Dec. 31 - Day 17

Snow

Well, you should always be careful what you ask for :)  This morning we woke up to go get coffee and the car had a covering of snow/slush on it.  Fortunately the drive for coffee was over mostly dry or wet roads while the snow pellets hit the windshield.  We had no longer returned back to Kim's parents than we packed the car and headed out to Karrie's, where we anticipated more of the white stuff, and where we will spend the final two days of our Pa trip.  To be honest, I am anxious to be back home where it's warm, I have my own bed, and I have access to a hot shower when ever I want to take one.  I made my selections in the morning and then watched the replays at halftime of the first College Football National Semi-Final game.  And before we get to the races, let me say that both of the games, which I thought would be great match-ups, were not even close.  The first game was close until halftime and then was completely dominated by Clemson.  The second game was a complete blowout with Alabama spanking Michigan State - so much so that I was not able to make it to midnight for the "big celebration" - highly overrated to me.  So, the races......I only had four selections on the New Year's Eve Day program and the first was in the second, a turf claiming event.  I liked Daniel Vella's Vipera.  Vella is a GP 40% Club member with runners in for a tag of less than $40K.  She tracked a slow pace, :50 and change, into the stretch, made a bid but the 4/1 front-runner had way too much left and she ran evenly to the wire to be third.  My next selection was in the fourth a rare nw3x allowance condition going a one-turn mile.  The "star" of the race was Todd Pletcher's Itsaknockout.  He'd been an impressive winner for me in his first try vs. winners for me last year, but was awarded first place in the Grade 2 Fountain of Youth over my top choice in what I thought was one of the worst calls of the meet.  He'd been badly beaten in the Florida Derby and Kentucky Derby and not been seen since.  I had mixed feelings about him, but in the end the fact that it was Gulfstream and Pletcher with a comeback runner, and I wasn't a fan of any of the rest of the field I made him my top pick.  He tracked the top three through a quick opening half mile in :45 and change, swung off the rail and moved three wide with authority.  He caught them as heads turned for home and as they straightened out he opened up and ran away.  The crowd had made him an underlaid 7/5 favorite, but with my double investment I was cashing for nearly $25.

In the sixth the field was traveling a marathon 11 1/2 furlongs on the turf.  Grey Wizard was a lightly raced three-year-old from the Chad Brown barn who had experience at marathon distances, and he'd run well until his most recent when he tried to rally into a very slow pace.  Top rider Javier Castellano was named.  Today the pace was slow yet again, but Castellano had him pressing the top one into the turn.  When they hit the top of the stretch a seam opened on the rail and he shot through to be clear by daylight at the furlong pole.  By now the late runners were coming but they were too late to catch the well-timed move by the top rider on my top choice.  And even better, the price was a generous $6.40 so I'd cash for over $30.

In my last pick of the day I liked Todd Pletcher's Outlash.  He was sent off as the 9/5 second choice going a one-turn mile in a non-conditioned allowance.  He dueled on the lead with a 50/1 runner, put that one away spinning out of the turn but was then confronted with the 4/5 favorite.  I had dismissed this one despite the big speed figures, but he proved best in deep stretch after the two favorites dueled all the way.  Close second.  So for the day I was an excellent 2-for-4 and a profit on the day.  A nice way to close out the 2015 racing season!