Gulfstream 2012-13

ANOTHER Winning Days Tops A BIG Week

Sunday March 10

The week has produced the finest roll of winners since the opening week of February, and THE BIGGEST week of profits!  You never would have guessed it would be a profitable day if you'd been on board through the first half of the card however.  In the first three races I failed to reach the winner's circle and was second in two of the three.  Christmas Rush in the second went to post as the 5/2 second choice and became one of the few horses trained by Michael Maker, owned by Ken & Sarah Ramsey and ridden by Joel Rosario NOT to win.... especially this week they've been on fire.  Only second best today to my third choice when run down in mid-stretch.  My pick in the 4th came down to comparing jockeys.....The Candidate had Javier Castellano had 52 wins and a 20% win average - rider for Trade Rumor had 7 wins and a 7% average.....I was a distant fifth while the 7% rider posed for a picture.  Wow.  In the 6th Daddy Loves Gold was sent out by Bill Mott.  That alone makes you take notice.  But he gave a leg up to Johnny Velazquez - back in South Florida after having a HUGE day at Tampa on Saturday - this rider-trainer combo was clicking at 44%!  I could not believe Daddy Loves Gold went off at 9/2.  Led from start to deep stretch with my double investment.....I'm collecting over $50....and then he was caught nearing the wire by my second pick.  That hurt.  

 In the 7th I was thinking outside the box.....it was a maiden claiming sprint for three-year-olds and older.  I liked Miss Montauk, but for an unusual reason.  Trainer Jane Cibelli has been having a good meeting here at Gulfstream, winning about 20%.  But she's having a big meet at Tampa.  Miss Montauk had been working very well for her debut.....over the Tampa surface.  And yet, Cibelli brought her to Gulfstream to debut!  That told me she thought she had a big shot at the bigger purse offered here.  At the top of the lane she was half a dozen lengths behind the favorite who looked to wire the field, but I could tell......the favorite was tiring and I had all the momentum.  Caught her under a hand ride inside the final fifty yards for my first winner on the day.  The price wasn't as high as I thought, but the $9.40 payoff allowed me to cash to the tune of $23.50 and I was less than $2 behind with a single win on a minimum bet!  

Right back in the 8th with a Todd Pletcher Gulfstream Handicapper 40% Club play.  In his last Cross Traffic had won his second consecutive race.  All the usual angles applied:  Velazquez on board (43%), second start of the meet (47%), rise in class (44%), and a dirt route (40%).  But what really impressed me was that when drawing clear in that debut he'd earned a sparkling 94 Beyer.  And the runner-up came back to win by eleven widening lengths, earning an even bigger 96 Beyer.  The fact that he was back in the race, with that big number I thought would help our price.....in spite of the fact that he'd beaten him last time.  The conundrum was the fact the third contender was ANOTHER Pletcher runner.  But to me, the potential to be something special was centered on Cross Traffic.  He tracked the pace to the turn and then drew off like something special......look for him in a stakes race next out!  

I have to admit I was surprised I did not win the 10th....but even as I wrote my analysis I KNEW that track logic dictated I would not.  In the former I liked the Michael Maker trained, Ken & Sarah Ramsey owned, Joel Rosario ridden Let's Do It.  Not only did he have the connections, but he was first off the claim.  He was allowed to go off at 5/2 and made the "winning move" three wide on the final turn.  The favorite, ridden by a lesser rider spent the entire trip trapped on the rail.....but as the field turned for home a golden highway on the rail opened as everyone moved two off the rail and he nailed me inside the final 100 yards.  Wow.  And just as I'd KNOWN would happen, in the finale - where I had another Maker-Ramsey-Rosario runner, Brickyard Kitten, I won.  But I had thought that Let's Do It had a better chance being first off the claim so I'd only doubled the bet on Brickyard Kitten.  She was dropping back in class and proved much the best, and at a lower price - 9/5.  But the payoff enabled me to not only profit from the two runners combined but allowed me to finish 3-for-7 on the day and a BIG winner for the week!