Monmouth Park

Let’s hope so! Best of luck to everyone playing Monmouth’s bold experiment today. Get your spreadsheets together (I’m doing that now), your notes in order and your cooler packed… summer is starting with or without you!

Players are certainly a buzz about the full competitive fields but one has to think that trainers must be jazzed about the bargain hunting possibilities that exist in the claiming ranks. For example, the 2nd today is a $5k claimer where many of the entrants had been running for a tag between $10k – $20k. And perhaps the other side of that coin is that owners can more easily liquidate while potentially winning more purse money. Owners with actual $5k claimers must be really bummed about this. At any rate, it should be interesting to see how it all plays out.

I put in my guesses picks for day one of Survival at the Shore.

Race 8: Wide Open Road: last win at the distance off a similar break

Race 9: Da Plane: love the works, cut back looks perfect

Race 10: Supah Prince: big jump for high % trainer, should do ok w/the pace & distance

Today’s the last day to register… I have no doubt you’ll do better than me, so what are you waiting for? Good luck everyone!

It’s out! Bloodhorse reported today that the documentary of John Henry, the “Steel Driving Racehorse“, is now available on DVD. This trailer has been out for awhile so it’s nice to see the project finally come to fruition. I already bought my copy, and am looking forward it!

We’ve been lucky these past few years that talented filmmakers such as the Hennegan Brothers and John Corey have been able to independently produce films on racing, particularly when the Secretariat film looks to have taken many a liberty. I don’t think one can really complain about that when one considers the trade off. I found the trailer completely emotionally manipulative, and I’m a crabby old shut-in! I can only imagine how well it will work on it’s intended audience, particularly given that there were reports of cheering in the audience during every race. I mean, that’s Disney’s specialty, right? Good for us that they chose racing to work their (scary!) manipulative magic!

Let’s hope that some of those film goers will take it upon themselves to search out more of racing’s great stories, because racing is full of great stories. And let’s hope that some other independent film projects, such as Boys Club (or Freak, it’s changed names a couple of times) about Julie Krone and Jock, the Movie about the first generation of female jockeys, see the light of day.

(Mark_Baratelli)

Sponsors! In a time of shrinking budgets it’s extremely cheery making when an advertiser choses the Hello Race Fans Ad Network to publicize their events and products. A big thanks to our current our advertisers!

Sam Houston is running a geo-targeted campaign, so if you’re in the Houston area and you see the Sam Houston ad, click on over and check them out… and get yourself to the track!

Totebet offers a sign-up bonus, rebates and co-mingles funds into the track’s pools. If you’re looking for a new platform, click on over!

And finally, Monmouth/Meadowlands has started a campaign with us… their incredibly fun Survival at the Shore game is back! Click on over and sign-up!

Again, many thanks to our sponsors! We hope we can help get the word out about their products… and in turn we’re grateful not only for the support of independent content publishers (and our Fan Education site, which is what we use our portions of the ad revenue for!), but for the chance to help them broaden the reach of their brands.

Please visit our sponsors when you see their ads!

(And now that we’ve reached part 3, I will retire Reasons to be Cheerful, even if there continue to be more reasons)

(Jason Moran)

I almost forgot… the complete lack of alarmist hoo-ha over a filly in the Kentucky Derby is DEFINITELY a reason to be cheerful. Thanks Rachel!

But not to worry, there’s still plenty of fail to go around!

(wendyu) The Homeboykris crew on the walk over, the embodiment of cheerful!

Sure, I could focus on all my horrid plays yesterday and how I stupidly left Ice Box off my tickets, especially since 1) I deliberated between using him and Mission Impazible and 2) I had Paddy O’Prado on my tickets, but I’m going to choose to be cheerful today, after all, it’s not often one calls the Derby winner publicly (so I’m going to enjoy it while I can… and sorry for the long sentence).

Since I’m not blogging a much these days, here are some things I had to say elsewhere about Super Saver… over at Twitter there was a discussion going on re: Super Saver and at least one esteemed colleague (@o_crunk) wasn’t buying him. My thought was this:

SS could pick up the pieces if he rates like he did in Ark Derby and there’s a pace meltdown. least that’s how I look at it

Reading Val’s piece for Hello Race Fans! on pedigree and Derby Distance + the reports out of Churchill that he was looking good in the morning definitely informed my thought process. Over at the other evil social media site, Facebook, I commented to a friend about my choice:

The services of one Mr. Calvin Borel aren’t too shabby either… but more than that, I think he got something out of his last two races and looked to me be getting underway at the end of the race last out. From what I’ve read his breeding suggests the distance should be no problem, which lines up with how I interpreted what I saw. I’m pretty jazzed about his odds too! (editor’s note: before they went south)

(Note: Facebook is so evil in fact that I can’t even directly link to that post!)

So, while I would have liked to have turned that into a nice score, my future wagers kept the weekend from being a total blood bath… and my parade play of Le Grand Cru in the Westchester. I’m now one for one at Belmont!

Also cheery making is that both Oaks and Derby handle were up, despite the massive AmTote crash that effected XpressBet, TwinSpires and a few tracks. On the bright side, at least it was clear on TwinSpires that a bet had gone through or not! On the downside I’m still annoyed over TwinSpiresTV blocking the Churchill simulcast signal. I’m still trying to find out more about that, so far I’ve gathered that Churchill was broadcasting it’s signal and leaving it up to the individual outlets to decide what to do with it, but nothing specifically about TwinSpiresTV.

At any rate, I’m still remaining cheerful… and might even do a couple of more blog posts!

Super Saver and Calvin Borel winning at Churchill in the Kentucky Jockey Club (ChurchillDowns)

There aren’t too many shots of 2010 Kentucky Derby winner Super Saver over at flickr at the moment (unless you count images of yarn)… I suppose that will all change soon enough!

It was another stellar ride by Borel, and yes, Super Saver was my pick!

Congrats to the connections, and see you in two weeks!

LOL at the guy who yells “briiiing it!!” right before the race starts. Could have been one of the owners of Homeboykris?

If you’re one of the many people scouring the internet for last minute ideas on Kentucky Derby wagering strategy or you’re looking for 2010 Kentucky Derby picks, or perhaps you’re looking to learn more about the 2010 Kentucky Derby Contenders or just learn about horse racing… this is not the post for you. Good thing there are plenty of other places for you to find for that sort of thing!

After yesterday’s bloodbath I’ve rebounded a little today picking Sheryl’s Melody. I also liked winner Zimmer but played him with the incorrectly named Win It. So far, with the exception of Zimmer (with Bo-rail aboard), winners have been a little wide on the track but when asked about no one is saying it’s because the rail is dead. Needless to say I’ll be keeping an eye on it. Also interesting is that it’s been all front runners and stalkers so far… closers haven’t been able to get there yet.

With no dime supers I feel a little bit like my super power (har har) has been stripped away. I was on a super streak at Gulfstream a few weeks that put me considerably up for the year. Not something I get to say often! If things keep heading in the same direction that won’t be the case by the end of the day… such is life!

And feast your eyes on the genius of Blind Luck and Evening Jewel… what a race:

Best of luck to everyone today, and let’s hope everyone stays safe. Don’t forget to check those Kentucky Derby Odds!