A Yee-Haw! Day at the Breeders Cup

I have not seen any reports of lameness or nasty cuts from any of the conetenders in the nine Breeders Cup races yesterday.  I like to bet long-shots, not favorites, and that paid off well (for me) yesterday.  The collegiate football games that I had interest in ended in two wins and two losses - Mizzou and Florida won, South Carolina lost in overtime, and the CU Buffs, who were leading at halftime (here, at home) collapsed in the second half again.  Bummer.  Today I'm looking forward to the Broncos - Patriots game, and I hope that Tom Brady gets thoroughly whupped.
   I am not a person to make big bets - I know what it's like not knowing how you're going to scrape money together for the next meal - so I occasionally mourn that I didn't make a bigger bet.  That happened yesterday with the first Breeders Cup race - the Juvenile Filly, worth a $2 million purse, and run at the distance of 1 and 1/16 miles.  Angela Renee, breaking from post 2, was the betting favorite in the race.  Trainer D Wayne Lukas has always had a way with 2-year-old fillies, and when I saw that Take Charge Brandi had morning odds of 30 to 1, I just had to bet on her. I made 5 $2 bets to win in this race, and hit pay-dirt with the filly at -the longest odds - Take Charge Brandi won the race at odds of 62 to 1, so I received $125.40 for my bet.  Top Decile was second, and paid $7.20, while Wonder Gal (another of my picks) was third, and paid $9.40.  Too bad I didn't bet the exacta, either.  The $2 exacta paid $1,557.20; and the $2 trifecta paid $22,618.  My other choices did not fare as well - Puca ran sixth, By the Moon ran eighth, and Majestic Presence ran ninth.  And this win was D Wayne Lukas' 20th Breeders Cup victory as a trainer.
   I struck out entirely in my bets on the Filly & Mare Turf.  Dank, the defending champion, and betting favorite finished fourth.  Dayatthespa, a chestnut New York bred 5-year-old mare, won the mile and a 1/4 race, and a $2 win ticket paid $13 back.  Stephanie's Kitten ran second and paid $5.20, with Just the Judge in third, and paying $4.60.  The $2 exacta paid $54.2-, and the $2 trifecta paid $365.60.  My picks ran rather poorly - Secret Gesture finished fifth, Parranda sixth, Emollient was ninth, and Irish Mission was the last (11th) horse across the finish line.
   The Filly & Mare Sprint had ten entries, and I bet on four to win.  Zilch again, for me.  Mike Smith rode Judy the Beauty, the betting favorite, to win his 21st Breeders Cup race.  Judy the Beauty, a 5-year-old chestnut mare bred in Ontario, paid $8.20 on a $2 win ticket.  Better Lucky placed second and paid $16.40, while Thank You Marylou was third and paid $13.80.  The $2 exacta paid $136, and the trifecta paid $2,418.80.  Stonetastic, one of my four betting choices finished fourth; Artemis Agrotera ran seventh, Sweet Reason ran eighth, and Irish-bred Living the Life was last under the wire, in tenth.
   I was excited over the Turf Sprint - I wanted No Nay Never (even though he was the betting favorite) to win, and I was also very excited about Wes Welker's Undrafted, and the grandson of Sunday Silence, Silentio.  Ageless, a 5-year-old mare, was an alternate entry after Free as a Bird refused to fly to California.  Bobby's Kitten, who has never raced at a distance less than a mile, trailed the fourteen horse field until the top of the stretch.  Then he switched into a gear that Secretariat must have loaned him - he literally flew to the lead, and won.  The Ramsay family home-bred (named after Bobby Frankel) paid $16.40 on a $2 win ticket; Non Nay Never came in second under the ride of Frankie Dettori, and paid $6.60; Undrafted ran third and paid $7.60; Ageless, the alternate racer, ran fourth.  The $2 exacta paid $108.20, and the $2 trifecta paid $1,294.  My other three picks?  Ambitious Brew was seventh, Marchman was thirteenth, and Silentio finished last.
   The favorite betting interest in the Juvenile was Carpe Diem, who was purchased for $1.6 million at a recent sale.  The second betting choice was Daredevil, who has the same trainer as Carpe Diem. Eleven colts started the race, worth $2 million, and at one and 1/16 mile.  The race was won by one of my betting choices, Texas Red, whom I chose due to his pedigree only.  Texas Red is a bay colt, bred in Kentucky, He is owned by a group of owners, including Keith Desormeaux, his trainer, and is ridden by Kent Desormeaux.  Texas Red was purchased at a sale for $17,000.  A $2 win bet on Texas Red paid $29.80; Carpe Diem finished second and paid $3.80, while Upstart finished third and paid $3.60.  So I picked the first and third finishers, along with the D Wayne Lukas trained Mr. z, who was fifth, One Lucky Dane who ran sixth, and Private Prospect was tenth.  The second betting choice, Daredevil finished last.
   After looking at the horses in the saddling enclosure before the Turf race, I decided that I liked Main Sequence's demeanor much better than Big John B's, and I changed my bets.  It was nice, because I got a nice total payout for this race.  With my defection from Big John B to Main Sequence, the four horses I bet on ran first, second, third, and fourth...  Main Sequence won the race, and paid $14.40; Flintshire ran second and paid $4.80; Twilight Eclipse was third and paid $6.40; and Telescope ran fourth.  (Big John B finished in ninth place.) I had placed bets to win, place and on the exacta and trifecta.  I placed $22 in bets.  I received back $610.40, a win of $588.40.  That, with the money from the Juvenile Filly race, made me very happy.  The $2 excata paid $64.80, and the $2 trifecta paid $527.40.
   My bets were rotten in the Sprint, which is unusual, as I have always picked the Sprint winner for the last 25 years - but not this time.  The long shot Work All Week, a 5-year-old chestnut gelding bred in Illinois (a first for the Breeders Cup), won the Sprint and paid $40.20.  Secret Circle was second and paid $6.40; Private Zone was third, paying $5.80, and Bourbon Courage was fourth.  The $2 exacta paid $245.40, and the $2 trifecta paid $2,129.40.  My choices were Bourbon Courage (fourth), Palace in sixth, Bakken in eighth,Indianapolis in tenth, and the beautiful filly Wind Fire was thirteenth.  Rich Tapestry, the betting favorite, finished last.
   The Mile was wide open, with Wise Dan out of the running, recovering from a broken leg.  I liked the looks of Tourist, and having Rosie Napravnik as the jockey was also so plus; but I was most interested in Karakontie, a Japan-bred grandson of Sunday Silence, who had raced only in France, and in Anodin, the 4-year-old full brother of three-time Breeders Cup Mile winner Goldikova.  I'm glad I bet with my heart...  Karakontie won the Mile and a $2 win ticket paid $62; Anodin ran second and paid $12.60.  Trade Storm was in third place and paid $12.80, with Summer Front in fourth.  The $2 exacta paid $663.40; the $2 trifecta paid $10,021.40.   I had five picks in the Mile - and they finished in first, second, fourth, Veda was twelfth, and Tourist was thirteenth.
   In the $5 million Classic, I again wanted to avoid betting favorites.  Shared Belief, under Mike Smith, had not been beaten in a race; California Chrome had a lot to prove and is a favorite son at Santa Anita; and Tonalist, while a very good horse, just didn't interest me.  I thought long and hard about Bayern - this hard-knocking bay colt either had excellent racing luck and won, or awful racing luck and lost.  I figured he was too "iffy" to bet.  I felt that Moreno would be a great choice, but he was in the 4 post position, and I was afraid he'd get in trouble early...  Only one of my bet's made it on the board.  The winner was the hard-knocking (literally) Bayern, who had to wait for a steward's and jockey's inquiry, about the race.  Bayern was leaning to the left and heading to the left when he came out of the starting gate - one could see jockey Martin Garcia leaning far to the right shoulder of the colt and he had an open plow rein to the right, as well.  Bayern ran into Shared Belief, who ran into V. E. Day, who squeezed Moreno, in a chain reaction.  Moreno was then caught by Shared Belief coming in a little too quickly, and had to slow almost to a stop.  Poor Moreno finished last, and with multiple good reasons - not excuses.  Bayern won the race and paid $14.20; Toast of New York (one of my picks) was second, and paid $18; California Chrome was third and paid $5.40; while the slammed Shared Belief ran fourth.  The $2 exacta paid $249.80, and the trifecta paid $2,087.20.  As for my other picks, Candy Boy was sixth, and then (with my head bowed) Prayer for Relief was twelfth, Majestic Harbor was thirteenth, and poor Moreno was the trailer.
    I am extremely happy that there were no life-threatening injuries to any of the horses or jockeys.  They give their all for our enjoyment.  Here's hoping that Vicar in Trouble will have a trouble-free recovery from his break during the Dirt Mile race.   And you've finished hearing about thoroughbred horse racing from me until April, when I'll start writing about the Kentucky Derby.  And, after yesterday's races, we know the favorite for next year's race is Texas Red.