Spa Seminar -- Saturday 8/14

[Rick B.]

I focus pretty hard on the 2nd race of the card in NY -- the back end of the early DD, start of a P3, start of the early P4...sometimes a good indicator of how your day at the track might go.

Kudos to Alan B for nailing the not-so-obvious winner in race 2 today, which he gave out in the somewhat sparsely attended Spa seminar behind Carolina BBQ.

Backended a $109 early DD, and triggered a $291 P3 and a $1218 early P4 with rather obvious horses completing the sequences.

And if you hung around a little after the seminar, you would have heard Alan say, \"Hey, there is no reason why the #4 and the #5 can\'t run home together, if the pace collapses...\"

Bingo! $137 bonus exacta...just for paying attention.

Where were YOU this morning?

[shanahan]

that\'s very cool, hope all cashed in that were there...it\'s 105 degrees here in DFW, so seminars are self-induced!

[FrankD.]

Rick B. posting from his lap top at the Carolina BBQ beat me to the punch on this weeks seminar !

It was nice to meet Rick, drbillym and a few other new faces on another absolutely beautiful day at the spa. 30,000 plus came through the gates, pulled pork with potato salad & baked beans was awesome at the Carolina BBQ, a modest profit for some but not this sharp guy.

We gave TGAB a hard time for his o-fer 2 weeks ago and he made amends as mentioned by Rick\'s previous post. After much consultation yesterday TGAB and I decided that it was Jimbo who was the jinx of 2 weeks ago as we have had some moderate success in his absence. So the pressure will be on Jimbo on get away weekend to come up with something good ?

It was not a great race card by Saturday standards but a pretty good betting card if you had the correct opinion on a couple of races.

The first was a play against Carson Hall strategy with second place Stevil being the key, close but not quite and a $ 58.00 exacta started the day off on the wrong foot.

The second was all TGAB as he nailed the triple,exacta and double into the 3rd with Baffert\'s monster.

Jersey girl running second in the 4th killed my pick 4 and a bad play on my part leaving the 1 a Dominic Galluscio speed ball of the ticket. Tough meet to nail down a pick 4 for this one repeatedly getting beat by chalk. I guess I\'ll never be accused of being a \" chalk eating weasel \" ?

My only major play of the day was on Sunlight Sonata in the 6th with a good win bet, doubles and pick 3\'s keying him. After 24,49,1:13 fractions on his own he threw in the towel. Followed by a $ 21.00 mutual with Hurricane Day and a impressive  Stay Thirsty performance in the the 8th it would have made for a nice double and pick 3. A small saver exacta of 7/9 and a slice of the super in the 7th kept the day from being a bad one.

The fastest horse in the race won from post 10 in the 9th for a $ 4.50 payout that was a play against, a tough Sword Dancer and not a real surprise with Telling. I was in line with the ROW analysis but did not not expect Desormeaux to ride 2W for the entire mile and a half on Al Khali ? An impossible last race that was passed by many although I believe Rick B. did get a piece of the late pick 4 ?

The day was topped off by a can\'t miss good thing in the 12th at Monmouth, a friends horse who I told anyone who would listen he could not get beat. He didn\'t run a step but we got 3/1 which we never expected to get on him !

It\'s the halfway point in the meet, 20 down and 20 to go my bankroll is down but still in 2 zero land and I\'ve had 14 days at the track. Thank God for rebates although a lot of action has gone through the windows up here. Old school what can I tell you, TGAB and I had a great chat about the lost art of going live to the race track. It\'s something to few of us do with any regularity anymore.

I\'m absent next weekend taking my son to school and a few days off in Chicago so I\'ll have to go about 10 for 12 in the last 2 weeks to get my required 25 trips in to the track ?

The politicians and NYRA idiots have tried to screw it up, the economy is a huge factor this year, there are too many NYB and cheap claiming races but it\'s still a very special place. Once again the fun and meeting new friends many of whom are just as demented as I am continues and I hope to meet some more over the final 2 weekends.

I guess the 8th race today sums up Saratoga ? A 4/5 Pletcher shot rolls over the field, the superfecta comes back over 5k, with the 3 underneath horses selling for over 700K between them and a 2.3 million dollar yearling beat one horse in the race.