First Post: Thursday, January 8, 2015

The third degree

Nope, not the temperature. Rather, just a shade off True North. Regretsz!

Free ones: Rundown…

Aqueduct 2, 6, 8, 9
Gulfstream Park Proper 8, 9
Santa Anita 4, 7

Pay-side (Weekday/Weekend): Today…

Fair Grounds 2, 3, 5, 7
Golden Gate 1, 7
Laurel 4, 7, 8

Today’s Stakes Pageantry: None today, but we got your 2014 Stanley Cup Finals participants hooking up for their first regular-season rematch in 2015, tonight at the SuperOfficeStoreCentre in downtown La-La Land. The cheap seats will be bathed in blue and the hostile invaders will be screaming, ‘THERE’s ONLY ONE KING! THERE’s ONLY ONE KING’! Love those NYRAngersz fans! Stylish goalie, King Henrik Lundqvist of Sverige. If he has any luck in what should be a long and great career, he’ll win a Stanley Cup one day. It may take a while for his talent to be rewarded with the ultimate prize, but he can do it, certainly.

Yesterday’s Activity: All right, all right, ya false-favourite fanaticsz…take it easy! Just when you thought there could be no topping DE BAKKEN from last Saturday, we point your limited attention to Race 5 at the Gulfstream Park Proper, for the card on Wednesday, Jan. 7, 2015 A.D./C.E.

Your lukemild 2.90-1 fave was THE SINGFIT. No, THE SINGFIT was not odds-on the way DE BAKKEN was, but that does not excuse him.

Indeed, THE SINGFIT was the absolute bottom of your All-In-One V6 Betting Line, absolute dead last. Abject worst-ranked on the Betting Line. How about the LifeLiner Speed Column analysis for THE SINGFIT? No good, Chollie, no good. Another dead-bottom rating, 60, the worst a horsey can score. Hoo-boy.

So what was the bigger surprise — that THE SINGFIT ran second (uh-oh!), just a length behind the winner, or that the winner was atop your V6 Betting Line, Fair Odds of 2½-1, and had a competitive 89 on LifeLiner…and went off at 17-1, up from a morning line of 12-1?

Compare and contrast: THE SINGFIT was bottom of both the Betting Line and the LifeLiner, toteboard odds of 2½-1. Your sole-touted Extravagant Affair was top of the Betting Line, in with a better-than-standard 89 in LifeLiner, toteboard odds of 17-1. Which horse should have been the fave, at least by our crazy evaluators? Right! It should have been Extravagant Affair. Indeed, THE SINGFIT might really have been 17-1 or 170-1.

Except that THE SINGFIT did a lot better than DE BAKKEN did a couple of days ago. Rallying furiously in the lane to nearly tag our heroine, the 17-1 Extravagant Affair, who held on as the sole-touted special in Race 5, paying $36.80-straight.

Complete LifeLiner array on Extravagant Affair: 95-96-89, and he was hot on the pace throughout, holding sway at the superior odds (compared with the 2½-1 on the fave) of 17-1.

As always, hope you had ’er!

Later, in the finale at the Gulf, top-touted Torrid Heat overcame the 20-plus-month layoff to win at $13-even, running fully to his complete LifeLiner array of 99-99-99. The only other LifeLiner 80-plus qualifier in the field ran second, and your default $2 exacta paid $56.60.

As always, Welcome to The Home of The Runner-Up Finish, this time nearly led by Bonkersmate Liguriansea, 6 lengths behind the winner but second-best at 20¢ shy of 42-1. The winner was your 1½-1 fave, top of the Betting Line but disregarded by LifeLiner. Ugh. What are you gonna do?

WMF Report:

Early
Aqueduct 1m70y
Fair Grounds 6f
Gulf 5f (T) (WMF 200)

Nocturnal Submission: Sifting through the wreckage…

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