7/7/18 Oak Tree At Pleasanton Late Pick Four - Results

Race 6 - # 7 Daddysprize (Final Odds 0.50*) - "A" Selection

Race 7 - # 3 Belligerent (3.10) - "B" Selection

Race 8 - The Everett Nevin - # 7 Luck's Royal Flush (9.70) - "B" Selection

Race 9 - # 4 Uncle Hal (3.40) - "B" Selection

Among the many features that handicapping shares with chess is that, even when you win, you could have done better.  Saturday, I could have done much better.

My initial inclination when putting my play together was to single Daddysprize on the big ticket ("All A and All B Selections") in the opening leg.  Instead, I chose to hedge and include # 3 La Waun (5.40) as well.  La Waun took the Show.

# 9 Excentra (11.20) in the second leg, originally intended to be a backup "C" Selection, was a late addition to the big ticket.  I thought Excentra could return to the form that she showed two starts back.  Instead Excentra did very little running, and finished 7th.

# 1 Ride Into the Sky (7.10) in the nightcap was another late addition to the big ticket.  This one was a tough call, for while Ride Into the Sky was dropping in for the lowest claiming price of his career, Ride Into the Sky really hadn't shown much in his four races since graduating back in April.  As it turned out Ride Into the Sky, who had broken well in each of his last three starts against more expensive stock, had no speed Saturday and finished fourth.

Of course, it's always going to be much easier to know which horses should be tossed after the race is run than it is prior to them crossing under the wire.  But the point is that, even when you win, there are still lessons to be learned.

For the record, here are the $0.50 Will Pays for the other four runners to which I would have cashed in the nightcap:

# 1 Ride Into the Sky (7.10) - $331.40 Finish: 4th

# 2 Sierra Dance (12.70) - $846.15 Finish: 6th

# 5 Zucchini (10.40) - $337.40 Finish: 3rd

# 7 Jimmythisnjimthat (2.10) - $107.80 Finish: 5th

But that's what might have been.  What actually came to be was a correct Late Pick Four sequence of  7 / 3 / 7 / 4  which paid $220.90 for a fifty cent wager.  That makes for a profit of $111.90 on my initial $109 investment, or approximate odds of 1.03-1.

I hope you all had it with me.  May God bless us as we spend our winnings.

Onto the next race!

Peace and Love,

Jimbo