First Post: Friday, May 17, 2013

All right, all right, ya honorary Baltimoreans! Old Hilltop weather for your Friday, Black-Eyed Susan Day: Sunny, highs in the mid-70s. Racing!

Is there a blood feud between ESPN and Dave Beckhamsz? From time to time we check the ESPN headline feed via their ScoreCenter tablet-computer app, and there was absolutely zero about Dave Beckhamsz retiring. Nothing. No video, not among the “Top Headlines” (so-called) all day. Instead, there’s Nick Saban being called el diablo; there’s Gronkowski having forearm surgery; there’s the Dick Trickle suicide; there’s someone named Bucky Lasek defending his Skate Vert gold (what?!); there’s Roy “Doct-Over” Halladay’s prognosis.

But Dave Beckhamsz? Who is he again? He’s an athlete, right?

To use some Britishisms now: ESPN is “pants”. ESPN is utter “rubbish” “Sod off”, ESPN. ”Clear off”, Worldwide Leader in American Sportsz. “Shambolic”.

Free ones: Rundown…

Belmont 9, 10
Calder 2, 6, 9
BFHollyPark 2, 3, 5, 6

Pay-side: Today…

Churchill 11
Woodbine 2, 3, 5, 6, 9
Arlington 5, 7, 8
Golden Gate 5
Lone Star 1, 5, 6, 9

Today’s Stakes Pageantry: Best wishes today at Pimlico.

On name alone, #6 UNITAS, 8-1 on your morning line, has a thrower’s chance in EvD 9, the Need For Speed. Sensible savers are #1 Comisky’s Humor and #4 Sweetsouthernmoon.

Yesterday’s Activity: As always, Welcome to The Home of The Runner-Up Finish. As always, we mention only the runners-up who were at least double-digit odds on the tote board. No need to lament the small fish that squirted away.

Here is lone-touted Council Bluff in CD 2, 14-1 at the off from a morning line of 12-1. Better than five of the other six in the race, except for the 3-1 winner, who was not (of course not!) a LifeLiner qualifier. Goof!

Later heartbreak at Louisville when in the finale Our Friend Harry could not best the winner while taking care of the rest of their foes. ’Harry was 15-1 on the morning line and bet-down to 12-1. However, the winner, 4-1 morning-line chance Apollo Sky, was a LifeLiner qualifier, and the exacta paid $138.40. As is frequently the case, the show-horse refused to comply to any of our favored approaches. Thanks a lot!

More second-place goodness, this time at Louisiana, Race 2, in which 13-1 Lea Jeanette was beaten six lengths by the 3½-1 winner. Not a LifeLiner qualifier, that winner, but, truly, only Lea Jeanette had that status in the race. The Betting Line was contentious, and the winner was in the thick of that measure, with the exacta paying $130-and-change.

Some winners now, though no real shockers. (But Mother’s Day Sunday, hoo boy! Too bad there wasn&tsquo;t a “Yesterday’s Activity” recap for Mother’s Day Sunday! Yow! Hope you had some of ’em! Yow!)

First-timer Happybirthdaybaby (download the Cracker song “Happy Birthday to Me” over here: https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/cracker/id14519184 scores at 4½-1 from an 8-1 morning line. OK.

In the Lone Star opener, Grant Jack, 12-1 on the morning line and 4½-1 at the off, paid $11.80. OK.

WMF Report:

Early
Belmont 6f
Chas. Town 4½f, 6½f
Emerald 5½f, 6f
Northlands 6f
PennNat 6f
SunRay 4½f

Nocturnal Submission: Triple Stumper in prospect in EvD 2 (7:05 p.m. EDT / 4:05 p.m. PDT) via #6 Wicked Vow, #10 Hezalotta Wanda, #2 Dorsey’s Dream — all wagers off in the event of a switch to the main track, however! …Faves vulnerable in the sixth there (8:45 / 5:45), and #4 Last Welsh King has as good a chance as any of the rest. …

Thank you. Best wishes. Goodbye. Bye-bye.