Gulfstream 2012-13

Sunday January 20

Two More Wins Including Today's BEST!

Normally Sunday is the end of the racing week, but with the holiday tomorrow there will be a special card for racing on Monday.  My first score of the day came with yet another Todd Pletcher runner, Nevada.  This colt had debuted at Saratoga and was a best-of-the-rest second behind the odds-on favorite that day, future graded stakes winner Overanalyze.  Nevada was third as the odds-on favorite in his next when he was too far back and was late getting into full stride.  You could make a case to toss the next two misses, again as the favorite, with the next-to-last being over the Keeneland synthetic track at seven furlongs and the last here, but going a mile and a sixteenth.  The drop into a $25K maiden claimer and the return to sprinting on the main track seemed to me to be just the cure he needed.  Still, such a precipitious drop led me to only double the bet.  On the turn he exploded in a wink of the eye and was quickly double digits in front.  That's the kind of talent he'd flashed at Saratoga.  Look for him to climb up the allowance ladder and maybe try listed stakes this spring.  

After that I ran fourth twice and third twice - one was with the star-crossed Ninja Blade, who I wrote I was betting as much because I had a soft spot for him as his legitimate chances.  Should have played the Pletcher runner, again I didn't get the memo....sigh.  And when I did back the Pletcher maiden Orient Moon ran third.  But the "BEST" of the day was yet another Todd Pletcher horse, Charming Kitten.  

Typically it is unusual to find a Ken & Sarah Ramsey home-bred in the Pletcher stable.  They are not big clients of his.  But in this case, Charming Kitten was his colt to train.  The feature on the Sunday card was the Kitten's Joy Stakes for sophomores going 1 1/16th mile on the turf.  The race was named for champion Kitten's Joy who was also a Ramsey home-bred.  It just seemed fitting if Charming Kitten would win for them.  But in addition, he was clearly the best horse in the field.  He had won his debut at this distance over the Spa turf in upstate New York, then was third beaten only 1 1/2 lengths in his first try against winners, the Grade 2 With Anticipation.  The winner and runner-up both came back to win graded stakes, with the winner - Balance the Books - being one of the favorites in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf.  The runner-up came back to win the Grade 1 Breeders' Futurity at Keeneland over their synthetic main track - which was also Charming Kitten's next start.  I felt you could toss that effort as it seemed obvious he didn't want any part of the main track.  Off a short break he returned to action here at Gulfstream in the Dania Beach.  I thought he had a legitimate excuse, in addition to the layoff, in that he broke from post ten and was four wide turning for home.  Only beaten a half length I thought today he'd rebound in a big way.  He was a prime time investment for me and did not disappoint....topped off a solid 2-for-5 day of handicapping!