2010 Thanksgiving Weekend Picks
By The Editors,
It’s our last hurrah of the year and we hope to go out on some good picks, but we can always make improvements next year! Since these races are spread out over the long weekend look for a more complete list tomorrow as some of us are traveling and others of us are still in a food coma!
We’ll do a mythical $2 win bet to see who ends up with with most cash and who picks the most winners.
And thus ends our picks for 2010, fortunately on a relatively respectable note! Ernie Munick gets the most wins with three for a total of $20.40, Valerie Grash comes away with two wins for a total of $8.80 and Adam Wiener ($3.20) and Dana Byerly ($24.40) come away with one win each. We’ll enjoy a little turn out time and come back fresh for next year!
Here’s a recap plus replays from all the weekend action.
With the magic of hindsight, how does one handicap the Cigar Mile and pick Jersey Town as your winner? (I had Bribon!)
You mean besides being from Jersey? I actually had a couple of bucks on him to win and had him under Haynesfield (and am kicking myself for not boxing that!).
My read was that with all the early speed, Jersey Town included, Bribon was probably the best pick given his recent form, running style & that he was pointing to this race vs. coming out of the BC. But, I really liked Haynesfield on the cut back and thought that Jersey Town’s last race wasn’t that bad + I loved his work pattern leading up to this race. I think he was hard to land on as “the pick” but that he was a overlay at 34-1. I also love Barclay Tagg and usually take his entries pretty serious, plus his owner, Charles Fipke, usually has decent horses.
Can I tell my sob story on this? I actually had Jersey Town picked, and then switched to Half Metal Jacket :-( Yes, I’m a moron.
Like Dana, I love Barclay Tagg, and this horse has only finished out of the money once. Canadian owner Charles Fipke obviously thought enough of this horse to send him home to British Columbia last year where he finished second in the BC Derby. While he’d never won a graded stakes race, he’s bounced around them recently, including that second behind Bribon in the G3 Bold Ruler last out. Considering he didn’t race at 2, I figure he’s just a late bloomer who’s now found his stride. His dam Jersey Girl was a fantastic filly, winning the G1 Mother Goose, Test and Acorn. The kicker (for me) is Jersey Town’s fourth dam Nowmepache is a half-sister to my beloved Foolish Pleasure (whose son Marfa is the broodmare sire to Half Metal Jacket).
Ultimately, I went with Half Metal Jacket because I thought trainer Rudy Rodriquez has been hot lately, plus the horse had finished a nice third in the Bold Ruler and runner-up to Vineyard Haven at Saratoga this summer. What really puzzled me about this race is the fact that top jock Ramon Dominguez didn’t ride ANY horse in the race, even though he was riding at Aqueduct yesterday, and had previously ridden Haynesfield, Jersey Town, Musket Man, and Half Metal Jacket. Any one with inside knowledge as to why Ramon didn’t ride in the Cigar?
That is a sob story! Maybe there’s a Woulda, Coulda, Shoulda in there? :)
Apparently the connections of both Haynesfield and Half Metal Jacket didn’t wanna give up Ramon so his agent too a pass on the race.
“With the connections of neither horse wanting to give up Dominguez, his agent, Steve Rushing, elected to sit out the race.”
http://www.drf.com/news/girolamo-should-distance-cigar-mile
I still have to handicap the Hollywood Derby!