Whiskey Romeo Aims to Stay Perfect in Marylander Stakes
The 8th race on the card is the $100,000 Jennings Handicap for Maryland breds, 3-year-olds & up travelling a distance of 1 mile. Eighttofasttocatch drew high weight (120) despite a disappointing 5th place effort in the MD Million Classic October 6th as the 6-5 favorite in his most recent outing. Morning Line Hello Lover ships in from Parx on a three race win streak to make his Laurel Park debut.
Recapping my Thanksgiving selections at Laurel Park from Thursday, November 22nd, I had 7 winners from 9 races (5 Top Selections; pay-offs shown in BOLD type) having $2 WIN pay-offs of $17.40 (1st race), $6.20 (3rd), $7.40 DH @ 6-1 (4th), $11.40 (5th),$3.80 (7th), $3.20 (8th) and $5.40 (9th).
The BEST BET of the Day (9 4-1-2) Toots was sent-off at generous odds of 9-2 due to some hidden back class and the fact he was 0 for the year. Thankfully he closed stoutly in deep stretch to get up for the victory in the final strides to return $11.40 to WIN, $5.80 to PLACE and $4.00 to SHOW.
The LONGSHOT PICK (9 3-0-0) In Hot Pursuit caught a speed favoring track and was too far back early to be a threat. He only managed a mild rally to finish 5th.
For Saturday races the weather forecast calls for Partly Cloudy skies, but 0% chance of precipitation. So the MAIN TRACK will be FAST. Also note that this week Laurel Park decided to close the turf courses for the winter. So there will be no turf racing in Maryland until (hopefully) late March 2013. Selections for the Laurel Park, Saturday, Dec. 1st are posted below. Selections posted were handicapped based on making multi-race wagers such as DOUBLE’s, Pick-3’s and Pick-4’s using all three (3) listed for each race in each leg.
UPDATED Dec. 1st 10:22am EST with SCRATCHES: Please note that the Longshot Play of the Day was SCRATCHED. Since no other top pick qualifies (5-1 or more by my standards) to be a Longshot Pick, unfortunately there will be none documented today.
1st race – $16,000 Maiden Claiming for 3 y.o. and up – 1 mile
#7 – Spinnacker Bay (2-1)
#3 – Backdoor Strike (5-1)
#1 – Pazitively Perfect (7-5)
2nd race – $5,000 Claiming for fillies and mares 3 y.o. and up N2Y or N4L – 5½ f.
#9 – Three Ways Home $$$ LONGSHOT $$$ ---- SCRATCHED
#10 – Sixty Acres (7-2)
#4 – Latika (10-1)
#1/1A – Silent Sister / Who Loves Ya Baby (9-5)
3rd race – $10,000 Maiden Claiming for 2 y.o. fillies – 6 furlongs
#8 – Regal Surprise (3-1)
#5 – Finally Free (10-1)
#2 – Lilsexi (5-1)
4th race – $25,000 Maiden Claiming for 2 y.o. fillies – 6 furlongs
#1/1A – Purr and Prowl / Fib (4-1)
#2 – Any Other Name (12-1)
#7 – Simmadownnow (8-5)
5th race – $7,500 Claiming N2L for 3 y.o. and up – 7 furlongs
#4 – Highly Justin (9-2) *** BEST BET ***
#5 – Soup D’coupe ---- SCRATCHED
#1 – Leather Gloves (10-1)
#2 - Lacrosse Moon (5-1)
6th race – $7,500 Claiming for 3 y.o. or 4 y.o. & up NW3L – 6 furlongs
#6 – Bandits Hearts (3-1)
#5 – War and Thunder (9-5)
#2 – Our Bailiwick (15-1)
7th race – $125,000 Marylander Stakes for 2 y.o. – 7 furlongs
#2 – Whiskey Romeo (1-1)
#5 – Amerigo Vespucci (4-1)
#4 – Hamp (15-1)
8th race – $100,000 Jennings Handicap for MD-Breds 3 y.o. and up – 1 mile
#4 – Eighttofasttocatch (9-2)
#3 – Hello Lover (7-5)
#2 – Charge (10-1)
9th race – $5,000 Claiming for fillies and mares 3 y.o. and up – 6 furlongs
#9 – Candy Games (2-1)
#7 – Flavor (8-1)
#1 – Key to a Cure (5-2)
In other Maryland Racing News…
The Maryland Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Association (MTHA) and Maryland Horse Breeders Association (MHBA) approved the framework of a deal to govern racing in Maryland for the coming decade. For more details on this development, you can read Frank Vespe's post at That's Amore Stable.