Saturday June 1 - A New Month
A Light Weekend Of Racing
This weekend was a lull in major racing around the country. Next weekend is Belmont Stakes day so most of the eastern stables are pointing for the multiple graded stakes scheduled for that day and the following Saturday night is Stephen Foster night at "Downs After Dark" over the Churchill Downs surface - we'll be there! - and most Midwestern runners are pointing for one of those major stakes. Not that I couldn't have found many opportunities to handicap, because they pay the same on a maiden claimer as they do on a major graded stakes......but I had promised the ladies at Cypress Bay High that I would help the set up the Bank United Center on the Miami University campus for Sunday's graduation. I didn't know who was joining us for the morning's activities, but I can tell you I would have been truly excited had I known in advance that it would be just these hotties and me in the arena. LOTS of eye-candy for me and I enjoyed every minute of it!
But, I digress from the racing....... Penn National Race Course is a track I play maybe once a year only because they have racing under the lights and I typically have at least one day of marathon racing. But this year their racing secretary and marketing department had a great plan - they initiated the "Penn Mile Night" program and put up $500K for the feature race and built six undercard stakes races. The response was overwhelming with many big runners showing up and nearly all the east coast/Midwestern jockeys coming in for the night. I handicapped the card and had a play in all seven stakes. I added two selections from Belmont, where they had a series of state-bred stakes races on the card; had two races from the Churchill stakes card; and one play in the feature at Hollywood. The results were three wins from ten selections - a very solid 30% - but like the same tune being played this summer, the management of the money left the bottom line for the first day of racing of June in the red.
After spending the morning with "my girls" in Miami I stopped at Calder to make my bets and then headed home. It looked like it would be a great day when in my first play of the day, the Bouwerie Stakes from Belmont my selection, Lovely Syn blew her rivals away. The final furlong of the stretch she was geared down to a canter and still won by double-digit lengths. Ultra-impressive!
A half hour later it was time for the Affirmed Success Stakes going 6 1/2 furlongs over the Belmont main track. Entered and listed as the morning line favorite was NY State-bred champion Saginaw. He has literally owned the state-bred ranks in all races going one turn, and many wondered if he would be able to continue his winning ways after nearly being beaten in his last start. I was NOT one of those doubters. He's better at a one-turn mile or at seven panels, but he's proven himself over and over again to have the heart of a champion. He made his move on the turn and was grinding away at the leader in the final furlong. Briefly there was a question of him getting to the leader, but he proved he's all class but edging clear in the shadow of the wire and I was two-for-two to start the day!
The weather in Louisville was wet and so my pick in the Opening Verse Stakes, scheduled for the turf, scratched when the race was moved to the main track. But I still had my top selection in the Grade 3 Aristides. Last season Rothko had been very impressive running away from the field, and he looked to do the same again here. I wanted to know how Jill Byrne felt because I had picked him on name alone, and when I read he was her top pick I had a lot of confidence. He set the pace to the sixteenth pole but gave way to finish third. It was three hours later, at 6 pm when the Penn National card kicked off and I missed in the opener when Dorhy's Aurora faltered as the even-money favorite. The second as the Pennsylvania's Governor's Cup, going five furlongs on the turf. I had been initially drawn to the Penn card because I read that 20-time stakes winner Ben's Cat was running here. But when I handicapped the race I did not like the fact he was drawn in post eleven nor did I like the fact that on of his poorest efforts had come in this race last year. Those two factors made me think it was a good spot to look for an upset. He was facing off with Todd Pletcher's Bridgetown and multiple graded stakes winner Chamberlain Bridge.....maybe one of those two wake up tonight? But I was immediately drawn to the rail horse, former claimer Tightend Touchdown. He had won two straight after a photo finish loss in his first start off the claim for trainer Jason Servis. What impressed me first was that in these three starts for Servis, 'Touchdown had faced twenty horses through twelve points of call. He had led ALL TWENTY of them through eleven of the twelve calls, finishing a neck back of ONE of them on the wire of the first. He WOULD be on the lead. His pace calls also indicated that not only would he have the lead, but it looked to me he'd have a CLEAR lead....and at this short sprint distance that could be huge as the others would have to negotiate clean trips to run him down. Finally, his last two races had earned Beyer figures BETTER than those being earned by the "stars" of the field. In fact, if you go back to the bottom of favorite Ben's Cat's past performances, over a span of eleven turf sprints, he had a SINGLE number that would contest Tightend Touchdown. At 8/1 in the program it was my UPSET SPECIAL! As the gates sprung open 'Touchdown had been bet down to 3/1 but he immediately was clear on the lead. By the time they hit the turn he was clear by three plus lengths and was running in hand for jockey Javier Castellano. I knew I was home free. It was a virtual certainty when on the turn a longshot bore out badly and carried both Chamberlain Bridge and Ben's Cat almost to the outer fence.....there would be no late runner to worry about! Bridgetown was chasing through the lane, but he's not been at his career best and he settled for second best tonight. The payoff was a nice $8.80 and I cashed for well over $40! WHOOO HOOO!
Unfortunately that proved to be the end of the winning tickets. In the featured $500K Penn Mile I had made multiple stakes winner Noble Tune my "best" of the night. He was four-for-five in his career, the lone loss being a second in the Breeders' Cup. But when he turned from home his usual big kick was not there - he just ran flat through the lane and was off the board for the first time in his career. Big disappointment. Fifteen minutes later the Grade 2 Californian saw post-time favorite Liason run second as the even money favorite behind a runner who had been second behind top older handicap leader Game On Dude in both his last two starts. I liked Liason, and like Rothko earlier, I had been encouraged that he was DRF's Brad Free's "best" of the day. Candyman E should have been either on the lead or pressing the front end going five furlongs in the Penn Dash, but instead was last of five as the 4/5 favorite - only third on the wire. I had one last chance to get close to even in the final race of the night in the second heat of the Penn Dash. Manito was the 9/5 second choice and was dueling with the leaders turning for home. It appeared to me that he was the only one of the three that was not being pushed to his maximum effort yet as heads turned for home and I felt pretty good about my chances. Sure enough, at the 1/8th pole he began to pull away, but at the sixteenth pole he fell. Sigh....... We are less than two weeks away from our big summer adventure - off to Louisville for "Downs After Dark" and then on to Alaska! My plans are to get a full day of racing in this week, probably Thursday, and then spend Saturday at the races for Belmont Stakes day. I wish the timing was different because we'll have Kim's beautiful twin sister Karrie here for the weekend, but racing calls!
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