Jan
31
‘Millions Miracle
Filed Under Uncategorized | Leave a Comment
Anyone who saw what the Santa Anita track looked like on Friday afternoon could not have believed it possible that there would be racing the following day. But thanks to a Herculean all-night effort by trackman Richard Tedesco and his crew—and a break in the weather—the Sunshine Millions card came off without a hitch. In front of 28,414 eager fans, who had not seen live racing since the previous Monday (racing was cancelled on Thursday and Friday, then again the day after ‘Millions when another storm came through), Santa Anita staged an excellent 11-race card that included the four local ‘Millions races. While only about $2.8 million was bet on track (the $100 per capita figure is very low, meaning a lot of those partaking in the infield microwbrew festival weren’t exactly pouring it through the windows), overall handle for the day was nearly $15 million. Although these figures pale in comparison to last year’s 36,355 on track patrons (who bet $4.47 million) and overall handle of more than $20 million, it’s still not a bad day considering the uncertainty of the weather and Santa Anita’s understandable reluctance to promote the event too aggressively.
On the racing front, we saw DEAREST TRICKSKI rattle off her eighth win from nine previous starts in dominating the Filly & Mare Sprint; QUITE A BRIDE pull off a mild upset over NASHOBA’S KEY in the Filly & Mare Turf; BOB BLACK JACK set a new world record, winning the Sunshine Dash in 1:06.53 to break IN SUMMATION’S five-day-old track record (by the way, to contrast Santa Anita’s Cushion Track with Del Mar’s Polytrack, In Summation ran the fastest 6-furlongs of the summer meet, going 1:11.06 in the Bing Crosby); and GO BETWEEN sweep wide and inhale his foes in taking the Sunshine Classic. In Florida, BENNY THE BULL cruised in the Sprint; AMERICAN COLONY took the Oaks; Eclipse Award-winning GINGER PUNCH returned to overwhelm the field in the Distaff; and WAR MONGER won nicely in the Turf. “Bicoastal” Bill Mott was the trainer of the day, winning twice at Santa Anita and once at Gulfstream. Someone said that the Florida-breds outpointed Cal-breds once again but, sorry, I wasn’t paying attention to that meaningless angle. Neither was anyone else.
NOTES: Tough day for track announcer Trevor Denman, who misprounced a number of names throughout the day. LARDOG (owned by Larry Edwards, so the obvious pronunciation would have been Lair-Dog) was called Larr-Dog; DEAREST TRICKSKI was called Dearest Trixie all the way around; MR. ELROY became Mr. McElroy at one point; NOW VICTORY was called Victory Now; but his most egregious mistake came in the ESPN2-televised Classic when Denman confused two horses and kept calling the eventual winner (Go Between) ELECTRIFY until the last few jumps. That must have been quite a surprise to Electrify’s connections, especially since he never got closer than eighth at any point in the race…as good as the day was, Kurt Hoover made an excellent point on Sunday’s “Thoroughbred Los Angeles” radio show: with purse money so inflated on ‘Millions Day that it attracts top Grade I-type horses, those runners end up dominating at short prices. It’s almost as if the success of the event has made it a less attractive wagering event—at least that’s what happened this year.
Odds and Ends: Santa Anita CEO Ron Charles had the quote of the meet when talking about two major problems with Santa Anita’s main track: it doesn’t drain and it doesn’t dry…apparently representatives of Cushion Track are no longer returning emails or phones calls from SA…an article in Saturday’s LA Times referred to Santa Anita’s FrontRunner restaurant as the RoadRunner. A friend emailed and wondered if Wile E. Coyote was the maitre’d…with seven days of racing cancelled already, Santa Anita has issued a memo to horsemen concerning its main track renovation plans (click here to see). As of now, the plan is to shut down after racing on Sunday, renovate Monday through Thursday, and be back running by Friday. As we’ve seen before, that is certainly subject to change. Interestingly, the memo talks about a contingency plan for moving the races to Hollywood Park on 48 hours notice…with plans of running extra races each day and the sure request for makeup dates, Kevin Modesti’s commentary in the LA Daily News (http://www.dailynews.com/search/ci_8080294?IADID=Search-www.dailynews.com-www.dailynews.com) was a breath of fresh air. He builds a strong case for less racing dates, while making horse racing a more seasonal sport. He writes that “less could be more, that horses and humans would be better off if they took more days and weeks off, that the general public would care more if it was allowed to miss racing every now and then and anticipate its return.” Makes sense to me.
Finally, handicapper Aaron Hesz, a contributor to “Thoroughbred Los Angeles”, on Sunday recounted a sad story about a 13-year-old mare who was brought back from a nearly six-year layoff to compete in a $2,000 claiming race at Los Alamitos the night before. The sad but not surprising result was that she broke down in the race and had to be euthanized. To view Hesz’s letter to Los Al owner Ed Allred, click here .
To view Free Samples of last week’s Premium Plays, click below: Jan. 21  Jan. 26
Jan
24
Sunshine Millions…at Hollywood Park?
Filed Under Uncategorized | Leave a Comment
It’s early Wednesday evening and rain has been falling steadily in the Arcadia area for more than two hours. The Santa Anita Cushion Track has been sealed tighter than a drum. The parking lot area behind the backstretch, across from the 3/8ths-pole, is home to tons of Cushion Track material, each in separate mounds of dirt, sand or God Knows What. The new material that will be added to the existing surface is sequestered off to the side, carefully covered with huge plastic tarps held down by sandbags. It looks more like the Irwindale gravel pits than the back parking lot of a world-renowned racetrack.
With more rain expected over the next couple of days, can Santa Anita take a chance on ripping open the sealed track for racing on Thursday and Friday, and possibly endangering its showcase Sunshine Millions event on Saturday? What happens if the track gets saturated as it did in early January (causing three days of cancellation), rendering it useless for Saturday’s 11-race card? Could Hollywood Park be a viable, yet embarrassing, option for hosting Sunshine Millions, one of Santa Anita’s marquee events? With no inside information at all, my guess would be that SA management has to be considering scrapping the next two days of racing in order to save the track for Saturday, hoping the wet weather has cleared out by then. What a mess. It’s safe to say that the 2008 season will not go down as Santa Anita’s finest moment.
NOTES: The Cushion Track is playing ridiculously fast, evidenced by GAYEGO running 1:13.07 in winning the San Pedro Stakes on Sunday (6 furlong split of 1:06.82 set by SEA OF PLEASURE), and IN SUMMATION narrowly defeating BARBECUE EDDIE in Monday’s Palos Verdes while sizzling 1:06.67. As one pressboxer cracked, they should be starting these races with a checkered flag…four wins for trainer Doug O’Neill on Saturday, including a natural hat trick (races 3-5). Not a bad way to break out of a slump, putting O’Neill back on top of the trainer standings, tied with John Sadler at 10 winners, one ahead of Jeff Mullins…bad week for jockeys as Corey Nakatani and Agapito Delgadillo (nasty spill in Saturday’s 7th race) both suffered broken collarbones. Nakatani’s injury occurred in a training accident on Saturday morning and cost him winning rides on both TRICK’S PIC (Saturday’s Tuzla Handicap) and IN SUMMATION. He is expected to be out of action for three to four weeks…CHAMPS ELYSEES overcame a wide trip and did what he had to in winning the San Marcos over five overmatched foes. He wants to run all day (San Juan Capistrano) but doesn’t strike me as a world beater…TRAIL MIX stepped up three levels to win his third straight for Gary Stute and Black Diamond Racing…super field for the Sunshine Millions Classic, by far the strongest in the six-year history of the series…how was PROMISE OF SPRING not disqualified out of Sunday’s last race? She came out and racked up the field in mid-stretch, then came out again near the wire, yet the stewards ruled “several horses were equally contributable”. A better explanation would have been, “It’s the last race of a long 10-race card and it’s too confusing to figure out where to place her, so let’s just leave it alone and get out of here.”
MLK Weekend Attendance Figures, with corresponding ’07 figures in parentheses: Saturday—9,456 (12,494); Sunday—6,759 (7,182); Monday—7,048 (10,681). That’s a 23% decline…Yikes.
To View Free Samples of last week’s Premium Plays, click on the links below: Jan. 17Â Â Jan. 18Â Â Jan. 19Â Â Jan. 20Â Â Jan. 21Â
Jan
17
180 Degree Reversal
Filed Under Uncategorized | Leave a Comment
Okay, scrap everything I wrote in the last blog posting (“Cushion Track Debacle”). Although my speculation regarding what Santa Anita was going to do about Cushion Track (along with ensuing timetables) was sound at the time, track President and CEO Ron Charles has now laid out a different plan of attack. In a last-ditch effort to salvage the $10 million-plus Cushion Track (and unable to find enough quality sandy loam to replace the synthetic track with “real” dirt), Charles brought in Ian Pearse, a synthetic-track expert and founder of the Australian company Pro-Ride. Pearse, along with USC civil engineers, spent last week tinkering with samples of the Cushion Track, adding polymers (chemical compounds formed by the union of small molecules, according to Webster’s Dictionary) to the track in hopes of getting water to drain through properly. According to more than one leading trainer who was present, the results were encouraging.
At today’s CHRB meeting, Charles, according to Steve Andersen in DRF, said the polymers would be available within 10 days and work on the strip would likely begin as early as Monday, Jan. 28, weather permitting. The process of adding these polymers and fibers to the track takes four days, so Santa Anita will lose two more days of racing to go along with three previous cancellation days. With Sunshine Millions set for Jan. 26, Santa Anita needs to get lucky with dry weather over the next couple of weeks or be faced with another potential PR disaster. What happens if we get more wet weather between now and the time repair work begins? With one forecast calling for a 40% chance of rain on Monday or Tuesday, Santa Anita management must be on pins and needles.
Synthetics, polymers, civil engineers. Who could have envisioned these words being used in racing language just a few short years ago?
Speaking of Sunshine Millions, the banners are up and sponsorship flags are flying. California vs. Florida. Santa Anita and Gulfstream Park. Sorry, but the whole rivalry between state-breds (and point totals kept for each state as the day progresses) has never caught on. Does the average horseplayer care one iota if the horse he just cashed on was bred in California or Florida? Absolutely not. It’s a fun day with quality horses running for extremely exaggerated purse money. But not one person at the track gives a hoot where these horses were bred.
NOTES: After starting the meet 0-for-30, Joe Talamo busted out of his slump in a big way. The recently-turned 18-year-old won with eight of 25 mounts last week, including a stakes win on FINAL FLING in Sunday’s Santa Ysabel. Not only that, Talamo got a hole-in-one while playing at a local par-3 course…ZENYATTA was awesome again in taking the El Encino while INDIAN BLESSING was straight as a string to take the Santa Ynez in her first start since winning the BC Juvenile Fillies. Based on what we saw here, she has no chance of beating COUNTRY STAR when those two meet in the upcoming SA Oaks…undefeated EL GATO MALO was visually impressive in winning the San Rafael but to me the jury is still out. He ran by exhausted leaders who had dueled through crazy early fractions, so he couldn’t help but win given the way the race came up…ZAPPA continued up the ladder while pulling off the upset in the San Pasqual, further underscoring the weakness of the local handicap division…AIR COMMANDER got the best of the head bob to narrowly defeat tough-as-nails JOHNNY EVES in the San Fernando, second leg of the Strub Series. Tiago ran a decent third in his first start since the BC Classic…WAIT A WHILE outclassed her opponents in the San Gorgonio, giving Todd Pletcher another important stakes win the day after he scored his 2,000th career traning victory…Western Canada win machine MONASHEE showed that she could beat the big girls, wiring her opponents in the Paseana for her 18th win in 24 career starts…favorites are winning at only 28% for the meet, so I’m feeling pretty good about my 32% win percentage (38 top choice winners from 118 races), while showing a healthy flat-bet profit with $286.40 in mutuels…there is a Pick Six carryover of more than $93,000 into Thursday’s card.
With a total of at least five days likely to be cancelled at this meet, here’s hoping Santa Anita management does not approach the CHRB about make-up dates. The idea of six-day race weeks tacked on to an already endless 17-week meet is madness. We already have too many racing dates on the calendar—we certainly don’t need more. Bite the bullet, Santa Anita. Run a few extra races each week to make up the difference, but don’t add more work days to an already-fatigued population of horses, trainers, track employees and horseplayers.
To View Free Samples of last week’s Premium Plays, click on the links below: Jan. 10Â Â Jan. 11Â Â Jan. 12Â Â Jan. 13Â Â Jan. 14
Jan
10
Cushion Track Debacle
Filed Under Uncategorized | 3 Comments
Three days cancelled so far, with more on the way. The Cushion Track Era at Santa Anita has been an unmitigated disaster, one which will limp to a premature conclusion by the end of this racing week, according to very good sources. I have been told that Santa Anita will begin removing Cushion Track on Monday or Tuesday, skip regularly scheduled cards on Thursday and Friday (Jan. 17-18), then run two or three days of “turf only” cards. All this while feverishly installing a conventional dirt track (which obviously will be approved by the CHRB at their Jan. 17 meeting) in order to get back on a normal racing schedule, presumably by Thursday, Jan. 24.
Given the options, it seems Santa Anita will be able to salvage its meet without catastrophic damage being done. Those options included Santa Anita moving its meet to Hollywood Park, approved by the CHRB but a logistical nightmare almost beyond comprehension; cancelling racing for a four- to six-week period as a new synthetic track (undoubtedly Tapeta) was installed; or trying the “Band Aid” approach of trying to nurse the current surface through to closing day on Apr. 20.
Considering that Hollywood Park had to run its Turf Festival without turf racing a couple years ago, running “all turf” cards for a few days at Santa Anita won’t be the most bizarre thing we’ve ever experienced around here. But it does open the door for a few questions: what happens if it rains on those days?; will the 6 1/2 furlong downhill races have to be scrapped due to work being done on the main track? (if so that would leave 5 furlongs as the only viable sprint distance); where will the horses warm up before each race if the main track is ripped apart? I’m sure these questions have been pondered already, hopefully with corresponding answers.
As things came unravelled last weekend, it seemed like the synthetic track critics came out of the woodwork. Never was the expression “Hindsight is 20/20″ more apropos. People who had raved about Cushion Track at Hollywood Park were now decrying it as the work of Satan. It gave whole new meaning to the popular political term “flip-flopping”. For the record, I have been a proponent of the synthetic surfaces and have written so many times. I think they have been safer, with less catastrophic breakdowns and quicker recovery time for horses, which in turn have led to larger field sizes and better gambling opportunities. They have attracted Eastern barns, such as Todd Pletcher, which otherwise never would have had a presence in California. Are they perfect? No, horses still get injured. Are they maintenance free? Certainly not, evidenced by the almost non-stop work done on the Santa Anita strip since early December. Should they have been mandated by the CHRB with minimal research at its disposal? Probably not.
But if one flashes back to the “killing field” known as Del Mar racetrack in the summer of ’06, was there a better option? Horses seemed to break down on a daily basis, with death counts running in the local papers and animal rights activists ready to picket the place. And that wasn’t the first summer Del Mar had experienced an abnormally high rate of breakdowns. Was it the track surface? Too little time to prepare for a meet after the Fair left town? An incompetent trackman? Perhaps a combination of all three? Who knows. I do know that it was getting to be a sickening experience watching horses snapping their legs and riders going down in gruesome spills. Something had to be done, so I’m not going to flip-flop my opinion of synthetic surfaces because of this recent snafu, caused by human error/incompetence on the part of those who put down Cushion Track in Arcadia.
I may be proved wrong in the long run. Certainly there are good arguments to be made by the other side, including Lenny Shulman’s excellent article in The Blood-Horse magazine. Others are concerned about the long-term health risks of these synthetic particles to horse and human. Some say the CHRB mandate came from an overzealous executive director more concerned about his future legacy than making a well-studied decision. Whatever the case, let’s hope Santa Anita gets the ship righted as quickly as possible, so we can get back to talking about something positive in racing. By the way, has anyone seen P.Val lately?
To View Free Samples of Premium Plays from last week, click on the links below: Jan.3Â Â Jan. 4
Â
Jan
3
One “Week” in the Books
Filed Under Uncategorized | Leave a Comment
If it seems like the Santa Anita meet is already a month old, it’s just your imagination. Sort of. With the holidays falling on funny days (New Year’s Day on a Tuesday, for God’s sake), racetrackers have been thrown all out of sorts. In Southern California we have become accustomed to a Wednesday through Sunday race week, and we don’t particularly care for any deviation. How Santa Anita’s new Thursday through Monday schedule is going to work out is anybody’s guess. But this meet opened on a Wednesday, took Thursday off, then ran Friday-Tuesday, making for six racing dates in seven calendar days. And with 10-race cards on the weekend and New Year’s Day, there were a total of 55 races (compared to 52 during the same time frame last year) carded over those six days. Is Santa Anita loading up on more 10-race cards because they are anticipating losing races/dates when the rain hits and Cushion Track doesn’t drain properly?
Speaking of weather and Cushion Track, did you see the press release sent out by the maker of Santa Anita’s new surface. If not, it starts out like this: “With record rainfall predicted for later this week, Cushion Track experts have thus far failed to come up with a solution for the failure of the synthetic surface at Santa Anita Park to drain properly.” For the entire text, click Cushion Track Press Release. If the predicted storm materializes, do not be surprised if Santa Anita is forced to cancel parts or entire racing cards.
P.Val Saga: It’s old news by now but the Patrick Valenzuela saga took another turn when it was announced Friday that P.Val on Dec. 20 had been arrested for a DUI in Upland. Apparently, Valenzuela crashed his car at a fast food restaurant, then attempted to drive away with two flat tires. At 2:48 a.m. Treading on thin ice with his most recent provisional license, the 45-year-old rider probably will not be able to reapply until his current license runs out at the end of ’08. Rumor has it that even P.Val’s long-time attorney Neil Papiano is ready to wash his hands of the troubled rider.
Perhaps I’m not too sympathetic to the whole “disease” aspect of addiction (who truly knows how much of addiction is beyond the individual’s control and how much is a matter of personal willpower). But I’m a big believer in personal choice and responsibility for one’s actions. I believe we make a choice in what we inhale, ingest and imbibe. So excuse me if I don’t feel sympathy for Pat Valenzuela. He’s obviously got personal demons he’s unable to control, while squandering a career (suspended for eight years at last count) that might have put him at the top of the record books. But instead he became the Steve Howe of our sport, and it appears time has finally run out.
NOTES: David Flores got off to a flying start, winning four races and all three stakes on opening day. He is one winner behind leading rider Rafael Bejarano and tied with Garrett Gomez for second-place in the jockey standings..on the other end of the spectrum, Joe Talamo has not yet won a race at the meet, going oh-fer since switching agents…Doug O’Neill appears to have broken out of his funk, winning four races opening week to be tied with Mike Mitchell in the trainer’s race…tip of the cap to owners Alan Aidekman, Gaylord Ailshie, Tom Harris and trainer Dave Bernstein for retiring TRULY A JUDGE. The 9-year-old gelding earned over $750,000 for those connections and will now enjoy the good life at CERF…despite drawing over 30,000 on opening day, Santa Anita was relegated to a one-column story on page 4 of the L.A. Times sports section. Contrast that anemic coverage to what the Great Race Place received in the Pasadena Star-News. Not just because my graded handicap appears in these papers, but if you live in the Los Angeles metropolitan area and are looking for good horse racing coverage, you need to check out LANG newspapers like the Star-News, L.A. Daily News, San Gabriel Valley Tribune, Daily Breeze, etc. Weekly columns and stories by Art Wilson, my graded handicap, a consensus box that features top handicappers Jerry Antonucci, Ray Nelson and Terry Turrell, and FULL CHARTS! You won’t find that in the Times….through Tuesday, I’ve picked 20 top choice winners (36%) for $152.60 in mutuel totals, way over the flat-bet mark of $110 (55 races).
My Eclipse Award Ballot: Submitted yesterday, here’s the way I voted: 2-year-old colt or gelding–WAR PASS; 2-year-old filly–INDIAN BLESSING; 3-year-old colt or gelding–CURLIN; 3-year-old filly–RAGS TO RICHES; older horse–LAWYER RON; older filly or mare–GINGER PUNCH; male sprinter–MIDNIGHT LUTE; female sprinter–MARYFIELD; male turf–ENGLISH CHANNEL; female turf–LAHUDOOD; Horse of the Year–CURLIN; breeder–ADENA SPRINGS; owner–SHADWELL STABLES; trainer–TODD PLETCHER; jockey–GARRETT GOMEZ; apprentice–JOE TALAMO.
To View Free Samples of last week’s Premium Plays, click on the links below: Dec. 26Â Â Dec. 28Â Â Dec. 29Â Â Dec. 30Â Â Dec. 31Â Â Jan. 1
Dec
26
‘Twas the Night Before Santa Anita
Filed Under Uncategorized | Leave a Comment
Presents have been opened, food and beverage overconsumed. Tomorrow is opening day at Santa Anita, which is one of the two special days (along with opening day at Del Mar) on the Southern California calendar. Noon post, nine difficult races with huge field sizes. The late Pick 4 consists of 12, 14, 14 and 14 runners, including competitive stakes in the Malibu and the Sir Beaufort. With no runner less than 7/2 on the morning line, the P4 payoff will be healthy no matter which horses win. Not to mention possibilities for lucrative exotic payoffs all day long. And don’t forget the new bet—the Super High Five—which is essentially a superfecta plus one on the last race of the day. It’s a $1 bet that requires picking the first five horses in correct order of finish. Do that and walk away with a big score. If no one hits that day, the pool (minus takeout) carries over to the next day…and so on.
Hollywood Wrap: I thought the HP Fall meet went very well. The quality of racing was good, field sizes were solid and form held up well. Highlights of the meet: COUNTRY STAR winning the Starlet and being named horse of the meet; Garrett Gomez drawing off to win the riding title over a suddenly strong local colony; trainer John Sadler winning his first title after years of being one of the circuit’s top conditioners. The Sadler barn won with maiden claimers to stakes horses and everything in between; Jerry Hollendorfer getting his 5,000th win in the last race of the meet. The perennial Bay Area kingpin has more than proved himself on this circuit over the past year.
NOTES: Jockey Joe Talamo fired agent Ronnie Ebanks and hired Scotty McClellan. Is it coincidental or did trainers give Talamo the cold shoulder with only three mounts in each of Santa Anita’s first two cards?…CITRONNADE was retired after her easy win in the Dahlia on Dec. 16. The Bobby Frankel-trained filly retires with a record of nine wins from 14 starts (seven for 10 on turf) but it’s hard to guage how good she really was. Almost every one of her important wins was accomplished as the lone speed in paceless races…what a day for Marty Jones on Friday, racking up three longshot wins on the day. Hope he was gambling because his winners paid $39, $30.20 and $21.
Drainage Debacle: The Santa Anita Cushion Track has been put back together again, with horses back working over the strip in the last week. The weather will be great for opening day and the forseeable future, but what about when the rain comes? I’m hearing that the track will be sealed when rain is anticipated, but what happens when the seal is broken? Will the track drain enough to allow racing to continue? Many racing insiders feel that races will be cancelled and days will be lost if we have a wet winter. In other words, the smart money says that Santa Anita will not be able to run all 85 scheduled days.
To view Free Samples of Premium Plays, click on the links below: Dec. 12Â Â Dec. 13Â Â Dec. 14Â Â Dec. 15Â Â Dec. 16Â Â Dec. 21Â Â Dec. 22
Dec
12
Breeders’ Cup Adds More Races
Filed Under Uncategorized | Leave a Comment
It should have come as no surprise that the Breeders’ Cup added three more races to its now two-day affair. If a little is good, a lot has to be better, right? Next year at Oak Tree, Friday’s warm-up card will include the $1 million Turf Sprint; the $1 million Juvenile Fillies Turf; and the $500,000 Dirt Marathon. Of these three, I can only get excited about the Turf Sprint, especially since it will be run over Santa Anita’s unique downhill course.
I was ambivalent when BC announced it was adding three races and a second day of racing for this year’s running at Monmouth. Being a die-hard traditionalist, I am always leery of changing something that works. Breeders’ Cup Day has been my favorite event of the year since its inception in 1984. However, I enjoyed this year’s undercard and felt all three races (Filly and Mare Sprint, Dirt Mile and Juvenile Turf) fit into a niche.
But I can’t see the logic in further diluting the juvenile division, now making four of the 14 races for 2-year-olds. As for the Dirt Marathon? Maybe I’m suffering from Adult ADD, but I just don’t find the thrill in marathon racing (sorry, that goes for the San Juan Capistrano and any other turf marathon you want to name). If the point of a horse race is for every runner to gallop along on a false pace to the 1/4-pole, then see who can sprint home the fastest, then I’m missing the boat. Call me unsophisticated, but these races have always bored me to tears. I do like the concept of a race for turf sprinters (which is always an extremely competitive division), so for my money, Breeders’ Cup got one out of three right.
NOTES:Â Four track records fell last week, which means the HP Cushion Track is now playing very much like the Santa Anita version. It wasn’t that way for the first two meets run over this synthetic surface but, for some reason, it sure has gotten quick lately…no Pick Six carryovers but there were only two winning tickets on Thursday and Friday, and single-ticket winners over the weekend. Despite HEATSEEKER ($63.40) winning Saturday’s Native Diver and MIGHTY CLEVER ($110.00) pulling off the shocker on Sunday, someone was able to hit both days. Personally, neither of those two winners was as shocking as 5-year-old professional maiden WILD BEGINNINGS taking the Saturday nightcap in his 29th start…the jockey race is starting to turn into the Garrett Gomez show as he closed out the week with a 29-23 lead over Tyler Baze, whose cousin Michael surged with four winners on Saturday and ended the week at 22…John Sadler holds a 16-11 margin over Mike Mitchell. Both trainers are hitting at a very high percentage and sending out nothing but live runners…honorable mention to perhaps the best value trainer on the circuit, Jorge Periban, who saddled two winners; and Neil Drysdale, who sent out three winners, including longshots CANTEEN ($55.40) and BELAFONTE ($22.60), as well as Hermosa Beach winner SOHGOL…former jockey Kenny Black scored his first win as a trainer with longshot FRANGIPANNI on Saturday…stretch-running TRUE MAN closed about as fast as I’ve ever seen, coming from about 12 lengths back at the 3/16ths (still six lengths behind leader at 1/8th) to run down “sure winner” LUIS’S ESPECIAL in Saturday’s 8th.
It was a breath of fresh air listening to track announcer Frank Mirahmadi pinch hit for Vic Stauffer on Sunday. Mirahmadi’s calls were easy on the ears, measured and accurate. Especially after Stauffer’s glaring mistakes during the week: (“SUNRIVER is going to win the Hollywood Gold Cup…Hollywood Turf Cup”—forcing another re-do on the replay show; and botching the SOHGOL call (proclaiming her “head strong…absolutely rank” and said the second horse “seems to be going more comfortably”) before her handy victory. Mirahmadi didn’t use any of his terrific impersonations for the race calls but had me in stitches as Marv Albert during his radio interview with Mike Willman that morning.
Finally, Hollywood Park announced The Californian will be renamed for Lava Man following his retirement. Seems like a strange gesture considering the track is likely to shut down in the next year or two. What happens if Lava Man outlasts Hollywood Park?
To View Free Samples of Premium Plays from last week, click on the links below:Â Dec. 5Â Â Dec. 6Â Â Â Â Â Dec. 7Â Â Â Â Â Dec. 8Â Â Â Dec. 9
Dec
5
Mailbag and More
Filed Under Uncategorized | Leave a Comment
The natives were extremely restless this week when it came to emailing yours truly. On topics ranging from late odds drops, proportional payouts for dead-heats in Pick 4′s and Pick 6′s, consolation pools in the Pick 4, Frank Stronach’s Energy Girls or commentary on the Hollywood Park track announcer, I got it all. First, a recap of the week and then we’ll get to the mailbag.
The Cushion Track continues to play very fast, with another track record falling on Saturday when ROMANCE IS DIANE wired the Bayakoa field in 1:40.90. Her connections had contemplated retirement when her form went sour earlier in the year, but she is back better than ever…on Sunday, BUSHWACKER also went gate to wire in taking the Underwood over favorites IN SUMMATION and GREG’S GOLD, who appears to have lost a step. Despite drifting out late and surviving an inquiry, BUSHWACKER got the money under Joe Talamo in a 1:08.2…Michael Baze got back in the hunt with four winners on Wednesday’s card, including a romping win with CHARM THE GIANT in the feature…although he rode two winners on Friday, Victor Espinoza is mired in a terrible slump. Through Sunday’s card, he had only four wins from 83 mounts…the Show Plunger went down the tubes again, this time when HARLENE ran out of the money in Thurday’s 2nd race, triggering big show prices for the top three. Anyone crazy enough to make this type of wager gets zero sympathy from this corner…favorites are winning at a more respectable 31.6% for the meet…through the first 20 days, I lead all public handicappers with 59 winners (34%) for $351.60 in mutuels, a flat-bet profit based on 174 races…there is a Pick Six carryover of more than $172,000 into Wednesday’s card.
To illustrate what kind of demand he is in, Garrett Gomez rode nine races (one of his mounts was scratched from Sunday’s 10-race card), nearly every one of which he had NOT ridden in their most recent starts. Gomez knocked down three winners to assume the top spot in the standings, two in front of Tyler Baze. To say that Gomez is the best rider in the country seems as obvious to me as saying Michael Jordan was the best basketball player of his era. He simply possesses that special quality that gets extra run out of his mounts.
Now to the mailbag:
Regarding proportional payouts and Pick 4 consolation pools, I received this email from Mike Marten, spokesman for the CHRB:
Here is part of the report by Commissioner Jerry Moss to the full Board on November 29 pertaining to consolations and proportional payouts. Moss chairs the Pari-Mutuel Operations Committee, which met October 19 and learned about the technical problem from Scientific Games at that time.
You were the catalyst for getting the proportional payouts discussion going, and we’re sorry we could not accommodate you and other bettors.
From Commissioner Jerry Moss: We heard from Scientific Games on the technical reasons why they cannot implement our new rules for consolation pools for scratched horses in the Pick Four and for proportional payouts when there are deadheats in the Pick Four and Pick Six. Initially, Scientific Games told us we could go ahead with these changes, but upon further review, they determined we cannot. It all has to do with the way wagers are processed. There is a fundamental difference in the way they process the daily double and the Pick Three–which do have consolation pools and proportional payouts–and the way they process wagers involving more races, such as the Pick Four and the Pick Six.
Bottom line, they say they can’t do it. So we, as a Board, cannot provide these changes for the benefit of bettors. It is very disappointing, but there doesn’t seem to be any way to get around it.
More from Marten: It cannot be done under existing totalizator protocols and technology in North America but it will be possible with the new Wagering Transaction Protocol that will be going through the trial stages this year in various racing jurisdictions. WTP also will be the solution to late odds changes. I’m sure there will be an update on WTP coming out of the Racing Symposium in Arizona this month, which will give us a better idea of how far away WTP is from being fully implemented.
From reader Roger W: I think any private concern who gave such a contract and had the contractor [Scientific Games] default so badly, would have set a deadline for completion and, if the demand was not met, would put the contract out for re-bid to see if someone else could do the job…same old stuff. Everyone seems to be served first except the horseplayer. HHHMMM!
Regarding Frank’s Energy Girls from Big Bobby L: Whatever you think about Frankie S. and his performance running the MEC tracks, you’ve got to give him credit for Frank’s Energy Girls. Staying consistent with Frankie S.’s ‘hands-on’ management style, I’m sure that Frankie S. might have provided some input concerning the selection of the Energy Girls. My personal favorite was Margaretta. I especially liked her choice of favorite food–the wiener schnitzel!!
And finally, on the topic of our favorite track announcer. You’ve heard me rant and rave enough, this from a prominent industry observer who shall remain nameless:
I swear to God if I have to listen to this announcer one day longer …
Â
Look at the finish for God’s sake, you absolute hack. People do bet the tris and supers and you are absolutely horrendous at calling the finish. Can’t split close ones, doesn’t know who ran third or fourth because he either didn’t look the first time or spent too long saying, “okay, I think it’s A but then B did this and then blah, blah, blah.” Just call what it was and shut up! First race today is a perfect example if you can hear the gallop out. No, the 4 was not even close to fourth, the 1 ran fourth by over a length but he said maybe the 4 because he galloped out well and didn’t look the first time. The other day with Dawn After Dawn and Swiss Diva he goes “Swiss Diva got way the best of the bob.” Acutally, no, she was basically in front but got the absolute worst of the bob, and any fool could see that live. Look up the photo on Calracing if you didn’t see it. How about the Grade I Hollywood Derby? “Maybe Mostacolli Mort for fourth.” No, actually Twilight Meteor ran fourth by, again, over a length but, hey, you’re not there for the
superfecta bettors or owners/breeders who would like to know that their horse actually did place fourth.
Â
“And if so and so wins the 54th so and so stakes she will make up x lengths in 4-1/2 furlongs …” When I hear that one coming my stomach just turns.
Â
And he can’t see them coming from out of it with a searchlight. They’re in the test barn by the time he gets on board. Couldn’t pick it out of the pack if he had a psychic working with him around the clock.Â
Absolutely dreadful!
Â
Â
Good night, now.
Â
To View Free Samples of Premium Plays from last week, click on the links below: Nov. 28    Nov. 29   Nov. 30   Dec. 1   Dec. 2
Nov
27
2007 Turf Festival in the Books
Filed Under Uncategorized | Leave a Comment
The highlight of the Hollywood Park Fall meet is the Turf Festival, unless, of course, you back to 2005 when there was no Turf Festival. We saw a number of good performances and exciting races this year but I thought the victory by PRECIOUS KITTEN in Sunday’s Matriarch stood out as the top performance in the six-race sequence. She got an outstanding ride by Rafael Bejarano (he’s even better than advertised, by the way), who let no-chance longshot Live Life make the lead and was content to sit second, moved up when forced to go near the 1/4-pole, then spurted away at the top of stretch and held WAIT A WHILE safely at bay. She deserved this win, especially since she was carried out and eliminated in the BC Filly & Mare Turf last month at Monmouth. Also on Sunday, DAYTONA made it two straight (and third win in this country) with a front-running score in the Hollywood Derby. He got a very comfortable trip under Mike Smith and had enough left to hold off hard-knocking MEDICI CODE. Although unable to win in four starts when ridden by Alex Solis, his son, Alex Jr., was responsible for putting together the syndicate that brought DAYTONA over from England.
In other Festival races, Todd Pletcher broke his own earnings record and added two more stakes wins for ’07 with 2-year-olds THE LEOPARD (handy winner of the Generous) and SEA CHANTER (Miesque). LANG FIELD beat a subpar Grade I field in the Citation, holding off a slightly unlucky ZANN to win by a neck. And Saturday’s Turf Express was an absolute rodeo, with favorite FAST PARADE drifting out and impeding five horses to his outside in mid-stretch. UNUSUAL SUSPECT and BONFANTE took advantage of rail runs to finish a nose apart, but who knows what would have happened in a cleanly-run race?
NOTES: There were single-ticket winners in the Pick Six on two days last week, including Saturday’s $582,041 bonanza…favorites are winning at slightly over 27% for the meet…super training achievement by Mike Puype, who won three on Friday…Cushion Track played lightning fast over the weekend, with track records set by CURIOUSLY SWEET (1:41.27) on Saturday and JOHNNY EVES (1:14.03) on Sunday…MASSIVE DRAMA was an impressive winner of the Prevue on Thanksgiving Day. Along with COLONEL JOHN, two exciting juvenile colts finally have emerged on the Southern California circuit…how about all the blanket finishes lately? On Friday, seven horses finished within about a half-length in the 6th race, then four were on the line in the 8th. Saturday’s 10th race saw another five-horse cavalry charge…in Wednesday’s 7th, the trifecta came back awfully short considering the prices of the top three: TALKIN TO MOM ROO (bet from 33-1 to 23-1 sometime after the gates opened), WILD DIPLOMAT (15-1) and DAKOTA PADRE (19-1) returned $2,417 in an 11-horse field (with the favorites running out). To show how far out of whack the trifecta was, compare it to the $36,229 superfecta with favorite SOLEMN PROMISE running fourth…using alternate selections on Pick 4 and Pick 6 wagers is always a good idea. I was able to catch Sunday’s late Pick 4 on my Premium Play sheet ($525 return on a $64 ticket) because I used alternate DEVILS AFLEET as a replacement for original top choice AFLEET RULER, who scratched after the sheet had been published.
Finally, word on the street is that Santa Anita will shut down its main track for a week as workers try to fix the drainage problem that has plagued the newly-installed $10 million Cushion Track. I have written about this issue in two previous postings…expect a release from Santa Anita officials on Wednesday morning.
To View Free Samples of Premium Plays from last week, click on the links below: Nov. 21Â Â Â Â Nov. 22Â Â Nov. 23Â Â Nov. 24Â Â Nov. 25
Nov
20
Statistics Can Be Misleading
Filed Under Uncategorized | Leave a Comment
Since the advent of synthetic surfaces in Southern California last fall, we have been told about the positive effect they are having on racing, especially for the safety and well-being of the horses. The mantra goes like this: less injuries—particularly catastrophic ones—and quicker recovery time after a race or workout, allow horses to run back quicker, which leads to bigger field sizes. Sounds logical, although many believe that, when comparing casualties and injuries from races and morning workouts from the previous year, there has been no decrease in these numbers. In any case, average field size per race has increased over the past year on this circuit. But a closer inspection of the numbers reminds of me of that saying about “lies, damned lies and statistics”.
Yes, field size has been up. At the recently concluded Oak Tree meet, average field size was 8.9 starters per race. However, through 10 days of the Hollywood Park fall meet, fields are averaging only 8.07 starters per race, down from ’06 numbers. But which kinds of races are attracting the largest field sizes? If you guessed maiden claiming races, you win the prize. At Oak Tree, there were 54 maiden claiming races from 274 total races run at the meet (20%). Field sizes for those 54 races averaged 10.16 per race, more than one runner per race over the meet average. Subtract the maiden claiming totals and Oak Tree averaged only around 8.6 starters per race. At the current HP meet, there have been 19 maiden claimers from 85 races (22%), averaging 9.16 starters per heat. Subtract those from the HP totals and you’re left with a paltry 7.8 starters in the remaining 66 races. It seems that, unfortunately, the maiden claiming race has become the backbone of the Southern Calfornia product. Doesn’t sound like a ringing endorsement of synthetic surfaces to me.
Odds and Ends: Here’s another concern about the synthetic surfaces. Are they really going to handle water as well as advertised? We have not had a day of significant rain in the year since Cushion Track debuted at HP last fall. In fact, one day early in the Oak Tree meet workouts were cancelled due to problems caused by less than a half-inch of precipitation. Unless the drought is going to last forever, these tracks are going to be put to the test in the very near future…if you watched Thursday’s races live, then went back to watch the replay show, you might have noticed a big difference in the 6th race call. Watching live, you heard the track announcer bungle the call from the 1/2-mile pole to near the finish, calling YOUR QUOTE in front, rather than her stablemate SNEAKY JACK, who was the actual pacesetter and eventual winner. The call sounded perfect on the replay show, however, thanks to an obvious do-over in studio…in promoting last week’s “spotlight” race, TVG’s voice-over guy pronounced the name of the Aqueduct feature as the “Stewie Vasant” (Stuyvesant). Does anyone edit anything before it goes on the air? Trainer Frank Monteleone had two contenders eased up recently with EDEN SIMONE (4-5) in Friday’s 1st and BRIDLED HONEY (3-1) in Sunday’s 1st. Both were ridden by Victor Espinoza, who is mired in a terrible slump to start the meet…hasn’t TRULY A JUDGE done enough? The 9-year-old gelding has made more than $750,000 for his connections but hasn’t been truly competitive in a race for over two years. Is the 12-time winner, including multiple stakes, going to be run right down the claiming ladder now? Looked like old times when P.Val claimed foul in his very first ride back, a ridiculous claim against Corey Nakatani, who was aboard the runner-up. Some things never change.
To View Free Samples of Premium Plays from last week, click on the links below: Nov. 11Â Â Nov. 14Â Â Nov. 15Â Â Nov. 16Â Â Nov. 17Â Â Nov. 18