Monday, July 28, 2014

Monday Notes

The weekend - with plenty of action in both the Standardbred and Thoroughbred world - is done. Here are a few things that caught my eye.

Bayern's last was eye-popping, with a solid figure, and one wondered if he would carry it through to the Haskell. He sure did. In some of his previous outings he looked a little nuts, but he has seasoned.

At the Meadowlands Saturday we saw mostly prep races for this week's big Hambo card. A few of the races were pretty ugly, with some no-try efforts. Archangel, who has been bottled up and wacky in the pocket of late, was rolled on the front end to a 1:50 score. Thinking Yannick is not the biggest Ake Svantstedt fan, the Cashman Final should be interesting. Sebastian K returned to the winners circle after slipping all over the track in the Maple Leaf Trot, where he was beaten.

The Equilottery is making some headlines. Here is what the horse lottery looks like from a horse racing bettor perspective (page 4, pdf

Hong Kong lasix study here. What I liked most is the quote that had not much to do about Lasix, or studies. 
  •   “For a lot of different reasons, the Hong Kong Jockey Club controls everything,” Preston said. “They have totally revamped the racing model and gotten into the mode of complete transparency. Every record that can influence a bettor’s decision to bet on Horse A versus Horse B is known to them, including their veterinary records. I think the model works because people feel very confident in their betting strategies because they have complete information.”

Something tells me that here across the pond, such a system would fail miserably. Case in point below.
Jimmy Takter got three days for his Scream and Shout drive a couple of weeks ago at the Big M. Seeing the circumstances that is probably not far off what he should've gotten, in my opinion. I hope others in his position rethink the clog move with a longshot from here on out.

Added fees suck. A 20 year old bettor learns about the nickel and diming done in Illinois regarding their ADW tax.  h/t to Racetrackandy

Sweet Lou is as good as ever; probably better than ever. The winter treated him well and he seems sound and happy. His back three quarters on Saturday in a US Pacing Championship prep were robotic, and he won so easily you'd think he went 49 flat. If he can somehow stay sharp and sound there is little question in my mind he will go 46 or 46.1. He would need a three quarters around 1:19 and change at Lexington, which is pretty hard to find. I guess I could temper that in one way: The Big M was rocket-fast on Saturday, so we need to take those final times with a grain of salt.

Presumably looking for more speed, they changed the shoes on the Captain on Saturday. He raced really well, but being a grinder he has a tough time against pure speed horses he is encountering this year. He has always gapped a little on the far turn, but he really gapped it on Saturday.  Regardless, both he and Thinking Out Loud showed they are in form and ready for a go this weekend.

Have a nice Monday everyone!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

How come Takter got 3 days and Trond--for a similiar driving offense--got 18 or so? Absolutely ridiculous double standard. I would have given him the samw and added another 20 when he failed to admit and apologize for his transgression. As for the captain--told you long ago he beat up on some very suspect horses and was life and death doing it. He will never win a race of significance.

regards, benny beam

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