Some days you're the windshield, and some days you're the bug. Saturday was definitely our day to be the bug.
Race 8 - The Just a Game saw most of our tickets die a quick death as our two A's, # 3 Centre Court (Final Odds 2.60*) and # 6 Mizdirection (3.00) finished fourth and fifth, respectively. But we still clung to life, as one of our C's, # 2 Stephanie Kitten (3.00), with John Velazquez on board, crossed the wire a half length ahead of # 7 Better Lucky (11.10). On a day without many bright spots, we can at least be pleased that the one entrant in the Just a Game that we left totally uncovered, # 5 Laugh Out Loud (GB) (6.80), finished dead last.
Race 9 - The Woody Stephens brought down our last remaining ticket, as # 7 Forty Tales (8.90), ridden by Joel Rosario, finished a half length in front of our two A's, # 1 Declan's Warrior (4.80) and # 9 Clearly Now (4.80). That result made moot the result of Race 10 - The Manhattan Handicap, won by # 1 Point of Entry (0.55*) by a length and a half over # 5 Optimizer (5.80), giving Johnny V his second win of the sequence. A bright spot for us is that, as in Race 8, the top five finishes in the Woody Stephens were the five horses that we had covered (in one form or another). However, in retrospect, there proved to be no justification for covering any horse other than Point of Entry in the Manhattan Handicap; our decision to do otherwise costing us an additional twelve dollars that would have been better saved for another day.
Finally (mercifully) we come to the final leg of the sequence, Race 11 - The Belmont Stakes, won by # 12 Palace Malice (13.80) and Jockey Mike Smith, with two of our A's, # 7 Oxbow (10.10) and # 5 Orb (2.20*) taking the Place and Show, respectively.
Which, in retrospect, was just as well; because if you're going to lose, you might as well lose without doubt. While I can go back to the previous three legs of this sequence and see things that I should have done better, there is no way that I can honestly tell you that, given a clearer thought process, I would have had Palace Malice on any of my tickets. If I were to have expanded my selections in the Belmont, I would have added # 2 Freedom Child, # 3 Overanalyze, and # 10 Will Take Charge to my tickets before I would have gotten around to adding Palace Malice to my play.
While you can excuse Palace Malice's performance in the Kentucky Derby due to the addition of blinkers in that race, how do you excuse his failure to hold on to win the Blue Grass in his race before that one? Or his defeat in the Louisiana Derby by Revolutionary by over seven lengths? Or that fact that, prior to Saturday, Palace Malice's only career win was when he broke his maiden back in August of last year? My hat's off to those who were wise enough to forecast Palace Malice winning the Belmont Stakes; but if I were to tell you that selecting Palace Malice to win Saturday was a play I could envision myself making, I would be lying through my teeth.
So splat went all our Pick Four tickets against the windshield, as we could only manage one winning A selection in the sequence. Meanwhile, those who correctly played the winning combination of 2 / 7 / 1 / 12 were rewarded with a payout of $447.00 for every fifty cents wagered. May The Almighty bless them as they spend their winnings.
Oh well; onto the next race.
Peace and Love,
Jimbo
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