Le Name Game

Tweet Four weeks ago we brought home our first dog (after 44 years) and had to come up with a name for him. We let my eight year son give him his middle name and let the family decide what the first name should be. Because of his brown fur it came down between Cappucino and Tanner, and the consensus went with Tanner. Well my son has the basketball jones…so what better way to complete his name, than Tanner Jones.

I then started wondering if there were any horses out there named Tanner Jones. I went to a horse pedigree inquiry site and found that there were five Tanners, but no Tanner Joneses. So much for keeping up with the Joneses. None appear to be standouts, but one had a sire named Financial Matter (hey I'm a CPA), and one had a dam named Days Like This (pretty cool). Anyways, it started me thinking further (dangerous thing) about what I would name a horse. My pal, The Saratoga Resident, said I should name it "Don't Do That!" which is what he always tells me while out on the road together. I was thinking more of something like "areyoufreakinkiddinme" which would be a great race call down the stretch. Or how about "Boots with the Fur?" Yep, time to hang it up.

After reading another horse racing blogsite where the group named a race at Aqueduct for $300, it piqued my interest to see what it would cost at Saratoga. I received the following email reply from a NYRA customer service representative who stated:

"On the day of the event the name of your personalized race will appear in the Post Parade magazine. A few minutes prior to your race a representative of the Customer Service office will escort you to a trackside location for viewing and then upon completion you'll step into the Winner's Circle along with 9 of your friends. There you'll present the winning jockey or trainer with a commemorative Irish crystal picture frame. The frame is yours to keep along with (1) complimentary (8"x10") color photo of your group taken by the Official track photographer. The photo, which includes the personalized name of your race, is usually mailed within 1-2 weeks time. Additional photos can be purchased thru the track photographer."

All for the EDLP of $1,000!

The Blue Grass Stakes draw was very interesting and trying to handicap these horses on the synthetic track at Keeneland will surely be a challenge. Most of the top tier horses have the necessary graded earnings to qualify for the Derby, it will be the second tier of horses needing the win badly. I actually hope Pyro gets beat here, mainly so his price will improve for the Derby, as I think a closer in the right spot might just steal it on 03MAY with the amount of speed that should be out there. (i.e War Pass, Recapturetheglory, Big Brown, etc.). I will be keeping a close eye on Cool Coal Man, Big Truck and Visionaire to see how they run against a quality field.

Hunting for a Futures Price

Tweet After a scintillating day of upsets, the Derby picture is not as vivid as hoped to be. Only Colonel John won as expected at Santa Anita. Tale of Ekati caught a tiring War Pass (amazing early fractions) in the final furlong in the Wood and Recapturetheglory stole the Illinois Derby at Hawthorne with an impressive win. My attempt in trying to play "beat the favorite" ended up resulting in a classic case of "right club, wrong zip code." And that's why they call it gambling.

Today being the last day for Futures Pool #3 it is time to go hunting for a value bet for a horse whose odds will likely be lower on the tote board on 03MAY. Several horses that had rough outings on Saturday (El Gato Malo, Atoned and Denis of Cork) could be on the outside looking in, based on the latest graded stakes earnings listing for racing through yesterday. One trainer mostly noticeable on the bottom of the list is that of one Todd Pletcher (five horses in last year's Derby), is in jeopardy of not having a horse qualify.

So after some quick analysis, I decided to drop a tenspot on Court Vision (22-1 as of this am). He finished strong from the outside after being five wide and my gut tells me that Gomez is due for a Derby winner. On a hunch, I decided to also drop a fin on Cool Coal Man (21-1), trained by Nick Zito, who will be running at Keeneland next weekend in the Blue Grass. If only I had Biff's sports almanac from Back to the Future II.

Funny tidbit I heard from one of my partners today: The average American walks about 900 miles a year. Another study found Americans drink, on average, 22 gallons of alcohol a year. That means, on average, Americans get about 41 miles to the gallon. Kind Of Makes You Proud To Be An American.