Too Sick To Blog

- Yes, there is something other than vacations to paradise that can make me not post. Man, I was sick as a dog today, and had to come home from work. I figured I could bet some races, or write some posts, but instead spent the rest of the day in bed. The Head Chef took the laptop from our bedroom with no resistance on my part at all.

I'm supposed to meet a friend at a teletheater after work on Thursday for some early evening simulcasts, and hopefully this will be one of those 24 hour things and I'll be able to do so. But I was too sick to handicap during the day too.

So, feeling a bit better this evening, at least for awhile, I figured I'd do some handicapping and blogging at the same time and take a look at a few of the races I'll hopefully be playing. I only got to two races and now I'm fading again. But here they are anyway.

The fifth at Santa Anita is a maiden sprint for 62.5-55K claimers. Pick Vic ships in from Calder, where he was all over the stretch in finishing second in his debut. Jack Carava takes over training duties, and confidently moves him up from 40K to 62.5K. But that was a fairly strong 40K claimer he comes out of. The winner, Voorhee's Ballad, has raced creditably in open allowance company since them; third place finisher A Shore Thing won his next two, including a 40K starters allowance at Santa Anita after being claimed off a 12 length win by Jeff Mullins. Pick Vic picks up Garrett Gomez, who is 3 for 9 for Carava, shows a solid string of works over the track, and he looks like a value play at his 10-1 morning line.

Shame on Charlie moves back up in class for Baffert after a very good second against 50K company. He broke poorly, rushed up on the inside, was pressured every step of the way through fast fractions, and then proved to be extremely game, getting caught for second just at the end.

Headed for Home drops in for a tag; two back was an even fifth in maiden special weight company, racing a bit erratically in the stretch (looked like he thought about taking a bite out of the horse outside of him), and beaten just about a length by Noble Court, who graduated next time out, and won the G2 San Vicente this past weekend. Forget his last on the turf, but this barn just doesn't win too often.

Meritsndemerits and Oshinsky move up off claims by good first off the claim barns.

I like Pick Vic to win, and I'll box the exacta with he and Shame on Charlie

The seventh at Santa Anita goes on the grass at 6 1/2 furlongs on the downhill course.

Squeeze Me Tight has really taken to the grass, and showed some real handiness in his last, rated back to third after breaking on top from the outside post. It was a confident ride by David Flores, who took her three wide around the turn, and hand rode her most of the way home. A similar trip behind the speed horses can yield a similar result here.

Runaway Cozzene seems to really like the downhill course, with two excellent efforts in as many tries. She won her last, on this course, sprinting to the lead through quick fractions, putting away a talented 6-5 favorite in Sumthingtotalkabt and drawing away handily. She will however face some early pressure from inside and outside.

La Tormenta and Candy Jo come in off big layoffs. La Tormenta, three for four on the grass, defeated Candy Jo in an allowance race last May. But last year, off a similar layoff, she needed her return race and improved as the year went on. Besides, she faces some tough pace pressure starting from the rail, with Runaway Cozzene right outside of her. Candy Jo ran second in a stakes at Hollywood following the abovementioned race, but may be a question mark at this 6 1/2 furlong distance.

Bobby Frankel is always dangerous with foreign shippers, and Keladora showed good form in France, racing in routes. Frankel is two for seven, with four seconds, with foreign shippers cutting back to a sprint over the last two years.

I like Squeeze Me Tight, over Runaway Cozzene and Keladora.