Where is Richibee ?

[rosewood]

Hope you didn\'t have to much rum & whiz at the LR Downs?

[marcus]

maybe , as member of the greatness committee he\'s been sequestered until the end of the racing day  + WS ...

[richiebee]

Marcus and Rosewood:

Your concern is flattering. Ms. Richiebee usually does not even notice my
absence for 36 or so hours.

Marcus, I was not named to the greatness committee, which is OK because I mingle
with my peers or no one, and since I have no peers, I mingle with no one. I do
not know if there was much greatness on display at Monmouth Park yesterday, but
I will concede that Curlin put a nice finish on one of the most admirable 3YO
campaigns in recent years, that Rick Dutrow did a great job getting Kip Deville
to relax, and that English Channel is one of the greatest turf horses to race in
New York and New Jersey in recent years.

All plans for a live visit to Monmouth Friday and an intense day in Living Room
Downs on Saturday began to unravel Thursday afternoon when I was told my
presence would be required in Manhattan on Friday night at 6PM for a work-
related project which would likely last until the early morning hours on
Saturday. So instead of being at Monmouth Friday, I ended up at the OTB on
Third Avenue in midtown Manhattan.

(I started going to the Third Ave OTB branch last Spring. The first day I was
ever in there, I caught a fellow trying to walk out of the branch with my
briefcase and umbrella. After my initial inclination to pummel this man
subsided, we reached an understanding and I now buy him a tall Budweiser in a
paper bag each time I visit this branch and he \"watches\" my things while I
wager.)

Friday\'s festivities got off to a fun start, as I was alive with Maryfield (now
4/5 lifetime on wet tracks) and Nownownow (part of a cast of thousands spread
which was an anti- Prussian vote)(NNN\'s performance visually quite impressive,
wide both turns and behind the entire field at the quarter pole). I ended up
with a $5 P3 onto Discreet Cat and $2 P3s onto Wanderin Boy and Gotcha Gold.
Corinthian ran by all of the above as if they were tied to a post, and the
thought of throwing myself under a taxi was running through my mind as I
contemplated how one could leave the winner of the Met Mile out of a race
called the BC Dirt Mile.

Out of work Saturday morning at about 7AM. Get totally soaked in an awful
Manhattan rainstorm walking 3 blocks to get my car. Still pretty soaked after
the 25 minute drive home. Ms. Richiebee asks if it is raining hard outside,
earning a dirty look. Wet clothes off, dry bed in, next thing I know I am waking
up and its 10 minutes to post for the Turf Mile.

I really only got a chance to make 2 bets on the day-- a win bet on Kip, and a
3x3x3x4 Pick 4 which had Kip, Ginger and Curlin. In the John Deere Turf I got
greedy and tossed DT AND English Channel and paid the price.

Slept through the 2 Juvie races which I would not have bet anyway. Slept
through the F/M Turf, where I certainly would have bet against the \"first time
out of California\" filly but could not have come up with Lahoudad.

I slept through the Sprint, which my \"Biggest Bet Against\", Midnight Lute,
apparently dominated. Wonder if Baffert will try him in the NYRA Mile
(didn\'t he win this race with El Corredor?) and eventually try to stretch him
back to 2 turns.

A few bucks lighter, sitting here wondering how life is unfair that the NY Bred
Showcase Day at Belmont last Saturday was held on a perfect Fall day and for
the most part the BC races one week later were run in a virtual monsoon.

I was getting a bit depressed, a big let down after the big event, when I
checked my email and saw a message concerning Emirates to Dubai, the overhyped
and overbet Godolphin horse who is the only animal on my DRF watch list.

ETD as you recall showed a great turn of foot in (what else) a 5-1/2 furlong
turf race at the Spa. He was stretched to a mile at Belmont where he was
inexplicably under restraint in a race which featured very slow fractions.
ETD is entered in an identical spot on Wednesday, and that is what is great
about Racing-- although there can only be the occasional \"BIG\" day, there is
usually something compelling enough on the average day to keep one interested.

If you have read this far you are either bored or aggravated, but I needed the
necessary BC closure; as a woman I work with says each night on her way out the
door, \"To be Continued\".

[richiebee]

richiebee Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------

 
> I slept through the Sprint, which my \"Biggest Bet
> Against\", Midnight Lute,
> apparently dominated. Wonder if Baffert will try
> him in the NYRA Mile
> (didn\'t he win this race with El Corredor?) and
> eventually try to stretch him
> back to 2 turns.
 
NCT:

It did not cost me anything to post my opinion that Midnight was the Biggest
Bet Against. My only regret is that TGJB was so swayed by the eloquence and
reason of my opinion that he incorporated it into his Sprint analysis.

Thanks to man\'s need for sleep, I was not able to bet the race so my opinion
did not cost me any money in wagering terms.

After watching Maryfield and Corinthian come from way out of it in the goo on
Friday, I may have upgraded my evaluation of ML\'s chances on Saturday.

But congrats on the good call and the $7.00 winner. In one of your posts on the
Sprint you reminded me of Thunderello and looking for the value \"underneath\".
In another Sprint post, you stated that your \"early thoughts\" were that Idiot
Proof (\"bounces now\") and Talent Search (\"not this calibre\"), would be passed
in the late stages by Kelly\'s Landing (5th), Benny the Bull (4th), Greg\'s Gold
(8th) (you\'ve been around long enough to realize that horses with tendon
problems are poor propositions on sloppy tracks) and Forefathers (beaten nearly
50 lengths).

I know you also said that ML was a strong single in your multiple race wagers,
so I hope you were able to catch a P3, P4 or P6...or all 3 of them!

I \"mea culpa\"d on my Best Bet Against about 12 hours ago. I never realized that
TG board protocol requires that I directly acknowledge that you were correct
and I was wrong on this matter. If anything, the TG Board is rather civil in
that one\'s past indiscretions or misconceptions are usually not commented upon.

As Jackson Browne, known both for writing sensitive lyrics and beating the crap
out of Darryl Hannah, once wrote: \"Don\'t confront me with my failures/ I have
not forgotten them\"

I think my biggest victory for the weekend was posting a nifty set of driving
instructions to Monmouth. Twoshoes posted that he followed these instructions
and had, as they say in the trade, \"a perfect trip\".

[NoCarolinaTony]

Much to my surprise he opens up at 6 or 7 to 1. Slowly, and I do mean slowly he drops. I made the bet when he was 5-1 on the board. I knew I had to live with the final odds. Just glad they had a cutoff. What made the race so wild was he spotted the field 7 lengths......

Well Richiebee was being \"playful\" in that I didn\'t believe you picked the right horse as the \"bet against\" in the earlier posts. As for the underneath value, any astute handicapper would have ended up playing Idiot proof and Talent Search underneath, after the early scratch and the way the track was playing to early speed. In fact I boxed the three of them hoping that Lute ran third. Had the Triple and the Super. Did not play any of the early multi race plays. No real bombs on the day to be had as it turned out. Just had enough confidence in this play to take off the Rubber Band.......

One last thing, the best way I know getting to  Monmouth  from the north or NY was coming in on 36 going south/west along the beach via sea Bright etc....scenic, and traffic free all the time FWIW. My son lives in Atlantic Highlands. Get off the GS at 117A on Rt 36 and keep going. (if you catch the lights right).

[richiebee]

NCT--

Just noticed that the 2-4-7-8 Super paid $2,478.

The Sea Bright short cut you mention is only a short cut if you stay out of the numerous watering holes you pass along the way.I was never able to.

[Mall]

You\'re nothing if not modest, nc. Not even an \"I told you so\", let alone any smack talk, when we ran into Mr. Brown at the post-race party, although it\'s entirely possible those photos you took might come in handy some day. With the exception of your hilarious Stronach impression, the rest of what may or may not have been said or happened at that party & afterward is a little foggy at this point, although I\'m fairly certain I didn\'t take anywhere near as much out of the Sprint as you did. And why not spice up your post by mentioning the fact that you followed up on your BC score by qualifying for the NHC--for the 2nd yr in a row--on Sunday? Your modesty is so pronounced I can\'t help but wonder if now might not be good time to enroll you in some remedial classes at the Uncle Mall School of braggadocio and shameless self-promotion. On a more serious note,kudos on some very solid handicapping over the weekend.

[richiebee]

Lets see you have a transplanted New York Italian who lives in North Carolina
imitating a Canadian who emigrated from Austria...

Good job qualifying, NCT, and good luck in Vegas.

[NoCarolinaTony]

Ahh...little know fact, I was Born in Germany ....Kind of a Army Baby you might say....Have German speaking ability, and have been working for essentially German company my whole life.

It was pretty good I thought.....

Thanks for the Kudo\'s ...and everything prior was to bust some chops (only!!)

NCT