Recapping a great weekend of racing on a weekly basis
Kevin Gazzale
Another weekend in the books at Saratoga and it was a frustrating one to say the least. Some major prices and major payouts along with some jockey controversy highlighted this week. It wouldn’t be a true Saratoga meet without controversy, that showed itself Sunday afternoon when it became a he said she said issue with the jockeys refusing to ride a 1M turf race for 2YO horses out of fear of green horses with a short run up into the first turn. NYRA blamed the jocks as they noted that this race distance and type has been run multiple times over the past years. The jockey colony claims they raised concerns prior to Sunday but no one at NYRA did anything about it until it was too late and forced the cancelling of the Pick 6 carryover, which now moves to Thursday. All in all who knows what the truth actually was, but NYRA continues to do some things right (CAW throttling etc.), however this is not the first time they have screwed the bettors with surface switches or distance switches. We’ll see what comes of it, probably nothing.
Del Mar starts up this week along with the Haskell at my hometown track, I will be paying attention and wagering. Though if I’m being honest I can’t remember the last time I won on Haskell day. Journalism returns to the track which always grabs my attention. But we’ll recap all of that next Tuesday. For now lets look back at the weekend that was, additionally I’m going to recap my virtual stable with horses I have an eye on when they do run back at some point this meet.
Weekend Best Call
Gatsby in the 7th race on the Thursday card was ultimately my best call of the weekend that I cashed on, fairly embarrassing that this is what became my best call.
Weekend Worst Call
I was alive on Thursday in the last race to Coordinator for Chad/Prat and this horse did zero running. He was hammered in will pays, had nice figs, great connections obviously. He was in a great spot 2 wide ready to pounce and when it came time to run he just didn’t go. Between the Pick 5 and Pick 3 I was looking at $1,200 and left with nothing. That kind of set the tone for the weekend and I wasn’t able to recover I have to admit.
Weekend Bad Beat/Bet
My bad beat/bad bet of the weekend was liking Sippin Pretty in the Victory Ride on Friday but not using her properly. I used her in my Pick X bets, had her underneath in my verticals but did not use Goodall and mostly keyed around Sneaky Good. Sippin Pretty rolled and won at a monster price. And looking back in her form she really has only run 1 bad race at that was in the 8 Belles and you could excuse it really.
Stable Watch
Aerial Affair – ran this past weekend for Antonucci, great works, pundits wouldn’t stop talking about how great horse looked in paddock and on track. She got a little hot and bothered behind the gate, ran a decent 3rd, I’ll be watching next out.
Chunk of Gold – this horse was completely strangled to death in his last at CD, still was a game 2nd, I will be looking to hammer this horse next out, will be 2nd off layoff, 2nd start 4YO season, golden pattern at they say
Iron Sight – For Chad Brown, this horse closed well into a slow pace last out at BAQ, I’ll be looking for this horse again at Saratoga, he recently got back on the work tab.
Lovely Grey – Portnoy’s horse that looked to be making a huge run prior to getting caught up and falling in the Wild Applause, this horse is a true turf horse and is shaping into being a solid Stakes level horse
Smexy – Same as above, this horse had some run prior to getting into trouble in the Wild Applause
Movie Night – Monster winner for Walden at CD a few weeks back, 3YO filly, however has not made it back to the work tab yet
Ms Liu – Another Antonucci 2YO, this one ran her guts out and eventually folded to a more season maiden who then got nailed by a long shot closer. Ms Liu just got back to the work tab and will certainly be a big win bet for me.
Final Thoughts
I think I mentioned it last weekend but you cannot trust these Miguel Clement horses lately, especially on turf where they end up being well bet. They just do not run or have a closing kick you need. I would tread lightly with Miguel horses moving forward until Deterministic runs again.
Jena Antonucci has been putting some well bet well trained horses out there lately. She may not be getting results but on paper her horses look solid and it feels like it’s only a matter of time before she starts seeing results.
Once again, for me European jockeys on European horses in turf stakes at Saratoga have to be an automatic toss moving forward. I know this is very recency bias but Fort George was well bet on form and couldn’t get it done against Ole Crazy Bone (Great Name) even though Flavien Prat tried everything in his power to give this one away. William Buick couldn’t get it done last week but Joel Rosario could. If you find a European runner in a stake with competitive class figures and they land a Saratoga based jock, look out, I will be playing those bigly.
Good luck this weekend at Del Mar, Monmouth, Saratoga. Lots of great racing, what a time to be alive huh?
