A handicapping venture to try the racing at Belmont yesterday turned out to be profitable for me. Getting the bet up and correct, though, was quite the ordeal. As I usually do, I'll check in shortly after the races start to check my picks against the scratches for the day. To my surprise, I found that eight of my 20 picks had been scratched due to sloppy conditions on the track, and the horses were "main track only" and off the grass.
So, I refigured the card, basically. and ended up with 16 runners. Out of those I had four winners, three seconds and three thirds. That's a 62.5% "in the money" percentage. I filled 10 of the 12 "payable" spots for 83.3% Let's look at the results:
RACE 7 -- I had ALCOOLS (9/2) and also second place with STROLLING. I did really like STORM ADVISORY, but he failed to hit the board. Still, Flavian Prat got it done for me to start out the Pick 4 in the right fashion.
RACE 8 -- WOLFE'S DYNAHOST came through for me at 4-1 odds. SPACE LAUNCH, who I was really high on, was scratched. Track leading jock Irad Ortiz, Jr did the work to get him home and keep me alive in the Pick 4 sequence.
RACE 9 -- All four of my picks I originally had were scratched in the Perfect Storm Stakes, so I did some scrambling and came up with four replacements. And, I got lucky with TRUTH HURTS (8-1) getting the win. I also had PIEDI BIANDI for second and VELVET CRUSH for third. A nice ride from Luis Saez to get to the wire first. And, keeping me alive in the Pick 4 picks.
RACE 10 -- A big upset, but one I pointed out could happen yesterday when Ricardo Santana, Jr and MAX PLAYER (11-1) won an impressive stretch duel with MYSTIC GUIDE. I also had third place finisher in HAPPY SAVER in the Suburban. I openly wondered if "MAX" had anything left in him and whether he could "go" with Mystic Guide and Happy Saver. He proved he could, and did.
The Pick 4 returned $902.75 on the .50 cent version ,more than I expected, and I'll gladly accept it.
We'll look at it next week and decide where to go. Saratoga will be running, but I'll also consider Ellis and see how that card looks.
paulie
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