First Post: Saturday, February 2, 2013

Apropos of the day of the week.

Free ones: Rundown…

Aqueduct 2, 5
Gulf 6, 9
Santa Anita 5, 7, 9, 10

Pay-side: Today…

Tampa 5, 8, 10, 11
Turfway 4, 6, 7, 8, 9
Oaklawn 4, 6, 9
Turf Paradise 4, 5, 7, 8, 9
Sam Houston 6, 8
Golden Gate 5, 6, 7, 8

Today’s Stakes Pageantry: Fair Grounds. Fair Grounds? Is it safe to go back there today? No washed-off-the-lawn racing there today? Sometimes they try to trick you with the late-scratches and say the races are on the turf but then you go over there and it’s all main-track. Is it safe? Either way, both features look chalky. You know who the horseys are.

Santa Anita 9 on the free page. Prior to that, mild upset in store in Race 4 via #3 Den’s Legacy.

Tampa 11 on the pay-side. Ditto Turfway 7 & 9. And Turf Paradise 8.

Delta! No turf course there, so that part of Luzianne is safe from bait-and-switches regarding the racing surface. Race 1 has #6 Hit the Road Lee in for a small surprise. Crazy trizacta box opportunity in Race 7: #7 Indian Road, #4 Unbridled’s Score, #1 Palmy Bay.

Yesterday’s Acvitity: All right, all right. A day after the $244-plus-11-1 longshot winner at the Santa Anita, the East Coast tracks got in on the action for your Friday.

Gulf had a nice 14-1 tease who ran second (“as always, Welcome to The Home of The Runner-Up Finish!”) in Race 5. Decisive Moment topped both the V6 Betting Line and was competitively place in LifeLiner, 12-1 on the morning line. Alas, 3-1 Beau Choix (also 3-1 on the morning line, also a qualifier on LifeLiner), took the race; the saver perfector with a live winner and a well-placed (literally) longshot was a reasonable $133-and-change, roughly 10X more than the $13.80 place price.

It was even more contentious in the eighth there, with second-pick on the Betting Line Ephyra (tops on the LifeLiner!) scoring at 11½-1, a shade below her 12-1 morning line.

The other two Gulf issues were the no-hopers the public said they were, at 27-1 and 50-1.

At The Big A, the first two recommendations were nowhere near the wire at the finish. Not entirely unexpected, given their 13-1 and 20-1 odds in a pair of six-horse fields. No wonder it’s so difficult to get excited at Jamaica Bay!

But the excitement was in full effect in the seventh, a grab-bag of a mid-to-low claiming race for 10 evenly matched horseys. One of them was a 20-1 morning-line chancer named Victorious Leader. The public was not impressed, casting him off as the eighth-choice in the betting, at 41-1. Another cuckoo (cuckoo, cuckoo!) pick from the non compos mentis touters at Cynthia Publishing Company, Studio City, Calif., where it’s now Pilot Season. Even though the race was wildly up-in-the-air, they named just the single shot, the lone Victorious Leader. And why not? He was top of the LifeLiner.

Yow! A screaming $85.50 winner, Allah bless the nickel breakage in New York State! Pilot Season! Pilot Season! Pilot Season! Some extra coin of the realm to impress the would-be starlets at the hot downtown Studio City speakeasies like Firefly and Page 71. Yow! Eighty-five-fifty! Pilot Season! Firefly! Page 71! Xen Lounge, which is more on the outskirts of town! Yow! Yow! Yow! zOMG! Cazart! Yow! Yow! Yow! Laurel Tavern! Pilot Season! Yow!

Sorry, but no good in the finale at Ozone Park or all day at Arcadia, Calif. Sorry.

Stakes action at Turf Paradise in Race 8, and a dynamic duo-type Bonkers Boxersz situation arose involving Jamaican Memories (pass the kouchie!) and Streakin’ Mohican. To be fair, the former was the top selection with the latter being the Bonkersmate. The Bonkersmate won, $15.20 off an 8-1 morning line, and the top boy was not close.

Sorry, all the others on the pay-side were fruitless stabsz. Regretsz.

WMF Report:

Early
Aqueduct 6f
PennNat 6f
Tampa 6f

Rally
Tampa 1 1/16m (T)

Nocturnal Submission: Steppin’ out in the Commonwealth of Penna. for Race 3 at PennNat (6:54 p.m. EST / 3:54 p.m. PST); there, #6 Bob’s Place, #1 Tapps, #9 My People and #8 Thunder Rock are not as hopeless as most of the mopes suspect.

Thank you. Best wishes. Goodbye. Next time!