Saturday's Results

Sorry I just threw up picks last night instead of explaining them more, but it had been a long week, and I was too exhausted to write more.

As for results, in the Hansel Stakes, two out of three ain’t bad! Stormin Baghdad prompted the pace until mid-stretch, before fading to finish sixth. Jockey Julien Leparoux and Awesome Hero ran a beautiful race, despite being boxed in several times, to get up for the win. Mr. Goodkat nearly wired this race before losing by a head to Awesome Hero, and just a nose ahead of third place finisher Weather Warning.

My Bourbonette picks were totally off! Sealy Hill won by a head over Panty Raid, with Aspiring nearly three lengths back. Our Dancing Babe finished just out of the money in fourth, the favorite Silverinyourpocket suffered her first loss (in her first stakes race) and finished fifth. Olivine never fired, and finished eighth (and proved the Pletcher-Velazquez machine does not always guarantee victory). In prepping for this race, I took a serious look at Sealy Hill, but couldn’t come to any decision since she hadn’t raced since January 27 and there were no workout numbers for her since that race; thus, I had no idea how she was training. Should have given this daughter of Point Given more of a look-see. I thought Panty Raid seriously disappointed in her last race on February 8, and her last workout on March 18 was middling, but Pletcher’s team did a good job with her. I frankly never considered Aspiring who started farthest out, in the 12 position, had never run a route, although she did have some nice workouts leading up to the race. Track bias suggested the outside post was serious determent.

Again, two out of three in the Rushaway, with Rafael Bejarano up on Dominican winning by five lengths, followed by trainer Helen Pitt’s Trust Your Luck in second, and Reata’s Rocket in third. Passport finished fifth and never threatened. I took a serious look at Eighteenthofmarch, due to his excellent bullet workouts recently and his numerous previous route races, but couldn’t take him seriously with his Beyers. I’m a big fan of Smoke Glacken’s progeny, but Pink Viper was outmatched here. Maybe he should stick to sprints or grass?

In the Lane's End, Mario Pino rode Hard Spun very impressively for the win, and I had seriously considered him to win, but I have loved Twilight Meteor so much that I picked him. Unfortunately, Prado did not position the favorite near the lead at the beginning, rode him on the rail but behind a wall of horses along the backstretch and final turn, leaving no place to go when they entered the stretch, and he never threatened, finishing sixth. Bejarano rode Sedgefield brilliantly to finish second, and Joe Got Even impressively closed in the stretch to finish third. I really thought Sports Town was the real “longshot” here, but obviously didn’t take to the Polytrack, losing his footing after the start, was four-wide around the final turn and faded to eighth. First three finishers came from post positions 10, 12, and 9—strange, especially when the track bias indicated the 4 through 7 posts were dominate. Nice exacta, paying $98.60, and the trifecta paid $777.00.