First Post: Saturday, October 19, 2013

Ridiculous. Some basketball teams could not even do this — and they’re allowed to use their hands! Truly, this is fútbol the Arsenal Way. Magnificent.

Free ones: Rundown…

Belmont 5, 6, 8, 10, 11
Calder / Gulf Calder 5, Gulf 2, Gulf 3, Gulf 4, Gulf 5
Santa Anita 8

Pay-side: Today…

Golden Gate 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8
Hawthorne 2, 8, 9
Keeneland 2, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10
Laurel 3, 5, 6, 10, 11
Meadowlands 3, 4, 5
Retama 4, 9
Remington 1, 6, 8, 9
Suffolk 4, 8
Woodbine 1, 2, 4
Zia 9, 10, 12

Sorry, Phoenix. No qualifiers from Bell Rd. today! Larry Fitzgerald sympathizes.

Today’s Stakes Pageantry: Bel 8, 10, 11 on the free page. And so is SA 8.

On the pay-side are GG 6, Kee 9, and Lrl 6, 10 & 11.

Uh-oh. Vaunted Triple Threat Horsey status assigned to the 2-5 (2-5!) morning-line MOTO #5 Cluster of Stars in Bel 4. Go get ’em.

Favorite-nonfavorite pairing in Lrl 7: #7 Monster Sleeping, #8 Mystic Love. Then in the eighth, scraping by as an unlikely Triple Threat Horsey is #5 Ju Ju Eyeballs. Also the same for #8 Ben’s Cat in the ninth.

Straight-up upset call to #3 Whiz Hit in TuP 8.

The rest are at night, including CT 2 (#8 Amherst Street prohibitively), CT 3 (#6 Hidden Canyon same), CT 4 (#8 Jax and JILL ditto), CT 7 (#4 Down Town Allen also), CT 9 (#10 Windsor’s Graduate, a nonfavorite!).

Then at Indiana, the eighth (#6 Bisque, obvious), the 10th (#1A Northern Candyride, nonfavored), the 11th (nonfavored duo of #6 Yeardley, #2B Dreamin Big).

OK. Exhale. Too much horseys sometimes. Sometimes.

Yesterday’s Activity: As always, Welcome to The Home of The Runner-Up Finish, this time led by top-touted Best Actor in the second at Belmont. Best Actor, 12-1 on the morning line and 10¢ shy of 14-1 in real life, did not have to accept the statuette or thank the academy, namely due to the presence of Daniel Day Lews — er, make that a 3-5 prohibitive public-choice named Mister Pippit. Nonetheless, Best Actor ran creditably, closing well enough to get second, just three parts of a length behind the superfavourite. Ah, what are you going to do? Of course, Mister Pippit was OK on LifeLiner and top on the Betting Line, and the consolation exacta of 3-5 over 13-1 in a 10-horse field was $28. Ehh.

One for the win column came later at Elmont via Isn’tlovejustgrand in the seventh. ’grand was 12-1 on the morning line and took more action than that to finish at 8-1 on the toteboard. ’grand rallied violently (per his 61-65-81 LifeLiner array) and barely hit the wire in front of the others; he paid $18-even to win. No good on the exotics. No good, Chollie. No good.

A mild 7-1 score in the sixth at Keeneland via General a Rod, $16.80 to win. General a Rod, a first-time starter at 8-1 on the morning line, had a qualifying connection line of 23pc/21pc/26pc. The runner-up was the 2½-1 public-choice and top Betting Line and top LifeLine horsey in the field. This exotic pairing of 7-1 on top of just under 3-1 (fave) in an 11-horse field paid $96.20.

Similar-priced winner in Meadowlands 2. In it, lone-touted Sky Walk was 8-1 on the morning line as a first-time starter. Again, a live connection line of 18pc/17pc/26pc sent her through to contendership. (Contenderhood? Contenderdom? Contenderville?) She closed like the champion she’s on her way to becoming (!), paying $17.80 in the process.

Dishonourable mention for a third-place (!) finish in Remington 7. Lone-touted Holy Missile, 43-1 in real life, was third of 12, beaten less than 2 lengths. Crazy race. Krz. Cray. Patsy Cline & Seal could have done a duet, it was that crazy.

Finally, one last 7-1 winner for yourselves. His name was Prized Humour, and he paid $16.20 up top in Race 9 at Woodbine. The morning line on Prized Humour was 8-1, and he closed as befit his 60-70-81 LifeLiner array. Indeed, the four finishers in this one were unquestionable LifeLiner qualifiers: $79.80 exactor, $286 triactor (both of those for 2 looniesz), $683 superfactor (for a lone loonie).

WMF Report:

Early
Albuquerque 5½f, 7f
Belmont 6f
Chas. Town 6½f
Mountain 5f, 5½f
PennNat 6f
Keystone 6f
Santa Anita 6f
Suffolk 6f

Nocturnal Submission: Sifting through the wreckage…

Thank you. Best wishes. Goodbye. Later!