Anticipation

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So it's almost here....pre-entries for the Breeders' Cup World Championships will be released at 10 a.m. tomorrow morning. So what the heck have we been doing in the meantime anticipating the release of the pre-entry PP's and wondering who looks to make the cut list as the Turk comes to roost (not that Turk)?

(By the way, the old Anticipation commercial by Heinz ranks up there as one of my favorite jingles ever....if you were wondering.)

In case you've been wondering where I've been over the last week...here's are the top 10 things I've been up to while eagerly awaiting pre-entry day and Breeders' Cup betting...


1) Riding the E-Train.  Follow these tips and you'll be sure to be prepared for BC day.

2) Selling worldly possessions to load up the ADW. Bills-Skins tickets in Toronto. Sold.  See ya tickets, hello ADW. (Sold em on twitter, too)

3) Impulse purchase of Horse Race Analyzer on e-Bay. Eavesdropping on a Turk Facebook chat about the old Mattel Electronics contraption peaked my interest. Next thing you know I'm a proud owner of one of these bad boys. $19.99.  Feels like I was watching a late night info-mercial and couldn't resist. Purchased for the memorabilia angle. (yeah right).

4) Watch Charismatic on YouTube. I missed the premier episode as I was away at a business meeting in cozy Ellicottville with my business partners, so I was forced to watch it on YouTube. After buffering it took about 2 1/2 hours to watch the 5 part documentary on You Tube. Now that's a really devoted (or really dumb) fan. It was an interesting documentary, before commenting I think I'll read "Three Strides From the Wire" before casting judgment.

5) Go on Wagering Hiatus. Took a much needed breather from the track. Went dark since being at Woodbine. TVG blackout. The three week break should keep it fresh for next weekend we ascend on Louisville.

6) Watch the World Series. It's actually been a highly entertaining Series so far. I have no real rooting interest other than hoping for highly entertaining close games that don't let me go to bed until after midnight. I like the Cardinals chances to bring it to seven. There's nothing like a 7th game.

7) Notch my 1,000th Twitter follower. Thanks @UttoxeterRaces, a race course in Staffordshire for putting me over the hump. The Saratoga Resident gives me a hard time..."Are you tweeting?" is one of his favorite questions while cocktailing together. Or "You're not that interesting." It's good to have friends that put things in perspective.

8) Plot my strategy for Top Chef - Dallas. I am the defending pool champ, you know.

9) Download the BC 11 iPad/iPhone apps. Check and check.

10) Write Blog #600.  You're reading it....and I thank you for reading. Less than 24 hours to the pre-entries. The anticipation is killing me.

Giddy up.

Space Invasion: Woodbine Pattison International Day

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I was fortunate enough to wander up north to the Woodbine Racetrack on Sunday afternoon to take in the day's races. My host was Woodbine Entertainment's media maven Keith McCalmont of Triple Dead Heat fame. The day included three Breeders' Cup Win and You're In Grade 1 races, all resulting in double digit winners.

Mike MacAdam from the Schenectady Daily-Gazette   was part of our posse during the day and the three of us competed in a handicapping contest of the Woodbine card and the 1pm NFL contests.  The contest came down to the International and with yours truly holding a slim $6.50 lead over the home track Canadian. While I upheld the bragging rights, it certainly wasn't for my WO handicapping. I ended up hitting six of seven NFL games against the spread. Maybe I should start a football blog?

It was an overcast day, although the wind wasn't as brisk as it was on Saturday. The big story was the 22-1 filly Sarah Lynx becoming the first filly since Infamy in 1988 to win the $1.5M International. It doesn't sound like her connections plan on heading to the Breeders' Cup, however.

Miss Keller, the big winner for Keith on the day, captured the $1M E.P. Taylor Stakes and had our joint Pick-4 to a great start, which was quickly ruined by Don Dulce ($29.50) and Sarah Lynx ($46.90) in the next two legs. I've never had great success at Woodbine, that trend continues through Sunday.

Here are some pictures for the big day north of the border:

With the brisk weather most Woodbine patrons remained indoors

They're off in the International!

Bated Breath before the Nearctic

Gomez on Bated Breath

Hitchens before the Nearctic

Tote Board/Finish Line

Miss Keller wins E.P. Taylor

Jockey Conference

Gomez weaves through Woodbine crowd

Musical interlude

Johnny V in winners' circle on Miss Keller

The excellent tweeter @tripledeadheat

Turf Worm

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I went up north this morning for the post position draw for the Pattison Canadian International, Sunday's big "Win and You're In" turf race at the beautiful Woodbine Racetrack.

I went up to cover the race for my Friday Buffalo News blog, so we'll leave the racing stories for tomorrow's column.

What was different about this year's luncheon was that the drawmaster was not someone you would see at your ordinary post position draw. Former NBA star and Hall of Fame forward Dennis Rodman served that role, assisting racecaller Dan Loiselle with the draw of Sunday's big race.

The selection of Rodman, while curious, in my opinion isn't a bad thing for racing. Much noise was being made about his being the selection. Look at it this way, people were talking about racing, and about a race that may as well have been off people's radar on a lazy Thursday afternoon. Rodman has had his difficulties off the court, but he has come a long way from a difficult youth. When asked what his career highlight was, he stated "Leaving the projects in Dallas."  More than once he said if he hadn't, he'd probably either be dead or in jail.

The man could rebound, and as a former small school point guard who could only master the D3 level of competition, the fact that he came out of a small college in Oklahoma and has a bust in Springfield tells you the kind of player he was. Not to mention the hard work that went into him propelling himself from a small school into the pro ranks.

The more comical and entertaining portion of the program included a back and forth episode with the witty Loiselle.  They played a little game of the "first thing that comes to mind" when throwing out a name.....here's my notes on that dialogue....

Loiselle:  Phil Jackson
Rodman: Love him.

Loiselle: Madonna (generated some good yuks pre-answer)
Rodman: Used to love her.

Loiselle: Michael Jordan
Rodman: The Greatest

Loiselle: Donald Trump
Rodman: Great Man, I like the way he does business

Loiselle: Carmen Electra
Rodman: (long pause) Carmen who?

Loiselle: Howard Stern
Rodman: Innovative

Loiselle: Tiger Woods
Rodman: (speechless for a good minute) Golfer

Very entertaining indeed. Woodbine did it's usual fabulous job with the video presentation of the International, dialed up another fabulous luncheon and open bar, and put together a top notch media package. I'm looking forward to spending Sunday afternoon up in Toronto and look for my blog tomorrow in the News. I had some interesting conversations with trainers Steven Chircop and Mike DePaulo that I will be sharing in Friday's blog.

Here are some photos from the draw:

The longest stretch of turf on the continent

The goods for the G1 E.P. Taylor

The goods for the Pattison International

Media frenzy

Loiselle and Rodman center stage

War Games

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I come from the age of Intellivision, Atari and Strat-o-matic baseball. I've loved games since my dad brought home Monopoly during a snowstorm in Cayuga, NY and we played all weekend while a blizzard kept us homebound.

Playing in handicapping contests is no different. Yes, it is on my bucket list to qualify some day for the NHC Championships in Vegas, but I haven't really taken it too seriously. Yet.

I did sign up for my NHC card this year and have taken advantage of the free online tourneys, but there are usually way too many players for a decent shot at winning. I do play in the free Equibase tourneys every weekend, but you're relegated to making your 8-10 plays before the first race and then you're stuck with them. Inter-race strategy is out the window in that contest. I've faired pretty well this year, as high as ninth in one Equibase tourney, and sniffed it on occasion.

A couple of weeks ago fellow blogger and HRN editor Brian Zipse invited me to try out the new Derby Wars contest platform. Derby Wars.com was created by Horse Racing Labs, a technology-based business focused on horse racing. These are the same folks that created the Horse Racing Nation website, which launched in 2009. I've had a great relationship with them over the years, even winning an iPad in their 2010 Derby contest, so when they asked me to test drive their new contest, I was all in.


I happened to be in central Pennsylvania at my in-laws for the weekend, so I had some time to monkey around with the site. The contest races were being held at Belmont, Arlington and Turfway, the latter two being tracks I rarely play. It's not like I was playing Global Thermonuclear War or anything.


I liked the visual effects of the platform and the ease of selecting your horse in each race. Some of the benefits of the graphics are that you could actually see the payouts on the same page after the race was run (something you usually have to hunt for at other sites). I also liked the fact that it updated as quickly as the tote board with the results after the race. In addition, being able to change your play up until one minute to post time can lead to much more of a strategic contest.


Some of the coming highlights to Derby Wars is that horseplayers can enter every Friday in October for $25 and a shot at a seat at the NHC championships. Saturdays offer bigger money games with cash prizes. Lastly, the entry fees are very reasonable with some entry fees as little as $6. I'm definitely planning on continuing to play, especially in the Friday tournaments for a relatively inexpensive shot at Vegas.


If you sign up for free before October 15, you can play in one free game (for cash money) on that day. There is also a demo video available here. Steve Munday, founder of the Wireplayers site, also has an interesting blog up about the contests.


Good luck this weekend and have fun.

Mo-verload

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Anybody else having a bad case of Mo-verload? Yeah, me too. It's been covered ad nauseum. So grab your barf bag, I'm about to give my plugged Buffalo Nickel's worth. It's probably half the opinion that my pal and fellow blogger Chris aka "Tencent" could put out there, but in case you were wondering where the Space Camp stands...here goes...

It was a hot summer Travers Day in the year 2010...no, I probably don't want to go all the way back to the beginning, but I do have a short story to share. The Saratoga Resident, my pop and I were sitting in the Turf Terrace (compliments of a fitty for my boy Manny - oops) watching a 2-year old named Uncle Mo destroy a $60k maiden field by about 14-1/2 lengths.

We were immediately on the bat-phone to our pal, Moe back in Buffalo. Moe, you see, is a non-racing fan, but he enjoys a good cigar and can quote Churchill even on a bad day. "We've got a Derby horse for ya, Moe," we screamed into the cellular telephone, "and he's got your name (sans the "e")!"  For then next few months through his BC Juvie win and through the winter we'd see Moe and tell him Mo's the real deal. Well, you know how that ended, and our hopes for Buffalo Moe to become a hooked racing fan went astray with the scratch on Derby eve of our man, Mo.

So what does that have to do with Uncle Mo pointing towards the Breeders' Cup Classic? Well, nothing really. I just though I'd share.

Fast forward five months and we have a nostril loss in the G1 King's Bishop and a monstrous Beyer Speed Figure (BSF) in the G2 Kelso, a one turn mile.The Mo Hype machine is revving up again. Get Moe back on the horn, his horse is back in the national spotlight. You probably think by now I've done a little too much National Vodka Day celebrating, especially after you read why I think this is a good thing, but really, I've only had one John Daly, so far.

So here are my five reasons why Uncle Mo going in the Classic is okay by me.

1) Mo Got Game. Not just because he's got the big BSF (that sounds kinda dirty doesn't it?). Not because he's the defending Juvie champ. He's got that second gear. We've all seen it. Not many horses have it. Mo's got it.
2) Sporting Move. As much as you can loathe the connections, having Mo in the Classic is good for the sport. It's kind of like how Jess Jackson was viewed before he pulled Rachel out of the Classic. He gave the poly a whirl with Curlin, he bought Rach and ran her in a Classic and against older males. He did what was good for the sport. Mo has sex appeal for that national TV audience. We'll get an extra couple of fractions out of the Nielsens having him run in the Classic versus the Dirt Mile.
3) Mike Repole is a Quote Machine. Yeah, he'd be there anyway with Stay Thirsty, but you know Mo's like his favorite kid. He won't say it out loud (or maybe he will), but Repole loves Mo. I mean he looooves him. The media has to be salivating over the fact that Repole will have a mic in his hand in Louisville. Bring on the entourage, just make sure you make your reservations early.
4) Pletcher has a lot to prove. It can't hurt the ratings that the five-time Eclipse winning trainer will have to pull off quite a feat to get a bottom under Mo before the Classic. A 7-furlong race followed by a one turn mile against lesser foes in the slop aren't exactly stellar workouts. On the other hand he'll be coming in third off the long layoff and he has a win over the Churchill strip and can handle the slop on the off chance it's a sloppy track. Pletcher has some TV appeal to the public, most non-racing fans, Moe excluded, know who he is.
5) BC Marketing Campaign around Mo v. Havre de Grace. You gotta go with the girl you bring to the dance. Why not hype the two horses that have the most appeal to fans to drive ratings, attendance and the like. The BC folks must be licking their chops.

Small print alert: P.S. There's some money to be made betting against him.

What's really not to like about it? It could be Classic Mo Time. Hey Moe, whaddya think?