The Red Smith was a jam packed field of evenly matched horses. So jammed packed that my pick, Encinas, got completely bottled up behind a wall of horses. He was the first post position but had the bad fortune of being stuck behind Bee Charmer, who starting going backwards at the top of the stretch. He definitely had some run but nowhere to go so I’ll be keeping an eye out for him.

The payouts were kind of insane! Ah, the joy of a big field with no clear favorite.

Exacta: $191

Trifecta: $3,711

$2 Super: $62,207

Dime Super: $3110.35 (!!)

I liked many of them. Besides having Encinas to win I had an exacta box of True Cause (placed) and Musketier (showed)… they both looked great in the parade. In addition to about 3 dime super boxes I also had Crown Point across the board. He lost show by head bob. What I liked about him was that his last win came off of a switch to dirt and then back to turf. His last race on polytrack so I thought he might improve, and he did, just not enough!

As for Dave, he seemed to have a good trip and closed impressively. I’m always happy to see Barclay Tagg win! Dave is owned in part by Parting Glass Racing, a partnership group, another thing I’m always happy to see.