Posts from May 2007
Announcing a Sprint… Kind of
Last week I noticed a Sprint Wireless ad that featured a track announcer narrating a phone call as if it was race (or something like that). It sounded like Trevor Denman (one of my favs… I LOVE it when he says “and he’s FULL OF RUN!!”).
I’ve only seen it once and haven’t been able to dig it up via google or Sprint’s site. Is there a racing meme in advertising? (sorry, I’m not an academic, I swear!). I think it’s interesting given the Claratin ad with the Jockey.
Posted by dana on May 29 2007
Filed Under: Ads, Trevor Denman, 2007
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Tally Ho!
Yesterday I decided I was going to take my time getting ready for work… it was a Friday before a long holiday weekend, I didn’t have any morning meetings and my boss was on vacation.
As I was eating my breakfast I turned on the TV, naturally the OTB channel was on. Instead of the usual listings of the upcoming days races there was live racing, but it was only 9 am. I thought it was from Australia but it was from Britain. The course was Goodwood and the race was the first of the day, Vini’s Gucci and Pucci Handicap (!!!), a 7f race.
First of all, we need more races named like that. Seriously. How about the Swifty’s Knoll and Ferragamo Handicap? Or the Giant Bag of Money Futurity? It was a good race, the winner, Scarlet Flyer, was a 4 yo American who closed very nicely while Blue Java sat just behind the pace but was outrun at the end by the winner.
Also, I knew they ran in the opposite direction (not wrong, opposite) and I could get used to that but the course confused me! When I looked at the schematic of it on their site it looked like a golf course. As they came out of the gate it seemed like there were a couple of places where they could have turned but didn’t.
Well, regardless of this minor difference, I’m looking forward to watching more British racing my telley!
Posted by dana on May 26 2007
Filed Under: International Racing, 2007, Racing
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...Gomez on Hard Spun!
It’s odd because just this morning I was thinking about what Jock I would put on Hard Spun if it were my choice and while I thought about Garrett Gomez I think my choice would be Fernando Jara given his ride aboard Jazil in last year’s Belmont Stakes.
Also, seems like this confirms that Rags to Riches will not be running… so, if I controlled the universe I would have Gomez on Rags to Riches and Jara on Hard Spun (and a nice big box of the two of them, among others!).
[NTRA]
Posted by dana on May 26 2007
Filed Under: Belmont Stakes, Fernando Jara, Jazil, 2007, Garrett Gomez, Hard Spun, Rags to Riches, Triple Crown, Racing
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...He *is* a Wild & Crazy Guy
Article about Bill Kaplan (who I like a lot) and Imawildandcrazyguy’s preps for the Belmont. I think he ran an extremely impressive race in the Derby. He was BEHIND Street Sense in 20th place and closed to 4th on the OUTSIDE. I’m really looking forward to see what he’ll do in the Belmont.
Actually, I really like all the probable Belmont entrants… the top 3 from the last 2, Tiago, Great Hunter, Slew’s Tizzy and Imawildandcrazyguy are contenders as far as I’m concerned… throw Rags to Riches in there and look out!
[NTRA]
Posted by dana on May 25 2007
Filed Under: Belmont Stakes, Imawildandcrazyguy, Bill Kaplan, 2007, Great Hunter, Slew's Tizzy, Tiago, Rags to Riches
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...Just a Few More Thoughts…
and then I’m moving on.
On thing that’s made me feel somewhat better about not covering my bets with the winning combo is that of all the experts and bloggers I read, no one predicted the winning combo (although I still should have done a $20 tri box with the three favs, dammit!).
As I’ve noted before, I’m a big fan of biases and I watch them closely. On the day before the Preakness and day of, front runners and stalkers were favored to closers. Only one closer had won the day before, and with the exception of the 4 & 5th races that I didn’t see (because I was in transit to the “office”) front runners and stalkers were winning. Interesting to note because biases, like all other handicapping tools, are not to be taken as the only factor… and as most will tell you, a good horse can overcome anything.
I was re-reading a few of my posts because I was thinking about things I wanted to see about a few of the horses before I became a believer.
From my Derby Futures Wagers post:
“The things that I don’t like about Curlin are that he hasn’t raced against tough competition and we have no idea if he’s got the heart for a fight. Could he hold his own against Street Sense in the stretch?”
Answered: Yes!
I still want to see Street Sense go 3 or 4 wide and weave in and out of horses.
Here’s a gripe… the Pimlico simulcast didn’t have split screen so you couldn’t see what the back of the pack was doing. This is one of most helpful things ever, I felt like I didn’t know what was going on in the race because it was just focused on the front runners. Is this a Magna entertainment thing? I’ll have to look at this more closely. It’s one thing for NBC to not have the split screen, but an OTB simulcast? That’s ridiculous!
Now for the moving on part… rematch! The distance in the Belmont will be very interesting. Swifty thinks Hard Spun won’t run, and he’s probably right. A few interesting additions are going to be Tiago, Imawildandcrazyguy and hopefully Rags to Riches! Tiago & Imawildandcrazyguy will do much better at that distance for sure. I would love to see Rags to Riches win the Belmont!!
Posted by dana on May 20 2007
Filed Under: 2007, Biases, Handicapping, Preakness, Belmont Stakes, Imawildandcrazyguy, Pimlico, Triple Crown, Tiago, Wagering, That's Why They Call it Gambling, Hard Spun, Street Sense, Rags to Riches, Curlin, Racing
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