Doctor, Doctor

Doctor, Doctor

Delaware – I got a call from my boss Snowchief and she told me that I had to quit lazing away my holiday break on the beach down in the Bahamas and get my butt to Delaware to cover some owner restricted race for the DPCD Championships.    

“What?  You want me to do what,” I asked?   I am supposed to go to a big party on Friday night where the Chippendale guys are performing and you want me to go to Delaware?  I don’t think so!”

“You will,” she said with what I considered to be an implied threat. “I’m desperate.  There are a lot of races and many of the BTB staff are unavailable. Maybe Afc, Husker, Fats, and Raider will put on a show for you.  Or maybe Jeff will share one of his bongs or Theavenger will let you share some of his Crown. Besides it only long enough to write one article and then you can return to the beach”

 Yeah right, I thought.  Talk about a threat……  Jeeze, the first part would be a horror show and while the second part might be a possibility, Jeff is always surrounded by really unreasonable types of questionable character and I would probably spend the rest of my vacation in jail.  Considering what the weather is like in Delaware this time of the year maybe Theavenger is the best option.  All you have to do is tell him you vote Republican, be just to the right of Genghis Kahn, and get him talking about racing in New Mexico and he’ll share that Crown.

“Ok, I’ll go,” I said.  “But, you owe me.”  So I jumped on the plane and ended up freezing in my beach clothes on landing in Delaware.  I grabbed a copy of The BTB and will share my thoughts on the field in my assigned owner restricted, 14 furlong race, for fillies and mares three and up.  It drew some strange entries to say the least and but here is the field by post position.

On the rail is Jakebarn’s Barb’s Baby Inside (5/2).  What kind of a name is that?  This poor 3 YO filly by E. Dubai is actually one of the favorites and it must have been Bentnose making the morning line odds.  Although she has won four of her 10 starts, not one of those wins was at a distance of more than a mile and with an extra six furlongs to go –  I don’t know who will run out of oxygen first – her rider (a 10 %er), or the horse.  She does have the top speed figures in the race but she will be eligible for a much cheaper cpu race after Saturday.

Lil Salt (9/1) has an even worse rider.  The Racing Secretary actually assigned this poor jock to the horse when no one else wanted to ride her.  She has won three of 25 starts but trainer Genesis hasn’t seen a win check in six months and he won’t on Saturday either.  She should get the wobbles about the mile post and will be looking for oxygen shortly there after but I heard that track manager, Revelation was putting out canisters at strategic places along the outside rail.

Finest Hour, who must be a top sire in Hungary or the like, will be represented by Beammeup’s Finest (7/1).  Conditioned, if you can call it that, by Prosfrgold, this arthritic lady at seven, has less races (23) than most 3 YO’s.   She does have tactical speed but her trainer couldn’t find anyone to ride her so she was assigned a low percentage rider by the Racing Secretary also.  I doubt the rider would know what to do with tactical speed anyway, so maybe he can just hang on as this old mare probably is wiser than he is.  B F did go wire to wire in a Japan allowance race, but it was about as heavily restricted as this race is and since she is cheap speed I doubt that she can use that tactic on Saturday.

Co-favorite is This Love (5/2) who will break from the middle of the gate.  She is trained by a rather unsavory character called Sdmforlife and the grapevine says that he bought her the # 3 ranking she carries.  I don’t know about that, but this 4 YO daughter of Thunder Gulch has won at the distance and has won eight of her 31 starts, including three of her last eight.  One of the smarter things her trainer did was select top jock “Hurry Up” Ross for the ride and compared to most of the other riders in this race, “Hurry Up” is by far the best.    This filly’s storied career might have been better but she has a floating bone chip in her right knee and it sometimes floats into the joint causing her pain and she throws in a clunker.  Maybe if she wins this race her trainer won’t be such a cheapskate and will give her the surgery to take it out

Wooden River (11/1) is a 4 YO filly by Woodman and is trained by Polandfarm, which must be an alias for someone that has been ruled off.  She is the longshot in this race but I think someone has set her up for the gamble as this filly isn’t so bad.  She is a winner of four and a winner at the distance.  Wooden River does like things her own way and in her case that means the lead.  She will be pressed by other lead-favoring horses and only Saturday will tell if she has the right stuff.

Kearsarge will saddle Gold On Her Finger (9/2).  While this 4YO filly by Awesome Again, has won a third of her 30 starts, the word is, that she has been trained on drugs and that she is plagued by chronic shins.  She has been so sore recently that she was another that had to be assigned a rider (H. Popson 5%) as none of the better riders would climb aboard.  She can handle the distance and if her rider doesn’t interfere with her she could tote him along for a decent placing.

CSI Super (6/1) will be sent out by Super21, one of those groups that are so enamored of themselves that they have to name livestock after them.  The 3 YO filly by Point Given has won five of 19 races and is a stakes winner at longer but is another that likes things her own way and she will be challenged on the front end on Saturday.  This may be another that is in on the fix because she is listed at 6/1 and I think she is better than that.  She is ranked # 29^th and for some reason she did not get the best jock in the race.  Instead her trainer gave Z. Wilde the call and he has been ruled off of just about every track in the world.  Make of that what you will but there is one other thing that you need to take into consideration.  The vet truck was backed up to their barn all morning on the day I was there and the Super group can well afford to have emptied out the drug supply so that there is little or none left for other participants.

On the outside will be Desert Dish (9/1) another from the geriatric ward.  This 7 YO mare by Desert King has the most lifetime wins with 13 but has also made the most afternoon trips around the racetrack with 41.  Trained by Aa3ik, another that is traveling incognito; this mare is another that likes the lead.  She is in a good form cycle at the moment, winning two of her last eight and let’s hope that her trainer got to the vet truck before it was emptied out to ease the joint stiffness this mare has got to be packing.  Even though I have to be suspicious of anyone that has a moniker like Aa3ik, I have to like this mare – but what do I know?

That is the field for the 13^th race of the afternoon and as for who will win this – I don’t know.  There is a lot of early speed with the 5, 7, and 8 all looking for the lead.  Will one of them simply outclass (or have better drugs) than the others or will they burn each other out and let one of the closers steal away the race?  I am not hanging around to see and will be on my way back to the Bahamas with my cell turned off when I send this article in. I want to be out of the way of Bentnose and his cohorts, especially that Three Finger Pinky character or whatever his name is.  Hopefully they will have way too much to do and I can enjoy the rest of my vacation.  Good Luck to all.