Santa Anita Selections – Saturday 12/29/07

29 12 2007
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Saturday looks like a pretty exciting day at Santa Anita.  We’ve got 10 races on the card and 2 pick 4 sequences.   I’ve skipped over races 5 and 6 since they are not part of a pick 4 sequence here.  The La Brea Stakes (Grade 1) in particular is one that I’m salivating over.  I’ve been waiting to see an impressive filly named Glorified (member of our “horse watch list”) return for a couple of months now, and have been teased with some scintillating workouts in the interim.   Today she comes back and she takes on another one of my favorite horses, Sindy With an S.   The late pick 4  has 3 stakes races in the sequence, so we ought to learn a lot about several horses before today is through.  The last couple of days haven’t exactly gone to plan for us here at The Aspiring Horseplayer, but today brings yet another chance at sweet, sweet redemption.  “Once more into the breach!” Read the rest of this entry »


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Santa Anita Selections – Friday 12/28/07

28 12 2007
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Friday arrives and gives us a chance to “take a little hair off the dog that bit me” on Wednesday.  As predicted, we didn’t fare so well in the opening day at Santa Anita as we would have liked.  Our pride was greatly besmirched.  I’ve spent the better part of this morning alternating between reviewing the Santa Anita card and playing Candy-land with my 3 year old.  Perhaps this new found distraction is the key to awakening my inner horseplayer?  

Today’s card at Santa Anita isn’t very exciting.  We’ve got 8 nondescript races highlighted by the $200,000 guaranteed pick 4 in races 5 through 8, which is where we’ll focus our betting attention for the day.   My picks came up rather chalky, but I still wanted to get this out there for those of you that wish to play along.   As always, be sure to check for scratches and/or late changes and adjust your selections accordingly.  Read the rest of this entry »


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Jockey Burn – These Wounds Won’t Heal

28 12 2007

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This is a bit of a departure from our normal style here at the Aspiring Horseplayer.  Typically I try to give everything a Matt Drudge-esque newsroom feel to our updates and stories.  The net result is that quite a bit of what gets posted here is read frequently, but there’s no real personal connection – unless of course your playing along with the picks.   But enough of handicapping picks for a moment.  It’s Friday and I’m feeling a little crazy so let’s get really nuts here and post something besides our typical run of the mill news update.  Besides,  I’ve always wanted this blog to be so much more than just that.  I’ve wanted it to be a growing conversation between horseplayers, fans, and folks that have wandered here from somewhere off in the Ethernet universe. 

As such, I thought today that I’d talk about one of the more humorous and yet insightful aspects of handicapping.  At some point early on in our  horseplaying years, I’m convinced we have “formative moments” that continue to affect our conscious handicapping long after they should.  We’ve all run into a jockey on a hot or cold streak.  We’ve overbet trainers based on name alone.   All of this despite the fact that we have ample statistics at our disposal suggesting we choose otherwise.  But then again, it’s like Disraeli said: “There are lies, damn lies, and statistics!”   Perhaps there’s a bit of Disraeli in all of us horseplayers somewhere.   Or perhaps it’s a bit of Farragut (“Damn the torpedo’s!!!”) as I throw caution to the wind despite the fact that I should know better.  Read the rest of this entry »


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Laurel Park Selections – Thursday 12/27/07

27 12 2007
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Well, if you were playing along with us yesterday you know all too well that we took a pretty rough beating at Santa Anita on opening day yesterday.  Thankfully a merciful god has granted us one day of respite with which to regroup and make a determined stand on Friday.   In the meantime, I thought today gave me an opportunity to cover my local track at Laurel Park.  As always, make sure to check into late scratches/equipment changes as for whatever reason my horses at Laurel seem to scratch from races with frightening frequency.   Now it’s time for my gratuitous bastardization of a Shakespeare quote within my handicapping selections:  What’s that? Wishest thou less horses would scratch?  Pray thee cousin wish not one horse more!  I would not bet in that horse’s company who fears his fellowship to race with us!!!”

 Okay, that was painfully bad so let’s just jump right into the picks shall we?  I didn’t formulate any multi-race exotics because I noticed a typo in the DRF which claimed the pick 6 was races “6 through 11″ – but there are only 9 races on the card.  I can only assume the pick 6 is races 4 through 9, but I didn’t really have a ton of time this morning to confirm.   Apparently it was much more important that I watch Bearenstein Bears videos with my son this morning.   :-) Read the rest of this entry »


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Santa Anita Opening Day Picks – 12/26/07

26 12 2007
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Wednesday marks the return of racing action to beautiful Santa Anita racetrack in southern California.   Hopefully all of you had a wonderful Christmas yesterday and are shaking off the effects of so much eggnog.  I’ve got to point out right away that I typically don’t fare very well at opening days in California.   It usually takes me a few days to get back in the swing of things and see how the tracks are playing.   Still, I couldn’t let today go by without taking a stab at the pick 4′s, as there is no racing action available on Thursday.

We were very successful with our Hollywood Park selections throughout the meet so hopefully we can keep that momentum going.  The feature event of the day is the Grade 1 Malibu Stakes which marks the return of 2007 Derby hopeful Great Hunter.  However, that is not the only stakes race on the card as we also have the California Breeder’s Champion Stakes and the Sir Beaufort Stakes sprinkled throughout the card.   So what say you then?  Will you yield and this avoid, or guilty in horse racing obsession be thus employed?  (my take on a famous Shakespeare quote). Read the rest of this entry »


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Into Mischief Wins CashCall Futurity

22 12 2007
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Into Mischief rattled off an amazing victory in the Grade 1 CashCall Futurity at Hollywood Park, defeating highly touted colt Colonel John by 1 1/4 lengths.  The son of Harlan’s Holiday pulled off the upset despite all the pre-race attention being focused on Colonel John and the Bob Baffert trained Massive Drama.   He had finished a game 2nd to Massive Drama in his last effort in the Hollywood Prevue going off as the race favorite.  Today the betting public largely ignored Into Mischief as he was set off at odds of 13/1 at post time. 

 Jockey Victor Espinoza has not exactly had the greatest meet at Hollywood this fall, so for him the victory must have added satisfaction.   ”He was real strong at the end and was waiting for horses,” Espinoza said. “I just hit him a couple of times to keep his attention focused. It was very impressive for him to run like this today. This horse is going to have a really unbelievable future.”

Into Mischief returned $29.60 for a win wager by covering the 1 1/16 mile distance on the cushion track in 1:40.82.  The colt is trained by Richard Mandella  who while being interviewed on TVG after the race mentioned how much character he displayed in the stretch.  The early pace setter in the race was Eaton’s Gift.  As the horses entered the stretch Espinoza asked Into Mischief for his run and he responded by taking command in the stretch and pulling away from Colonel John, who was sent off as the post time favorite.   Colonel John made a valiant run for second but never really had a chance to catch Into Mischief once he made his move.  Read the rest of this entry »


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Categories : Colonel John, Hollywood Park, Horse Racing News, Into Mischief

Hollywood Park Selections – Saturday 12/22/07

22 12 2007
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Saturday marks the final day of the winter meet at Hollywood Park.  It’s been a profitable meet for those of you playing along with the selections here, and obviously we’d like to go out on top today.  Today’s card is highlighted, indeed dominated, by the highly anticipated matchup between promising 2 year old colts Massive Drama and Colonel John in the Grade 1 CashCall Futurity Stakes.  The winner of this event, provided one of the two prevails, will have cemented his status as the top young colt on the California circuit.   We last saw Massive Drama in an impressive victory on Thanksgiving Day after starting off rather slow in the Grade 3 Hollywood Prevue Stakes.  Colonel John took to the 1 1/16 miles distance in the Real Quiet Stakes and triumphed in his first attempt against winners.  

The final day of meets are usually interesting and rife with potential long-shot upsets as barns sneak in horses with so called “darkened form” that are hard to pick out in the handicapping selections.   There are a number of claiming races on the card today, so expect the trainers to be pulling out all their tricks as they tempt fate one last time in an effort to secure winnings for the year.     

As usual, the Aspiring Horseplayer is providing handicapping selections for all of the races covered in the early and late pick 4 sequences.  Let’s try to take down one last multi-race exotic wager before we say goodbye to Hollywood, shall we? We’ll start with the early pick 4. Read the rest of this entry »


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Hollywood Park Selections – Friday 12/21/2007

21 12 2007
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Friday marks the return of our regular handicapping selections here at the Aspiring Horseplayer and we’ve got a full 10 race card to review at Hollywood Park.  The feature event of the day will be the 11th running fo the Cat’s Cradle Handicap for $100,000 in race 9.   Last week was a very successful week for our handicapping selections and I’d like to bring home some additional money for our readers by focusing on the early and late pick 4 sequences on today’s card. 

Early Pick 4 Ticket ($24)

  • Race 1:   1, 7, 10
  • Race 2:   2, 3, 10, 11
  • Race 3:   1, 6
  • Race 4:   1 

Race 1:


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Categories : Handicapping Selections, Hollywood Park

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