A few quick tidbits from a Oh So Fast trip to Rebel and back over past 56 hours give or take.
Friday I made it for the last few races. Met Craig Milkowski who couldn\'t have been kinder. Racing celebrities were walking amongst all the regulars like Lukas, Asmussen, McPeek, a few prominent owners, etc. Not a huge crowd Friday made it easy to see and interact with some folks like this.
Monster thanks for shanahan for all his hospitality and kindness to make this trip happen for me. We handicapped the daylights out of the card Fri evening and Sat morning. Both of us had already given it quite a bit of time earlier in the week it was obvious.
While studying at shanahan\'s beautiful place on Sat morning, there was a knock on the door. I overheard something as follows: \"Would you like to have us read the Good Word from Revelations to you this morning?\" Shanahan\'s reply was something like \"Well, we are having screwdrivers this morning and mapping out a Pick 5 so I don\'t know how that really fits into what you are selling here today?\" A couple of muttered words I couldn\'t understand and the door was shut and they were on their way to the next door I guess. LOLOL. Omgosh I\'m still laughing from this encounter.
Made it to The Bugler at Oaklawn for Brunch which was something I had not done before. 5 Stars no doubt about it and I would recommend for anyone wanting to go first class as part of their trip to Oaklawn. After Race 3, Shanahan and his wife went home to play the races at from there while I started an Ultra Marathon and wandering the Oaklawn plant looking for long lost friends I gamble and drink with there! (maybe hit about 14 Ultra\'s with a slow start out of the gate at Race 4).
(RED BOARD ALERT BUT GET OVER IT!) We had landed a tiny bit on Lemon Muffin as part of our plays. While I did end up betting the horse to win and place, I missed on both p4\'s that included that race. 3 of 4 on both and absolutely should have had the first one. The second one, I didn\'t love the GP horse (5) that won the Razorback so that would have been tough for me. I\'m still pretty pissed at myself for not structuring my tickets a little more intelligently to land on a winning ticket. One Fairmount friend had a 10 dollar p4 on the very last p4 but had 7/7 to close it out for 15k and it was not to be. Felt like a wasted longshot but....
Shanny got that p5 home a time or two luckily to cash in. Rebel Day crowd was not that bad as compared to years past when it was in Mid-March or compared to an Ark Derby card. It was an awesome day weather wise, racing, and destroying the Ultra\'s. Yes, the Bud Light\'s hit the shelf in the past year after they didn\'t serve them at Preakness and I discovered how much better I felt Sunday morning.
A wonderful primer for Fountain of Youth weekend. Trackjohn, if reading, I need one more ticket for Saturday in all seriousness as I got conned into bringing a date (thanks shanahan and his gal as I had to buy a plane ticket with what winnings from Lemon Muffin I had left LOL). . . .
Also, UB needs somewhere else to sleep now.
So, on to Fountain of Youth. Can\'t wait to see those that make it!! Getting real fun now as Derby season heats up!!
Always enjoy these stories.
See ya Saturday!
\"conned into bringing a date\"...interesting. I\'ll save the facts till we are all gathered in Hallandale...
I owe you for Lemon. Another mortgage payment and FL trip.
Fairmont:
Confirmed... I\'ll get the Xtra ticket tomorrow
John
Nice pick up on the Lukas horse - had 4/5 and missed that one. Of course, that was the key horse in the sequence in my opinion. I always enjoy reading your trip reports - thanks for sharing.
Looks like a great card. Average of 10 horses a race. 9 stakes.
I\'ll be the guy going from ring to rail in the vintage F1 shirt. Good luck to all.
For those out there that follow GP as I have not watched much this meet and what I have has not involved intelligent reviews of the races (feel like I\'m walking into a hornet\'s nest from a gambling perspective here), can anyone help me out with turf workout times from PmM?
In the Herecomesthebride, Race 8 on Saturday, Mystic Lake comes in with a 56 3/5 bullet work on the turf. And on Feb 2nd, a 45 second flat work on turf. These were at Palm Meadows and both listed as Breezing.
Are times like this seen from time to time? And what about the turf course is producing these kinds of times if so?
Thanks.
Nice story Richie.
Glad you both cashed some nice tickets!!
Speaking of workouts, did you ask the Coach what he fed Lemon to get those 2 works before Saturday?
BTW
I spoke with Frank D at some length this A.M. He is out on medical leave for Florida. Richiebee and Uncle Bill also put on the disabled list.
Enjoy!!