BC Day Results

Well, with the bad weather and "tough to handle" racing strip we still had a pretty good day with our Analysis and Selections for Monmouth which was created prior to the rains.

Race 2 - Coco Belle $13.40

Race 3 - Cobalt Blue $26.00

Race 6 - Lahoudood - $25.40 (top selection scratched)

Race 7 - Exacta of Midnight Lute-Idiot Proof -$49.80

Race 10- - English Channel - $8.00

We also had a nice hit on the Exacta in Race 4 at Aqueduct where In For a Dime finished 1st over Reyana's Jet and returned $60 to our delight.

So overall it was a pretty good day for us.

I thank all our clients for being with NickBorg.com and look forward to hearing from everyone in the spring.

-Nick

Friday's BC Analysis & Selections

Race 8 - The Filly & Mare Sprint.
Dream Rush figures to have a lot of company on the front end setting it up for a horse just off the early lead. Miss Macy Sue could get that dream trip. She can stay close to a quick pace and still finish strongly. Baroness Thatcher can also rumble in the stretch. The late running Wild Gams fits into the Exacta at a nice price.
The Play: Bet Miss Macy Sue To Win.

Race 9 - BC Juvenile Turf.
This race has so many possible stars/winners that it makes it very hard to decide which horse will move forward the most today - before anyone else in the field does. Gio Ponti has had only 2 grass efforts but both were very good and he should adapt to the shorter mile very well. Cherokee Triangle hasn't run a bad one yet and today's distance should help his chances. NowNownow should be finishing very strongly as will The Leopard.
The Play: Bet Gio Ponti to Win.

Race 10 - BC Dirt Mile.
This race is very wide open mainly because of the distance. Several are trying to stretch-out while several are trying to cut-back and several are coming in off layoffs. Lewis Michael has had a very good campaign this year. He has run well going short and long and he can stay within striking distance while the early burners tear up the track.
The Play: Bet Lewis Michael to Win.

Saturday's Possible Late Pick-4 Outline at Belmont

Here it is, Bomb's Away!

Race 7 -Majestic Warrior - Ready's Image
Race 8 -Armonk - Indian Blessing
Race 9 -No Biz - Red Giant - Shamdanin
Race 10 -That'll Do - Back to Mandalay - Mor Chances

Pace Makes the Race

As I expected, Hard Spun had the early pace he needed to be able to finsih strong enough to hold off Street Sense's late charge.

Now at the end of his 3-year-old season it has become clearly evident (with his last 2 races) that Hard Spun has seasoned and improved to become a high quality early speed power.

And in losing Street Sense is not shamed because he was taken out of his best running style and tried to stay very close to Hard Spun right from the gate.

Perhaps in the Classic someone will go with Hard Spun in the early stages and Street Sense will be allowed to run his best game - sitting well off early and making that sharp, explosive move right before the turn for home.

High Anxiety?

While I was watching the Jockey Club Gold Cup I noticed that Lawyer Ron seemed to be fighting his rider the entire backside. He was too close to the early pace and his rider, John Velazquez tried to get him to relax a little further off the early pace. However as you can clearly see Lawyer Ron kept fighting him and when it was finally go-time he just had to let go and hope he had enough energy left.

Curlin wasn't too far off the early pace himself but he was able to rate and relax and I feel this made all the difference. Of course I take nothing away from Curlin. He is a great competitor and seemingly is becoming even tougher to beat with every passing race.

After the race Lawyer Ron's trainer, Todd Pletcher stated that he wasn't surprised by the outcome of the race because he saw Ron was too anxious and too fresh and also stated that with this race under his belt perhaps Ron won't be so overly aggressive in the early going of the BC Classic.