, very much like a summer Tropical Storm came down all evening. We'll be off the turf tomorrow, but I still have a few horses I like. Time to cash some tickets and get that average back up to the 30% plus range for the month!
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