Someone once said to Ernie Dahlman

[cees with dees]

That one horse in particular, didn't like to win. Ernie's response was:"put him in a 4 claimer at Charles Town and watch how fast he likes to win."
The horse I like in the 5th at Saratoga tomorrow reminded me of that story.
Bachelornumberone comes back from Finger Lakes and at first glance, looks like an easy throwout but if you look at his lines closely, he's raced on lots of off turfs and raced very wide a few times as well.
This is a super weak field. he draws the hedge with some positional speed to go with it and Edgar Prado sure doesn't hurt his chances either.
I think he'll be 7 or 8-1 and think he can take the whole pie from just off the pace while saving ground as long as he likes.
Good luck.
Ben

[cees with dees]

The more I look at this race, the more I like this one. The surrounding pick 3 and 4 races are incredibly difficult though so any thoughts from anyone would be appreciated.
Samyn, where are you???
I think the 9th race has some possiblities for homemade parlays and am quite interested in Ohbeegeewhyen especially if Sciacca tells Desormeaux to take back.
That animal is habitually best 2 and 3 off the layoff and raced well against the bias last time off the bench.
Willis Sweet Girl who had a perfect trip that day came back to win so hoping for a good trip, stalk and pounce today from her, the former.
Josefina's Pride is spotted for action today in for a level below the claim. However, if she wins or runs second and gets claimed, they are still out on her so not a red flag drop. Unlike Cliff Meadows in the 7th whom they paid $310,000 for. Horse ran well in specials now drops to mailden claiming. Has to be damaged goods inmy opinion.
Be back tomorrow.
Ben

[the_fat_man]

I'd be with you if "Jr." was "Sr." and "Prado" was "Cauthen".

[DanG]

That one horse in particular, didn't like to win. Ernie's response was:"put him in a 4 claimer at Charles Town and watch how fast he likes to win."

Ben,
I could not agree more with this…

In my humble opinion for every horse that has that “genuine” character flaw of not wanting to lead the pack, there are a good 25 that are grossly mislabeled.

I remember many years ago sitting at Philly Park and a NY maiden came down with 28 starts and 12 seconds. (Approximately from memory) The group behind us was adamant how this hanging piece of blank wouldn’t pass a horse if his life depended on it…

Well this blank wasn’t in match races so he actually did “pass” horses…many of them in fact, just not the last one…yet.

He won by the length of the stretch to which the group proceeded to call everything else in the race blank…

My roundabout point is…There are degrees of competitive nature in all animals both human and equine. But, the majority of horses who often hit the board without winning are simply overmatched.

“Dollar Bill” being a good recent example. This poor animal was called every name in the book at some point and if in optional claimers he would have drilled fields for years and been praised for his “heart”.

[cees with dees]

Thanks for the great response.
Pretty much anything I write or speak is something I learned from someone else and I'm just thankful that I learned to keep my mouth shut ENOUGH and ears open to learn from those that really know what they're doing.
Today, ego doesn't exist. This game is bottom line, cashing tickets and aside from dishonesty, it doesn'tmatter how we get there.
I read everything and don't discount anybody solely because there are so many variables, it's easy to miss something.
I'll stop rambling. At least on my day off but from the few things I've read from you, I know you're someone I'll pay attention to.
Thanks,
Ben