First Post of 2006

- Back after a brief hiatus, and hope everyone had a nice holiday. Glad to see the lively discussion in the comments section, and that Walter and others were able to cash in on Doug O’Neill’s first timer Totally Gone on Saturday. And totally gone he was, sprinting away from the field with an :11 4/5 eighth leaving the half mile mark and drawing off by six. This son of Gone West is closely inbred, 2x4, to Mr .Prospector and is out of a mare by Dayjur. As I wrote the other day, his pedigree is full of European turf stakes winners, but I guess he likes the slop as well.

As for Point of Impact, Walter was again right on, as his debut effort was extremely similar to that of Baffert’s Monarchos colt Royal Legacy last Monday. He was off very slowly, and has every right to move up big time at longer distances, on a dry track, and with a good start. When they came into the stretch, you caught a glimpse of him extremely wide before disappearing out of the shot. The fact that he was able to gain enough momentum to get up for third was mighty impressive.

Pussycat Doll (Real Quiet) was a big surprise to me in the La Brea; I thought she was a clear cut below Grade 1 caliber. A look back shows the fast workouts that Baffert was referring to when he bragged about heading to the winners circle at the eighth pole and saying that "She ran like she'd been training." [DRF] She must have liked the slop, I say. Besides, Baffert often works his horses like that, and his disappointing My Miss Storm Cat was blazing in the A.M. too. Thrilling Victory rallied for third at 22-1; her trainer Jerry Hollendorfer is on an incredible streak having won the last six stakes races to be run at the Northern California circuit of Golden Gate and Bay Meadows.

I had a light weekend of horseplaying; I missed the races on Saturday, having gone to our friends upstate for New Year’s Eve. Got back too late Sunday afternoon to get into it, but had plans for some at-home phone betting on Monday. However, I was distracted shortly before first race post at Calder by a plumbing crisis that resulted in an unspeakable mess and a $350 holiday visit from the plumber. Then it was off to Manhattan to take my daughter to Penn Station, and by the time I got home, all that remained were miserable maiden claiming finales from Calder and Turfway. The continued rain made Santa Anita unappealing so I was left with nothing.

Went out for dinner with the Head Chef, but it didn’t quash my appetite for some action. I’ve been going well lately. The Xmas break at Aqueduct came at the wrong time, and this weather in California put a damper on the weekend of racing there and left me feeling unfulfilled. So I was planning on taking in some harness action from Woodbine; but when I turned on HRTV, I saw it was cancelled due to bad weather. That left me with two harness tracks: Northfield and Pompano Park, and I went with the latter, a racetrack that I’ve actually been to many times on Gulfstream trips of years and decades past.

Passed a couple of races and got down with the last two on the card. In the 10th, I bet 7-1 Hearthrob on top of three horses in the exacta, throwing out the top three betting choices. Those favorites ended up out of the money, and Hearthrob’s rally for third fell about a half-length short of topping what would have been a $186 exacta. In the 11th, I bet favored Goldstar Melvyn on top of a cold exacta with Barberville Kid, at 21-1 one of the longshots in the field. In this one, the Kid swept to the lead at the top of the stretch with a three wide move, and seemed to be clearing the rest of the field as the favorite was poised to show his late kick. I was looking like a sure winner at midstretch as Melvyn kicked in. But the Kid hung a bit, and dropdown Visitor Parking, who had sat on the rail all the way, found a seam, steered out right into the path of the three horse, and rallied to nail me for the place. I don’t know what it takes to get a rise out of the stewards at harness races; perhaps a horse that presents a threat to our national security may get a look? That would have been a $97 exacta that I had enough times cold to make the memory of the morning’s plumbing mess a thing of the past.

Tough beats, but man, if you’re correctly identifying overlays and underlays, selecting horses that turn out live at good prices, and not only avoiding false favorites, but correctly taking decisive stands against them, you’re five steps ahead of the game right there. There’s only so much you can do; the rest depends on the fates of racing luck, and more times than not, that’s not going to go your way. But this is no time to get down; but rather to take encouragement about the things that you're doing right and keep plugging away - things will go your way at some point. I’m pretty psyched about these races even though I lost. And they satiated my urge for some action too. Maybe for a day.