Girls' Day Out

What a huge payout in the Rampant, where my girl Miss Shop won! The $1 trifecta paid $226.30, as Round Pond finished out of the money in fourth, just ahead of Tiger Belle. Very impressive!

In the Santa Anita Oaks, Rags to Riches was magnificent, and ready to run more! Baroness Thatcher was on the lead most of the race, but didn’t have enough after the final turn. Cash Included finished third behind Silver Swallow.

Smokey Stover was the best in the Bay Meadows Breeders’ Cup Sprint Handicap.

My Philly picks worked out as such:

Race 1: Love Walk (win, $9.80) Miss Geniality (place, $3.80)
Race 2: Darksideoftheforce (scratch)
Race 3: Lively American (place, $4.40)
Race 4: Ice Legend (place, $5.40)
Race 5: Baby Boots (win $4.00)
Race 6: Noa's Toy (show, $4.00) Fire Emblem (scratch)
Race 7: True Halo (scratch) Count Montbrook (win, $5.00)
Race 8: Visionary (win, $18.20)
Race 9: Whim's Gem (place, $4.00)
Race 10: I'm the Answer (place, $4.00)

I did not have access to any Beyer numbers, training times, race records, or even breeding for any of these horses, just looked at trainers, jocks and appealing names. It never fails to astounds me how just “gut feelings” about horses can pay off, and how often I over-analyze statistics. We went to Penn National OTB facility on Friday, and, though I had spent the night before poring over records, breeding, track bias, etc, I did not win much. My point: serious handicappers may scoff, but sometimes you just need to go with a horse whose name shares your mom’s name, or contains your favorite color or street address, or even your favorite sports team’s name. However, balance it with good jocks and trainers (particularly in combo). Get to know one track well, study it, and bet it often.