Over 34,000 came out on an absolutely beautiful day; 78 degress, low humidity, 2 Grade I stakes and the Arlington Million made for an appetizing menu. Almost as appetizing as the new Carolina BBQ sensation; the pot roast sandwich which has been perfected through taste testing to now include onions and horse radish. A real winner and the deck favorite of the boy\'s and girls that is a must try.
TGJB was primed for the seminar off a new top in the thro graph open on the links the day before. Per moosepalm a very suspicious move up that had Jerry seen in the Jamie Ness barn early that morning?
Yours truly was salvating over 2 very big price ML\'s that ended each pick 4 and could not wait for some verification on his opinions as well as the correct fill in the blanks horses.
Race 1: TGJB\'s opinion here was one that I love and have caught some great verticals on over the years. The 3 favorites were all plays against and the correct combination without them could be rewarding. the 5 & 8 were tosses and the 7 was a use but not on top; the 3,4,9,10 were all discussed and some made the correct combo as it came 9,7,3,5 for a 1300 tri & 3500 super if you got lucky.
Race 2: Described as chaos \" we don\'t know anymore than the public\" was the hosts quote. Lemon Drop Dream was crushed at the windows but thoro graph users also saw that the 8 horse had some strong route numbers on the dam\'s side and had already run a mile on the grass at Ellis Park. 2 numbers to use for the horizontal plays 6/1 & 4/5, the price on the 8 required the phone to be dialed @ $ 15.40 and we just took out 75 % of the pick 4 tickets.
Race 3: Was abysmal with a 17 probably good enoug to win it, why not the Galluscio first timer, why not the other Galluscio horse who flashed some speed, why not all?
Race 4: Was the key to the pick 4 and the day as Violence was the 600,000 Pletcher de jour @ 4/5 and the Lukas horse had run a stake like 7 in his 2 yr old debut was a strong 5/1. Again phones were dialed for win bets, exacta protection was covered and the reality if the Lukas horse knocks off the favorite were in for a big pay day as 2 4/5 shots bounced from a pick 4 doesn\'t leave many slices of the pie to share! Story of the meet as we lead every step of the way but the last 2.
Race 5: Was a wide open affair and when TGJB expressed the same strong opinion on 20/1 ML Moneyinyour Pocket as myself and then richiebee & topcat both rang out as all of our papers had similair 1st Lasix, blinkers, 2nd turf, already run as fast as anyone else in the race notations we knew there were 2 logical conclusions. We either had the perfect storm or this horse was carrying a ridiculous amount of weight! 2,3,& 9 were the must use horses and the savers for the pick 4 as Nelson Avenue went coast to coast and the pick came back 1400 plus. The payout with the 4 was 3500 and if we beat Pletcher in the 4th we get 5000 on the saver and 10k plus on the 4 if he ran. He did not as he took a 3W tour of the Spa @ 9/1.
Race 6: The host said it was a 4 horse race 1,2,7,9 the board concurred as Midwest Thoroughbreds got their first Cox/Ness winner of the meet and the 9,2,7 tri came back $158, those that went 9/1,2,7/1,2,7/ALL were rewarded with a nice super.
No great opinions on the 7th.
Race 8: Strong Impact was given out as the most likey winner of the day and a gut wretching stretch drive to start the pick 4 with a single! The 3,4,&7 were used behind for a $ 48.00 exacta or a 1/ 3,4,7/ All nice triple.
Race 9: What can we say about Brilliant Speed except that I\'m done with him so the rest of \" you\'se guy\'s\" will probably get 10/1 as he runs a new top next out.
He is a bigger tease than Madona, number power, kool aide you all know the drill as most sheet players of either variety were all over him AGAIN.
Point of Entry was a play against as he needed a new top to get into the exacta, he got it. The host gave out 1,8,9, I used them and an all in the pick 4. Don\'t ya just hate going all and a 6/5 shot runs a new top!
Race 10: The Alabama was Grace Hall, Questing & Zo Impressive.Questing ran a monster race in incredible fractions for a mile and a quarter. A simply breath taking performance that made you watch the reply a few times to believe it.
Race 11: Were alive with an 0-2-X, whose getting weight, inside and the fastest horse in the race. I advertised this as a tote bag race; for those unfamiliar I planned on collecting soooo much money when GA Express wrecked this suspect field that I would need to go to the gift shop and buy a Saratoga tote bag to bring it home. My opinion was verified by the host and the Rudy 7 horse was used as a saver. I saved a trip to the gift shop for another day.
At Arlington Bayrir was bet and very impressive in the Secetariat and Silver Max who had won 6 in a row could not stand my weight and run 2nd. An uninspiring Million with 3rd string Euro\'s letting Little Mike walk aroud the grass course.
A push wagering wise for the day, a gorgeous day that saw a host of board posters come out to the new Saratoga destination of the Carolina BBQ. It\'s the Saturday and Sunday place to be for the thoro graph boy\'s as I\'ve heard miff is applying for a kool aide stand license for next year.
It was great to see richiebee, topcat, Michael D, magicnight, rezlegal, moosepalm as well as a host of shy non posters who venture over for the wagering adventures.
Good luck,
Frank D.
Awesome, glad you guys did well. Out here in Del Mar we are giving all our Saratoga winnings to the track. That is...losing. Del Mar is so damn beautiful I don\'t mind!
See you guys Labor Day wkend.
Frand D,
Jimbo must have told of my plans for a Kool Aid stand next year, plenty of potential customers. One called me yesterday with the brilliant theory that Little Mike was sitting dead red on 0 2 X so he stepped out for like $3,400 in plays, all against Little Mike.Powerful stuff that Kool Aid.
Good lUck the rest of the way!
Mike
Sorry to have missed the TG Open again, but happy to hear that JB ran a big number. Apparently he needed only one ball to navigate the 18 holes, which is always a pleasant surprise for hackers like us. In fact, that would seem to be worthy of a prize all by itself. We could call it the Ridgling Award.
Good times around the Carolina BBQ. Good luck to all the rest of the meet.
Bob
magicnight Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Sorry to have missed the TG Open again, but happy
> to hear that JB ran a big number. Apparently he
> needed only one ball to navigate the 18 holes,
If he comes back off that top on short rest, he\'s the biggest bet against of the meet.
The Open was a pleasure, if only for the company and not the golf. I enjoyed sharing the cart with an old friend, and the foursome with a couple of new ones. The seminars provided more opportunity to sit down with with a good friend, whose post I\'m quoting. My only regret (besides numerous wagers) was not spending more time with Frank D, Richiebee and Topcat, who, in the aggregate, can provide enough racing lore, or any other lore, for that matter, to jump start two novels. But, I got an unexpected call from an old college friend who showed up unannounced, today, so I was diverted from the Carolina BBQ festivities.
As for the racing and wagering, the less said, the better. Normally, I tend to fall into the \"coulda, shoulda, woulda\" redboarding school of rationalization, but this weekend, it would be better characterized by \"should notta\". I get one more crack at it, tomorrow. Maybe the ginseng will finally kick in.
Oh, yes (in my best \"Colombo\" voice), just one more thing. JB, there were no real home runs this weekend, but I always walk away a little bit smarter. I look forward to the next installment.
I don\'t know who the Kool Aid guy is, but if he\'s one of ours who reads the board I\'d be shocked. I\'ve made the point a few dozen times that short term grass patterns are completely different than dirt patterns, and stake grass horses run a high percentage of figures at or close to their tops. There are situations wher you can play one off the X (like the last at Sar saturday), but playing FOR the X is a whole different thing.
From one of the shysters that the Weatherman alludes to.....I enjoyed both the Sat and Sun seminars this past weekend.
Great meeting Richiebee for the 1st time and renewing other acquaintances. Sometimes it seems that everyone just sat still at the Carolina BBQ frozen in time for a year.....and then you return....and the familiar faces appear in the same seats etc.
Do regret not chatting with Michael D as he was roaming about. Greatly respect his handicapping and wagering acumen over the years.
Not much to say about my \'betting\' acumen. Was able to \"bail out\" a bit with the last race selection Sunday (even though somewhat deflated odds)....but a still smiling loser overall for the stay.
One quick Frank D story. Between Frank\'s horserradish convention and retirement party from the Weathermen, he decided to to try for a Windy City 4 bet. He managed to scrap together a few pesos from some unidentified punteress who had managed to outperform the entire TG conglomerate all day long. He then asked for some advice on the final leg of his Arlington PIK 4. The dash was for $7500 claimers that were non winners of a race since the gardens hung in Babylon. Richeebee offered the #5 trained by a former Bud Delpster protege with no Ronnie Franklin aboard. Yours truly offered the 13--- fastest TG number at 12-1 ML. Frank D. actually wrote the numbers 13 and 5 and headed to the nearest window. Just before departing to Albany or places unknown, he pronounced his bet as the 3 and 5 (not the 13) in the last leg.
As fate goes, in a roughly run race, the 5 gets shut off at the top of the stretch while the 13 and few others get squeezed by the a lugging in #14 coming down the lane. Out in the middle of the track comes an unimpeded blue saddle clothed blur (ok I exaggerate) a unimpeded plodder.....yes #3 wins at 40 something to 1. What a \'mistake\' it could have been!
Bob
Bob,
I could have used an extra shot of \"acumen\" on Saturday. Lost the only two Spa races I actually handicapped. Had a great double heading into R2 after going with the Richie/JB selections in the opener, to no avail. I only took the drive because it was such a beautiful day, the AP card was so good, and I know of no outdoor OTBs.
Are you going for the Travers?
WOW !!!
My retirement from forecasting and inability to read my own writing got Pocono Bob to post!!!!!
First time in how long?
It\'\'s a friendly crew and usually only miff bites.
It was great to see you again and look forward to get away weekend.
Frank D.