A powerful source for winners ... those early years

Monmouth Park closed for the second day due to extreme heat and humidity, that put’s the Survival At The Shore tournament on hold. That gave me some time to catch up on reading and other turf blogs. I tweeted about Dean Arnold’s TVG blog about 2 y/o’s at Saratoga coming out of the one hole. It was insightful and gave some excellent tips on how to play them. I also enjoyed Todd Schrupp’s write up on his childhood experiences at Del Mar. When I finished it, I started to think back on my first exposure to horse racing. For me it wasn’t going to the track, even though my parents were handicapping nomads on the SoCal circuit.

It was evenings sitting with my dad in his ’58 Nomad listening to race re-creations. I can still see and hear it. After dinner, dad would grab me and tell my mother, who was cleaning the kitchen, that we had an errand to run. We would go out into his gun metal gray Nomad, doors open , and turn on the radio. He would sit there with his folded up Herald Examiner, figures and notes written all over it. What captured me totally was not my dad winning or losing, it was that golden voice of JR Richards of Horse and Jockey. Today, I can still here his deep voice calling out the shows tag line, “Horse and Jockey a powerful source for winners.”

I would sit there staring at the radio, listening to every race replay, I was so enthralled with it I barely heard my dad bitch and moan about some nag still running up the track. What I did learn from my dad in those days, was that speed wins more than their fair share, he was a total speed ball handicapper. Secondly, I learned the phrase, “horses for courses”. He had Pomona nailed down (now Fairplex), it was a bull ring, so when horses came in from Del Mar or Hollywood and show lousy form, he would pull out his notebook and if the horse showed hitting the board at the ’ring, he’d bet them. He would laugh and say, “horses for courses” and grin like a mad hatter.

So for me it wasn’t the train to Del Mar, the opening of the season at Oak Tree or the afternoons at Hollywood Park, it was those early evenings sitting with dad, in his station wagon on the driveway, feeling the ocean breeze, hearing JR Richards bring home another day of races.

Thanks dad, for those wonderful memories and a lifetime of winners!

Opening Day @ Del Mar Oceanside 100K

Today we have a fun race on opening day at Del Mar. 8th race, one mile on Turf, the Oceanside $100K. 3 y/o non winners of a sweepstakes of $50,000.

Right off the bat, the favorite will be John Shirreffs, Mr. Commons. He is returning from a 60 day layoff after running 8th in the Preakness. He did have a solid effort in the Santa Anita Derby (G1), being the show horse. He has only raced once on turf, a 6.5f affair in January and ran a with it by 5.5 lengths, hitting a 92 Beyer. Breeding suggests that he should be solid on grass and Mike Smith is back in the irons. I guess what makes me believe he is vulnerable is that he hasn’t raced a mile or longer on turf. Winning routes on dirt is one thing, but now moving back to grass and in a route, I’m not sold and especially at a short price. There are others that could threaten, and while their forms are not conclusive you could make a strong case for Burns, Extensive and reaching out there maybe Moment of Weakness(IRE).

In that vein, the one that has captured my interest is Temple Door. It’s had three races, winning two and a third. Speed is in the 80’s and rates just of the front runners. Even though this contest doesn’t exhibit much front speed, he could end up taking off. He has won at this distance and longer, good works and is trained by Carla Gaines who has a good record with stake turf horses. Add Chantal Sutherland on board and could be an interesting play. Morning line is a handsome 6-1 and anything close would play it.

I've had a tough run in the stakes races of late, so let's see if Temple Door can break it open for me and get back on track in the States.