Frankly Speaking - Del Mar, August 18th

A Tale of Two Hurricanes...and an 11-furlong turf race!

SOMETHING'S GOTTA GIVE: HURRICANE CASEY VS. HURRICANE HILARY

I’ve been saying for weeks that a hurricane was a-comin’! I meant it figuratively, in honor of my good buddy Casey, who comes to visit Del Mar every year and blows in and out of town like a hurricane. Little did I know that a literal hurricane was also brewing at the same time Hurricane Casey was scheduled to touch down.

Yup, all of us here at Del Mar are on high weather alert, as a real hurricane—Hurricane Hilary, gathering off the coast of Mexico—is threatening to send a storm to San Diego Saturday night and into Monday morning, throwing a monkey wrench into the works for Sunday racing. For all the Del Martians out there who don’t know what rain is—it’s precipitation that forms in clouds and falls from the sky in the shape of water droplets. It’s a pretty common occurrence at Saratoga—but not at Del Mar!

Of course, I jest. But it rarely rains out here in the summertime, and the thought of races being washed off the turf on Sunday—or worse yet, canceled—means we are all watching the weather forecast with bated breath.

But back to the figurative hurricane, Hurricane Casey. I met Casey many years ago, and we became fast friends, mostly because he came with Tom Quigley’s stamp of approval. In fact, Casey’s origin story as a member of Team Eddie Logan (the suite at Santa Anita overseen by TQ) is one of my favorite racetrack stories ever.

It happened a long time ago, so I might be a bit fuzzy on all of the facts (so apologies if I got something wrong), but it goes something like this.

Casey Tweeted out that he was going to visit Santa Anita with his mom, Coleen, for the very first time, and he asked Horse Racing Twitter to do its thing and give him some recommendations and suggestions. Of course, several sharpies read the Tweet and replied, “If you’re going to Santa Anita, there’s only one man to talk to: Tom Quigley.”

So Casey reached out to TQ, and before you could say “photo finish,” Tom had the red carpet rolled out, along with a special invite to Casey and his mom as special VIP guests in the Eddie Logan Suite at God’s racetrack.

Casey and his mom had the best time, as you can imagine. I know how much it meant to Casey, but I also know how much it meant to Tom, who was more than happy to give a mom and her son an experience of a lifetime. That’s just how Tom is. If he can do even one tiny little thing to make someone else happy, consider it done, no questions asked.

So that’s how Hurricane Casey touched down on our fair shores many years ago. Not too long after his first visit to SoCal, Casey’s mom sadly passed away, so he came up with a great idea. He and some of his buddies decided to come out to Santa Anita every Mother’s Day weekend—and on Mother’s Day, we’d all hang out in Logan, get together for a group picture, and toast our dearly departed mothers while enjoying their favorite drinks. That’s just how Casey is. Never one to take anything for granted, Casey turned his personal moment with his mom into a group tradition, connecting all of us degenerates in a special way, bonding together over the women in our lives who made us who we are today.

I know no one is happy that a hurricane might be coming to town this weekend—except this guy. I’ll take a visit from Hurricane Casey any day of the week and twice on Sundays, especially if that Sunday is Mother’s Day.

Spot Play

Sometimes they do exactly what you expect them to…but only sometimes!

Yesterday, I said how I thought the two morning-line favorites in Race 3 were both vulnerable. Unfortunately, one of them scratched, but surprisingly, there was still good value on the two horses who I thought would be four lengths clear of the rest of the field in that 5-furlong turf sprint. Sure enough, #4 She’s Resilient and #5 She’s Inthearmynow did exactly that—they both broke alertly, cleared the field early, and ran one-two all the way around the track.

The payouts weren’t too bad for a small field. The winner, who went off as the slight favorite, paid a generous $6.60, and the $1 4-5 exacta came back a ridiculous $19.30. The morning-line favorite, #3 Court Snort, who projected to be too far back, went off as second choice, and—as predicted—was too far back and could only manage third. Geez, if only all of the races were as easy as that one! Sadly, they are not…but let’s see if we can keep it going today.

I’ll take the same route as yesterday, going against a favorite who I don’t think has to win—and that’s in Race 1, the lid lifter on this 8-race Friday card with a first post at 3:30 p.m. PDT: a $50K starter-allowance contested at 8.5-furlongs on the lawn with the rails at 30-feet. Note that this starter is for horses who have not won three races, unlike the traditional N2L starter variety.

#2 Hudson Ridge (8/5) is going to get hammered, and if you look at his form, it’s easy to see why. He’s the only speed in the race; he’s got Hernandez; and he’s battle-tested against much better horses. So why am I trying to play against him? Well, he hasn’t won in a very long time, since his 3-year-old campaign in fact, so perhaps this 5-year-old is just happy settling for the minor awards, like he did last time at this level.

Plus, I’ll take an ascendant 4-year-old over an exposed 5-year-old any day of the week. If Hudson Ridge wins, who cares. Turn the page. But I think there will be value trying to beat him with #4 LOTTERY PICK (5/2). I know he’s the second choice in this short field, but I think he’ll be an overlay considering how much money Hudson Ridge is going to take. This horse has really come into his own, and he has legitimate excuses for his last two starts at this level. Last time, he had way too much to do and just missed going a mile. Two back, he had an eventful journey but never gave up, also going a mile. I think today’s extra half-furlong will help him tremendously. Rispoli will have to be very tactical, since Hernandez should have Hudson Ridge all alone in a comfortable position early, but I’m going to bet that when the real running starts, Lottery Pick—for the white-hot Peter Eurton—will quicken and run down the favorite.

The Feature

There was no traditional feature on Thursday, but the DMTC.com online contest race was a very tough Race 5. I figured anyone could win, but I knew I was against the favorite, #1 Pegs A. K. Girl at 7/5, even though Berrios was riding. No knock to East Coast trainer Herman Wilensky, but he entered the Del Mar meeting riding an 0-for-20 streak on the turf. I know that’s not a huge sample size, but that’s enough for me to take on the chalk.

I landed on three “A’s,” two of whom were big prices—but I didn’t have the winner on top. I tabbed #6 Rose Barton (Ire) as a “B,” and she was deftly handled by Desormeaux, who made the lead, slowed down the second quarter to :48.40 seconds with the rails set at 30-feet, and basically stole the race at 5/1 Kent saved plenty for the stretch drive, and when he shook her up, she responded to fend off the chalk. One of my bombs, #3 Built Different at 31/1, put in a nice late rally to finish third, but I didn’t hit the race.

Oh, well.

Today’s feature, Race 7, is a really good renewal of the CTT & TOC, an 11-furlong turf affair for fillies and mares that features the last two winners of this race. There are some quality ladies in here, and I think you can make a case for just about any of them, so demand value! Find out whom I like here, as this was DMTC.com’s contest race of the day: Frank Scatoni Daily Picks at Del Mar (dmtc.com).

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Be sure to check out www.frankscatoni.com for what’s good every day during the Del Mar meet.

As I always say: Good luck to us…and let’s make some money!!!