Gulfstream Results -- 2/20/21

 An interesting day at Gulfstream with the Paulie Picks and results. I attempted the last four races on the card, had success in three of them, but -- like most handicappers -- fell short in the featured Race 11, when 29-1 longshot Queen Nekia upset the favorites under Corey Lanerie in the Royal Delta Stakes. 

On the day, I gave you 17 picks, if you include the "single" I offered in Race 8, who also got upset by 23-1 longshot Quantum Leap. Out of the picks, I had three winners, three places and three seconds, for a 53% "in the money" percentage. I filled nine of the 13 payable slots -- for a 69% success rate there. 

I didn't "hit" the Pick 5 I tried, nor either of the Pick 3's I offered. Some days, that's how the racing luck goes. 

Race 8 -- the single I offered to start the Pick 5 -- Ghazaaly -- lost by a nose to the longshot Quantum Leap. It was a head bob at the wire, Ghazaaly was 3/5 at post-time and, how can you say it...? -- just beat at the wire. 

Race 9 -- I gve you 8-1 Burly Boy in my picks and he used a stretch run to get there first. That was the only one of my four picks to hit the board, but for Pick 4 players, it kept you alive if you used him. A great ride by Luis Saez. 

Race 10 -- I swept the board here. I gave you Chocolate Bar, who won aat 2-1 odds, Dreams of Tomorrow, who narrowly lost in a photo, and Tulfarris who closed well to get third.  Local favorite Tyler Gaffalione was the pilot. 

Race 11 -- I was sold on three horses, Eres Tu (who ran second), Mrs Danvers ( who closed up shop in the stretch and finished out of the money and Dream Marie, who never fired. My fourth pick, Bajan Girl did get third. None of them would hold off "the Quuen" -- and that killed the Pick 3, which paid a whopping $808 on a .50 cent venture. "The Queen" also knocked me out of the late Pick 3.

Race 12 -- I swept the board here, All Good was "all good and won at 6/5 odds with Irad Ortiz Jr in the saddle. Spinning Kitten grabbed second and Juan Pablo completed the trifecta. That late Pick 3 was worth $237 dollars. 

Sit down for these prices...the late Pick 4 paid $2,412 and the Pick 5 WAS hit and worth $43,540. There was a consolation Pick 5 that paid $184 if you had four out of the five winners in the sequence. 

So, I took a bit of hit on the cash reserves I built up from 2020, but, $144 didn't drain me. I still have plenty of "ammo" left to "fire" with next week

Could I have played it differently yesterday? Well, sure...hitting the "all" button in Race 11 would have worked, but it was a race I didn't see anything besides the three I liked the most getting the win. Honestly, I still can't make a case for Queen Nekia, but maybe she just felt really good yesterday and Corey Lanerie is certainly no slouch as a rifer...I definitely didn't expect her stretch run. 

I remind myself today, that favorites do not win every race. 

Next Saturday brings a HUGE card to Gulfstream with the Road to the Roses stakes race -- the Fountain of Youth --  and NINE stakes races on the card. 

We'll see you then.

paulie