HALLANDALE BEACH, FL, September 9, 2023 — If you’ve not checked out Going Gulfstream, the September 9 edition, you have not seen our thoughts on the colt division of today’s Florida Stallion series at Gulfstream Park.
This series has launched the careers of some top flight two- and three-year-olds. we don’t see that trend abating today.
So here’s a brief take on the ladies in today’s Desert Vixen, which goes as race five.
We can boil it down to three, with out focus on two at the top of the ticket:
R Harper Rose (7-5) is a deserving favorite. She showed bullet-type speed away from the barrier, maintained a lengthy lead, separated herself further after entering the lane and drew off, winning geared down. She galloped out with ears flagging, apparently ready for the next challenge.
She needs to beat Welcome Back (3-1) a dark horse since her debut win came on Gulf’s Tapeta Track. She broke tardily, Edwin Gonzalez falling back in the saddle soon thereafter, losing contact with the group before launching wide into the lane and finally, after a late lead change, roared home for the win.
As the racetrackers say, the top two could be any kind.
Meanwhile, Epona’s Hope (9-2) had some trouble in the Sharp Susan, recovered but entered the stretch wide, and some some class to secure the show late. Trainer Eddie Plesa is no stranger when it comes to victories in this series.
Del Mar is hosting a Grade 1 prep for juvenile fillies in the 7-furlong Debutante Stakes. It has drawn a large field and we will have the tote help us decide on the two we narrowed our choice down to:
Dreamfyre (4-1) is 2-for-2 and won a Grade 3 in her surface debut showing excellent speed throughout, improving her lead in the lane on her own earning an excellent figure on the Thoro Graph scale.
Her main rival at this point in Man-O-Mandella’s Tamara (7-2), who won her debut in a two move performance at 6-1/2 furlongs, the trip likely to help her going seven-eighths here. Main man Money Mike Smith gets the return call.
Knowing Mandella’s penchant for not squeezing lemons dry until it counts, trainer intent is a tough read unless the filly is so special she can take this at less than 100%.
Then again, next stop is the two turn BC Juvenile Fillies where the trip and better Eastern rivals present a strong challenge. The Debutante could be the confidence booster that will have her set for best for the first Friday in November.
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COLONIAL DOWNS
Have been a fan of Mission of Joy (8-5) who delivered as a Horse to Watch to win a Grade 3 at Tampa Bay next out.
In her last, the filly never looked comfortable, too keen as she tried to negotiate 10 furlongs. Nine furlongs suits, reunites with winning pilot Antonio Gallardo and should take today’s Virginia Oaks.
In the 10th at Colonial, the very wide open G3 Virginia Derby, we’ll take the value offered on Ari Gold picking up Jose Ortiz.
Gigante (6-1), Salute the Stars (4-1), Integration (8-1) and Program Trading (7-2) are all serious contenders.
this is a live column and will be updated
2 Responses
Between football games I was charting some horse races, from the early ones in Ireland to Gulfstream and a couple of others and out of some Twenty races ” the late $$ drop” horse won about Eight of them while the rest either came in second, third or way out of the $$ .Did not follow cheap races since I ind them a waste of time, but allowance races and up. What bothered me a few times was the noticeable difference in odds between post time right before the start, and when they would show the odds as the horses were approaching the first quarter! Yes , one feels helpless, almost robbed, but one can any bettor do ? Nothing ! It did remind me of my early Monticello races when the odds, and payoffs would be slammed, thinking ‘ someone made a bit hit’ ! I used the top Four odds favorites. When the odds did not move ,usually the favorite got some more $ as the race started. Is this the same Par that you usually notice ? The most interesting was the big Irish race, which reminded me ” Hey, they All do it ” ,as the winning horse dropped Three plus points in a big field… Ps: Any truth that William Faulkner was a run on sentences writer, just like that woman makes those Parx calls ???
JG, in the main, your odds-drops observations very closely mirror mine and, yes, for the most part, the money is scary right –superior data, special unfair access, the root causes.
As for the foreign odds, over there a large percentage of handle is done through bookmakers who keep close tabs on each other and reflect the foreign market well.
The odds drop you noticed came on the parimutuel side through US ADWs and given large fields and the fact that US bettors are not as familiar with the European product, it’s probably a lot easier for computers to latch on to true odds discrepancies.
Finally, you just won’t let go re the Parx race calls, will you? Just turn the sound down if it irritates you that much. Geesh…