Little Bit o' This, Little Bit o' That

Tweet They say bad things happen in threes and it hasn't been a real good week for the horsey set. First, Tuscan Evening collapses on Sunday and then Odysseus was euthanized yesterday after a bout with laminitis. Let's hope the next shoe doesn't drop tomorrow.

I don't remember reading anything about Odysseus suffering, so that one caught me by surprise...

We all know it's part of the game, but man, it sure sucks when a promising horse's health starts to fail or encounters a sudden or unexpected death. It's never easy and I can't imagine how the connections of these horses must feel....

Let's try and change the topic to a more positive one, such as my second Spa visit of the meet! We're heading down 90 tomorrow and gunning for a sub 4:00 trip to the Saratoga Resident's residence. The only issues I've encountered is the nasty construction around Exits 39 and 40 and the track traffic once you get on Rt. 50 in the Springs. We'll see if we can do it tomorrow, with G-Money as my co-pilot. We'll be on the Porch tomorrow and in the backyard with the masses on Thursday (really looking forward to that).

Salvaged a weekend betting disaster by nailing a few Pick 3's at the Spa on Sunday, but really blew it when I left off Pletcher firster Summer Laugh off a backup ticket that included the 25-1 Too Big to Fail in the middle leg. Talk about a major blunder....luckily I rallied later in the card. Speaking of Pletcher firsters, I was also impressed by Hysterical Cat who broke his maiden winning by 3 1/2 lengths going away in the 5 furlong sprint in Sunday's 2nd.

Zenyatta is rolling right down the course I expected, pointing directly at the BC Classic and making sure nothing too difficult gets in her way.

I'm still a little bewildered by Quality Road's performance on Saturday, but am willing to give him a pass. He's earned it with some of his past efforts. Something tells me he'll be back and Pletcher will have him ready when it counts. Look for him to rebound in the Woodward.

Not sure I'm sold on the handicap system in racing. In golf, it is made to even the playing field between competitors, but it's based on past scores and statistical analysis. I don't know enough on how they determine how much of a weight break each horse gets (which is my ignorance), but it just doesn't seem right in horse racing. If my horse is faster, he's faster and I get to take home the bacon. I'm going to dig a little deeper here and try and understand it better. People forget that Rachel had a pretty decent weight break in the Preakness last year and didn't exactly win that one going away....and there's been lots of talk that the 5 lb advantage that Blame had on Saturday was the difference. Jury's out on this one for me.

After 10 years playing in the Buffalo accountants softball league (no, we don't wear pocket protectors), and losing in the championship game the last three years going in with an undefeated record, I decided to retire this summer. I promised not to pull a Favre on my staff during the season, and showed up to the game at Canisius College last night as a spectator/fan to see my firm's squad win our first title in league history, pulling off an undefeated season. Guess I should retire more often.

Off to look at Thursday's card....have a great couple days.