Day of Slop

We started the rainy day at Philadelphia Park. The rain was coming down on Long Island but that was a sprinkle compared to the deluge in Philly. Typical of everything in Pennsylvania, the track was a disaster and looked more like a moat than a racetrack. One forlorn man stood on the infield with a wicker rake in his hands: he was the grounds crew at Pha. Pk.
Nevertheless, we searched for some mud pedigrees and, with the help of the DRF "wet" ratings, found ourselves a couple of winners there. The only trouble is that I bet on one of the winners as the window for betting had already closed: the horses were rounding the quarter pole as I hung up the phone on the bet. Lesson #1- bet BEFORE the race, not during (or after) it!

We moved on to the BIG A- a track where we actually know what we are talking about! Any horse could have won the first race. The horses' forms were so erratic and some of the horses came out with cobwebs because they hadn't raced in ages. I finally whittled things down to the 1,2 and 5, not in any particular order. (Lesson #2 in here:) I put them in doubles but not in exactas or triples (WHO EVER HEARD OF A FIRST RACE TRIPLE???- okay it IS 2006 now!). A $700 triple later and a $90 exacta later , 2-5-1, and we were off to a sin of omission start. BUT, we did have the two with THREE horses in the second! We even played a hedge in the second.
Story number 8,230,403: all three horses were up the track AND the hedge lost! Atrocious.

1st race - Aqueduct - April 22, 2006
Off at: 1:01 Race Type: Claiming
Age Restriction: Four Year Old and Upward
Sex Restriction: Fillies and Mares
Value of Race: $34,000
Distance: Six Furlongs
Surface Type: Dirt Track Condition: Fast
Winning Time: 1:11.20
Pgm	Horse	Jockey	Win	Place	Show
2	Miss Park Place	Pablo Morales	20.00	8.20	5.20
5	Life Savior	Edgar S. Prado		4.60	4.10
1	Nevaeh	Norberto Arroyo, Jr.			5.00
Also ran: 8 - Main Stream , 7 - What's Your Point , 4 - Punchin' Gal , 3 - Homegrown Queen
Scratched horses: Show Ready
Wager Type		Winning Numbers		Payoff
$2 Exacta		2-5		88.50
$2 Trifecta		2-5-1		725.00
Winning Breeder: Barbara Hunter
Winning Owner: Winning Move Stable
Winning Trainer: Gary C. Contessa

The ray of light that shined through the rain came when CL nailed a Keenleland (bright, sunny Keeneland) triple for a cool $300- one of several keys played to ensure victory.

Little did we know that keys would be our downfall as we lost two box triples later that day! Lesson 3: We're going to have to play both in the future!

later....The Meadowlands or...The House that puts in a new deck with each hand dealt!