First Post: Saturday, July 2, 2011

Of course, there are always a few duds when it comes to weekend fireworks.

Boo on Minnehaha! What self-respecting state shuts its racetrack down during the biggest summer holiday? Very bad.

Worse still, the person in charge of N.J. (kindly refrain from calling him “guv’ner”) has pretty much doomed the Thoroughbreds in the Garden State. Doomed. Go take off in your helicopter, ya donut-eater! Go get serviced by your casino-lobby buddies, ya donut-eater! A curse on you, a big fat hole in the middle!

As usual, the intersection of racing and politics generally yields life-threatening accidents.

Boo on you, Gov. Krispy Kreme! Is this what the Founding Fathers truly wanted for their horseracing? For proof, check this article. George Washington would have saved racing; why not you, Gov. Krispy Kreme? Go fly off in your helicopter and eat some donuts with plenty of trans-fats. You’re no patriot; you’re a panderer. Go pull on your slot machines, you donut-loving, helicopter-flying, casino-tool.

Ah, don’t really feel better after all that, but, as always, we do it for the lulz. Now that that’s out of the way, we can concentrate on the important stuff, where the hooves meet the dirt, the synthetic or the grass.

Free ones:

Rundown
Belmont 5, 7, 8
Calder 4, 7, 10
Hollypark 5, 7, 8

Have at ’em!

Pay-side:

Rundown
Churchill 10, 11, 13
Monmouth 4, 5, 9
Woodbine 4, 6, 10
Colonial 7, 8, 10
Arlington 5, 8, 9
Louisiana 5, 7, 8

zOMG. Clearly the best single day of racing yet in 2011. Try that Race 10 at Woodbine if you should like to pull your hair out — before the race and most likely after it, too!

WMF Report:

Speed
Assiniboia 6f
Belmont 6f
Chas. Town 4½f, 6½f
Evangeline 6f, 1m
Fairmount 6f
Hastings 6½f
Lone Star 5f (T)
Mountain 6f
Monmouth 6f
Northlands 6½f
Keystone 6f
Presque 6½f
River 6f, 1m
SunRay 4½f, 6½f
Suffolk 6f
Thistle 6f

Rally (Honourable Mention)
Churchill 1 1/16m (WMF 27)
Colonial 1m (InT) (WMF 26)

Nocturnal Submission: Race 8 at Chas. Town (10:25 p.m. EDT / 7:25 p.m. PDT) finds #7 He’s a Prize with the favourable upset bid. …In the fourth at Evangeline (8:06 / 5:06), word to #8 Tortuga Straits in a hellacious tossup; also in that frame is #10 Toro Bravo. …

Kindly continue to have a safe and sane Independence Day long weekend. And send angry letters to Trenton early and often. Thank you.