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Old 05-23-2019, 12:01 AM   #1
PhantomOnTour
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Preakness Trip 2019...the last hurrah?

Things got off to an inauspicious start when I missed my flight out of Lafayette. I won't go into details, but I lay full blame on the Cajun man (and his female companion) who carry on ALL of their luggage.
Arrived in Baltimore three hours later than scheduled, after the obligatory layover in Atlanta.

Didn't do much Weds night, but did visit a cool little bar in Canton called The Regal Beagle. Yes, THAT Regal Beagle, named after Jack Tripper's favorite hangout on Three's Company....hit the sack early and then it was on to Pimlico to play the worst card in America on Thurs (it's a yearly tradition).

Dabbled a bit, hit some small plays, but really let a good one get away in the 5th when Sventastic closed up the rail and won at almost 24-1. We used him underneath only. Managed to bail ourselves out with a nice win play on a 5-1 shot in the 6th who went last to first with a nice rally to get up.
Off to our usual Thurs dinner at a mediocre Italian place in Reisterstown.

Friday - Black Eyed Susan Day - my favorite day of the year. Good weather, good racing, and room to move around the place comfortably.
It was a day of some pretty good plays who just weren't good enough to get the job done. All got good trips, the races unfolded like I wanted them too, but they just couldn't get there:
Race 5 - Marvelous Martina got a fast and contested pace to close into, but could only manage 3rd at 14-1
Race 9 - the Hilltop Stks, absolutely loved the Arnaud Delacour trained Fashion Faux Pas at 6-1. Did everything right; stalked, took over entering the lane, opened up a bit, and then was run over by two Chad Brown fillies.
Race 10 - the Pimlico Special, went in hard on Cordmaker at 7-2, who was in decent midpack position and then fall WAY too far back and rallied furiously for 3rd. Not good enough.
Castellano owned the day by winning a handful of races. More on him (and Joel Rosario) later...
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Old 05-23-2019, 12:19 AM   #2
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Saturday - the big day - maybe our last trip to the Preakness and Pimlico.
Let's make the most of it this year!

Did well on the undercard, mainly because they let a Jamie Ness runner go off at 4-1 in Race2.
Had the Asmussen/Santana winner of the Md Sprint Stks at about 5-2.
Tried to beat the heavy chalk in the inaugural Searching Stks at 1-2 odds...idiots...she rolled untested for the entire 12f.
Not sure how we screwed up The Very One Stks in R9, but we managed to miss our bets.
Made a strong (and losing) play in the 10th on another Delacour trainee in the Gallorette Stks named I'm So Fancy. Thought she was a sure thing and singled her in doubles and pick 3's, as well as on top only in exotics. Just like Friday, she got a great trip, tipped out in the lane, and ran outta gas
She finished 2.75 lengths behind Magical last summer in France, as well as being beaten less than a length by BrCup F&M Turf favorite Eziyra.
Didn't think they had a chance against her. Rosario wired the field on the #4.

Among the runners used in the 2nd leg of the double and pick3 was the 17-1 winner of the Chick Lang Stks, Lexitonian, who won a race that seemingly no one wanted to win. The leader was dying to get passed in the lane, and finally did.
The Dixie was a fantastic race, and again my play just wasn't good enough. Loved the #3 Admission Office under Rosario. Hell, I still love that horse, he looks like a stone cold turf runner who closes with a wild rush. Did so again on Sat but couldn't collar Catholic Boy, who was impressive off the shelf in a race his trainer said he may need. Dude wins on any surface. Rosario was pretty far back but made a strong rail rally to scare the winner late...hmmm, what if this race was still run at 9f..??? We hit a small saver exacta.

Time for the big race...
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Old 05-23-2019, 12:48 AM   #3
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Preakness 144

I'll just start by saying that my father has been a War Of Will fan since the spring. He's a box holder at FG and watched this colt run three times.

This race boiled down to two words for me: Brad Cox

Keyed his runners on top (Owendale and Warrior's Charge)with savers under WOW and Baffert....and AGAIN, they both ran admirably but weren't good enough. Rosario really ruined the party on Everfast as me and my father would have had a pretty sizeable 1-5 exacta with Owendale underneath. We all know what happened.

Nothing could be more fitting than my father hitting a big win bet on WOW.
If anyone in this world deserved to make a big score on the big race it's him.
He foots the bill for the tickets every year, won't let anyone pay for dinner, and gives money to his grandkids to bet the races. So, of course, he was handing out 100's to his grandkids after the race. I love that man and I'm so proud of him.
If this was our last hurrah then what a hurrah it was for him. Earl will be 80 next year (with two knee replacements) and Lord knows Pimlico doesn't make it easy on anyone to move about their facility on Preakness day. The sloped floors and cramped conditions are getting dangerous.
On the subject of Pimlico...the condemned grandstand was a blight and this place is literally crumbling before our eyes. More plumbing problems this year and very cramped walkways on the apron in upper stretch where we sat.
As a long time Pimlico defender it's time to admit defeat. Fix this place or move the race.

Finally, back to Castellano and Rosario. You can have all the Ortiz brothers you want; these two guys are the simply the best. Castellano was unstoppable on Fri (albeit on some beasts like Chalon & Covfefe) and he damn near got Gaffalione to make a big error on WOW and take the rail that Javier was offering for most of the Preakness. If Tyler tried on the backstretch Javier would have slammed the door on him and who knows what happens with WOW after that. Tyler wisely waited until Warriors Charge weakened a bit and drifted some in the lane..then he made his winning move. And here comes Joel on Everfast rolling late to spoil my winnings. He also rode Ulele to a 2nd place finish (behind Javier) in the Black Eyed Susan on Fri. I hated both of those runners. Joel is so strong!

That's all folks....another adventure in Charm City has ended.
I just wanna do this one more time with my father.
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Old 05-24-2019, 10:28 PM   #4
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I didn't like changing the Dixie distance from a 1 1/8 to a 1 1/16 either. Isn't there enough 1 1/16 turf races as it is?
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Old 06-23-2019, 04:33 PM   #5
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In a cruel twist of fate, most of the runners i bet came back to win their next race:

Fashion Faux Pas - won at Del
I'm So Fancy - won at Lrl
Owendale - won the Ohio Derby
Cordmaker - won a Stks at Lrl
Admissions Office - ran 3rd in a Stks at CD
Marvelous Martina - hasn't run yet

Grrrr!
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Old 06-23-2019, 06:19 PM   #6
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The racing gods can be cruel at times.
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