Live and Dead on the Board

- Todd Pletcher dropped by for one race at Gulfstream on Wednesday and picked up his 8th winner in 18 starts at the meet. His three year old Throng graduated in his second start. I wrote about his first race somewhere in this long rambling post, noting that he was dead on the board at 6-1; I guess he must have been lower than that in the morning line if I wrote that. Actually, knowing what the morning line was in past races is a feature that would come in handy for me from time to time were that information included in the pp's. I recall a time when there were past performances available – I believe this was in the thoroughbred pp’s that Sports Eye briefly carried – that listed each horse's odds with three minutes until post time next to the final odds. That was a pretty great feature now that I recall it.

Anyway, Throng was dead on the track in that debut as well, finishing a no-threat 4th under Alan Garcia, who by the way did a fine imitation of Jeremy Rose in whipping and driving Achilles of Troy home in deep stretch of the Count Fleet. On Wednesday, Throng was the 5-1 third choice in the morning line, but got bet down to the 5-2 favorite, stretching out to a mile and getting Velasquez. The hot money was the smart money in this case as he won by six; however it took him almost 27 seconds to get home, so I wouldn’t be checking the futures pool on this one just yet. Throng is by Silver Deputy out of an Easy Goer mare who is a half-sister to champion Vanlandingham.

According to the race chart on BRIS, the nine horse, Powerminded, went off at 325-1, and the seven, Halrose, at 250-1! [No, the link doesn't work, but take my word for it.] Can that be? Now that's dead on the board! You figure there'd be enough people there with a cousin Hal or an Aunt Rose that Halrose would have gotten at least a little money! I definitely would have had Powerminded in the head-to-head bet despite the odds, and he did best Halrose, finishing 8th.

- Well, Gulfstream officials must have been happy that people are apparently heeding their call and staying away from the track; only 3,450 fans attended on a clear warm day. Of course, the weather won’t matter as much if the idea is to sit inside and watch on TV. In fact, Frank Stronach told the Form that he’s considering the possibility of night racing, explaining that "Most normal people work during the day.” What that makes those of you who work at night I’m not sure. From what I’m told, there’s not even a backyard area, though I can’t imagine there won’t be once the construction is done. Right?

For his part, Stronach said he would listen to complaints and make changes. He specifically mentioned the complaints about the admission charges to the simulcast rooms on the first floor and the limited seating available on the second level. And please make sure there’s a backyard.