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Saturday, August 18, 2007

Saturday Results

Too bad I have not made the plunge into online wagering. Officer Cherrie ($28.20) beat Dancing Allstar ($2.20) in the Ontario Debutante Stakes at a nice price, and I liked her work recently (as noted before).

Southwestern Heat…what can I say? I’m not sure what happened here. First, the race was taken off the turf, but the distance still should have been perfect. However, after what the Equibase caller deemed a “bobble” at the break (I only caught a partial replay on Youbet.net, and Calracing.com doesn’t show Monmouth races, so I missed viewing the race in its entirety), Southwestern Heat “stalked the pace.” What the heck!? Either the break cost him dearly or they attempted to rate him, but it didn’t work. He could only manage a third place showing (out of four horse field), finishing nearly six lengths behind winner Cherokee Country and beaten by nearly two lengths by Heezafrequentflyer. I’m very disappointed. I hope that he has come out of the race well.

In the Iselin, Brother Bobby ($8.60) did a fine job finishing well ahead of the rest of the field…all except Gottcha Gold ($32.20) who won going away. Indy Wind ($5.60) finished third while favorite Master Command could only muster fourth. Nice payouts there, with a $1 exacta paying $154.40, and $1 tri returning $705.40. I am shocked that Gottcha Gold went off at 15-1, especially considering last time out he beat Lawyer Ron who just smashed the Saratoga track record in winning the G1 Whitney. Chuck Lopez gave him the absolute perfect ride along the rail…sweet!

In the Alabama, Tough Tiz’s Sis went for the lead early, but didn’t have enough to hold on. Calvin Borel beat the hell out of Lady Joanne coming down the stretch, and looked to squeeze Octave out of position, thus a stewards’ inquiry. The finish, however, remained unchanged as Lady Joanne ($11.00) nudged out Lear’s Princess ($5.30) while Octave ($2.60) came in third. Tough Tiz’s Sis did well, especially considering this field, her relative lack of graded stakes experience and the long layoff. Still, Bob Baffert’s mojo couldn’t aid her enough. The one here that really impressed me was Lear's Princess. She's coming along quickly, has already won on all-weather surface and turf, and now two narrow back-to-back second place finishes in grade 1 stakes. She looks mighty good. And, notice that the winner Lady Joanne came off the shortest time between races, having won here in a minor stakes race on July 30, just 20 days ago—and she still had two workouts between then and now. Impressive. And, while I can appreciate Calvin Borel’s enthusiasm, I hardly think Lady Joanne (along with Street Sense) are “the best horses right now.” She’s nice, but there’s this other filly…Rags to Riches…ever hear of her? No contest.

I wish I had gone with my first impression in the Arlington Oaks, which was Marietta ($8.80) who beat out Humble Janet ($5.80) and Marquee Delivery ($4.20). Kiss With a Twist moved well into the turn, but couldn’t hold, finishing fifth, while Mini Sermon started well, but faded to sixth. Todd Pletcher’s day just sucked.

In the Del Mar Oaks, I discounted Rutherienne solely because she was shipping in from the East Coast. Big mistake as she whipped this field, paying $9.20 for the win. Valbenny ($3.40) placed, while Super Freaky ($4.80) survived a photo finish with Supposition for third. I should be happy, though, because Rutherienne’s win enhances Bit of Whimsy who shared a deadheat victory with her in the June 2 G3 Sands Point Stakes at Belmont.

Finally, nice to see three-year-old Ravel working again. He posted a three furlong work (38:40b) last Sunday at Arlington, and today went same distance in 36.60.

5 comments:

John said...

Hey Valarie

As a fellow PA resident I can recommend Philadelphia Park's Phonebet online wagering system which is available to all PA residents as I recall. While it is primitive in appearance I have used it since its inception quite a few years ago. I fund it every week through my online banking account and I never have to make a trip to the track unless I want to.

dana said...

I agree... I thought Calvin both over whipped Lady Joanne (looks like it should be pronounced Jo Ann to me) and shut out Octave. I also thought both Lear's Princess & Octave were impressive.

Check out this photo:
http://flickr.com/photos/rockandracehorses/1166976018/

I've gone against Rutherienne twice now (didn't see yesterday's race) and both times I've been wrong wrong wrong. She's really incredible and that deadheat race with Bit of Whimsy was fantastic!

I was happy to see Ravel on the work tab too! I noticed Grapelli was back as well. I'm waiting and wondering about Belgravia too, no word on him.

dana said...

Damn, the url got cut off for the photo... click here to view it.

Valerie Grash said...

So, John, I went to their website and read over the info posted. A couple of questions:

1. It's called Phonebet, but you can actually do everything completely online, right?

2. Minimum initial deposit is $25; are there any monthly fees? I know they aren't providing pp's or online video (other than the video of Philly Park already available online), but just wanted to be sure I didn't have to make a minimum $$ of bets per month, etc.

3. What tracks can you wager on? I couldn't find anywhere on the site a complete list of available sites.

4. How do they pay you? Do they send a check or direct deposit?

Sound pretty simple and straight forward...

And I won't comment on why you have to fund it every week rather than the other way around :)

John said...

Hi Valerie,

Although they call it phonebet, you can bet both by phone and online. You can bet on almost everywhere including Great Britan (everyday) and Dubai and Longchamps on DWC and Arc days.

The selection of tracks is quite extensive with very few exceptions that I can think of. They do not show the signal from NYRA but you can bet NYRA, so I bet with them and watch on Youbet.

Online betting is totaly free, there is a charge of $1.50 daily for phone wagers but I never use the phone anymore.

As for my funding mechanism, I started the weekly funding back in the days when I was bad handicapper, now that I am a good handicapper the funding mechanism is not really necessary but I think of it as a security blanket, just in case someday I go berserk and start boxing Alan's selections in $10 exactas . . . I'd go broake pretty fast . . . HA HA HA :-)