Penn National Saturday - Rydilluc and others

Penn National's card for the Saturday 6-1-13 looks fabulous!

Rydilluc (Palm beach stakes winner), Charming Kitten, Noble Tune in the Penn Turf Mile (- Rosario,Castellano, Johnny V, Luis Saez etc.

Macho Macho in another race, Chamberlain Bridge in another..

I most likely going down to Penn National on Saturday then!

Belmont at Grand Central NYC

Reposted from: http://www.equibase.com/racingnews/article/View.cfm

NYRA Takes Belmont Fun to Grand Central

05/28/2013 11:38 AM ET

New York City commuters, tourists, and visitors will have a chance to experience the fun of a trip to Belmont Park thanks to a promotion scheduled the day before this year's Belmont Stakes (gr. I).

The Thoroughbred racing experience at Belmont Park will be inside the Grand Central Terminal with the inaugural Belmont Stakes Fan Festival set for Friday, June 7.

From 8 a.m. until 8 p.m., the east side of Vanderbilt Hall will be turned into a mini version of historic Belmont Park, with four interactive event zones open to the more than 750,000 daily commuters, tourists, and visitors to New York's iconic train terminal. By participating, fans will have the opportunity to win Belmont Stakes items, and also be entered to win one of four prize packages including Belmont Stakes Day hospitality and other packages.

Among the activities are:
—Tweet to the Finish, a Twitter sweepstakes in which entrants follow @NYRANews from their Twitter account and tweet the hashtag of the horse they think will win the Belmont Stakes. A randomly selected winner will receive a Belmont Stakes Day trackside hospitality package for two including clubhouse seats, trackside parking, and buffet lunch. Second-, third-, and fourth-place finishers will also receive hospitality packages for different dates in June.
—Stakes Stampede, where fans propel a horse displayed on a screen to the finish line by running in place.
—Winner's Circle Photo, in which fans can stand in a replica of the Belmont Park winner's circle and get their photo taken to share with friends via email and social media channels.
—Mini Belmont Races, complete with a bugler and professional race caller Larry Lederman, in which fans can jump on one of three mechanical ponies and head around the racetrack to the finish line.

Friday May 24th 2013: Betfair Hollywood R5

8-Ain - this horse has shown good ability to rally in all of his last 3 races. has been pointed well recently so expect him to do *really* well. Win Contender.

UPDATE: Ain is scratched..... All bets are off as far as I am concerned. 

6- Father of Science - one of the horses to beat. With the blinkers on, is going to be up close and also Drysdale is good at turning around imports to fire on turf. Win contender.

7- Niagara Falls - this one is a 'false fav' and while he may not win, he will be in the top 3 or 4. Has prior experience running long races and pedigree is super strong to survive and then close well.

4- Vibrato Jazz. this is an experienced horse and will improve after his last race after the layoff. Also gets top rider..

Imaginary Wager of $ 100
  $27 Win on Ain = ($27)
 $2 EX BOX (8-6-4)= ($24)
$1 TRIFECTA BOX (4-6-7-8) = ($ 24)
$1 Super 8-6/8-6-7/6-7-4/7-4-5-2 = ($25)

Indiana Downs Freak Numbers

I paid attention to it only at the end of the day. I had wagered small amounts on Indiana Downs Races 5 and 6 on Horse #s 9 Smooth Town (in race 5)  and Horse #3 Lucy Ring, #6 Action Lady.

#9 Smooth Town was a steward scratch, so you can't do much about it.

#3 Lucy Ring went off as post time favorite at 0.90 to 1(not great odds) and came second.

ok no big deal.

The funny thing is when I paid attention at the full chart.

TWO NUMBERS dominated the day there. 5 and 7

That  is it. See for yourself. Screen capture is from Twinspires. (fair use). Races 4-5-6-7 ALL had the number 7 horse win. Crazy crazy crazy... haha

Preakness 2013 Picks

Been quite busy last few weeks. Did not even get to analyze or play the derby, except for hoping that Revolutionary did well. And yes, he did well enough to come 3rd.

FREE Equibase Past Performance Chart for Preakness 2013 (pdf)

Now, on to the Preakness analysis. The important thing to note is that Rosario is absolutely red hot as a jockey and I wish him and Orb all the best of luck. They do indeed look really strong. Not sure if they look 3/5 odds strong. But hey, I will probably place a souvenir bet on # 1 Orb. If he wins this and then wins the Belmont to take the Triple crown, those souvenir tickets would mean a lot.

The main thing about the Preakness this year is the reduced field, leaving only 9 horses in the fray, which makes lot of top jockeys available for other horses that had different rides in their last race. Case in point - Mike Smith jumps on board #7 Will Take Charge, a colt who did well in the Rebel Stakes to beat Oxbow. Will take charge had to check in the Derby in the stretch and that hurt his chances. If this horse gets a better trip and his decent workout from 13th May (48.20/4F) indicates he is in good shape, then he is surely worth playing in the exotics like tri/supers and also a good PL/SH bets.

I do not have very high hopes from #6 Oxbow, because if you notice one thing, he briefly came close to the lead in the Derby and then ecked out a 6th. He did not do much in the Arkansas Derby (came 5th). He went to the lead in the stretch in the Rebel and the Risen Star, but got beat in both of those (2nd and 4th respectively). His margin of victory was improving only in his 1m70yd LeComte Stakes among his recent races. So.. what do I do? You are getting odds of 15-1 on the M/L. It does not hurt to throw a PL/SH bet, because this one shows up at almost every race and grinds it out quite well. If his odds remain at bigger than 12-1 he is worth keeping in the exotics/PL/SH pools.

There are two others I like, although their odds may not be that great, but still will remain good odds considering Orb is becoming a prohibitive favorite.
These two are #4 Departing and #5 Mylute.  Mylute is the one I favor between the two, mainly because of the talented jockey Napravnik and also because this horse has done well in good competition. Mylute closed well in the Derby and we don't know if the steadying early on hampered his chances in any way. If he gets a better trip, Mylute could do exceedingly well. So, WP bets are worth placing and if the Show pool looks good throw some in there too.

Departing has gone really well, winning most of his races and the one race he came 3rd, the two horses that beat him, did awfully well in the Kentucky Derby. 

So, to summarize, this is what I will likely bet

• Win bets on #1 Orb (souvenir), #4 Departing (fresh horse), #5 Mylute
  
• PL bets on #5 Mylute, #7 Will Take Charge
  
• PL on #6 Oxbow, if odds at 5 mtp remain above 12-1 on him (and proportionally at place pool).
  
• SH bets on #6 Oxbow, #7 Will Take Charge 

I am absolutely tossing out Goldencents if he is less than 10-1. If he is over 10-1, a small win bet, but I really feel like this is an excuse horse.

Betting basics for Preakness

TO BE HONEST, I am not happy with just a nine horse field in the Preakness, when we could have had up to 14 horses!

Good luck and Happy and Safe Racing