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Wednesday, October 17, 2007

Российская география

- So reader Andrew left a comment earlier today about the "commie exacta" at Belmont and asked, "Sounds like a good hunch play for a leftie like yourself!!"

Well, first of all, Hey, I resemble that remark! Yes, my politics may lean a little to the left; I did once dabble in Marxist Philosophy, and I bet the Russians minus 5 1/2 goals against Team USA in the 1980 Olympics (but just a fun bet, and I swear I didn't root for them) (though I did when they played the Flyers [link for hockey fans only]). But I ain't no stinkin' Commie!

Anyway, he said it was in the sixth at Belmont. I hadn't seen the entries , and when I looked, I didn't see anything obvious. Justin P doesn't sound Russian. Western Call....no, I don't think so. Smart Thinker? That certainly couldn't describe Vladimir Putin. Oh, I forgot, he's not a Communist, anyway.

So, I figured it was a mistake, and didn't have time to pursue the matter further.

As it turned out, it was a mistake. It was in the fifth race that Leningrad and Stalingrad were entered, and wouldn't you know it - they ran 1-2 in that order, virtually all the way around the track, returning $134! Tom Durkin mixed the two up at the beginning, and had a chuckle. He called it the "Russian Geography Exacta," which would have earned him an F in geography class considering that neither city is currently known by those names, and haven't been for some time. You'd think he could have done better than that. But I guess he didn't figure that 16-1 Leningrad would be involved. Trained by Richard Dutrow, he's a three-year old son of Aptitude that one can actually make a red-board case for. He was way up the track on the Calder dirt at 2-1 in his last, but was returning to the grass, on which he ran a not-too-horrible 7th with a trouble line in his prior effort, his debut. Stalingrad was a deserving second choice, coming off a nose loss at Saratoga. Дерьмо!

And that wasn't the only special exacta on the day. In the the third at Keeneland, there was Self Made Man - Double Shotgun; the Erik Prince Exacta. And back at Belmont, there was Big Jerome - Sabre Baby - the "King Kong" Korab Exacta. (er....hockey fans only again....old...hockey fans...)

3 Comments:

Anonymous said...

Biancone evades a gross misconduct and gets five for fighting and a game misconduct.

If racing were indeed hockey, then the Flyers' player doing a current 25 sin bin would have gotten 2 minutes for delay of the game and eventually the Lady Bing Trophy.

If Biancone were McSorley or Bertuzzi , he would have gotten a 10 minute misconduct.........in racing.

When is this sport going to get real teeth for these malevolent acts?

How much has Biancone profited through wagers, sales, or breeding rights of horses who have won illegal drugs in their systems?

He has been having a sub-par Keeneland meet and is it any coincidence?

In the words of Marv Albert, "YES!"

Mark Messier would have guaranteed this, "If I were a horse in a blue shirt, I'd be doped and win."

Anonymous said...

Thursday's sixth at the Meadowlands: Libertarian and Border Crossing go 1-2. What it lacks in a direct tie it makes up for in political philosophy extrapolation.

Anonymous said...

Scratch that previous comment: turns out Border Crossing faded to fourth late. Ain't Funny Honey was second...since libertarians aren't a sense-of-humor types, though...a reach, maybe.