After the excitement of last night’s Stradbroke card, I awoke this morning to the absolute joy of watching See the Stars impressively capture the second jewel of the English Triple Crown, the Epsom Derby. As the progeny of the great mare (and Arc winner) Urban Sea and half-brother to the great stallion (and Epsom Derby winner) Galileo, Sea the Stars could become the first English Triple Crown winner since Nijinsky in 1970 if he wins the G1 St. Leger on September 12. Awesome!
Don’t you just hate it when you second-guess your handicapping? Big mistake. Last night I kept missing my trifecta picks—like getting Black Piranha and Ortensia in the Stradbroke, but no Bank Robber—so by the time the Brisbane Cup went off I played my three picks individually but not as a tri. What a moron! Scenic Shot, Ready to Lift and Tinseltown—in the exact order I had chosen—paid a very nice $689 and change for $1. Urgh! In the Guineas that followed, I had money on Marveen and La Etoile, but never considered the longshot filly Express Air.
For today, I haven’t changed my thinking about any of the undercard races:
True North: Fabulous Strike, Desert Key, Two Step Salsa
Just a Game: Forever Together, Carribean Sunset, My Princess Jess
Woody Stephens: Munnings, Hello Broadway, Everyday Heroes
Acorn: Funny Moon, Justwhistledixie, Dream Play
Manhattan: Cosmonaut, Wesley, Court Vision
As for the Belmont Stakes itself, I love gutsy Mine That Bird, but it’s the other Birdstone I’m going with here—Summer Bird. I’m a little concerned about ESPN reports that he is acting up in the detention barn, but on the other hand, Kent Desormeaux is having the most amazing day thus far. I was for Summer Bird in the Derby and he closed well. With today’s drier track, he should be better suited. I also look for a surprise from Miner’s Escape—I’m a big fan of Jose Lezcano, who displays great patience for such a young jock. Flying Private is an intriguing longshot, especially with Julien Leparoux who is such a great big race rider. I’d like to see Mr. Hot Stuff perform well, but not excited about Edgar Prado up, and Dunkirk is just overhyped. Chocolate Candy is another one I like, but just not sure the rail is the place to be, or that he can get 12 furlongs. I’m a bit sick of hearing the hype about Charitable Man too, but he I like, with young Alan Garcia who won last year with Da’ Tara. I’ll probably waver as the race nears, and how the jockeys are performing in the lead-up races, but for now I’ll go:
4. Summer Bird 7. Mine That Bird 9. Miner’s Escape
Val -- excellent call on Summer Bird. Almost had the exacta!
ReplyDeleteVal,
ReplyDeleteOne of the few I've read w/ SUMMER BIRD on top! Hope you had a good dinner!!!
Great call on Summer Bird... I put a win bet on him too. In fact, you and I were the only two who had him in our top 3 at the Paulick the index! :)
ReplyDeleteI'm also very happy to see you on Twitter too, definitely ads to the fun of race day, no?
Now I'm just sorry I chickened out of putting Summer Bird first on my Paulick list like I wanted to. I could have been a handicapping goddess to the world! lol!
ReplyDeleteYou know what is really pathetic though? I had run down my Twinspires account all day (had only started with $30), and by the time the Belmont went off I only had $7.22 left in it. So, rather than just put it all on Summer Bird to win, I did a $1 tri box ($6) on Summer Bird, Mine That Bird and Miner's Escape (dumb), and a 10 cent super that keyed the two Birds in first and second, followed by Dunkirk, Charitable Man or Miner's Escape in third and fourth. Damn Dunkirk ruined it for me! :) Oh well.
Twitter is totally cool. There are so many times I have an instant reaction to something, but it's not worthy of an entire blog post. Twitter is perfect vent for that.
Funny how things work out... I really liked Summer Bird in the Derby due to his Secretariat connection and chose him for my Bird over Mine That.
ReplyDeleteI still liked him in the Belmont, but not to win, and had him in an Exacta box with CMan, MTB and Dunkirk so a couple of bucks there.