First Post: Saturday, September 29, 2012

National Coffee Day! Drink up! Another missed opportunity for the Rommey (Rommey!) campaign. Like what one of the commenters (a neocon, to boot!) said about this (filthy rich) poor guy: “He makes J. Danforth Quayle look like ARISTOTLE…“ Yep, that’s about right…

As for the video header today, it’s a blast from the past, an innocuous pop song. Yet after all these years it provides some uplift. Feel good, people. Ditch the irony!

Free ones: Rundown…

Belmont 1, 2, 3, 4, 10, 11
Calder 7, 11, 12
Santa Anita 5, 9, 10, 11

Hollow in the middle at Elmont, N.Y. But late life at all three.

Pay-side: Today…

Monmouth 7, 8, 9
Woodbine 1, 3, 4, 5, 7, 9, 10
Laurel 1, 2, 5, 11
Turfway 5, 7, 9, 10, 11
Arlington 4, 7, 10, 11
Remington 1, 2, 4, 6, 8

(Bonkers Box races in bold.)

Today’s Stakes Pageantry: zOMG. Thirty-some-odd added-money events on the docket for your Saturday. How is this possible?

First off, the freebies, since we all lurve freebies, right? The 10th at Belmont (Grade I HRTV Jockey Club Gold Cup Invitational Stakes), the ninth and 10th at Santa Anita (respectively, the Grade I Rodeo Drive, the Grade I Awesome Again and the Unzip Me). Those are four outstanding opportunities available gratis on the vaunted Pick of the Day page. Have at ’em!

And since we’re all Good Time Charlies, here’s some more. Mild upset on tap in Race 10 at Calder, the Cassidy. We prefer Dos Equis — um, make that #8 Jewel in the Sky. Also in for the nap (as they say in the UK), it’s #4 Cryptic Message in the eighth at Woodbine, the Victorian Queen.

Smaller-track action now, first at the Finger. It’s the N.Y. Breeders’s Futurity going as Race 8: #2 Shot Rock for the minor upset. A larger upset possible in the sixth at Hastings-Exhibition-Nootka Island; #2 Victorious Spirit can do OK in the CTHS Sales.

Really small track action at Lethbridge. Why bother going there? Because we can, ya Everest-climbersz! Except in this case it’s like going to the bottom of the Marianas Trench. Try the sixth today, the B Cup Fillies and Mares Sprint, for #6 Mistress Bell.

We stay in the Great White North, this time at Northlands for Race 9, the Speed to Spare. It’s a chance for the fourth horse on the morning line, #4 Ready Racer, to surprise.

Back to the United States here for Presque Isle’s fifth, the Fitz Dixon Jr. Memorial Juvenile. Wide-open for #10 Xanthos to upset.

WMF Report:

Speed
Belmont 6f, 1m
Delpark 6f
Finger 6f
Hoosier 5½f
Hastings 6½f
Mountain 6f
Monmouth 6f
Thistle 6f
Zia 6f (WMF 600)

Rally
Presque 6½f (WMF 5)

Nocturnal Submission: Looks ripe for the shock in Race 6 at PennNat (8:20 p.m. EDT / 5:20 p.m. PDT); #7 First in Fashion can do it, and so can #6 Urloveisasymphony. …Pure gambling going on in the finale at the Presque, a 2¼-mile Test of A Champion; the Bonkers-type scenario involves #13 Pretty Mr. D and #2 Blue Mon. …

Thank you. Best wishes. Goodbye. Drive safely.