April 2009

The 1st race is an inscrutable state bred maiden race for fillies and mares at a mile on turf. Every starter has at least one reason to improve dramatically (or regress). Pass.

The 2nd race should be won by #3 Kalookan Event, but he’s 8/5 on the morning line and is likely to go lower. Beaten a neck in a similar spot last month while earning a very strong Beyer figure (87) for the level, the Headley-trained gelding need only run back to that race today to regain his winning form.

The final week of the 2008-2009 season begins with a decent wagering card and we’ll kick things off using #3 Homemade Brew as a rolling exotic single in the 1st race. The Ted West-trained filly has her physical issues but always tries hard and catches a field her best can handle. Russell won on her two races back and in a field without too much early zip the daughter of Milwaukee Brew should be within easy striking range throughout.

Today’s program doesn’t offer much quality and does look fairly chalky. We’ll pass the 1st race – a maiden claimer with no value – and begin our action in the 2nd race while expecting #5 My Maloof Rocker to regain her winning form. The Carava-trained filly lost a heartbreaker when nosed out vs. similar last month but certainly performed admirably and beats this field with a similar effort. She wants to be held up early and allowed to run late, and that’s exactly how Rosario rode her last time. She doesn’t have an extended run, though, and her late move needs to be timed perfectly.

In today’s baby race opener, both #3 Slewkaysa and #4 Swiss Love have displayed excellent speed in morning trials and both should come out firing in their debuts. We’ll use them both in our rolling exotics while trying to beat the experienced #1 Miss Dubai and #10 Giveme Tat Ting, both of whom ran well in their only outings but probably aren’t anything special. We can’t really get a feel for the 2nd race, so we’ll use #1 Gandolf, #5 Scottish Diamond and #6 Call On Carson in our rolling exotics and hope one of them wins.