And I did. When I opened up the web browser on my husband's computer last Sunday to look up how my chosen horses had done that weekend and saw that War Pass had not only failed to win his 3-year old stakes debut, but had in fact been beaten badly, I laughed. I laughed because all along I'd had an inkling he was 90% hype and 10% value. I laughed because he couldn't even win against the moderate stakes competition he was completely expected to dominate. I laughed because thousands of unimaginative favorite-players just lost their already grossly undervalued tickets.
And then I remembered I had put him in my stable too. So I guess I'm one of those unimaginative favorite-players. Sometimes you laugh because humor is all you've got. That was sort of my whole weekend. I sincerely hope my horseplaying colleague didn't actually take any of my advice, because I know he's got 3 kids in private school and needs the money.
Rebel Stakes
My streak of bad luck began here when one of my up and coming beauties from the RttR first draft completely failed to fire. Z Fortune was a disappointing and unexplainable 5th. The eventual winner of the race was Sierra Sunset, last seen trailing in second behind Denis of Cork in the Southwest Stakes. I have to admit, that that race actually turned me off of Sierra Sunset, who appeared to be fading in the stretch as opposed to dead heat thrid placers Libety Bull and Sacred Journey, who looked like they could pound on for another furlong if necessary. Turns out it was Sacred Journey this time who, after setting some pretty hot fractions, yeilded to Sierra Sunset's stalking presence. King's Silver Son, coming from the maiden ranks, got the place and proved he has a future and Isabull, who I admit I completely ignored after his 7th place in the Southwest, came up for third.
1. Z Fortune- 5th
2. Sacred Journey- last
3. King's Silver Son- 2nd
WinStar Derby
Let me just say first that I knew Liberty Bull had it in him to win this race. I just thought that Poni Colada had it too. Once again, proving I know jack about handicapping, my favorite came in seventh. However, I did retain some of my clout in this one, as maiden winner Screen to Screen also proved that he has a future, coming in second.
1. Poni Colada- 7th
2. Liberty Bull- 1st
3. Screen to Screen- 3rd
Tampa Bay Derby
War Pass.
War Pass, War Pass, War Pass. What happened? Can a little bump at the start really faze you that much? Does having hindquarters churning in front of you and dirt kicked in your face throw your entire world-view out of whack?
Apparently.
Nick Zito is 'mystified'. As far as he can tell there's no physical reason why his unbeaten, 1-20 (or 1-9, depending on where you look...regardless, who would put money on that?) favorite, presumptive Derby star completely failed to fire. Luckily for him, he's still got a barn of impressive Derby hopefuls to fall back on (if necessary). Meanwhile, Big Truck, who was clearly the class of the field once the 900 pound gorilla was removed from the picture, came on for an impressive win. Even his trainer Barclay Tagg seemed surprised; he'd told the jockey to try for second and hope something happened to War Pass.
Is Tagg Irish? Was this perhaps some St. Patty's day luck coming early this year? The world may never know.
1. War Pass- last
2. Big Truck- 1st
3. Dynamic Wayne- 3rd
San Felipe Stakes
And here we have the route race full of sprinters, most of whom I didn't think could get the distance. Whoops, my bad. Looks like most of them handled the stretch out to the mile and 1/16 without too much trouble. Georgie Boy found a second wind in the late stretch to edge out fellow speed demons Gayego and Bob Black Jack. Still, I would't look for a Derby contender to come from the ranks of the top three here. It's still a synthetic track, and they're still primarily quick front runners who have never much been challenged by a late closer.
1. Georgie Boy- 1st (hey, I actually got one!)
2. Indian Sun- 4th (still loving the Indian Charlie)
3. Shediak- 8th
And that concludes our embarrassing recap of the 3-year old male division. Now let's move on to equally embarrassing (but shorter) recaps of all the other weekend races.
Cicada Stakes
Carolyn's Cat took this one wire to wire. No one else even had a chance of catching her after Dill or No Dill (who had previously beaten the winner in the Ruthless Stakes) chucked the bit. Throbbin Heart experienced some bumping at the start that might have thrown her off course, but then so did the eventual winner. If every horse that got bothered a little out of the gate could be automatically excused for losing...well...then we wouldn't all be shaking our heads about War Pass.
1. Throbbin Heart- nowhere
2. Dill Or No Dill- 3rd
3. Ready for Fortune- 2nd
WinStar Oaks
Okay, Sky Mom did win a division of the Martha Washington...whatever the heck that means. She also won here. My favorite, R Charlie's Angel, cut some near suicidal fractions early on, but held on for third. Whither Grace Anatomy this year?
1. R Charlie's Angel- 3rd
2. Grace Anatomy- nowhere
3. Distorted Passion- 4th
Florida Oaks
In her first time around 2 turns, Awesome Chic came in with her first stakes victory. Never out of the money in her 5 lifetime starts, she broke her maiden with a 17.5 length win last year...which is information I could have used last week.
1. Calico Bay- 4th
2. Unfolding Wish- 7th
3. My Baby Baby- 3rd
Hillsborough Stakes
Okay, Lear's Princess is officially 'on notice'. Once again she lost to perpetual rival Dreaming of Anna (who, one must admit, is one heck of a rival), but this time she couldn't even make a good show of it. Couldn't handle the track my butt.
1. Lear's Princess- 4th
2. Dreaming of Anna- 1st
2. Mary Louhana- 3rd
Skip Away Handicap
Gottcha Gold came off of a dismal 9th place finish in the Sunshine Millions to take the race. Longshot (40-1) and leader for most of the race Mr. Umphrey held on for second, while Hunting came in for the show. Seriously, can we just finish this parade of poor picking performances?
1. Frost Giant-4th
2. Dr. Pleasure- 7th
3. Hunting- 3rd
Total points gained in my RttR stable this weekend? Zippo. Better luck next week. Perhaps I should stick to show bets for a while. I had 7 out of 9 of my show bets finish in the money, and some were not exaclty short priced.
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