Oaklawn Results -- 4/4/20

A so-so, and bit of a disappointing day playing the late Pick 4 at Oaklawn yesterday.  Full fields and a few surprises, especially in Race 10, knocked me out of winning the Pick 4. We saw two huge favorites "bite the dust"...or in this case, flounder in the slop --  at the Arkansas track. 

Usually sloppy conditions have the potential to throw off the best of any handicapping plans, and the was kind of the case here. From the start of the late Pick 4 to the finish.

In race 7..... 9-1 odds Cardamon went to the lead and never relinquished it to the others in the six furlong affair. Unfortunately, this one wasn't one of my top five picks. We did pick up a second place with Inthemidstofbiz, and she was my top pick in the race. Maryanorginger finished out of the money. 

Race 8 got me my first win of the sequence, but it was not odds-on favorite Answer In....who was my top pick. Instead, Finnick the Fierce used an inside move, finished well and got elevated to first, after a stewards inquiry and jockey claim of foul knocked Winning Impression out of the top spot. Fortunately, I gave you "Finnick" in my top four and also the second place finisher General Trey. That was a nice exacta of almost a $35 dollar payout for the $1 exacta play.. A box of my top four cost $12, so we gained a little profit there on that race. 

Race 9  saw another upset of a huge favorite when Frank's Rockette, my top pick, lost the lead in the stretch to a flying Kimari, who came absolutely flying down the middle of the track. A very impressive stretch move by Channing Hill, who subbed in for Mike Smith, who was scheduled to ride bu t didn't make the trip in for the race. I gave you Kimari as one of my top four, I had the top three finishers in the ninth race. The exacta of the top four picks cost $12 and I got back $11.90. As we've said many times here, we can pick winners, but we can't pick what we get paid. 

It all blew up in the final of the day, Race 10. Don Vito Corleone, a 25-1 shot, went to the lead and outran the rest in his first ever start. unfortunately, I didn't see "the Don" as a top contender and didn't give him to you. I did run second and third in the race, with Copper King, who was my top pick in the race and Aztec Empire, who finished third after looking to have a wide open trip on the rail in the stretch and failed to fire...getting show money.

Watching the race with my wife, she mentioned "You know 'the Don' is going to win, Sonny and Michael have the fix in."  (A reference to The Godfather movies.) . She did not put her money where her mouth is, though, and a $52 payout on a $2 wager was never placed. . 

On the day, out of 19 horse provided to you as worthy of consideration, I had two winners, four seconds and two thirds. That's a 42% "in the money" percentage and we filled 66% of the 12 "payout" spots in the four races. (8 of 12).

With the failed pick 4 bet I lined out to you yesterday, I dropped $50. My four exactas cost a total of $48 and returned just about $48 -- so that was a "push".  

That's the way gambling goes sometimes. I guess you could say we had close to four hours of entertainment watching the races on TV and , when you break it down, at $25 a person, we've seen less than stellar musical acts in concert for a lot more $$$$ and a shorter period of time. 

We'll get 'em next week.

If, of course, there is any racing. The COVID-19 is gaining momentum on the far turn now, to use a racing analogy, and these next few furlongs -- or next couple of weeks -- could be very rough for "the rest of the field". 

Stay in, stay away and just survive somehow. 


paulie
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