First Post: Wednesday, August 21, 2013

An already bad start for the Arse F.C. may get worse by the end of this evening as the Goonersz begin their attempt to qualify for the Group Stages of the UEFA Champions League with a trip to hosts Fenerbahçe S.K. in Turkey.

Free ones: Rundown…

Saratoga Race Course 7, 10
Del Mar Thoroughbred Club 4, 5, 6, 7, 8

Pay-side: Today…

Delpark 1, 2, 4, 6, 7, 8
Remington 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9
Suffolk 2, 6, 8
Woodbine 1, 4

Today’s Stakes Activity: It’s the obvious duo in the third at Assiniboia, the Osiris. The morning-line fave gets the nod slightly.

Del 8 is the Cape Henlopen, and it’s on the pay-side.

Wow. #1 Winning Cause was a vaunted Triple Threat Horsey in Sar 4, but he could not even crack the exacta. Fraud!

No commentary on the co-feature there, the Albany, Race 9.

Yesterday’s Activity: “Now here’s Bridge with the jumper…denied!”

Yes, Sir. A flat-out rejection (Clyde Frazier & Keith Hernandez: “REEEEE-JEC-ted!”) in the opener at the Mountain last night.

Why would you put up the big show-pool investment in a five-furlong turf race, for crying out loud? Brave!

Then the V6 Betting Line said, Yeah, this 7-10 fave, Blizzard Buddy Ben is the top on the Fair Odds pile, but at what price? How ’bout 4-1! With the second-choice coming in at 4½-1. Not much separation there!

The Pace Graph and LifeLiner were competitive for the ’Blizzard, but not prohibitive. There were faster issues than the ’Blizzard on both measures.

The ’Blizzard did OK early, had a rough trip but could not muster the proper response befitting an odds-on animal. The ’Blizzard was preempted by a flurry of late activity from the other runners.

Your very own “Nocturnal Submission” feature touted some poor horsey named General Perfect, breaking from the far outside in the short race. Tough. General Perfect was 10-1 on the morning line and 29-1 in real life. The ’General ran to his 72-76-91 LifeLiner array, closing well enough to hit third.

Meantime, the ’Blizzard, 7-10 on the toteboard, was not even fourth — on this evening, he turned in fifth. The show payoffs were elevated.

The winner paid $13 to win, $6.40 to place and $11 to show; the runner-up paid $5.60 and $6.

And the top-touted General Perfect paid $38.40 to show. Yow!

WMF Report: Woodbine in full late-running mode now.

Early
Beulah 6f
Delpark 6f
Del Mar 6½f
Northlands 6f, 6½f
Saratoga 7f
Thistle 6f

Rally
Woodbine 7f (WMF 20), 1 1/16m (WMF 23)

Nocturnal Submission: It’s the #5 A. B. Blacker looking for the upset in EvD 4 (8:01 p.m. EDT / 5:01 p.m. PDT). …Later in Race 6 there (8:55 / 5:55), a shot for #10 One True Sun. …Wild in Ind 4 (7:15 / 4:15) via #5 Mary Fired Again. …Portland 5 (6:33 / 3:33) has your nightly Triple Stumper: #4 Secret Element, #9 Buckle, #6 Prancer’s Choice. …

Thank you. Best wishes. Goodbye. Take care now.