Wednesday January 9
Start The Week With A Winning Day
The start of the week saw me with six selections on the card. The first was in the second race where I had selected For All The Glory who was a Gulfstream Park Handicapper 40% Club selection, listed at 6/1 in the program. But he scratched, so I had to wait for the third. It was a claiming event on the turf where the ten three-year-olds had a combined THREE turf starts! My first inclination was to pass the race. But when I got to #7-Scofield I was interested that his only turf start was in an overnight stakes race at Belmont. Somebody must have had high opinions on his ability. I made him my first play of the week, and he responded as much the best and started my week off in the winner's circle!
In the 4th I had selected a longshot......#2-Blackstone was 12/1 in the program and was sent out by Gerald Procino. I keep waiting for one of his runners to pop, and the wait SHOULD be worth it as over the last two winters his dirt sprinters had won seven times and a $2 bet on those would have returned nearly $200! Those kind of numbers made supported my backing this big-priced entry. Never in it at 23/1, 8th. When I handicapped the 5th - a first level turf allowance for sophomore fillies - my first thought was that I should go against the last out winner Tapicat. But the more I looked at her I thought she had all the indications of a star in the making. She was a $725K Keeneland graduate, owned by the powerful Besilu stables (who also own 2x Breeders' Cup Ladies' Classic winner Royal Delta), and trained by Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott. She'd run well in her first start, but that was a dirt sprint. When she made her second start, here, going two turns on the grass I'd supported her and she'd wired the field with ease as the 7/5 favorite. The pace was soft that day and I didn't think she'd go to the front today, but she appeared to have a wealth of talent. In fact I wrote that this race might well be looked back on as a race full of future graded stakes winners as there looked to be several stars in the making. But Tapicat had improved her Beyer by nearly twenty points, indicating real ability on the grass. The crowd sent her off at 8/5 and top rider Joel Rosario sent her to the front. The fractions were solid, if anything they were fast and could have done her in. But as they hit the far turn she was on a loose rein and was widening her margin. As they turned for home Rosario asked her to run, and as you can see in the photo below, she was a runaway winner. The analysts on HRTV commented that they wanted to call Mott and persuade him to enter her in next month's Grade 3 Herecomesthebride Stakes! I'd doubled the bet on her and collected nearly $30, which guaranteed me a winning day.
In the next race I thought Southern Dunn would win handily as he was a 40% Club play from the powerful Frank Calabrese barn, trained by Kirk Ziadie. Broke slowly and came flying up to catch the loose-on-the-lead front-runner, but couldn't get by and lost by half a length. My last pick was another longshot, 20/1 on Imperial Czar. He ran a credible 4th, good handicapping, no monetary reward.
For the day I was 2-for-5 (40%) and was ahead for the day! Tomorrow I'll be on track for racing from not only Gulfstream Park, but also from Aqueduct, the Fair Grounds, and Santa Anita!
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