Pegasus Day

Tomorrow should be a great day for racing & it will be in the mid to low 60's with little chance of rain. Here are some thoughts to aid in your capping.

Pletcher is winning at @42% rate at Gulfstream & has 14 entered in the12 race card. Mike Maker also has 14 entered but has a below average win rate of 13%. Both Shug & Saffie Joseph have 6 entered each. Surprisingly, Chad Brown will only have horses in 3 races. He's in the 4th, 9th & 11th & you may want to take a closer look at those races.

As far as the jockeys are concerned the Ortiz brothers, Tyler, Saez, Javier, Leparoux & Paco have mounts in almost every race. Umberto Rispoli is also onsite coming in from Cali. 

Forum poster Surfer2 alerted us to Abaan who is running in the 1.5M Turf W.L. McKnight in Race7. This guy seems to get better the longer he goes & cuts back half mile from his last race. It sounds funny saying he's cutting back a "half mile" in distance. They will have to catch him.

More to come...

Johnny V has come back to the east coast to ride @ OAKLAWN tomorrow & has 8 mounts.

Be careful when capping. Races will be run on the All Weather (Tapeta), dirt & turf. Horses closing are having trouble doing so on the Tapeta track.

Going to roll with LIG and hope that Knicks gets freaked out seeing a early challenge. 

Its the obvious angle for any chance to see KG get beat and I like it here. 

Ill take the even money that Ill likely get. 

Good luck Mid1, going to a decent day of races in FL as the east coast races will all get canceled tommorow.

@Mark_The_Narc

 BOL tomorrow Mark...

Knicks Go has so much heart & I'm not crazy about his "here I am, come catch me" racing style. He's going to be very tough. I'm spending a little more time to figure out who will run 3rd & 4th & maybe make some money on the race that way. 

I just got finished capping the card & have a couple I really like. We have a bunch of shippers, jock changes, horses with long layoffs but training well & rich owners trying to get richer. I attended the first 2 Pegasus days but I refuse to pay $80 to get in & $150 for a seat to line Stronach's pockets. I can play & party from home. I also make plays for an 80 year old women in the neighborhood who loves the ponies. She brings over her picks in the morning along with a tray of brownies. I hope my mind is still sharp enough to play when I'm 80!

I was playing the horses today at Del Park. 

The screen with GP on it kept running their promo for Pegasus day.  All shots of entertainers and celebs. Think thats where the $80 tix come in. 

Ill take the Drifters, America and acts like that Ive seen over the years at the local casinos for just getting some points playing the horses and cards.

Got a Gulfstream story for you...

My wife & I were sitting in seats near the walking ring which I love. You get to see the horses come out, owners/jocks/trainers talking to each other & they have tellers walking around so you can make bets without leaving your seat. Anyway, I look down our aisle & tell my wife I know that guy. She tells me I think I know everybody but I said no no, he's famous. I realized it was Louisville, now Iona, basketball coach Rick Pitino. 

So I went over to say hi & asked him to sign my program which he did saying "Best of Luck Rick Pitino." I have it hanging in my man cave with other stuff. I came back to our seats & showed my wife it was really him. He had a guy placing wagers for him but he got up to leave & we had to stand up for him to pass us in the aisle. He said to me "I have one in here that we got placed in the next race & we're hoping he gets claimed."   So he tells me the # & when I checked the board, he was 9/5. So I wheeled him in the exacta & the horse wins by daylight & a 44-1 shot runs 2nd to complete a $122.00 exacta. I thought wow that's cool. Then I realized it was 53k purse of which 31k went to him for winning the race & another 40k for his horse getting claimed.. He made 71k in a little over a minute. 

But I was still happy with my $122 exacta. 

It will be crazy tomorrow playing the ponies, college basketball & looking for NFL prop plays. So I'm going to post some stuff now to save time.

I'm not a fan of the Tapeta racing surface because my capping style identifies closers rather than the obvious speed in the race & this surface hasn't been friendly to closers as far as I can tell. Some trainers love it while others refuse to race their stock on it. Race 1 & 6 are on that surface & you may want to disregard my comments on those races & the rest for that matter.   

RACE 1 ..the owners of #5 Diligent claimed this guy in his last, that he won, for 20k but curiously drop him into a 16k claimer here I guess looking for a piece of the 50k purse. He won his last on this surface & seems to like it going 4-2-1-1. #4 Yamato gets leading rider Luis Saez & also won his last over the surface. #1 Light Fury tired in the stretch getting caught by #4 by less than a length. #8 Lamplighter Jack gets a jock upgrade to Jose Ortiz . #3 American Ninja can be dangerous if Paco tries to steal it on the lead. #6 Strike the Top was claimed in his last by a small barn after missing by a length going the shorter 1 mile 70 yards. He may like the longer distance & should like Javier in the saddle as Junior stays on #1.  No one in the race has won at this 1 1/8th distance. 

RACE 2..is a Maiden 60k Claimer going 1 1/16th on the dirt track. We have some expensive colts starting with a 400k purchase of #1 Beyond Best. His daddy is Curlin but ran a dull race in his 1st try @ Belmont in November. He ships in for the powerful Repole barn for trainer Todd Pletcher & leading jock Saez. #6 Montauk Point last raced @ Saratoga last August when he finished 4th in both tries. He's never gone further than 6F. His owners paid 550k for him & they drop him from 100k claiming races looking for a softer spot. Javier gets the ride as Jose Ortiz gets bounced & landed on #3 Practical way replacing injured jockey Edgar Zayas who has shoulder surgery. #9 Happy Boy Rocket just missed 2nd in his 1st try after a slow start for Junior & Bill Mott. Owners paid 490k for this Runhappy colt. #10 Complete Agenda comes over from Tampa & has been heavily bet in both tries for Pletcher/Repole & now gets Irad up. He got bumped at the break in his last try & settled for 2nd with a nice closing move.   

Good stuff.

My most imteresting celeb siting was Mc Hammer at Pimlico what im guessing was about 30 years ago. 

Dude had about 30 or so of his boys with him as he had a horse running that was a dead on speed horse. Shook his hand right outside the paddock there. Surprised he passed me and a few fans.

Have seen and talked with Andy Beyer more than a few times over the years at Laurel as well.  Some people dont care for him but he was always respectful to me and doesnt know my name but would say hello to me.

RACE 3..is a 1 1/16th Allowance Optional 25k Claiming race for non winners of 2 races with other conditions too many to mention here. My eyes drifted to #2 Kate's Kingdom because I like the trainer Armando De La Cerda (he's winning @25%) & was surprised to see Kent Desormeaux picked up the mount. ML is 20-1 & may be worth a WPS play. This one is a crapshoot & maybe a box of 10-2-7-8 would be a play.

RACE 4 ..is a 7F 60k Maiden Claimer for 3 year old colts. I have a "stable" play on #6 Bourbon Heist who ships in from Churchill & has been on the bench since October. Maybe a change of scenery, going shorter & change to Junior in the irons will be the right answer. BTW...a stable play for me is a horse that I've been watching & waiting to run again. Pletcher has two 1st timers in #10 Swing Shift a 550k purchase by Winstar & #12 Congressman at the bargain price of 225k also by Winstar. With Irad & Saez riding these 2, I would expect them to get heavily played. #2 Superstitieux has been heavily bet in all 4 races resulting in a 4-0-2-1 record. He will be coming off a 2 month breather. #3 No Nay Franklin has also been well bet in his 3 tries with a 3-0-2-1 with Leparoux staying in the saddle weakening late in his last.

Race 5...don't have much to say other than #4 Always Shopping . 

@Mark_The_Narc

 MC Hammer...WOW!

He was a batboy for the Oakland A's & someone said he looked like Hank Aaron & that's how he got the name based on Aaron's nickname Hammerin Hank.

RACE 6 1M70 Yards on the Tapeta All Weather track...over the years playing ponies in South Florida I got attached to certain trainers like Stanley Hough, Georgina Baxter & Marty Wolfson. I trusted & learned they almost always had their horses ready to run. Same goes for owners Kenneth & Sarah Ramsey. They don't have many horses anymore & I think they are concentrating on the breeding aspect of the industry. Over the years they have maintained a 23% winning rate & over 98 million in purses. They have a horse in this race.

#7 Telephone Talker won his last race on this surface with Junior who is on #11 Tiesto in this race & trainer Saffie Joseph attracted Tyler to get back on him after finishing 3rd two races back. I don't know how I'm going to play #7 but I'm certainly hooking him up with #4 Frosted Over who shipped in from Woodbine for owner Gary Barber, trainer Mark Casse & Luis Saez. 

Have to start looking at college basketball but will continue tomorrow.

Good stuff, Midnight, thanks for posting.

Two horse race for the Cup, gotta figure out who's 3rd....

 good luck Mids

@Midnight1

Great Pitino story! Good luck today!

Good luck to you as well mstrH & Hawk.

Small play in Race 1 

DD 13456 with the 1-9-10

You'll see Gulfstream go many minutes past post time which is annoying but they want as much money wagered as possible.

@sundance

 Yea sundance, he was pretty cool & had a huge championship ring on his finger. I think it may have been from his days @ Kentucky.

I've been saying few close on this Tapeta track & then that's just what Saez did with #4 Yamato. That makes 3 wins in his last 4 for Yamato. That looks like a decent claim for 16k.

Alive in the Double with 1-9-10

Billy Mott/Junior win on #9 Happy Boy Rocket.

Chalky $29.00 DD 

Race 3..Desormeaux got bumped off #2 Kate's Kingdom & Javier gets the mount. Purely a trainer play here with De La Cerda. 

WPS #2 Kate's Kingdom

#2 never picked up his legs.

Race 4..Chad Brown scratched his 1st timer #5 Mackillop. That leaves him with just 2 other entries on the card which surprises me especially with the purses today.

My stable play # 6 Bourbon Heist has been pounded early on the tote getting banged from the ML 6-1 down to 5-2. Hopefully he goes back up.

Pletcher's 1st timer #10 Swing Shift is getting early action as expected.

#3 No Nay Franklin has been heavily bet in all 3 of this races & has been knocked down from 15-1 to currently 6-1.

#9 Surpassing came over from Tampa where he ran 2nd on his fast try & is an overlay @19-1 with Tyler getting up.

Boxing 6-10-3-9

Bourbon Heist gets a solid 2nd completing the 10-6 exacta.

Exacta paid $32.20

Bourbon Heist gets $3.20 for 2nd.

Race 5 #4 Always Shopping 

Always Shopping got caught at the wire on a real nice ride by Rosario on # 6 Beautiful Lover.

Race 6 .Gulfstream racing fans know the owners of #7 Telephone Talker & are playing him heavily. But the shipper from Woodbine #4 Frosted Over looks tough & he's comfortable on the synthetic tracks. Like the way #6 Fighting Force stays close to the pace & the jock change to Lanarie. 

Boxing 7-4-6 

Nope

Race 7 ..they will have to catch #10 Abaan.

@Midnight1

 And he is racing a half mile less than last out!!! LOL .Can't say that very often 

@JOHNNY_ODAE

 That's crazy Johnny. I don't think I've ever seen that.