Once again the TG figured prove successful on the turf. Case in point was today's Explosive Bid Handicap at the Fair Grounds. My key in the race was Even The Score. Looked as good if not better than most in this bunch and with a good chance (or so I thought) of improving on his last few races which would make his a legitimate threat to win the race. Hap figured to be a touch slower and a very vulnerable highweight. Beat Hollow was a horse I'll play against every time. The ship, a horse with some talent but loaded with physical ailments, a large high quality field. So the race was ripe for the picking.
I went off the deep end playing ETS in retrospect. Since I didn't have sheets for races 7 or 10, I took ALL in both races, singled ETS in the 8th, and singled Tee Cat in the 9th. I had exactas over and under 6 horses, and a triple box keying ETS with those 6. That's how confident I was entering the race. Of course I wouldn't have done all of this had he not been 70-1.
Entering the stretch I thought I was home. But at the 3/16 mark you could see that ETS was getting leg weary and that Sarafan and Beat Hollow were closing fast. Luckily he held for third, giving me two $1 tri box tickets and a large show bet making it a very profitable day.
The Orchid at GP was a race in which the contenders were few, and Julie Jalouse was a very gettable key given her "good ground" turf starts in Europe. That plus the fact that Johnny Murtagh kept coming back for her was more than enough to key her. $37 exacta seemed like a juicy price to me.
These two healthy scores plus Delightful Irving-Cetewayo exacta ($53) made for a great weekend of turf racing. I wonder why I even bothered trying to outsmart those Pick 3's at TP on Spiral Day, although the Spiral exacta was quite nice itself.
Just wanted to thank Jerry and the boys for continuing to put out a tremendous product. Just can't wait to tackle my first Vegas tournament this summer. Any other tournament players out there?
