Best Rides Today

[toetoe]

Race 9, DM. Alex Solis made a 45-degree turn toward the rail coming off the turn, then ran down the leader with In The Clutch. Masterful. He had plenty of horse, but without the move, he would have to go 8-wide, and that would be that.
See, I'm not always bashing. Only ALMOST always.

[JustRalph]

Valdivia on the turf...........it don't get much better than that..........

I missed the first one........but caught the last one in the nightcap.

Equisim loved the horse (workouts were awesome) 450k purchase.........as 2 year old............and Matt Carrothers was touting the horse too...........got me out and made a bunch on it.

I always have loved Valdivia on the turf, but this horse actually put me over for the meet. I have never made money at Del Mar. If I sit on my hands for a couple of days I could actually make a little money at DMR this year.........what are the odds I sit on my hands???

[toetoe]

I admit, he's won some good ones on turf. I have given up on him on dirt, as he'll finish second at best. TBaze with his eating disorder is better, I'm afraid. Hey, wait. I'll backwheel him. Okay, I feel better now.

Nice hit. No tears for Bailey and his odds-on maiden.

[Macdiarmadillo]

Okay, I'm gonna throw in Garrett Gomez putting them all to sleep on a wire job on Gold Bankers Gold, then putting on a rousing finish in the following race on Seven Nation Army who looked to be ready to quit a couple times down the stretch.

BTW, that $3.6 million maiden in the last looked as dull as dull could be today.

[cj]

Uriel Lopez on Gumba in the 2nd at AP. Great rail skimming ride in the stretch on a $37 horse that I bet, so I have to give him a shout out.

(I had no idea who the jock was at the time of wager :D)

[headhawg]

Uriel Lopez on Gumba in the 2nd at AP. Great rail skimming ride in the stretch on a $37 horse that I bet, so I have to give him a shout out.

(I had no idea who the jock was at the time of wager :D)
cj,

Would love to know what you saw in Gumba to play it. That was a Bris contest race and that's the only reason I even looked at it. I didn't see an overly favorable pace scenario, the new trainer is terrible off the claim and layoff, and while it had competitive "CJs" it wasn't the best fig in the recent lines. The only thing that I saw in it's favor was it had an 87 pace fig, good enough to make the lead -- but it did it's mild close in this race as that is Gumba's typcial running style.

Please tell me it wasn't as simple as having the best last out CJ and the fact that it was nearly 18 -1.

HH

[headhawg]

Valdivia on the turf...........it don't get much better than that..........

Glad you hit the race JR, but I'm surprised that you like Valdivia so much. My Equsim stats for him: 862 turf starts, 9.77 Win%. On dirt, 1392 starts, 10.56% wins. I'm guessing that he probably is getting the same quality of mounts on both surfaces, but it looks like he's actually a better dirt rider, statistically speaking. But maybe you have a secret turf angle..... :)

My overlooked turf jock out in CA is J K Court. I haven't played but two races at DMR this meet (both turf, both wins), so I don't know what kind of meet he's having out there, but I think if his mount has got a chance you'll get more value as he's not a big name rider.

[cj]

Please tell me it wasn't as simple as having the best last out CJ and the fact that it was nearly 18 -1.

HH

OK, I won't tell you :D...but you can look if you want:

http://www.pacefigures.com/ap_050903

I'm sure the guys that saw me in Saratoga can tell you, I don't dig very deeply at all when I handicap a race. If the horse has the figs and the price is right, I'm in!

[headhawg]

To quote Maxwell Smart, "(Damn), I asked you not to tell me that." :D

[JustRalph]

headhawg, now don't burst my bubble with something like accurate numbers!

I am using version 4 of ES. I have some old databases and that horse was on top in the Simulation and depending on how you selected a paceline, 1 or 2 in the profiler. Profile # that is. He was also tops in the CMP number.

I ran the sim about ten ways and he was on top just about every way. I think the thing that put me over the top was the workouts. He was working 6f in times that would probably be "much the best" in the race they were about to run..............and I do love Valdivia on the turf...........(hands over ears so I can't hear your stats) :D

[toetoe]

Hawg Dawg,
First, the important stuff. NO APOSTROPHE IN 'ITS.'

Okay. Whew. Toetoe feels better. Toetoe talk fast. Puny army men coming.

I think Valdivia has a better chance to luck into a good trip on turf. It's about positioning and timing. Dirt is more about wrestling the mount away from dying cheap speed, then carrying the mount to the wire on the rider's back. They're all staggering at the 1/8 pole, whereas on turf, they are literally going faster the last part. If you're in a good spot, anything can happen when you cut loose on turf. Call it the Toetoe Conjecture.

[headhawg]

Hawg Dawg,
First, the important stuff. NO APOSTROPHE IN 'ITS.'
Toe,

You're right, not in that context anyway. But it could be used in this manner: "It's been a long time since I examined toetoe's posts for grammatical errors." :)

HH

[cj]

Toe,

You're right, not in that context anyway. But it could be used in this manner: "It's been a long time since I examined toetoe's posts for grammatical errors." :)

HH

ROFL...nice job!

[toetoe]

I's duly chastened. My rule is to deprecate self first. If that doesn't come through, their I go again.

[Red Knave]

I'm sure the guys that saw me in Saratoga can tell you, I don't dig very deeply at all when I handicap a race.
We saw cj and Buddha 'cap a race in 32 seconds.
Really!

[oddswizard]

Yesterday at Bay Meadows in the 5th race. Sunder Bay was clobbered by the 2 horse coming out of the gate from the one hole @ 1 1/16 th on the turf. The jockey pulled up the horse and just missed being pushed into the rail. He was last by many lengths. The jockey did not panic and waited for openings. In the stretch he was weaving through the horses and just got up to win. The jockey was Modesto (who?) Linares. Wow! What a ride by a rider who is not rated highly. Maybe Russell Baze is right. It is 80% horse, 10% rider & 10% Trainer. I salute Linares!