Saturday, April 19, 2014

Emerald Downs - Easter Sunday Card - Late Pick 4

“Thou shalt not not go to the racetrack on Easter” is written somewhere in the Bible, I just haven’t found it yet. If you celebrate, Happy Easter.

30 out of the 56 horses racing on Sunday are Washington-breds. Even more impressive is that 38 of the 55 horses entered on Saturday were Washington-breds. 

The 7th and 8th races on Sunday are very competitive races so the plan is to focus on the late Pick 4 and try to get some higher odds horses in the 7th and 8th races. I bet the handle numbers are pretty good on the 8th because it has both quality and quantity.

Race 6:  #1 Frisco Bound and #4 Vegas Burn
#1 Frisco Bound was claimed out of a $3,500N3L at Turf Paradise in his last start in February. This horse has good speed, the rail, and was competitive at levels higher than this.  Frisco is also Bound to lose the NFC Championship game again next year. #4 Vegas Burn just won impressively last weekend and is right back in with Rocco Bowen. It was a good win and I would expect this jump up to the N3L condition will not be a big deal. #2 Spending and #5 Sam Jam are both good enough to win this but they will need to close and only have 5.5 Furlongs to do it so I would just stick with #1 and #4. But why would you or my dog ever listen to me?

Race 7:  #1 Smart Copy, #2 Stikine Slough, #4 Kenai King and #5 Can’t Get Enough
Really like this race. Looking forward to seeing these horses in the paddock and seeing how much they have matured since last year. #1 Smart Copy is a Washington-bred by Papa Clem out of the Basket Weave mare Run a Copy. This horse has only lost to three horses: Del Rio Harbor, Noosito and Royal Tale. Not bad company. #2 Stikine Slough ("Blue") won a race by over 18 lengths last year but then had to face the likes of Dallon’s Gold, Noosito and Del Rio Harbor.  Look at those 5 Furlong works on March 31 and April 6.  “Blue” looks ready. #4 Kenai King ran against the same company as the others in this race and was competitive. His only bad start was when he was off slow and 5-wide on the turn. #5 Can’t Get Enough was my favorite yearling colt at the 2012 WTBOA Sale. The $41,000 price tag did not surprise me. I expect this horse will be stakes-placed by the end of the year. 

Note that in the third Race #5 Ms P K Blue is also out of Bluledo, the same dam as #2 Stikine Slough. Nicknamed “Blue”, I am hoping Stikine Slough will show his stuff tomorrow. You’re my boy blue!




Note: If you subscribe by email you should be seeing a Youtube Video actually in this email (not just the link). If not, you might want to go to the actual website each time you get an email and read it directly from there rather than on email.  For some reason, YouTube Video’s are not coming through on the emails. If you did not see the two YouTube videos in my last post you missed two classic Sea Galley commercials. I am working on trying to figure out the problem. If you haven’t subscribed to my blog by email yet, you are simply a lowly buccaneer/marauder. Plus if you go directly to my website you increase the chance of me landing some serious advertising dollars for my blog from the likes of Kenny Roger's Roasters or Tab. 

Race 8: #1 Mr. Bowling, #5 Scat DaddyBaby, #10 Rocky’s Quest and #11 Jebrica

Great race! Oh crap, Scat Daddybaby is in this race. I am forced to put #5 Scat Daddybaby on my ticket because of Scat Daddybaby Syndrome. He has been working out great and has speed in a field that seems to lack that asset. Note that I just violated my own Scat Daddybaby Syndrome rule by leaving out only one horse in Race 7 (#3 Airgrinder). For a refresher on this Syndrome see my Opening Day post. I am not going over it again.

#1 Mr. Bowling is better than his Longacres Mile race last year suggests. The question is whether this is too short of a distance for him. He has been working well recently. #10 Rocky’s Quest is a favorite of mine at the track. Question is again the distance as this horse seems to do better at a mile rather than 6 Furlongs. #11 Jebrica cannot be left out. This classy horse (out of Peaceful Wings) has a good post position for his style. He can sit back and see what happens in front of him before making a closing move. Once more, the issue is whether this horse will like this distance.  It will be interesting to see how the three-year olds from last year step up against the older horses. Note that the dam of #6 Finallygotabentley (I finally got a powder blue Ford Pinto, see below) is Smarty Deb. This family is excellent will certainly pop up in a “Broodmare of the Week” post later on.  



Race 9:  #1 Claudia’s Cahill, #2 That’s a Bingo and #5 Sunshine Candy
Your guess is as good as mine in this race. I think you could add the #3 And Stay Out and #4 You Send Me and I wouldn’t argue with you. I just want to limit my investment to three horses.

Pick 4 Investment Structure

1,4/1,2,4,5/1,5,10,11/1,2,5

2 x 4 x 4 x 3 = 96 Combinations or $48.

Other Races of Interest

Race 3: Has two well-bred horses that were high prices at the WTBOA Sale. #3 Diner’s Diva is by Dehere out of a Crafty Prospector mare and #4 Athina Lee is an English Channel (the second English Channel we have seen from the Hansen’s in the last week) out of a Pentelicus mare. Diner’s Diva was purchased for $50,000 and Athina Lee was purchased for $80,000 at the WTBOA sale. Too rich for my mongrel blood but I thought both of these horses were beautiful horses at their respective yearling sales (I just reviewed my notes in my old sales catalogs). 

Hope to you see you Sunday. I am the guy walking around that is the height of a jockey but can’t make weight to ride (by about 40 pounds).

Always love your animals,


Will

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