GULFSTREAM FEB 10

RACE 1: Delta Storm has the most talent, but can the old gelding win in the hands of a bad trainer? I vote no confidence. Layoff horse Riggins, with Rafey on top, might be worth a flyer at oh 5-1 or so.

Finish: Delta, Riggins. Score -2. Each scored four of five above Bav (65), the only two horses in the field to do so. Delta had the better fractions, predicting the exact finish we got. Trainer spook cost us the win. Delta was 5-2, Riggins 2-1 fav.

RACE 3: Box Tour of the Cat, Rumspringa. Reason: Beyers, fractions.

Tour Showed. Score -2. Fleet Valid, the favorite, won at 2-1. Top last-race Beyer of 99. (Bav 88). Actually, Fleet did have the best fractions at 21+3, 45+2. That 99 was earned in May and we ignored it, but our big mistake was ignoring the 3-tick advantage to the first call.

RACE 5: British Attitude, based on internal fractions and Beyer. We hope the crowd fixates on Jtown, with top Beyer but medicore backup fractions.

Lord Robyn at 8-1. Score -2. British "tired from good position" and gave up as the 5-2 favorite.

Lord Robyn had a B93 (race bav 87) with a toss, but is a closer who needed the right race. This race went in 21+3, 44+1, about five lengths faster than the GP median. Cruz, on Jtown, set fractions he couldn't handle. Jtown, the B leader (97) might have won with a better ride.


RACE 7: THE OLD HAT The awesome Dreaming of Anna on a straight exacta with Dream Rush as #2. Anna has shown real class with wins at all sorts of distances, on dirt and turf, and is 4 for 4 on a different track each time. Her trainer is a genius, her works are bullets, her jock has won on her twice. Yes, she could lose, but we'll back this awesome filly at almost any price.

Anna tried once, was beaten back, and quit. Score -2. Dream Rush (2-1) wired the field while holding off Anna, who did not perform to her best fractions. Dream Rush at 21+3 easily handled the first call (22+1) then weakened at the half (45). Her best before that had been 45&3. But Anna had never had to challenge a horse that deep into a race, and wasn't up for it. Bejarano got his horse the lead he needed.


RACE 8: Omaggio. Watch out if Auguri gets in. But otherwise, this is a group that is very slow to the stretch, and Omaggio might be too far in front to catch.

Omaggio placed. Score -2. Auguri was out. Stormy Ray (6-1) wore down Omaggio in the drive. Stormy was the 2nd best in terms of Beyers and fractions, so no real surprise.

RACE 9: Meditations looks like the horse, and is the most likely winner. But but but... I don't believe that last Beyer of 90. It came after a half-mile run of almost 49 seconds. I'm looking longshot here, Bill Mott's High Again, who won her last route, has won two in a row with better fractions.

Meditations was pulled up. High Again placed. Score -2. The winner, Christmas Kid at 5.80, actually had a better cx score than anyone else. The problem was a 49+1 score in her only route. But she did win that route, and so was only chasing the pace. Hmmmm. You wonder how good those fractional scores are for horses that are chasing a pace... I mean, they only go as fast as they need to. At any rate, he ran down a pace of 47 flat, a huge improvement.


Score for the card. No wins. Minus $12.