Del Mar Wednesday (8/21)

[rrbauer]

Del Mar Wednesday August 21, 2002

Not a very exciting card. (But, I have a few ideas!)

R2
Mr. Tufts likes Catabatic Wind and Time To Strike. Mr. Bauer likes More Red. Mix them up and down and all around.

R4
The bottom two, Champ’s Gold and Stuck In Canada will do OK. Not sure about Hollendorfer’s shipper from the Sid and Jenny barn, Discovered Coin. Kent rides.

R5
Might be that Ponche De Leona will bounce since Paasch tends to run them back too soon off a big effort. That being a possibility, I’ll take Madame Pietra who is being handled nicely by Zucker; and, I like Wild Tickle who didn’t run here last year, but did work OK.

R7
Baffert is holding at least two of the Aces in here, the top and bottom ones, Icecoldbeeratreds and Kafwain. Give a look to Red Apache. Especially give a look at who’s riding!

R8
One thing for certain. Miss Alfalfa won’t be wide today! And, she could make the lead. The only firster in here that impresses me is F’Rilly Miss from Brian Koriner’s barn. The works are good and Brian is good in this situation. Jade Express could improve for Gallagher and Eddie D. sticks around to ride.

Slim picken’s today. Nonetheless, Go Baby Go!

[rrbauer]

Damage

R2
Mr. Tufts likes Catabatic Wind and Time To Strike. Mr. Bauer likes More Red. Mix them up and down and all around. Result More Red took some early money then drifted up to 6-1. Red popped the gate and ding-donged with Catabatic Wind up the backside. Time To Strike tracked in 3rd. Off the turn, ‘Wind took over and Slew’s Pot Of Gold came off the rail to get in the chase for 2nd. ‘Wind held on for the win. ‘Gold 2nd and ‘Strike 3rd. ‘Red faded badly the last 1/8th along with my X’s and T’s!

R4
The bottom two, Champ’s Gold and Stuck In Canada will do OK. Not sure about Hollendorfer’s shipper from the Sid and Jenny barn, Discovered Coin. Kent rides. Result I think Solis is a nice guy. I’m not impressed with some of his riding tactics. Why would you choose to get caught between two other runners that clearly want to ding-dong when you could take back a length, or two, and let your horse relax and run on off the turn? Windscore and ‘Canada went out and Champ went between them and they ran that way to the 3/8th when Champ backed out. The other two ran to the wire with Windscore clearing late and Corkage Fee up late to touch ‘Canada out of 3rd. Champ was 4th. No luck cashing my 9/10 exacta box!

R6 (Had it R5 in original post)
Might be that Ponche De Leona will bounce since Paasch tends to run them back too soon off a big effort. That being a possibility, I’ll take Madame Pietra who is being handled nicely by Zucker; and, I like Wild Tickle who didn’t run here last year, but did work OK. Result Didn’t know what to think when Lafitt popped and went to the lead. They started running at him from all sides at the 3/8th and ‘Pietra actually slipped thru into the lead. Then Mr. Greatest went to work and two right-handed cracks with about 80 yds to go did the trick. ‘Tickle 1st ‘Pietra 2nd. Fountain of Youtha 3rd. $10.20 on the win and $29.80 for the exacta. I had kicked off a small P4 in the last race that stays alive thru 1/6/7 and 1/3/9 in the next two, and I double-dipped with a P3 from ‘Tickle thru the same combo in a P3. Just kick back and root ‘em home now!

R7
Baffert is holding at least two of the Aces in here, the top and bottom ones, Icecoldbeeratreds and Kafwain. Give a look to Red Apache. Especially give a look at who’s riding! Result Did you see the splendid display of feminine talent in the walking ring/paddock area before the race? Oh my golly! When they (the horses) came on the track, my first thought was that the #1 didn’t look like 4/5 material. The #2, #5 and #6 all looked a picture. Compared to the others, the #1 looked “slight”. (I told a trainer once that a horse, that he was trying to get me to buy, looked “smallish”. His retort was, “Did you ever see a cow outrun a jack rabbit?”) Shoot. How do you deal with that? Hint. Don’t buy the horse!! Oh! Kafwain won with Chief Planner bearing down 2nd and the maiden, Outta Here 3rd. So Baffert gets 2 out of 3 just like we thought! P3/P4 live!

R8
One thing for certain. Miss Alfalfa won’t be wide today! And, she could make the lead. The only firster in here that impresses me is F’Rilly Miss from Brian Koriner’s barn. The works are good and Brian is good in this situation. Jade Express could improve for Gallagher and Eddie D. sticks around to ride. Result Miss Alfalfa broke OK but dropped the rider after clipping heels with the #2. Valley Fever got a nice lead leaving the backside and was clear in the lane. Kinda Louche came on for 2nd and was clear. Jade and ‘Miss were back a couple more in 3rd and 4th respectively. P3’s and P4 just got flushed.

This is no way to make a living!

[freeneasy]

yeah those pk4s are toughies, you can hit em on a "light" ticket, but without a good single in there, your pretty much up against. But they sure get up for it.

[JustRalph]

I have been taping races at Del Mar for a couple of weeks. I haven't had time to play.........any opines on a bias?

I notice that the horses that make the lead and come out of the turn on top seem to be staying up. This is all dirt. (I play the turf races over and over and they seem pretty even) A few are wilting but whenever one wilts, his pace partner seems to stay up for the win. Late closers are staying in back, even more often than normal. Seems like the real race has been to the top of the turn in sprints. The Routes haven't been much different either. If a favorite is a front runner type and he is on top at the top of the turn.......they seem to stay. Anybody else see this?

[rrbauer]

Track (dirt) has played fair the past week. Speed still dominates sprints, but the outside posts seem to be getting over better than two weeks ago when the rail was gold. Speed has been getting killed in dirt routes, but I blame part of that on leadfooted jockeys. There seems to be a "go like hell" mentality in the jock colony right now. Anyway, it has to do more with how the jocks are riding than how the track is playing. But, if there figures to be a speed duel of any consequence in a 2-turn race I would look for something off the pace. Particularly if P Val is on one of the speed types!

Turf is playing as usual. When the rails are down (at 0 feet) it favors closers because it makes the course wider and the turns sharper. As they move the rail out (either 7 feet or 14 feet) it helps front runners by making the course more narrow and rounding the turns. When the turns are rounded, it becomes very hard to rally inside from behind (no room to get through) and it makes the flare, when you rally outside, more severe because it takes longer to navigate the turn.