Monday Boxing: The Undercard

Buy the Ticket, Take the Ride

On this date in 1937, the immortal Dr. Hunter S. Thompson was born in Louisville, Ky.

Though he remains immortal, he did kill himself in 2005. You may remember him as part of the New Journalism movement involving luminaries such as Norman Mailer and Tom Wolfe.

Always a fan of racing — how could he not, having been born in Loovuhl! — Dr. Thompson wrote the famous “The Kentucky Derby Is Decadent and Depraved”.
If you haven’t read it recently, do so again here, courtesy of the good people running the Kentucky Derby website. Relive the timeless exploits of The Good Doctor and the hapless and trembling Steadman. Teddible, teddible! And if you’ve never read it, we apologize now for converting you into an instant fan.

Good stuff. Anyway, it’s a now world, and “Monday Boxing”s is upon us. Kindly remember that this weekly start-of-the-workweek post is a bit different from the usual stabbing with longshots. Indeed, the approach taken here is to let the racetrack underfoot dictate the selections; track-distance combinations currently operating with a prohibitive speed (or, much less frequently, rally) bias are singled out, with the top “boxing” candidate qualifying, regardless of morning-line odds, via superior ability on the pace trait promoted by said bias; the complementary boxing candidate is the runner with the top final-time ability.

These insights are courtesy of the WMF Report and LifeLiner Speed Column Analysis contained in the All-In-One V6. Thank you!

Simple, but effective. Let’s look at the track biases in play for your Monday.

Mountain 6f
PennNat 6f
Keystone 6f
Thistle 6f

We prefer operating with knowledge of raceday scratches, so we’ll hold off on the twi-night tracks, Mountain & PennNat. That leaves Keystone and Thistle for your undercard.

Keystone
Race 5: #5 Greenspirit (speed) – #7 Palazzo Reale (final)

Thistle
Race 3: #5 Lopaka Keoni – #4 Scrimpy
Race 5: #3 Key On Me – #1 Rabit Hash Rib
Race 6: #8 Coasting In – #5 Clever Performance
Race 7: #2 Citizen Z Z – #8 Strike Or Spare

Back later with any qualifying issues for the PennNat & Mountain. Until then, it’s goodbye.