What Can I Say....It Was So Money

Tweet It's Danny Bonaduce Day here at the Space Station....not to be confused with Black Eyed Susan Dey. Yep, you guessed it, it's shameless self promotion time (plus I know my cousin secretly loves Danny so I was trying to get his attention).
So you may remember I plugged that new racing website last Friday on my way out the door to Saratoga called GradeOneRacing.com? Well I entered their initial (free) handicapping contest (with $5,000 in prizes) making 10 mythical $20 Win/Place bets on 5 races from Saratoga (Saturday) and 5 races from Del Mar (Sunday).

I spent Thursday night handicapping both cards and submitted my selections before leaving for the Spa. Saturday's Spa selections pretty much flattened out and I had $134 in winnings with one win (Jim's Appletini) and one place (Volcker) and was nowhere near the Top 50 leaderboard. Then a funny thing happened on Sunday.....I got red hot. En Fuego hot. Smokin' Joe hot. Burned your hand on the stove cuz you thought it was off, hot.

Due to a six car pileup on the NYS Thruway (where we sat still for an hour somewhere around Batavia) I was freaking out that I would miss the Haskell national telecast (which I missed 70% of). We finally got through and home in time to watch them loading in the gate. So after the race I started writing my Spa entry and had half an eye on Del Mar to see how my selections fared. Of course I wasn't betting (like an idiot).

So Race 5 comes on and the TVG guys aren't even mentioning my selection, Ranger Heartley, who is moving between 7-1 and 8-1, going off at the latter. Don'tcha know he wires the field at 8-1 and pays $18.60 and $7.40 adding $260 to the coffers. At this point, I hadn't checked what happened in the first race, wherein I selected Avid, a promising filly. A quick check at the DRF site and wah-lah, she won ($4.20 $2.60), another $68. Not bad. At least I'll have a positive ROI I'm thinking, being at $462. Next up is a horse who is a chronic place finisher, Royal F J (9-2), who I make a token $2 show bet on to ensure my free BRIS PP's (cheap, I know). Royal F J dead heats for second in a wild finish paying $3.00 (another $30 in the coffers = $492). Ironically the show bet paid more ($3.90) than the DH place amount. Next up, I have Subsidized, the favorite at 2-1...wins paying $5.80 and $3.60 (up to $586). We're not at the final and bonus race, the G1 Bing Crosby ($100 bonus if you select the winner) and I have Smiling Tiger, whose hovering around 8-1. Cost of Freedom, the heavy favorite at 4-5 stumbles out of the gate and Smiling Tiger wires the field (in what could be called a truly speed favoring day) and pays $17.80 and $7.20, taking my total up to $936 including the bonus $$. I'm rubbing my eyes not believing what just happened. Later that evening I check the Top 50 page and find I finished 9th overall, winning a $75 voucher into my newly created XpressBet account and a free signed copy of one of G-1R CEO Steve Davidowitz' books. Shazam. Maybe I should spend a little more time looking at Del Mar, eh? Final stats (10 5-2-1, $4.68), only Economic Swoon and Phola missed the board. OK, enough shameless self promotion.

Congrats to this week's Toga Party III point getters, Tony Bada Bing, Green But Game (looming large with Castellano in the irons), Kennedy's Corridor and the SpaceBro by selecting A Little Warm in the Jim Dandy. With 10 days (a quarter of the meet) in the books at the Spa we've had 42 turf races, projecting to 168, close to the prognostications of yours truly (175), Kennedy (166) and Foolish Pleasure (165). Johnny V has 14 wins, projecting to a monster 56, and his sidekick Todd Pletcher surged ahead of Chad Brown with 2 wins on Monday to reach 8. Stay tuned, this year's Party Contest looks to be a barn burner.

Nice post by our friend to the north, Triple Dead Heat on the Royal North Stakes, where one of Obviously NY Stables best and EquiSpace favorite, Mother Russia, took second behind Unzip Me, ridden by Joe Talamo, who made a rare appearance at Woodbine. Check out Keith's photo essay, it's superb.

As Vince Vaughn would say in Swingers, "It's So Money, Baby."

The Other Big Race Yesterday

Tweet While most of the racing fans in New York State were watching a certain filly hold off a West Point Thoroughbred, my boys and I were on hand to watch Sonia "the Black Widow" Thomas defend her title in the Wing Eating Championship at Coca-cola Field in Buffalo, NY at the eighth annual National Wing Festival. Thomas won the twelve minute eating frenzy downing 169 chicken wings (3.38 pounds) holding off several national level challengers. Good times and high drama, indeed.

Of course, we timed our visit so we could make it home in time to watch the Woodward on TVG. Our living room was rocking during the stretch drive as my nine year old was jumping up and down rooting her to the finish line. The SpaceBro was in town and it was cool to watch history with your sibling and the rest of the family cheering her on. The only horse that I thought could beat her (before the race) was Macho Again, and the early pace scenario dictated he would be right there to challenge at the wire. He has really developed in to one fine race horse. One thing I noticed more than usual is the whipping that Borel was doing to her to get her to the wire. That was definitely her most strenuous race of the year. I can't imagine her bouncing back too quickly from that one. Nice to see history though.

Lost as a minor footnote and afterthought in Rachel's shadow yesterday (see last line of ESPN's article) was Pyro winning his first Grade I, with a win in the seven furlong Forego over the uber-consistent Kodiak Kowboy. It's really a shame that the Breeders' Cup is at Santa Anita, as I would love to see him try the Dirt Mile. But his assistant trainer Rick Mettee stated after the race, “The Breeders’ Cup being on synthetic changes the game completely. I wouldn’t completely rule it out, but I’m not sure.”

The only other race I watched yesterday was the stretch run of Mother Russia's win in the Peerless Springs Stakes for Obviously NY Stable. These guys, as previously mentioned here, are totally on fire. They go for 3 for 3 on the weekend at Finger Lakes tomorrow with Hook Me Up in $150K Lady Finger Stakes (race 7). While my first thoughts were to go to Fort Erie tomorrow, maybe a trip east up the thruway is in order...

Unless, of course, I'm in the mood for a few more wings.....

Gentlemen...Gentlemen...Put Your Hands Together...

Tweet ....for the beautiful Canadian Ballet!!

The boys from Obviously NY Stables (ONY), who obviously have a good sense of humor and superb naming skills, are still red hot with a victory today in the Lena Spencer Stakes. Canadian Ballet ($7.20) went a half in 44.2 and finished the 5.5f turf sprint in 1:01.57 holding off the late charging efforts of Sly Storm and the favorite Smart and Fancy. The Linda Rice (she's on fire!) trained filly won her connections $44,700, with Alan Garcia in the irons. The City Zip filly was coming out of a second place finish in the Grade 3 Royal North Stakes at Woodbine last month, the day after Mother Russia's big victory at the Spa.

ONY sends Mother Russia back out on Saturday in the Peerless Springs S. for 3yo going a mile over the inner turf course, looking for back to back non-graded stakes wins at venerable Saratoga Race Course. One of the ONY partners sent me a note today encouraging me to sneak down the great NYS Thruway an hour to Finger Lakes Race Track to see Hook Me Up run on Labor Day in the $150K Lady Finger Stakes. I may not be able to sneak down the Thruway, but I may find some time to make a wager on these guys. They're as hot as you can get.

To expand on Canadian Ballet's name...here's a little funny (warning: rated NC-17) from whence the name surfaced (this video was approved by the Space Gal)...

Surgical Strike & Mother Russia

Tweet I'm sure my post title will garner a lot of hits from the Communist Party, but there was no doubt in yesterday's Statue of Liberty (ironic, no?) that Mother Russia ($6.00) would land a huge haymaker on the rest of the field and hang on to win the $150K race on the Inner Turf at venerable Saratoga Race Course. A nice crowd of over 18,000 was on hand to see her win for the 5th time in 8 races (and 2nd in 3 races on the turf) for the beautiful filly trained by the white hot Linda Rice. It was her second win of the day after winning the sixth with Willsboro Point ($7.90) both turf routes. Now we have to watch out for her in all turf races! Ramon Dominguez won his second race of the day and he had a great ride aboard the Mothership. I was fortunate enough to meet one of the ownership group from Obviously NY Stables during opening day and he was sky high talking to him before the race and I received an email earlier today from him asking about my thoughts on the race. She had opened a similar wide lead in her last start but ended up finishing sixth. When trainer Rice was asked about the turnaround at the longer distance she said, “When she ran her last race, she had a lot of issues coming up to the race. Afterwards, I was regretful that I had led her there. She was not on her game that day. I was hoping the two turns would help her, and it did.” Obviously NY also owns the filly Canadian Ballet who finished second her last out in a stakes at Woodbine. They're definitely a group to keep an eye on.

My two day surgical strike in the Springs was a very memorable one. I spent some time with my parents who were in town with three other couples from their alma mater, Kutztown State in Pennsylvania. Wednesday was a fun day that started with a chance meeting with my client and owner from Trade Winds Farm that had two starters entered. Scientist finished second in the Cab Calloway and Jogja ran in the 2 mile marathon. I also chatted with Old Friends' Michael Blowen in the paddock who we visited back in April, and he passed along some good news about Black Tie Affair who will soon be joining the retirement home. He was in town for the weekend since Old Friends is the home to three former Sword Dancer champions. It was nice catching up with him. I sat with the Puma in the box seats (sweet view) for the last three races of the card and shared a cigar and a cocktail with him after the races at Siro's. I spent the rest of my evening in town with some of my clients from Saratoga Eagle who were hosting 20 guests from the mothership in Buffalo (many acquaintances of mine) after having a dozen wings one of my favorite haunts, Hattie's.

Little did I know I would be dining at Siro's for the first time ever the following evening, after the Statue of Liberty. I have never been to a restaurant sporting $45 and $55 entrees. Holy smokes, who said the economy is falling? The place was packed for both dinner seatings and the experience will be one I'll never forget. I ran into one of the restaurant's owners we met at Max London's the second evening of the meet who told us the bar was packed at 2am on Tuesday after the Fasig-Tipton sales. Based on the crowds the last two days, life must be good. After dinner we met an interesting gentleman who embellished us with stories of the old Saratoga, Rush Limbaugh and Tiger Woods (interesting combination) as he had been to 58 of the last 60 Travers. Ironically one of the two Travers he missed was the Affirmed/Alydar Travers. He has been coming to town since he was 8 years old and has stayed at the same hotel and same room since 1982. It was certainly an interesting evening listening to stories from a long time Spa visitor.

Here are some pictures from the Statue of Liberty and Thursday am at the Oklahoma training track:

Trainer Linda Rice saddling the eventual winner of the Statue of Liberty, Mother Russia.















EquiSpace Toga Party pick Ramon Dominguez, heading over to his mount, Mother Russia.
















Edgar Prado on second place finisher who came at Mother Russia with a late rally, Es Mia.

















Mother Russia holding off Es Mia as they approach the wire in the 1 1/16th turf race.
















Welcome to the Oklahoma training track.



















Nothing better than having a cup of joe and watching the sunrise over the barns on the backstretch at Saratoga.

















Workout in progress....blinkers on!



















NYRA's finest getting their moment in the sun...
























A special thanks, as always, to the Saratoga Resident who never ceases to amaze me with his friendship and hospitality when I arrive on the scene for a surgical strike....