First Post: Saturday, August 13, 2011

NFL? What's that?

Are you ready for some fútbol?

It begins in earnest today. Twenty teams, 38 matches for each of them. One winner: the team that is atop the table at season’s end. No convoluted and meaningless playoff system; the regular season is all. And if you are not among the top 17 finishers in said table, you don’t get to come back next season. A true competition! Darwin would approve!

As always, we cast our lot with the hapless Arsenal F.C. out of North London. Attractive pass-and-go, one-touch football is their hallmark, similar to a famous outfit from Catalunya. But for all that slickness, the end product is often lacking, like a frontrunner breathing fire in the final furlong. A little more ruthlessness, a semblance of intestinal fortitude, would be a welcome addition.

It will be a difficult season for the Arse. Two top players are ready to depart, and their replacements are nowhere in sight. Indeed, the club’s first month of competition could find them in arrears in a hurry — left standing at the gate. We shall see.

Meantime, come on you Gooners!

Free ones:

Rundown
Saratoga Race Course 4, 5, 10
Calder 4, 9, 11
Del Mar Thoroughbred Club 1, 7, 10

Saratoga & Del Mar are equally good, with Calder coming up wet again.

Pay-side:

Rundown
Monmouth 4, 9, 10
Woodbine 3, 5, 9
Ellis 7, 9, 10
Arlington 8, 9, 10
Louisiana 6, 7, 8
Retama 1, 2

Exciting day over at the Arlington. Good races all &rquo;round today.

WMF Report:

Speed
Canterbury 5½f
Delpark 6f (finally!)
Ellis 1m (WMF 223)
Emerald 6f
Fairmount 6f, 1m (WMF 245) (!)
Louisiana 6f
Monmouth 6f
Northlands 6f, 6½f
PennNat 6f, 1m
River 6f
Ruidoso 5½f, 7½f (!) (WMF 233)
Saratoga 6f
Woodbine 6f

Rally
Woodbine 7f (WMF 22)

Forget the meteor showers. They come every summer. But you may never again see a 7½f distance come up as speedy! A rara avis! Speed-track of the moment is humble Fairmount…Fairmount! Woodbine is split-personality: blazing at the 6f, but sluggish at 7f — and nearly tipping toward the rally at 1 1/16m (WMF 32).

Nocturnal Submission: In the eighth at Assiniboia (10:41 p.m. EDT / 7:41 p.m. PDT), a crazy longshot emerges in #1 Darby Lee. …Over at Evangeline in Race 8 (9:49 / 6:49), #5 Cotton Ide Kate is a lively pick. …We shall wreak some fat-priced havoc in the eighth at Prairie (10:37 / 7:37) courtesy of #9 Poltergeist and #3 A Lot of Mon and #2 House of Usher. …

Thank you. Goodnight. We’re tired.