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Derby Lane Evening 6th Race # 3 – “LL’s Dormarbuddy”	Beulah Park 1st Race # 2 – “Formal Dannie”

 

If you are a new visitor to my website, a great big "Welcome!!!" to you.  I hope you enjoy your visit.  Thanks for visiting and hope to see you back here real soon.

As I get older, I realize that I cannot continue burning the candle at both ends – on the days that I work at Oaklawn, I usually spend about 8 hours getting to and from work and working the live races.  My handicapping time involves about 8 hours per day and that only leaves 8 hours to eat and sleep – my wife has been very understanding about all this and almost every day she tells me “see you in the Spring”.  In order to keep my sanity and still deliver a quality product, I realize that I have to cut out some things.  One of the easiest things would be for me to not update my website but once a week – I figure that will cut almost an hour a day, and that might just do it.  Please understand, my brain tells me I don’t really want to do it, but my body tells me that I really do want to do it.  So for the time being that is what I am going to do and the updating will occur on Tuesdays.  That gives me Monday and Wednesday to be with my first love, my wife.

11^th Week of Racing, March 24^th through March 28^th, 2010

 

On Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday at Oaklawn Park, a week’s summary of our attendance, weather, track conditions, and amount wagered is listed below:

 

Date	Attendance		Weather	Track Cond.		Wagered On-Site		Total Wagered
Fri – Jan 15	20,311		Clear 58 deg	Fast		$1,203,154		$3,613,400
Sat – Jan 16	18,592		Showery 49 deg	Good/Sloppy/Slow		$1,381,416		$3,155,880
Sun – Jan 17	8,132		Clear 58 deg	Slow/Good		$614,333		$2,284,115
Mon – Jan 18	13,627		Clear 61 deg	Good		$831,965		$3.361,145
Thu – Jan 21	2,872		Clear 56 deg	Fast		$275,313		$2,066,622
Fri – Jan 22	4,976		Cloudy 51 deg	Fast		$466,152		$2,659,117
Sat – Jan 23	10,457		Showery 57 deg	Fast/WetFast/Slop		$818,726		$3,123,422
Sun – Jan 24	4,726		Cloudy 52 deg	Good/Fast		$426,778		$1,612,586
Thu – Jan 28	2,637		Cloudy 45 deg	Fast		$256,582		$2,283,552
Fri – Jan 29	Races cancelled on Friday because of power outage. Races cancelled Saturday and Sunday because of weather.
Sat – Jan 30
Sun – Jan 31
Thu – Feb 4	3,311	Showery 38 deg			Sloppy		$346,817		$2,291,364
Fri – Feb 5	6,060	Cloudy 42 deg			Muddy/Good		$546,571		$2,186,558
Sat – Feb 6	15,313	Cloudy 46 deg			Good		$1,123,429		$3,370,789
Sun – Feb 7	3,975	Cloudy 40 deg			Fast		$334,953		$2,207,351
Thu – Feb 11	2,786	Cloudy/Snow 34			Fast		$247.777		$2,672,052
Fri – Feb 12	6,663	Cloudy 37 deg			Fast		$512,231		$2,065,781
Sat – Feb 13	20,178	Cloudy 39 deg			Fast		$1,485,542		$2,531,224
Sun – Feb 14	8,853	Cloudy/Snow 47			Fast/WetFast/Slop		$735,434		$2,550,950
Mon – Feb 15	???	Cloudy 31 deg			Fast/Icy (thru 4th)		$543,843		$1,355,710
Thu – Feb 18	3.297	Clear 52 deg			Fast		$310,508		$2.278,451
Fri – Feb 19	7,507	Clear 59 deg			Fast		$566, 732		$2,238,184
Sat – Feb 20	20,171	Clear 55 deg			Fast		$1,543,736		$3,186,901
Sun – Feb 21	5,907	Foggy/Cloudy 48			Sloppy		$496,762		$2,033, 269
Thu – Feb 25	4,655	Cloudy 44 deg			Fast		$407,897		$2,458,922
Fri – Feb 26	6,948	Cloudy 47 deg			Fast		$508,467		$2,077,308
Sat – Feb 27	17,122	Clear 54 deg			Fast		$1,231,986		$4,008,737
Sun – Feb 28	7,111	Clear 52 deg			Fast		$533,447		$2,414,850
Thu – Mar 4	5,034	Clean 55 deg			Fast		$392,760		$1,999,541
Fri – Mar 5	7,237	Clear 62 deg			Fast		$606,757		$2,145,077
Sat – Mar 6	19,292	Clear 60 deg			Fast		$1,238,689		$2,830,530
Sun – Mar 7	9,078	Cloudy 65 deg			Fast		$573,760		$1,780,403
Thu – Mar 11	5,773	Clear 62 deg			Fast		$464,155		$2,094,060
Fri – Mar 12	8,395	Clear 52 deg			Fast		$895,413		$2,395,545
Sat – Mar 13	36,298	Cloudy 49 deg			Fast		$2,232,757		$4,257,916
Sun – Mar 14	8,656	Clear 61 deg			Fast		$595,407		$2,027,588
Thu – Mar 18	5,510	Clear 59 deg			Fast		$501,471		$1,838,288
Fri – Mar 19	3,309	Clear 66 deg			Fast		$732,084		$1,831,561
Sat – Mar 20	17,426	Cldy/Shower 61 deg			Fast/thru 4/Wet Fast		$1,257,139		$2,780,625
Sun – Mar 21	6,499	Foggy 37 deg			Sloppy		$444,398		$1,964,799
Wed – Mar 24	5,241	Cloudy 65 deg			Fast		$471,755		$1,661,531
Thu – Mar 25	6,853	Cldy/Shower 61 deg			Fast		$558,419		$2,061,240
Fri – Mar 26	10,194	Clear 59 deg			Fast		$849,955		$1,865,663
Sat – Mar 27	20,366	Clear 64 deg			Fast		$1,387,803		$1,837,848
Sun – Mar 28	8,314	Cloudy 50 deg			Fast		$550,372		$2,198,958

 

All 5 days of the week, the track was rated “fast” – I cashed several large tickets during the week using the strategy of playing my 4^th and 5^th numbers over the 1^st three numbers - The largest ticket I cashed for the week was on Wednesday afternoon in the 4^th race where my 5^th choice won and my 1^st, 2^nd and 3^rd picks ran 2^nd, 3^rd, and 4^th – my strategy paid off again with a Trifecta for $324.40 and a Superfecta for $1341.80.  Again on Thursday in the 4^th race with a Trifecta for $259.80 and a Superfecta for $619.00.

 

Chalks were winning on the weekend and I cashed a whole lot of small tickets – in the 1^st race on Thursday, I had the $.50 cent trifecta six times and the total was less than a hundred dollars. 

 

We’ve got 8 days remaining to run and the payoffs should be huge – “hay money” is what we call it when they let some of the barns that have not produced winners get traveling money. 

 

I have never seen so many first time starters getting into the trifecta’s and ruining my chances of cashing good tickets. 

 

The horses are now running true to form and the payoffs are reflecting the same  - there is a definite rail bias and all of the outside horses have to come through on the rail to get into the money.

 

Of course, the story of the week was the stupid running of Rachel Alexandra in a $200,000 stakes race which she lost – thus spoiling the RACE OF THE CENTURY in the Apple Blossom on April 9 at Oaklawn Park – what the hell were they thinking? Asmussen said he told Calvin Borel to hold her back – Calvin said they told him to hold her back – the horse wanted to run – I watched the race three times – she wanted to go to the lead at the 4 furlong pole and they held her back for a full 2 furlongs – then when the plow horse “Zardana” who warms up “Zenyatta” passed her up, she had nothing – had they let her go when she wanted to run, she could have won by a couple of lengths.  DAMN!!  Let’s see, if I were the owner, would I run her in a $200,000 race or just give her some good breezing workouts and run her for $5.000,000.00? – Oh, it’s so hard to decide – I think I’ll let her run in a $200,000 stakes race and walk to victory.  Charles Cella, Oaklawn’s track owner did everything he could do to set up the RACE OF THE CENTURY – and they screwed up the biggest race ever to be witnessed in Hot Springs Arkansas.  I made a comment just after the race that Rachel would not come to Hot Springs – I was right….  Enough said already – we will have the Apple Blossom and Zenyatta will be here, but it’s such a big letdown.  The reservations department at Oaklawn was so busy Monday morning canceling reservations for the Apple Blossom that I could not get a phone call thru to the mutual department.

 

Something new has been added to the “Results” page of my website – click on “ponies” then click on “Oaklawn Results” then click on “comparative performance” – you can compare the performance of my pick sheets against four other handicappers by going to this web page and clicking on the date for which you would like to see my results displayed http://thorocap.com/results/main.htm.

 

All in all, it was a very good week end and we had a huge crowd of people witnessing our outstanding performance – a lot of new comers getting a first taste of Chef Jimmy Johnston’s famous “Corned Beef Sandwiches” and his fantastic “Bread Pudding With Whiskey Sauce” and the “Hot Fudge Sundae” that is to die for – makes you drool just thinking about it, doesn’t it.  Of course, the very cold beer on tap and all the other nice things to eat and drink were enjoyed by one and all – what a wonderful place – I will put our restaurants and food up against any food, any where, in the world.  And guess what – we’ve got a new Italian Buffet and the one and only “Oyster Bar” has been open for many years.