Gone Fishin'

Tweet Headin' to the Cuse to catch the Orange take on the 5th ranked Cincinnati Bearcats (could be a long afternoon in the Dome), so a brief post today. You can catch my pre-entry Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile post over at the NTRA divisional blog site (alert: the filly Sweet Hearth has decided not to cross the pond).

I'm working on a few things before the big weekend:

- My pirate costume: for tomorrow evening is virtually complete. Arrrr. Space Kid going as a bee and the Space Gal as the Queen Bee.

- A post on filly Canadian Ballet going in the Turf Sprint: been communicating with the connnections here and she posted an excellent work yesterday going 5 furlongs over the turf handily in 0:57 (1/1).

- Pro-Ride Analysis: who's winning (closers, stalkers, wire-to-wire), what post is hot and what to look for next week.

- NTRA race analysis for the Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile.

So it will be a busy weekend of chewing on 3 Musketeers, Dome Dogs and researching for the races. Buckle your seatbelts.

Scorpio edition: Did You Know...

Tweet As we celebrate the silver anniversary of my 21st birthday at the Space Station, I thought I'd take a peek at what happened in racing history on this date....and much to my pleasure the horse most prominently displayed in the highlight reel was Big Red...so here goes.....did you know:

- That 37 years ago today (and a year after my Orioles had won their third AL pennant in a row) Secretariat won the Laurel Futurity by 8 lengths, sent off at odds of 0.10-1?

- That 36 years ago today, Secretariat wrapped up his racing career with a 6 1/2 length victory in the Canadian International Championship Stakes on the turf at Woodbine Racecourse. Eddie Maple had the ride that day as Ron Turcotte (his regular rider) was serving a suspension.

- That 26 years ago today (I was celebrating #20 in at the Branch Office in Elmira NY - drinking age was 19) jockey Jacinto Vasquez recorded his 4,000th career win riding Sunshine O' My Life at The Big A.

- That a mere 9 years ago today (I still wasn't a racing fan) the sport's winniniest rider, Laffit Pincay Jr. notched his victory #9,000 over his glorious career aboard Chichim at Santa Anita in the $150,000 California Cup Distaff (there's that word again).

- That 11 years ago tomorrow (he shows up again) the iconic Secretariat was selected to be honored with a commemorative postal stamp in 1999.

- That the Thoroughbred Bloggers Alliance has admitted some new member blogs? Be sure to check out Susan at Racing International and Brian from Zipse At The Track, our two newest members. Also a shoutout to four blogs who joined us a short time ago: Brock who resides at The Brock Talk, Michael (current track announcer at Turf Paradise) at They Are Off, Gordon from the Perfect Peace Farm and Glen from the Virginia Thoroughbred Blog. Welcome all and be sure to check out their blogs.

- That the TBA has a new Past Performance Search Engine running here.

- That the Breeders' Cup pre-entries were released this morning!

Source for above DYK post: Equisearch

BC Spoof: Panel Jockeys

Tweet It's that time of year again. Last year, Jeff Spicoli dropped by and gave us a few chuckles in our Aloha Breeders' Cup interview. This year we have a full panel of horse racing industry types that answer some pretty darn serious questions facing the big event that's ten days away. This year's panel includes Steven Christ, the Governator, Jim Romo, Fred DeHoser, Greg Ravioli, Alex Droptheball and Re-HANA. They'll chime in, as appropriate, while answering some of the hot questions burning within this year's edition of Spoof the Cup.


SpaceMan: So the BC committee made a riveting change to different color saddle cloths this year from the common BC purple, any thoughts on this change?

Greg Ravioli: Well, we met with a group of bloggers/fans last November after the 25th anniversary of the Cup and we figured if we threw 'em a bone they'd probably go away. Success!
Steven Christ: My blog readers will no longer be totally confused now when I show my little Formulator squares for my P6 selections which would have all been purple. Cheers to the Committee!
Fred DeHoser: Rachel Alexandra has my vote for Horse of the Year (HotY).
Jim Romo: Errr.....the clones have prevailed again!
Re-HANA: Horseplayers unite, but how about lowering takeout next time!

SpaceMan: The big question on everyone's mind is will Zenyatta run in the Classic or the Ladies' Classic?

Jim Romo: She's dusted Hot 'n Dusty at least four times, so you know if big Z steps her game up she can win the whole enchilada. J-stew get Simpson on the phone, we can make a show on this take!
Steven Christ: I think I may be playing the P6 at Aqueduct instead. I love the NY tracks, don't you?
The Governator: I've been waiting fellahs to chime een here. I think she will make luggage out of those male horse types. Have you seen my new bill that will save horse racing by the way?Re-HANA: I'm going to go Chris Brown on you, Arnold.
Fred DeHoser: No way Rachel doesn't win HotY.
Alex Droptheball: I'd like to take a moment to note that the Safety and Integrity Alliance has passed at Santa Anita with flying colors....did you know it's the biggest initiative we've had this year?


SpaceMan: So the choice to go to consecutive years on a synthetic surface has been questioned pretty heavily, can you expand on how you will deal with this question (> 1,000 times) in the next 10 days?

Greg Ravioli: Track surface is just one thing, but we'll have gorgeous babes all over the place and Californy is the place ya wanna be!
Steven Christ: Not loadin' up the truck here. Can't handicap it, nope. Just can't. Praying for a carryover at Aqueduct.
Alex Droptheball: You're riding a slippery slope there SpaceMan, be careful...you know, Tommy Thompson is one of my bestest buds.
Fred DeHoser: You know who has my vote....
The Governator: We have beautiful weather, beautiful women, the best IOU's and have I mentioned that I'm saving the industry, too?


SpaceMan: So I hear there's going to be a Tweeters' Cup, do you think that'll drum up some attendance with the LA techie types?

Greg Ravioli: I know you'll be there SpaceMan. We are pulling out all of the stops and there's some great grab bag stuff too...
Jim Romo: When in Rome...
Alex Droptheball: I would like to have a few words with you at the Tweet-up and introduce you to Tommy.
Fred DeHoser: I'll be there making some predictions!!
The Governator: Tweeting has been exhilarating for me and I will be there on Friday to meet all my fans and constituents.
Re-HANA: Tweet, schpeet. Repeat after me: Lower takeout. Lower takeout. Lower takeout. If you lower it, the churn will come.
Steven Christ: After viewing that photo shoot, maybe I will be Westward-ho.


SpaceMan: Ok, last question, you've all been great. Moving the Marathon to Friday afternoon? What gives?

Greg Ravioli: Voodoo, SpaceMan, voodoo. Did you see how I lulled everyone to sleep with that one? No petitions to Take Back the Race. No Filly Friday upheavals. Dished up a little change up and wah-lah. Brilliant, eh?
Steven Christ: Hey, what ever happened to the Distaff??
The Governator: In Austria, I climbed many mountains in my youth, the Marathon reminds me of my native land.
Jim Romo: Where is Chrissy Everett when you need her, he'd be a great spokesperson for Friday.
Alex Droptheball: We're just pleased as pudding that the World Series is on the East Coast.

The above interview and characters are fictional, any rebroadcast, retransmission of the above is prohibited. Filed under: Tongue in cheek.

Cup Thoughts

Tweet With the 26th annual Breeders' Cup (yes, Kenny Mayne I have the apostrophe in the right spot) now less than two weeks away, I have some thoughts that have been banging around the noggin all weekend. But instead of making an ill-advised rant about things I know not of, I asked a friend who is connected to the Breeders' Cup about a few things that have been on my mind.

My first thought (or question) relates to a post I wrote last week regarding calling the BC a "world championship." I went to the official website and it touts the weekend as "showcasing Thoroughbred racing at the highest level of international competition." What that means is, we basically fund it, we hold it on our territory, but you're invited if you want to come and supplement, go for it. I asked my comrade if the Committee would ever considering moving the event outside of North America, to England, France, Australia, or Japan, for example? The retort was basically that the event is supported by American breeders and bettors, so don't make any travel plans soon to jump across the pond. Fair enough answer for me, although they probably would be better off being called the North American Championships, in my humble opinion.

Next, I have been reading several posts that predict that this is the last time we'll see the Breeders' Cup on synthetics and how horrible of a mistake it was to hold it two years in a row at Santa Anita. While, I don't disagree with the two year thing, I don't think the Committee would out and out skunk tracks with synthetic surfaces. The main response here from the representative was that track surface is just one factor in many in determining a location. "It's more about the venue, market and financial deal that can be arranged" my source confirmed. Del Mar and Santa Anita are two of the warmer weather spots that can host an event that occurs in late October or early November. (See freezing CD '06, rain-soaked MTH '07 for examples). I'm with Richard Eng on this one, it would be wise not to bar the event at such places as Keeneland, Woodbine, Arlington or Del Mar. They are all capable of handling the logistics and have the capacity required. Synthetic surfaces are currently in play, so we just have to deal with it.

I am intrigued by the Tweeters' Cup planned for BC Friday and had wondered if the BC was funding this event and the photo shoot held on Friday with six LA techies/twitterers promoting the TC event (not your normal group at the track by any stretch of the imagination). But, these folks are "influential tweeters" in the LA gossip universe and you have to give the BC credit for pulling out all of the stops using the social networking craze to boost attendance any way they can. When the only cost to the event is the photographer, I'd say it was a good investment in tech-happy LaLa land and they now have several influential gossip bloggers touting the big event (well played, BC). I may even stop by to see what it's all about.

It seems to me that Zenyatta running in the Classic should be a no-brainer. It would lock up her category by avoiding a date with Music Note or Careless Jewel in the Ladies' Classic, even if she does finish up the track in the big event. Regardless, she's THE story for this year's Cup, and I am super excited to see her in action live.

Pods and Ends

Tweet As most of you know, I'm a big Top Chef fan and being from Western New York we have some proprietary-type foods here such as the chicken wing, beef on kummelweck, (i would add Genny Cream Ale for comic relief here) etc. There's a restaurant in town I like to frequent that serves a contraption called the "pod" which is simply delicious. If you're ever in the area check it out. PS, if you are a Top Chef fan be sure to check out the podcast in the link above produced by a couple of Twitter buds. Ok, on to racing and the like.

- Prince Dubai (50-1 ML) takes on top NY Breds on Sunday for Bona Venture Stables in the Mohawk Stakes on closing day at Belmont Park. Winner at 27-1 at the Spa in August, he struggled at the break in his next start, but was closing hard and fast in his last start (where we put an asterisk on it) finishing fifth at 50-1. He may be overmatched in here with these, but he may be around to catch a piece with another EquiSpace favorite My Man Lars. The ML favorite is the everpresent Banrock, who could be vulnerable. bOf course, based on the weather, this one may go off the turf altogether. We'll be keeping an eye on this one at the Space Station tomorrow afternoon.

- I was watching HRTV last night (man, I've been waiting a long time to write that) under their new online program I posted about earlier in the week, and saw that Pletcher is pointing two colts, Join in the Dance and Ready's Echo at the Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile. Check out my latest Dirt Mile post on the NTRA website.

- Speaking of HRTV, I received a nice email from a Senior Vice President of Distribution and Development who sent me a document to share with everyone on the new promotion they are running. I think he's the SVP who emailed me last year when I posted about the frustrations with DirecTV and the availability of HRTV. It's nice to know people are paying attention. I was not compensated for the Intellivision post, I wrote it on my own (for full disclosure purposes).

- The Syracuse Orange(men) are playing Akron in college football today and I found this amusing post which was generated via a Twitter contest to who could come up with the best (funniest) #beatakron capsules. Comedy gold. I'll be heading crossstate to the Dome next Saturday to see 'em get whupped up on by #5 Cincinnati. Guess they can have their fun this week with Ohio.

- I'm working on a Breeders' Cup post this weekend which should be up Sunday night or Monday morning dealing with a wide range of topics...stay tuned.

EscapedFromNewYork: The Movie

Tweet His nickname is Snake. No, not the guy to the left who starred in the movie, Escape from New York. But the thoroughbred, EscapedFromNewYork, who when I first met him back in April in Lexington, was unnamed.

I was reminded of the rescue from the Paragallo farm in upstate New York earlier this week, when Snake, as he is fondly now called, was featured in a New York Times article by the veteran writer, Joe Drape, discussing how he has found a home at the Old Friends Retirement haven for retired racehorses in Georgetown, Kentucky.

We were fortunate enough to be visiting Old Friends that day and we happened to have our video recorder with us. We captured some "exclusive video" of the horse coming off the trailer and setting his hooves down in the Bluegrass for the first time. It was quite a moment, and you'll see in the video below the joy of executive director, Michael Blowen, and the subsequent "greeting" he receives from Creator in the background, one of the "leaders" of the retirement horses.

Here he is on April 23, 2009, making his grand appearance at Old Friends....

Intellivision

Tweet An interesting development just popped up in my inbox. HRTV is now making available a subscription (50% off deal right now) for online TV for those who currently are without HRTV (DirecTV subscribers, for one). One of my most read posts (over 581 hits) was my I Want My HRTV post back in September 2008 which chronicled my exploits with various DirecTV representatives questioning why it wasn't available.

The deal is basically $49.99 for 12 months if you sign up prior to New Years. The monthly price is $9.99. While some with an ADW account (like me) can see most of the HRTV tracks via TwinSpiresTV, it does avail some of the programming currently not available to those without it. Food for thought Space fans.

Speaking of TV, the HD quality of the TwinSpires TV from Churchill this past summer and for Keeneland's fall meet is quite incredible and definitely the next best thing for horse racing. We get snippets of it when the races are televised by the World Wide Leader, but I look forward to when TVG (and I assume HRTV) starts to televise racing in high definition.

Apple/Tree Theory Proven Again

Tweet You've heard the old cliche, "the apple doesn't fall far from the tree?" Well, it appears to have been validated again in Lexington. According to this report:

"Robert A. Lundy, son of former Calument Farm president J.T. Lundy, was sentenced Friday in Fayette Circuit Court.

The Lexington Herald-Leader reported that Robert Lundy was convicted of four felony charges of theft by deception. Lexington horse breeder Bobby Lail had sued Robert Lundy, saying Lundy tricked him by mating mares to stallions but never paying the stud fees."

The judge ordered Lundy to pay a $1.5M civil penalty after the conviction. The stink just won't get off these guys. One of the first books I read when I became an avid thoroughbred racing fan was Wild Ride by Anne Hagedorn Auerbach. The book published in 1995, chronicles the rise and fall of the famed Calumet Farm, home to two Triple Crown winners, nine Kentucky Derby winners, seven Preakness winners and bred and raced eleven Hall of Fame horses. It's a great read and the calculated inner workings of Robert's father, J.T., are laid out perfectly by the author. The book depicts how Lundy swindled banks, breeders and others in the horse industry and ruined the once proud Calumet Farm.

(hat tip to twitterer UnbridledRacing)

Canadian Ballet Headed to BC Turf Sprint?

Tweet The possibility was first mentioned by Steve Zorn in his September 30th NTRA Turf Sprint post, that Obviously NY Stable (ONY) could send their prized filly and EquiSpace favorite, Canadian Ballet to the Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint in November. She was scheduled to race at Keeneland in today's feature, but the turf conditions have forced Linda Rice to scratch her from the $100K Buffalo Trace Franklin County non-graded stake to be run at 5 1/2 furlongs. Taking on the boys in the Turf Sprint would certainly be a challenge but it appears that entering her in the KEE race was to prep her to see if she can dance with the big boys.

The chestnut filly won the $200K Turf Amazon Handicap at Philadelphia Park last month, in a photo defeating Queen Ofthe Catsle and the late charging Dubai Majesty, two strong horses in their own rights. Stewart Elliott shipped in with Canadian Ballet for the KEE race and had the mount at PHA also. Alan Garcia has also ridden her in the past, we'll see if the handlers will stick with Elliott if they point to Santa Anita.

The boys from ONY are a fun group and she's won four of her last six, so she's a hot filly, what a better way to spend an afternoon in SoCal....

We Put the World in Championships

Tweet So I was reflecting on my World Series of Horse Racing post on my dream race run on dirt which would include all of the classic race winners, the BC Classic and Ladies Classic champs and various other horses who qualified via points/standings to determine the annual champion a la the NCAA tournament or the Super Bowl. The original post which appeared at the Blood-horse (as well as here) generated quite a bit of commentary, but one comment that resonated with me the most was one by Gina from the very fine Gallop France blog who stated "Ah, and once again the Americans want to call something a "World Series" and not invite anybody from - well, the world (you know, that small bit that exists OUTSIDE the United States....)" Now, while I was flattered that she considered that I was representing the good ole' USA, she was properly corrected by Ms. Backstretch that yours truly is certainly not the be-all, end-all of American racing. Whew, by the way. Today, however, this comment is one that has me chuckling that the Breeders' Cup folks represent that they are holding the "World Championships" in three weeks. I guess if the world is invited, but they don't show up (or qualify?) one can justify calling it the World Championships.

With a little bit of unscientific research, last year's races included 156 BC starters, wherein only 33 were bred or ran predominantly outside of North America prior to the Cup. That's 21% of the total starters. No horses from Australia or Japan and two from South America. Can they (we) really call it the World Championships? Maybe it's just us Ugly Americans thinking we rule the world and we can call it whatever we want, and maybe Gina has a point to make here, also. Then again, maybe it really doesn't matter and I should move on to a different topic and stop breaking the BC's nuts, but with three weeks to go until the big weekend and no idea who's racing where, there's gotta be something to be snarky about.

Which brings me to the Eclipse Award for the American Horse of the Year. Actually, I won't go there, because I really could not care less, since it's not something that will be decided on the track, and I don't have a vote, so my opinion really doesn't matter anyway. Stay tuned elsewhere for further blather for the next three months on the HoTY topic. I can't wait.

Sea Ya!

Tweet Today's posts will focus on See Ya's....wouldn't want to be ya's....


- Sea ya Sea the Stars, have a nice retirement....it was nice pondering the potential Breeders' Cup crowd on Saturday afternoon if you woulda shown up to dance.


- See ya Breeders' Cup attendance and huge marketing opportunity, if the Arc champ (StS) had entered the Classic. Time for those in charge to regroup and cross fingers that the mighty Zenyatta takes on the Classic.


- See ya Dick Jauron. I give it to the bye week.

- See ya Colorado Rockies. Tremendous comeback by the Phils last night that had me glued to the boob tube. Playoff baseball, it's fan---wait that's the NBA...anyways it was high drama at a decent hour.

- See ya to the 19 yr old drunk driver after the Bills game that plowed into several fans leaving the game at the exact spot my three boys, my brother and I were 30 seconds earlier. Say some prayers for the unfortunate folks that were in this idiot's path. They should lock this kid up and throw away the keys.

- See ya TwinSpires account balance. Many thanks to Court Vision for blowing up what was about to be a nice Pick 4 payday on Saturday. Yeah, I actually had the 13-1 Noble's Promise in the Breeders' Futurity (G1) in leg 3, which I had gone deep in. Oh well...I had a bad feeling after IEAH had a winner in Diamondrella earlier in the sequence.

- See ya Indian Summer, it was like we just met.

- See ya in my next post, mon.

Rocktober

Tweet This month rocks. Not just 'cause my Scorpio vibes are movin' and shakin'. We're talking Breeders' Cup prep races, college and pro football season rocking, playoff baseball jamming, the start of hockey season (we do actually have a team here), tailgating extraordinairre, and the President's Cup golf (U-S-A) to name a few things have my attention this month. It also marks the three quarter pole of the calendar year. I thought I'd check back at my wishing well from the start of the year and see how I'm doing with some of the things I wished for in December for 2009 (well we'll look at 9 of 10 anyways):


1. NY regulators take a page out of Tampa Bay Downs steward’s rulings and reports to provide the horseplayer and fans more information on inquiries and decisions.

This wish didn't quite come true during the first nine months of 2009 and I'm not holding my breath. (0 for 1)

2. A Kentucky horse-related trip in October for my birthday.

A very fun trip in April after tax season where we pulled off the Keeneland-Churchill double makes me pass wish #2. (1 for 2)

3. Spend some quality time at the Lothlorien Therapeutic Riding Center in nearby East Aurora.

Whoops, we haven't got out there yet, but there's still a few months left. The Space Clan did visit Old Friends during out Ky trip so we'll claim a 1/2 point here. (1 1/2 out of 3)

4. Buy into a horse partnership.

I invested in a small share of the recently deceased Higher Authority. While it wasn't the best first foray into ownership, I was informed at all times and will definitely consider investing in racing partnerships in the future. (2 1/2 out of 4)

5. Reevaluate where my investing strengths lie and try not to stray from them (i.e. exactas good; $0.10 superfectas bad).

About a third of my bets have been exactas and I've started to play more P3's and P4's. Out of my 646 wagers YTD, I've only made 8 superfecta plays. I'd say I've stayed with my strategy. My best ROI is W/P which I found interesting. I need to review this more often to see what's working. (3 1/2 out of 5)

6. A first time trip to the Big A, during the winter meet.

This is one I'd like to make happen, but it's probably doubtful due to my job heating up in the winter months. Not that I can't plan a business trip to the Big Apple.... (3 1/2 out of 6)

7. Attend my fourth Belmont Stakes in a row and actually see a triple crown coronation.

We can claim a 1/2 point here as we were fortunate enough to make it to see Summer Bird take the third leg of the triple crown. Part II will have to remain on the wish list. (4 out of 7)

8. Fort Erie Race Track is not closed forever. (I was just gettin’ to know ya.)

The track reopened (yay) but I've only had a chance to get over the border twice this summer and plan on getting over once more for my annual birthday at the track. (5 out of 8)

9. A visit to Woodbine for the Queen’s Plate to meet Triple Dead Heat, and continue my quest for a Canadian personal triple crown.

Scheduling issues (translation: trip to visit Space Gal's family) caused me to have to pass on this one, but it will move up the list. Will be working on a 1/2 point here as my current plans are to spend the day of the Bills-Jets Thursday night game in Toronto at WO and then head downtown to the SkyDome (Rogers Centre, whatever)..... (5 out of 9)

So we're batting .555 and we have a shot for another 1 1/2 points (AQU/WO).....not bad for a wish list, eh?

Really looking forward to the KEE fall meet, especially the $0.50 Pick Fours, which I believe have a pretty low takeout (19%). Looking forward to seeing Capt. Candyman Can in the Phoenix S. (G3) and Forever Together in the First Lady S. (G1) over the weekend. OSA has some great racing this weekend also, one allowance race that has caught my eye and has me excited has Mast Track and Space Man fave, The Bad Cat (El Gato Malo), both who may point to the Dirt Mile based on the results of this one. Speaking of the Dirt Mile, a new NTRA post has just gone up highlighting a potpourri of racing affecting the division this weekend.

Did You Know...

Tweet It's time for my birthday month edition of DYK....and I have some doozies for y'all. I love October, the leaves changin', touch football games, cigars at night by the fire pit, Rocktober (AC/DC's coming!), Oktoberfest, Keeneland fall meet, pickin' apples in Niagara County, drinking spiked hot cider at the Bills game, and the best holiday of all in Halloween, ya just can't beat it, but I digress....so Did You Know....

- That 60 years ago today marked the death of the great Colonel Matt Winn (pictured), also known as "The Father of The Derby," he died at age 88 after being present for 75 straight runnings of the Kentucky Derby.

- That 20 years ago today (our TBA'er Post Parade will appreciate this one) parimutuel racing was revived in Texas for the first time since 1937. A meet was held at G. Rollie White Downs in Brady, TX (population 5,976). Andrew Beyer of Washington Post fame had this to say about the return, "It wasn't at a grand facility in Houston or Dallas. The first thoroughbred racing was conducted in the town of Brady, best known as the home of the world championship barbecue goat cook-off. Brady is so rural that signs at the local motel advise patrons, 'Do Not Clean Birds in the Room.' " Hilarious.

- That 30 years ago today one of the greatest races of all time took place at Belmont Park where Affirmed and Spectacular Bid (in his 3yo season) dueled in the Jockey Club Gold Cup. Affirmed went on to Horse of the Year after defeating the Bid, who was named 3yo champion of 1979. Here's a look at one of the races of the decade....

The Lost Weekend

Tweet Why the post title, The Lost Weekend? Because every single thing I did, gambled on, rooted for or enlisted in, well ya know, lost. I thought we started out smokin' at the Buffalo Wehrle OTB winning the first two races in the NYS OTB handicapping contest, but it was a downhill spiral from there. The results (welcome to Loserville, population: Me)....

OTB Handicapping contest: 3 winners.
Equibase handicapping tournament: Lucky to hit double figures.
UB football vs. Central Michigan (with side bet with the Mi Bred-Claimer - the gold bullion is in the mail): 17-10 loss.
Belmont Super Saturday: Played two P3's and the guaranteed P4 @ Belmont on Saturday: Lost both P3's in the last leg and the P4 blew up on contact (see Kodiak Kowboy, see Interpatation). I couldn't even turn the Summer Bird victory into a score because I left out Spa City Whatever His Name Is off my late double ticket.
Syracuse football: Close at halftime, kablooie in second half by South Florida.
Indiana Derby selections: My top four selections at my free NTRA blog finished 8th, 1st, 5th and 9th, respectively.
Meadowlands Survivor Pool: After finishing in the top 100 at Monmouth, I missed the board all day Saturday. (Space Gal, on the other hand, hit the board on all 3 of her selections?)
Sabres Home Opener: Crushing OT loss even though they outshot the Habs twofold.
ESPN Streak for the Cash: Entered the weekend with a six game streak, exited with a 3-4 record.

And that was just Saturday. At least I was dry and drinking cheap beer.

Sunday would go not much better.

Arc d'Triomphe: I watched on TwinSpiresTV and made a small wager to no avail. My ADW account is in the shop until the Breeders' Cup. (Side note: WTF TVG...Meadowlands reply show so I could watch my crappy picks lose again versus the freakin' Arc??? They lost some viewership opportunities on a Sunday morning, for sure.)
Fantasy Football Team (with Drew Brees): tied going into Monday night vs. Vikes defense (pretty much cooked). If you're wondering how my survivor pool pick did, I was eliminated last week.

Finally, the creme de le creme: The Buffalo Bills. Now wasn't that special.

Thank goodness there was no Top Chef programming this week, my man Eli would be sure to be packing his knives....

I'm just trying not to get hit by a truck while walking my trusty Tanner Jones around the block tonight.....and look what I found coming live from Orchard Park....in 1986...maybe I'll get lucky tonight (going with Pittsburgh, which means you still have time to call your bookmaker to play San Diego).

Contests Galore

Tweet If you're a contest hound, this weekend there's plenty of opportunities to get your groove on. If you're from New York State, the OTB's $75K challenge begins for qualifying for the championships to be held in Albany on the 24th, $20 entry fee. See here for all the rules and regs on the contest. We'll be trying our hand at that one via a couple entries as the contest is on the 11 "Super Saturday" races at Belmont. The contest is strictly for number of winners selected.

Since we'll be capping Belmont's card already, we're fortunate that a free Equibase contest is also taking place on Saturday for races 3-10. Talk about two for one. This contest is your standard $2WP on each race with the normal caps of $42 and $22.

The Meadowlands Survival Challenge contest is underway and the Space Gal and I both survived the opening day thanks to 9th race winner Islandprospectbob. I hopped off 6th race winner Carte Blanche ($25.40) after learning from my boy GG this morning that they were going off the turf. *banging self in head* Don't forget that the Meadowlands.com is one of our TBA sponsors of the Filly & Mare Turf divison.

So we'll have one eye on Belmont and the Meadowlands this weekend and the other eye will be on Hoosier Park for the Indiana Derby (G2). Check out my NTRA blog (should be up later this morning) for full race analysis on the Indiana Derby as a prep race for the BC Dirt Mile.