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Thursday,
May 16, 2016
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Vol.
11 No. 17 (Issue #536)
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By
Ivan Bigg
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Weekly
Horseplayer Report and Fun Stuff
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ARE
YOU HAPPY WITH THIS COLUMN’S APPEARANCE?
If there appears to be too much space between lines or
the pictures are askew, click here for
an online version. Some email systems don’t display
items as intended.
TRIVIA
TEASER: How
much do you think a $20 win parlay on
Nyquist’s eight races would have
grown to (without considering a reduction in payoff
because of the larger wagers):
(a) $5,000 (b) $14,000 (c) $24,000 (d) $44,000
See answer under TRIPLE CROWN.
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TRIPLE
CROWN
Will
the Preakness be his weakness?
Highly
unlikely. Nyquist primed to make it 9 for 9
--June
5, 2015—MSW at Santa Anita--1st by a
head at 7/1
--Aug. 8—Best Pal Stakes (Gr 2) at
Del Mar—1st by 5 lengths at 1/1
--Sept. 7—Del Mar Futurity (Gr 1) at
Del Mar—1st by 3¾ lengths at 1/2
--Sept. 26—Frontrunner Stakes (Gr 2)
at Santa—1st by ¾ lengths at ½
--Oct. 31—Breeders’ Cup Juvenile
(Gr 1) at Keeneland—1st by ½ at 9/2
--Feb.
15, 2016--San Vicente Stakes (Gr 2) at
Santa—1st by 1½ at 2/5
--Apr. 2—Florida Derby (Gr 1) at
Gulfstream—1st by 3¾ at 1/1
--May 7—KENTUCKY
DERBY (Gr 1) at Churchill—1st by 1¼
at 2/1
--May 21—PREAKNESS STAKES
(Gr 1) at Pimlico ???????
ANSWER TO TRIVIA
TEASER: The answer is (d). A $20 win
parlay on Nyquist’s eight wins above
would now be worth $44,263.60
(disregarding the lower payoffs as you bet more). Let
me guess: If you HAD been playing a win parlay, you’d
likely have bailed by now. (Thanks to paddock host and
math whiz Rob MacLennan for figuring
that out).
SEE PREAKNESS
STAKES ENTRIES HERE
FIRST RACE AT PIMLICO SATURDAY IS 9:45 AM
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Bullet
briefs . . .
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- $23,855
carryover in tomorrow’s Jackpot Hi 5 at the Downs
- Are
you tracking your bonus
cash to get to the next level?
- Cole
Bennett to fly in Woodbine jock to ride in Saturday
stakes
- Gourneau
strikes early with another Manitoba Derby hopeful
- Gold
Cup winner Magic D’ Oro still the horse to beat
- You’re
human. How to survive that drawback
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DO
THE DOWNS
Want
the highlights for the next 10 days? Go here.
Want to know what tracks are racing in May?
Find out here.
What are today’s $$$ carryovers at all
tracks? See them here.
Want to know live race dates? Click here.
Want to follow sports in the Race Book?
Jays - Bombers
Next live race
days:
Friday and Saturday—parade to post at 7:15.
Victoria Day holiday Monday—parade to post 1:15
p.m.—includes Family Fun
After every live race card: Crazy Hour
and free VLT tournaments. Beer, wine, shots $2.95 and
half-price appetizers
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Miss
Royal Gold wins Astral Moon 1992
See winner’s
circle photo here.
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Know
your upcoming stakes (thanks to HBPA; photo courtesy
Bob Gates):
--Saturday: Miss Royal Gold
Stakes named for a former champion
mare. “Owned by William Mitchell
and conditioned by the legendary Bert
Blake, Miss Royal Gold was a
stakes machine. As a 3-year-old in 1991 she won the
Chantilly Stakes, the Buttons and Bows Handicap and the
Assiniboia Oaks. Later she captured the Astral Moon
Stakes, the Canada Day Handicap and the Hugh Jackson
Memorial. Her impressive stats: 24-10-5-5 with earnings
just over $90,000.”
--Holiday Monday: Prairie Star
Stakes honours another former champion
mare. “Owned and trained by Clifford
"Shorty" Gray, a two-time leading trainer
during a career that spanned 1976 to 1991,
Prairie Star started her career in
1985 with wins in the La Verendrye Stakes and the
Stockton Stakes and was second in both the Winnipeg
Futurity and the Buffalo Stakes. She ran against the
best fillies and mares, finishing first or second in 18
of her 29 lifetime starts, earning about $96,000.”
Legend:
RED
—Prep
stakes race leading to the Manitoba Derby (Aug. 1).
GREEN
—Prep stakes race leading to the Manitoba Oaks (Aug.
1).
PURPLE—Prep
stakes race leading to the Manitoba Matron (Sept.
9).
BLUE—Prep
stakes race leading to the Gold Cup (Sept. 10).
KEEP
A CHECKLIST OF FUTURE STAKES HANDY!
DOWNLOAD “PATH OF THE CHAMPIONS” HERE
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Kirk
Johnson
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Blast
from the past
Former
ASD jock, now at Woodbine, named to ride Saturday
Kirk
Johnson, a former ASD jock who now rides at
Woodbine and Fort Erie, is being named to ride
About a Girl in the Miss Royal Gold
Stakes this Saturday. The race is for 3-year-old
fillies on the road to the Manitoba Oaks on Derby
Day.
Trainer
Cole Bennett said he is flying Johnson
to the Downs right after the Woodbine card ends on
Saturday—providing Johnson doesn’t have to ride in
Woodbine’s final race, which wouldn’t give him
enough time to get to the Downs.
Bennett,
who owns About a Girl in partnership with Larry
Falloon, said Johnson is a good rider who rode
her to a maiden victory at Fort Erie last September.
Johnson won the riding title there three years in a
row.
Bennett,18,
and in only his second year of training, said his
objective is to win the Manitoba Oaks and feels About a
Girl will be very capable of doing so. About a Girl
lost by a head to highly-favoured Ellie’s the
Boss in her 2016 debut on Mother’s Day.
Johnson rode at the Downs from 2005 to 2008 but left
after the then-Manitoba Horse Racing Commission took 10
weeks to clear him of an accusation that he stiffed a
horse. Johnson had pulled the horse up after feeling
the horse took a bad step and had injured himself.
Saturday's return will be the first since his
acrimonious departure.
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“To err is human”
– Alexander Pope
How
to survive being human
Let
your mistakes become a stat, not a head-splitter
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There's
a better way
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Let’s
face it. Our imperfection as human beings costs us
money. The more we play the races, the more likely it
is that mistakes—ours or others—are going to put a
dent in our wallets. Sometimes significantly.
How
to respond? We can: (a) Beat ourselves up over it (the
usual response) or (b) accept it as part of the
inevitable and move on.
I
know. Easier said than done. But think of it in the
same way that big stores budget for “shrinkage,” a
euphemism they use for employee theft. Regardless how
careful the stores are in hiring honest people, they
know “shrinkage” simply goes with the territory of
retail sales.
So
why don’t we, as players, do something similar? Why
don’t we “budget” for our imperfection and accept
the consequences in the same way as companies accept
“shrinkage?”
What
led to this conclusion was a few things that happened
on the weekend: I was involved in a group ticket that
had mistakenly been bet on the wrong races (cost of the
error $3,400), a player’s partner wheeled the wrong
horse in a triactor play (cost of the mistake $500) and
a player missed hitting a number on his mobile device
which cost him winning an entire superfecta pool.
I’m
sure you can recount some, if not many, of your own
magnificent lapses. Some, in fact, have probably become
the stuff of folklore because you’ve recounted them
so many times. How many times have you left a cash
voucher in a touchtote betting terminal?
We
hate ourselves for it, we steadfastly resolve never to
let it happen again but, hey, we’re human. Others are
human. So let those mistakes simply become statistics,
not emotional baggage. Besides, bashing your head
against the wall will give you a concussion.
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HOTTIES OF THE WEEK (Fri,
Sat):
Hottest
jock: Antonio
Whitehall (5 wins)
Hottest trainer:
Don Schnell (5 wins)
Hottest horses:
--Mumbles (winner of the Hi Lord for
3-year-olds)
--Magic D’ Oro (winner of the De Cat
for older horses)
Biggest
longshot: Diamond Heat
(7th Fri) $39.60
Biggest 20-cent
superfecta: $1,697, the whole pool in
Friday’s 7th. Guess who had it? Your humble servant.
RACE OF THE WEEK:
Click here for video.
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THE
WEEK THAT WAS
WAGERING
KEEPS DOUBLING: A remarkable trend has struck
the Downs. Wagering not only doubled on Mother’s Day
with new night racing but that continued on the
weekend. Friday’s handle doubled as well and Saturday
came close. Saturday’s pools were helped along with a
$10,000 “bridgejumper” show wager on the first race
and a big chunk of action from the Isle of Man into the
Jackpot Hi 5 pool. The carryover shot up to $23,855
from $6,671.
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Antonio
Whitehall
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ONLY
2 FOR 48 AT HOME; BARBADIAN JOCK EXCELS AT ASD:
At his highly competitive Bridgetown, Barbados race
track, newcomer jockey Antonio
Whitehall had only two wins in 48 starts in
the past year (with six seconds and nine thirds). But
after only three days at the Downs, he has six wins for
12 starts. If he has trouble holding back a wide grin,
you know why. Congrats and welcome to Canada, Antonio!
“TWELVE
IS ENOUGH”--ARDELL SAYLER: ASD’s 12-time
leading trainer Ardell Sayler, who has
returned to the Downs raring to go after a one-year
hiatus, has told The Insider “Twelve titles are
enough.” So he has fewer horses—26 including ten
2-year-olds. But that doesn’t mean he’s going to
fly below the radar. He said he’s on the lookout for
classy horses at sales. Will he come across another
Balooga Bull, his two-time Horse of
the Year, who now, at 7, is enjoying retirement at his
South Dakota ranch?
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Magic
D’ Oro proves he’s still boss
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AWARDS
BANQUET RESULTS: Click here for the HBPA/CTHS awards
presented at the annual horsemen's banquet at the Downs
on May 6 in which Magic D' Oro was
named 2015 Horse of the Year.
MAGIC
GIVES NOTICE: Last year’s Gold Cup winner and
Horse of the Year, Magic D’ Oro, has
served notice that he will continue to be the horse to
beat as the best older horse on the grounds. Trained by
Tanya Lindsay and owned by
Martin Yeroschak and Barry
Arnason, the 6-year-old overcame a troubled
trip in the De Cat Stakes last Friday to win by a neck
to pay $5.20. The De Cat was the first of six prep
races on the road to the Gold Cup on Sept. 10. Next
race in that journey: the PC’s Bluff Stakes on the
first Wednesday of live racing, June 1.
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Derby
hopeful Mumbles
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MUMBLES
STRIKES FIRST ON ROAD TO MANITOBA DERBY:
Trainer Jerry Gourneau and Texas owner
Henry Witt Jr. demonstrated on Friday
they have a 3-year-old gelding,
Mumbles, who may be able to better
their Witt Six who finished second in
last year’s Manitoba Derby. Under the capable
handling of Renaldo Cumberbatch,
Mumbles took over the lead in the Hi Lord Stakes then
drew away to win by two lengths as favoured California
claimer Media Melee tried to run him
down. Among the runners-up were the one-two finishers
in last year’s Winnipeg Futurity,
Heber and Coolidge.
TAKE
THAT, DUBAI! STRONACH ANNOUNCES $12 MILLION RACE:
There's $1 million buy-in Texas hold ‘em
poker. Now the billionaire who runs Gulfstream and
Santa Anita and ran for the presidency of Austria,
Frank Stronach, has announced a $12
million race to be run in January 2017 called the
Pegasus Cup that would have 12 participants putting up
$1 million each to enter. That would make it the
world’s richest race, eclipsing the $10 million Dubai
World Cup. Obviously a race for big bankrolls and
bigger egos.
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Tips
’n’ Tricks
with
Marshall Posner
Q.
How do I connect my social media
accounts to HPIbet?
A.
Some people like to share their excitement on
Twitter and Facebook when winning a bet and HPI makes
it easy to do so. You can also use the same login
information for your social media accounts to login to
your HPI account. To get started, you’ll have to
access your profile information and connect your social
media accounts to your HPI account.
To
access Your Profile, click on the
cameo icon in the top right corner and then go down to
the first option and click View Profile (view image here). Once you’re on
the Profile screen, click on the SOCIAL
NETWORKS tab and then connect with any of the
social accounts you wish to use (view image here). Currently, you
can choose from Facebook, Twitter, Google + and
Microsoft.
If
you want to send out a Tweet with a winning bet or post
it on Facebook, just go to the MY
TRANSACTIONS screen under the MY
HPIBET tab along the top of the screen. Every
one of your winning wagers has a small Twitter icon and
Facebook icon to the right of the amount wagered (view image here).
Simply
click on the social media property icon that you want
to use and a new screen will pop-up with an approval
message that authorizes HPIbet to post the info to your
social media account (view image here). Now all of your
friends and family will know what a great handicapper
you are!
Got
a question for Marshall? Email theinsider@ASDowns.com
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HISTORY
ON THE HOOF: Bob’s
blog
Did you know. .
. that American
Pharoah’s halter almost wound up in the
hands of Assiniboia Downs, thanks to a would-be
benefactor in the U.S. who has deep roots, past and
present, at the Downs? Who is he? Read Bob’s
behind-the-scenes details here.
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Will you take down tomorrow
night’s
Jackpot Hi 5? (Carryover $23,855)
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©
Copyright 1996-2016 All Rights Reserved. Assiniboia
Downs.
3975 Portage Avenue, Winnipeg, MB R3K 2E9
Ph (204) 885.3330 • Fax (204) 831.5348
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