Hey, remember The Grade 1 King's Bishop Stakes at Saratoga about three weeks ago? You know, the race where Jockey Irad Ortiz Jr replaced Johnny V on a Todd Pletcher horse and wound up winning at a big price, killing our Pick Four play in the process? Well Saturday we got served a very unsavory dish of Deja Vu.
When we set up our tickets, we thought that Race 7 was going to be the most contentious race of the Late Pick Four sequence; so, while we made # 7 Medea (Ire) the lone "A" contender on our tickets, we covered the rest of the field as "C" contenders as a safety net. Well, as it turned out, our safety net was unnecessary, as Madea (Final Odds 1.45*) won clear, a full two lengths in front of Place horse # 9 Pleasant Cat (8.60).
We also got one of our "A" contenders home in the finale, as Race 10 saw # 9 Vinny Goodtimes (7.50) cross the finish line a length and a quarter in front of the rest of the field. I must confess to being especially proud of the way I handicapped this one, as I wrote in the preview that I would be leaning heavily on those in this field that did their best running late. Sure enough, the horses that occupied the top five slots in the twelve horse field six furlongs into the race were the horses that occupied the bottom five slots at the finish. So that's something positive that we can take from the day.
Race 9, the Grade 1 Garden City Stakes, was won by # 4 Alterite (Fr) (3.00) whom we had used as a "C" contender on our tickets. All of which brings us to Race 8, the Grade 3 Noble Damsel Stakes.
We had double "A" coverage in The Noble Damsel, so if either # 6 Hungry Island (3.05) or # 3 Better Lucky (0.95*) had crossed the Finish Line first we would have cashed. But it was not to be; as # 5 Peace Preserver (16.10), the Todd Pletcher trained horse getting the rider switch from John Velazquez to Irad Ortiz Jr (just like Capo Bastone in The King's Bishop) hit the wire a half length in front of Place horse Hungry Island, with Better Lucky getting the Show.
Oh well; onto the next race.
In retrospect, we picked the wrong race in which to go deep. As things played out, Race 7 was not contentious at all, as the short priced Post Time Favorite won with ease. Race 8, The Noble Damsel, was the leg where we should have hit the all button, especially since we noted in our preview the shortcomings of the top two selections in the field. Hopefully we'll do better next time.
Meanwhile, those who had the correct Late Pick Four sequence of 7 / 5 / 4 / 9 were rewarded with a payout of $1394.75 for their fifty cent wager. May God bless them as they spend their winnings.
Peace and Love,
Jimbo
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