Wednesday, July 13 , 2016

Assiniboia Downs The Insider E-Newsletter

Vol. 12 No. 25 (Issue #544)

By Ivan Bigg

Weekly Horseplayer Report and Fun Stuff

(If this column looks askew in your email, click here for an online version.)


It's Wicked Wednesday! How wicked is this?
  • Tonight’s pick-4 carryover is $20,600, expected to grow to $50,000 to $60,000!

  • Tonight's Jackpot Hi-5 carryover is $206,209 (nine horses in tonight’s last race)

  • Wicked deals: $9.95 rib-licious special, $5.50 Caesar drink special, free tip sheet with race program purchase

  • Ramped up giveaways: Spin the wheel draws for up to $50 in betting vouchers after EVERY race except the last; DOUBLE the draws for $20 in free VLT spins after the races (20 instead of 10)

Bullet briefs . . .

  • Two stakes races featured in tonight's double carryover pick-4
  • ASD's $206,209 Jackpot Hi 5 is biggest in North America
  • Northlands Jackpot Hi 5 tonight is $107,000. (Win both!)
  • Brilliant $4,000 claim earns Ganas $34,000 and counting
  • Tonight's Jack Hardy Stakes is final filly test before Derby Day
  • Atras promises to have a Diodoro horse in Manitoba Derby
  • $2 show ticket pays $84.20
HAVE YOU DISCOVERED THE PARLAY EDGE? If you’re not used to playing parlays but are doing so for the Place in the Sun contest, you probably have discovered two things: (1) a little money can grow into a lot in a hurry (2) parlays are fun. So here’s an obvious suggestion: Why not play parlays on the side of whatever other plays you’re making? I’ll bet a lot of you can turn $10 to $20 in initial show parlay funds into $200 in five or six plays. (Email me your parlay success: theinsider@ASDowns.com)

Last week’s daily winning parlays
(win $20 in wagering vouchers, three months of the Sun): July 6 Bill Siwak $50 • July 6 Philip Baker $109.50 • July 9 Chris Lucyshyn $21.70
Biggest amount so far this month
(wins race night buffet for two and one year of the Sun): $109.50 (Philip Baker)
Amount to beat
to earn the five-star Mexican vacation in January (courtesy of Charleswood Travel and WestJet Vacations): $166 (Dennis Lloyd)
 
QX104 – Today's Country

Official stations of horse racing.
Click to listen

94.3 The Drive

DO THE DOWNS

Want the highlights for the next 10 days? Go here.
Want to know what tracks are racing in July? 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:
Tonight, Friday & Saturday - parade to post 7:15 p.m.

After every live race card: Crazy Hour and free VLT tournaments. Beer, wine, shots $2.95 and half-price appetizers.

RCMP MUSICAL RIDE TICKETS AVAILABLE: Spread the word that $10 tickets are now available for grandstand seating for the RCMP Musical Ride that will take place between races on Saturday, July 30 and Sunday, July 31. Races parade to post at 7:15 both nights. Limited number of reserved box seats: $50 (seats four and includes four entrance tickets). Get tickets at Guest Services or the general office.

Preview of tonight's $20,600 carryover pick-4

Includes two stakes races

Race 4: $25,000 Debutante Stakes for 2-year-olds. Beat Charlie Smith’s Dark Desert Wine from Canterbury and you’re on your way to a nice pick-4 pay day.

Race 5:
$5,000 claimer. Will Say Ow pop on the drop?

Race 6:
$25,000 Jack Hardy Stakes for 3-year-old fillies. Will Big Bad Janine wire the field again? Or will About a Girl press her determinedly, setting up for a closer?

Race 7:
$5,000 claimer. Charming Prince has winning numbers but horses who raced at other tracks may be the dark ones.

*       *       *

ONE LIVE TICKET LAST SATURDAY: If #6 Papow (5/1) had won last Saturday’s last race, the pick-4 would have been won and paid $20,606. Papow followed pace-setting Oxford City Slew (12/1) hoping for a meltdown that never happened. Papow finished third. There were no other live tickets.

The winners of the other three legs last Saturday were:
Race 4: Lit Obito Pepper $10.10
Race 5: Foxy Champ $9.40
Race 6: Primary Factor $41.70

Tonight's $206,000 Jackpot Hi 5

What longshots have a chance?

To nail the Jackpot Hi 5 with the only correct ticket on the first five finishers, you need horses that may be overlooked by others. Here are four possibilities:
• #3 Three Point Cash (15/1): Has never raced at ASD but won in Lethbridge.
• #7 Justifiable Intent (30/1): First start at ASD. Showed early pace at Evangeline.
• #8 Zack Man (12/1): Only one start at ASD. Came from Northlands and Turf Paradise
• #9 Toucans Jack (6/1): Tampa horse returns after a layoff. Don Schnell trains.

Ganas' money machine

$4,000 horse earns $34,000 and may be the best on the grounds

"Way to go, boy!" John Ganas tells Cal McLish

Nick’s Inn owner John Ganas had every reason to lovingly pat his Cal McLish on the head after the 4-year-old gelding won the Inner Spirit Stakes for older horses last Friday ($8.40). But he should be patting himself on the back, too. Once again, Ganas’ sharp analysis of California horses prompted him to buy this ultimate stakes winner for a mere $4,000 (U.S.)

Here’s how he said he did it: When horses race in that state and lose, he assigns a class level at which they’re likely to win their next race. After Cal McLish finished fourth in a $12,000 non-winners of two race at Santa Anita in January, he said he recorded his belief that the horse should win at this level.

Cal McLish wins third in a row

So when he saw the horse entered for $4,000 at Golden Gate in February—way below the horse’s perceived value-- he jumped at the chance of buying him. Can you say “bargain basement?” Ably trained by Jared Brown and ridden by Adolfo Morales, the fetching grey McLish subsequently finished second in his first ASD start then won three races in a row including the $18,000 Inner Spirit. Total purse money: $33,962.

“You watch and you learn,”
Ganas says. Indeed. And he did the same with Media Melee, a $16,000 California buy who’s been winning 3-year-old stakes and is a Manitoba Derby hopeful.

I’ll order a burger and fries, John, with a side order of your talent in sleuthing out good buys.


PATH OF THE CHAMPIONS: THE HARRY JEFFREY

(15 stakes gone, 20 remain. See list here)


Primary Factor (19/1) surprised most but tourney winner played him

K5's Leona Staul hugs Primary Factor winning Jockey Christopher Husbands

How do you beat a Robertino Diodoro shipper, Inside Straight, who won his maiden at Saratoga and who had Northlands top jock Rico Walcott flown in to ride?

How do you beat Power Driven, a $75,000 claimed horse from Churchill Downs, home of the Kentucky Derby?

Most players had those thoughts heading into the $25,000 Harry Jeffrey Stakes—a prep race for the Manitoba Derby—last Saturday. So they made Inside Straight their 4/5 choice and Power Driven 2/1.

Wrong. “Get Serious” Vegas tournament player Randy Premachuk looked beyond the obvious. He played what he called the “forgotten horse,” Primary Factor at 19/1. But it wasn’t just a shot in the dark. He knew the late Phil Kives bought the horse to win the Manitoba Derby. And the horse, although just breaking his maiden at the Downs in his last race, had done nothing wrong.

Top three in tourney (from left): Dorothy Field (third place), Wayne Misko (second), Randy Premachuk (winner)

And that’s why Randy earned a $4,500 trip to the Horse Player World Series at the Orleans Hotel/Casino in March. Playing $2 win/place on the seven races, he increased his $28 bankroll to $70.70. Finishing second with $64.90 was last month’s Vegas winner, Wayne Misko,and third was Dorothy Field with $63.80. Incidentally, her husband is Assiniboia Racing Club coordinator John Field.

Congrats to all! See full leader board here.

BLOW BY BLOW: Randy explains race to race why he did what he did to earn the trip to Las Vegas. Can you learn from it? Go here.

BONUS PRIZES: Who played the highest payoff horse (Primary Factor, $41.70)? Wayne Misko, Randy Premachuk and Bill Siwak. They share in $50 in wagering vouchers. Who qualified for the discount on the $50 entry fee the most number of times? Margaret King (4 times) She receives $100 in betting vouchers.

*       *       *
“We’ll enter the Manitoba Derby:” Rob Atras

Although the horse he trains, Inside Straight, didn’t get the expected win in Saturday’s Harry Jeffrey Stakes (finishing third), assistant trainer Rob Atras said he and his boss, trainer Robertino Diodoro, will be entering him or another horse in the Manitoba Derby.

Their plan, he said, is to enter the $75,000 Manitoba Derby on Aug. 1 and then the $150,000 Canadian Derby on Saturday, Aug. 20. Inside Straight was shipped back to his stable at Canterbury after racing in the Harry Jeffrey and Atras flew back to Woodbine where he trains nine horses for Diodoro.

He said Woodbine hasn’t been a fit for him or his horses and he’s likely to leave there at the end of August for Remington Park, Oklahoma, where Diodoro is expected to have about 30 horses.

TONIGHT’S STAKES:
The Debutante and Jack Hardy
SATURDAY’S STAKES:
The R.C. Anderson for Manitoba-breds

HOTTIES OF THE WEEK (Wed-Fri-Sat):
Hottest jock:
Antonio Whitehall, Richard Mairs, Paul Francis, Tyrone Nelson (3 wins)
Hottest trainer: Tom Gardipy Jr. (4 wins)
Biggest longshot: Primary Factor $41.70 (6th Sat)
Biggest 20-cent superfecta: $918 (4th Fri)

RACE OF THE WEEK: Click here for video.

THE WEEK THAT WAS

“B” TRACKS WERE YOUR BIG MONEY-MAKERS IN JUNE: A bunch of “B” tracks owe Assiniboia Downs money because you were doing so well playing those tracks in June. Among them: Delta, Indiana, Los Alamitos, Delaware, Hawthorne, Presque Isle, Mountaineer, Finger Lakes, Prairie Meadows, Northlands and Fort Erie. By the same token, “A” tracks were your nemesis, especially Belmont, Gulfstream and Santa Anita. Play to your strengths to be a better bettor and a better citizen!

BRIDGEJUMPING AT SUFFOLK--SHOW PAYS $84.20: When Wilby at odds of 1/5 finished fourth in Suffolk Downs’ eighth race Sunday (to the horror of bridgejumpers), the show prices of other horses lit up the board:
     (1) Navy Nurse
, the winner at 3/1, paid $8.80 to show
     (2) Chasing Blue
(8/1) paid $21.20 to show
     (3) Lucky Sociano
(40/1) paid $84.20 to show

QUEEN'S PLATE BETTING INCREASES: Woodbine reported a seven per cent increase in wagering on this year’s Queen’s Plate Day to $11.8 million. Downs players contributed $51,214 to that amount, a 10.5 per cent increase over last year. Woodbine Entertainment said a record $3.35 million was bet on the Queen’s Plate itself, won by Sir Dudley Digges.

HPIBET Marshall Posner

Tips ’n’ Tricks

with Marshall Posner

Q. How do I Access Chart Results and Race Description in HPIbet?
A.
One of the great features available in HPIbet is access to a detailed description for every race. Rather than just review the actual chart details with positioning numbers, you can also review a play-by-play of the race as well. This can be an excellent companion tool for your trip handicapping. To access this feature, just click on the Results & Replays button (view image here). Now scroll down to the Chart Results section and click on the Details arrow along the right hand side of the screen (view image here).

This will open a sliding window that has the actual race description for most if not all of the horses that were running (view image here).

Remember to stop by the Fan Education Kiosk any live race day with any HPIbet questions you have.

Got a question for Marshall? Email theinsider@ASDowns.com

HISTORY ON THE HOOF: Bob’s blog

Today Bob provides the skinny on Bill Grohn’s sprint specialist, Astral Moon. What was peculiar about the first start of her career in the spring of 1977? Find out here.

NEXT INSIDER: Wednesday - Wicked Wednesday #3

Good luck in grabbing a wickedly whopping
share in tonight's fat pools!

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