Happy Weekend Of Betting, Golf, Racing and Fair Starts

Good morning racing fans.

Big Night, Big Card

There's plenty of action in racing this weekend. In harness, some of the best mares in the world battle in the Roses Are Red at Mohawk. As well, there's a really good matchup in the Maple Leaf Trot in race seven, where Market Share heads back to Canada. Included in the events are the Canadian Breeders Championships. The entries are here and I'm sure there's a free program up, but I can't find it.

Betting is Frustratingly Weird

Since Sunday I am mired in a betting slump. Slumps are weird things. If they last too long you are probably doing something wrong, but so far I don't see that. I am betting some horses I would bet when I am rolling; they're just racing really, really bad. When you are in one, you do some strange things too, like bet a horse you would not bet if you scanned things a little more closely (I  looked at a couple of bets afterwards and said "what the hell was I thinking?") It snowballs.

Funnily enough, it has even hit my golf picks, in a strange way. I bet five dudes in the British Open, thinking I had some good sneaky plays. Other than Thomas Bjorn, a pick I stole off @insidethenumbers, all of my bets sucked. Then, a really weird one: For the Sanderson Tournament I want to put a few bucks on Mike Weir, because he woke up last week and at 230-1 + I figure that's worth a few dollars. I'm watching the event yesterday and Weir is on fire, at 4 under so I am happy.  He then goes bogey, bogey double and misses the cut. Par for the course for my bets, I figure.

But then I check my tickets. I did not bet Mike Weir. I made a mistake and bet Chris Riley. Riley is like one shot off the lead.

My best bet of the entire week, out of hundreds, was a ticket I made a mistake on. And really, Chris Riley? He's about the last guy I woulda picked.

Slumps are strange things.

"Greatness"

Is Captaintreacherous "great"? We throw that word around a lot lately, and in Harness Racing Update, the concept of "greatness" was looked at with regards to the Captain. (pdf page 4)

Fair Start

There was a lot of talk on the interweb last evening about a race at Del Mar where the winner knocked out two horses at the start and was left up. Interference at the start is a wild thing in thoroughbred racing. I think if you knock the field in the infield pond they'd leave you up. I did not watch this instance at Del Mar, but it sounded pretty awful.

I remember once betting a horse - at I think Penn National. He took a couple of steps out of the gate then took a left turn. He sandwiched the horse I bet, where he pretty much went to his knees. The horse that sandwiched me went on to win, beating my horse who made a miraculous recovery to come second by a short head. I thought "maybe I have a shot here to cash this bet when they look at this". Nope, there wasn't even an inquiry. 

Toga

On-track handle was down yesterday at Saratoga. I'm not sure if it was the heat or what, but it is what it is. The track seemed to be playing very quick in the heat. At times the last few years it has played to late. We'll see when more route races are carded, but it appears to be like true dirt - go fast and stagger home slower than the rest.

With Del Mar and Toga racing, these are racing's salad days each year. They'll likely be a big part of the total handle of the year and whether it's up or down.

Cheers and have a nice weekend everyone.