DeTogafication

Tweet We're in full Toga Detox here in the Space Station. What a meet it was. I had my some of my most memorable trips this summer, since making the four hour plus jaunt up the Thruway from headquarters for the first time five years ago. The 3:59 eluded me for another year, but on the bright side, I was on the right side of the wagering ledger for a change. Good times. Well, now we should get down to some official business. The winner of the 2009 Toga Party is none other than fellow TBA'er Robert from They're in the Gate. The contest finished in a four-way tie decided by the tiebreaker of most jockey earnings as follows:

Win: They're in the Gate 3 pts (Dominguez)
Place: Triple Dead Heat 3 pts (Leparoux)
Show: Green But Game 3 pts (Garcia)
Completing the superfecta was Dollar Bill (Prado)

Amazingly, all four selected a different jockey for the tie-breaker as Robert's selection of Ramon ended up carrying the day. Dana from GbG hit the board for the second straight year with the show. Keith from TDH made a late close, scoring with the Woodward exacta, and almost dead heated Robert at the wire. Unfortunately for our friend from the North, Leparoux fell $367K short of Dominguez in jockey bucks. The book "Graveyard of Champions" by Bill Heller has been sent special delivery to the winner from Saratoga County. Congrats and thanks to everyone who participated, I hope you all had fun with it this year. Any suggestions for next year will be welcomed, filed and taken under consideration.

So another Spa meet concludes, but there is still a lot of quality racing left in the fourth quarter with the Belmont fall meet, Keeneland's boutique October meet, and the "world" championships at the Oak Tree meet to cap it off. I'll be making a special guest appearance and my first ever trip to Santa Anita for the BC. Any suggestions on what area to stay would be much appreciated...

I finished the Monmouth contest in 88th place after going out in the 72nd day, via "go big or go home." I waited until the last two weeks to play longshots and I went for it versus trying to make it all the way through the contest. I got as low at 18th, but needed to make up too much ground in the long run. It was a fun contest and very savvy for the folks that run Monmouth, as now I know the horses, jocks and trainers running at a track I never really followed. Kudos to the marketing guys at MTH. I'll be giving it another go again next year.

I'm taking a few weeks off from the ponies to recharge the batteries and detox from the Spa, but unfortunately I'll still be posting fairly regularly, so you're stuck with me. Big college football weekend with my beloved hometown Orangemen travel to State Penn to take on the Space Gal's alma mater. Good thing she's headed to Vegas as we'll have the Space Kid dressed in his best orange attire for the big game on Saturday, and some brainwashing while she's away. Locally, the Pitt Panthers will be in town to take on the 1-0 UB Bulls and the Kid may take in his first ever live pigskin game, grandfather in tow.

My favorite line of the summer came from the Saratoga Resident after spending the opening two days of the meet with him: "Thanks for the vodka. Thanks for the golf balls. And thanks for leaving." Indeed.