{"id":3221,"date":"2013-01-18T10:38:52","date_gmt":"2013-01-18T18:38:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cynthiapublishing.com\/hp_wordpress\/?p=3221"},"modified":"2013-01-18T10:39:02","modified_gmt":"2013-01-18T18:39:02","slug":"first-post-friday-january-18-2013","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cynthiapublishing.com\/hp_wordpress\/2013\/01\/18\/first-post-friday-january-18-2013\/","title":{"rendered":"First Post: Friday, January 18, 2013"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"ausopenlogo\"<\/a>

You Cannot Be Serious<\/p><\/div>\n

All right, all right, ya tennis-loversz! With Nadal sitting out this year’s Australian Tournament, what are our options? Remember, we can never back that self-absorbed preener Rogerr Federr, the Cristiano Ronaldo of racquet sports. Also, Djokovic, while cool and casual, has pushy parents. Who’s left? <\/p>\n

In ascending order of win-probability: <\/p>\n

Richard Gasquet<\/strong> — Gorgeous one-handed backhand. Supremely talented but spottily engaged upstairs. As Craig Donnelly used to put it in his graded handicap in the Inquirer<\/em>: “Capable but erratic”.<\/p>\n

David Ferrer<\/strong> — Scrappy, hustling counterpuncher. Never quits on any ball. Limited physical stature can’t diminish his enthusiasm. <\/p>\n

Janko Tipsarevic<\/strong> — Wears spectacles on the court, sports a full beard, reads literature and has numerous tattoos. A free-spirit in a sport filled with carefully managed personas. Not elite, but always tries hard.<\/p>\n

Jo-Wilifried Tsonga<\/strong> — Known as “Baby Ali” for his resemblance to a young Cassius Clay. Fitness has been a question-mark, but he’s dropped some of the baby fat and loves these lightning-quick hardcourts. <\/p>\n

Andrew Murray<\/strong> — “Once he tasted blood, he never settled for the snake again”. Coach Ivan Lendl has gotten to the bottom of him. Frequent dismantler of both Federr and the Djokerr.<\/p>\n

Free<\/a> ones<\/strong>: Rundown…<\/p>\n

Aqueduct<\/strong> 9
\nGulf<\/strong> 2, 9<\/strong>
\nSanta Anita<\/strong> 4, 6<\/strong>, 7<\/p>\n

Pay-side<\/a><\/strong>: Today…<\/p>\n

Tampa<\/strong> 4
\nOaklawn<\/strong> 1, 2, 4<\/strong>, 5, 6<\/strong>
\nTurf Paradise<\/strong> 4, 5, 7, 8<\/strong>, 9
\nGolden Gate<\/strong> 3, 8
\nTurfway<\/strong> 2<\/strong>, 3, 6<\/strong>, 8
\nSam Houston<\/strong> 4<\/strong><\/p>\n

Today’s Stakes Pageantry<\/strong>: Sammie! Sam Houston Race Park & Hippodrome Pavilion opens this evening. Three added-money events in a row! Races 8 & 9 look wide-open. Have at ’em.<\/p>\n

Yesterday’s Activity<\/strong>: The free<\/a>-page failures had a 28-1 at The Big A; 17-1, 7-1, 13-1, 4½-1, 14-1 at Gulf; 31-1 at Santa Anita. One target hit was in Race 2 at Gulf, in which Fiddler Blue was bet-down by about two-thirds in winning at $11.40. <\/p>\n

Now, it’s always good to connect on a 22-1 shot, even more so when you help some other mopes to do the same. Behold Third Bonkersmate Torchrunner in the third at Laurel. Here was a first-timer in a field filled with them. Moreover, the morning-line fave — at a tepid 3-1 in the official track program but bet-down to a much more authoritative 1½-1 on the tote — was low horsey on the tote-m pole, or rather, the opposite poles of the V6 Betting Line and the LifeLiner Speed Column Analysis. As the Old Master Richard A. Mitchell would have snorted in his inimitable Brooklyn (pre-hipster Brooklyn, that is) style: “Chaos!”<\/p>\n

Some ghosts never die. Black Forest could not even hit the board. Torchrunner, 10-1 on the morning line but ignored to return $47.40 on the win end, possessed what the Boys In The Backroom like to describe as “triple-sufficiency”. <\/p>\n

What’s that? In the Name of the Trainer, the Jockey & the Trainer-Jockey comboa (yup, comboa), amen. Get double-digit percentages in each of these three categories, and you gain admittance, as a debut runner, into the main contention of a tossup-type maiden race. For Torchrunner, it was 21-11-50. This time it worked out for him and his precious few backers.<\/p>\n

As well, runner-up Green Canyon — 35-1 from 12-1 on the morning line —, fit the profile, but the Boys preferred to limit the considerations to a manageable handful. So, left on the table was a $770 (for $2) perfecta. Moransz! <\/p>\n

Later in Maryland, it was an opportunity to get suckered for the 27th consecutive race by the hapless Shordawatyadrink. He was 12-1 on the morning line but the locals knew a lot better and stayed away in droves, dismissing him at 31-1. RGIII10 could probably defeat him.<\/p>\n

Now, we should enjoy to play Fair Grounds in New Orleans; however, it seems a little depressing to have to slog through so many rained-off-the-turf races. Consumption of gumboa (yup, gumboa) can help during inclement periods. That and some absinthe.<\/p>\n

Last one at Oaklawn, the odds-on fave one, but we figure the people can locate those most-likely-winners on their own. We did run second and third to complete the trizacta, at 11-1 and 30-1. Even with the 9-10 chalk prevailing, the $1 triple (1970s NYRA terminology) came back $360.<\/p>\n

A winner in the closer at Santa Anita, not quite 20-1, but will ya settle for $40.60? Second Bonkersmate Mr T Bird showed no pity to the fools who did not look twice at him. One of those pooh-poohers was none other than the V6 Betting Line, which relegated him to the bottom of the equine (stock)pile. Insane! But the LifeLiner Speed Column Analysis gave him a resurrecting 85, and in a random-style race, it was sufficient. <\/p>\n

That was one of the reasons for creating a check on the Betting Line, especially in random-style races. Random-style races deserved an additional point of view. Hence the LifeLiner Speed Column Analysis. Sometimes it provides the antidote to random-style race dynamics.<\/p>\n

Two nights in a row, no rewarding Nocturnal Submissions. <\/p>\n

WMF Report<\/strong>: <\/p>\n

Early<\/em>
\nAqueduct 6f
\nLaurel 6f
\nTampa 1m40y
\nTurf Paradise 6f<\/p>\n

Rally<\/em>
\nGulf 1 1\/16m (T)<\/p>\n

Nocturnal Submission<\/strong>: Got another at Lake Chas<\/strong>. (Delta<\/strong>) in Race 6<\/strong> (8:58 p.m. EST \/ 5:58 p.m. PST): #9 Rahy Balboa<\/strong> (yup, Balboa). …<\/p>\n

Thank you. Best wishes. Goodbye. So long.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

All right, all right, ya tennis-loversz! With Nadal sitting out this year’s Australian Tournament, what are our options? Remember, we can never back that self-absorbed preener Rogerr Federr, the Cristiano Ronaldo of racquet sports. Also, Djokovic, while cool and casual, … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[11,4,5,3],"tags":[8,13,7,6],"class_list":["post-3221","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","category-picks","category-stakes","category-wmf","tag-analysis","tag-commentary","tag-longshots","tag-track-bias"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pavW5M-PX","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cynthiapublishing.com\/hp_wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3221","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cynthiapublishing.com\/hp_wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cynthiapublishing.com\/hp_wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cynthiapublishing.com\/hp_wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cynthiapublishing.com\/hp_wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3221"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/cynthiapublishing.com\/hp_wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3221\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3226,"href":"https:\/\/cynthiapublishing.com\/hp_wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3221\/revisions\/3226"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cynthiapublishing.com\/hp_wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3221"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cynthiapublishing.com\/hp_wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3221"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cynthiapublishing.com\/hp_wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3221"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}