Saturday at Saratoga

[FrankD.]

Another beautiful Saturday day, another crowd of 33,000 plus, another pathetic race card presented by NYRA. There were 130 horses entered for the 11 race card and only 21 of them had ever beaten a winner.

The glass is not always half empty though ! TGJB was in town,I met a couple of new and interesting characters, far and away my most profitable day of the meet on a card where it was difficult to find a bet in the first 8 races.

Jerry got the ball rolling in the first with Green Monster, he hated the race, hated the card, but offered him out as the most logical horse.

In the second I got very lucky using Fox Rules ( a first gelding ) in a small double but out smarted myself in the pick 3 and 4 sequence by leaving Chavez out in the 3rd race. I\'m always telling non sheet player friends that any idiot can play the favorite. I guess I\'m relegated to sub idiot status then on this play.

In the spirit of my continued bitching and personal boycott at the windows of the Finger Lakes east cards I purchased an $ 80.00 voucher and could not use the whole amount betting the double, pick 3 & pick 4.

There\'s not a lot to say about the first 5 races. Jerry had an opinion on Out of the Ghetto in the 5th and he didn\'t run much.

The allure of a million dollar pick 6 pool was too much to resit even though the first 3 legs were all maidens. One of my new found friends who has been a TG user for over 10 years but has a fear of posting on the board asked if I wanted to go in with him on a ticket. He claimed he posted once 10 years ago and had his head chopped off by a host of responders ? I can\'t imagine that ever happening here !
A very modest $ 216.00 play was made and we weren\'t far off, doubling the investment probably could have got us a slice of the pie ?

TGJB loved Tapaway in the 7th and after the trip from hell he won fairly easy for a $ 14.40 mutual. The charts account of 4 wide in the 1st turn in laughable, watch the reply! Yours truly could not connect him vertically or horizontally.

The 8th saw Chad Brown strike again down the middle of the track and nip the Stall firster at the wire. Maggie pointed out in the paddock that Stall was 2 for 2 with firsters going long on the turf and almost 3 for 3. Tough beat on the 6 ticket for some, a horse that was discussed on our ticket but excused due to the post.

The 9th and finally a race to bet real money on !!! I ran to the windows as soon as they were saddled. Chad Brown was everyone\'s single and Jerry gave out the chalk eating weasel exacta cold. Kudos to Maggie Wolfendale as she commented on how good the 9 horse looked. A triple key of 5 / 1,2,9 with extra tickets keying the 2 produced a $ 188.00 triple off a $ 22.00 exacta.

While waiting for the Alabama I walked by Jerry watching the board at Monmouth. He simply said there betting the wrong horse the favorite doesn\'t have a chance.
I asked him who he liked and he said 3,5 with the 4,6 underneath. Without looking at anything I walked to the windows. The verdict came back 3-6-5 for a $ 76.00 exacta, $ 157.00 triple for a buck and $ 910.00 super with all for 4th. The 4 just missed for 4th and that would have been a real score !!!! There aren\'t many I would bet on completely blind. Thanks again TGJB !!!

The Alabama was an very interesting betting race. The Canadian filly opened up even money, Plum Pretty was ignored and many posts here about ST. John\'s River ?
The seminar had Jerry saying the only possible outcome was a 1,2,3 finish of Royal Delta, Plum Pretty & It\'s Tricky in some order. The others were simply too slow. Royal Delta was very generous in the exactas with both of the other 2, the Plum Pretty number was in the 70\'s each way and the Tricky number was in the 40\'s both ways. Our host crushed the triple and the 2 got a suck up 3rd as Plum Pretty stopped running. A $ 40.00 exacta made the author very happy, a 30 minute sequence of the 9th 10th with the Monmouth race in between assured a profit for the meet !!!!

The finale saw some cash pick 4\'s and exacta\'s the seminar picks of the 1 and 6 were out but the first 3 were very logical. A $ 366,000.00 pick 6 that wasn\'t unreasonable at all got away.

The interesting aspect of the day for me is how the Alabama was bet ? It\'s Tricky was 3 and 4 to 1 until the last minute and went off at 2/1. The Canadian filly took a ridiculous mount of money and didn\'t run. Plum Pretty took no action and didn\'t run ?

All in all a great day at the track, meet some new friends and fellow degenerates as well as churning a profit. Always nice to see Jerry and pick his brain a bit but we need Bill Spilliane to give him some of his stories to tell. Quite the time difference in the discussion between the 2 !

Thanks to Steve Byk on a busy day for allowing us space, the boys all ate well. It was back to basics for me pulled pork, potato salad, baked beans.

I hadn\'t realized that richiebee had become so much of a celebrity ? When Rich introduced himself yesterday all wanted to know if he was richibee ?
Autographed pictures will be available on getaway weekend.

Ugly weather potential as T-storms are rolling in this afternoon.

Good luck,

Frank D.

[moosepalm]

Just a quick addendum to Frank\'s thorough and colorful recap.  On Friday, TGJB coordinated the annual TG Open at the Saratoga Spa course, an event high on camaraderie and fair-to-middlin\' on golf proficiency.  TGJB\'s game kicked in gear on the back nine, and mine was passable if you drew a line through the Par 5\'s.  The third member of our almost foursome was a delightful individual whose guilt by association will be protected by anonymity, and who proved that fairways were not there strictly for aesthetic purposes.  All in all, a great time, lacking only in more participants, which hopefully will be remedied in the years ahead.