We had a table of 7 at Aqueduct on Saturday. Michael was down from Saratoga, Linda had 3 horses running and joined us for lunch. Barbara, Honni, Sylvan, Rhoda and me.
When we arrived, I immediately bet on Linda’s Terminus in race 1 to win and place. He missed by a head and came in 2nd but since he was one of the favorites, I was a 37% loser on my bet.Then, the omelet guy ruined my omelet. I should have seen the pattern developing.
My sixth sense must have been at work. When it was time to go to the paddock for Inchcape’s race, I left my “Winner’s Circle silks” back at the table. Let’s just say, that at day’s end, Linda said she had two close seconds and a clunker. You can guess who the clunker was! Inchcape finished a tired 7th.
When we went back to Connecticut without Linda, we watched and rooted for two of Kenny McPeek’s — our Saratoga neighbor and friend — horses run who were in two of the big Kentucky derby prep races. He won the Toyota Bluegrass Stakes in Kentucky with Java’s War and came in second in the Arkansas Derby with FracDaddy. Both horses are likely to appear in the Kentucky Derby. How exciting for him and, through reflected glory, for us! We were last very excited for him when Golden Ticket finished in a dead heat with Alpha in last year’s Travers Stakes at Saratoga and we were sitting in his box.
Then we went to dinner at Gabriele’s in Greenwich. My mouth was watering over the fish special, when I was told that they were all out of it. I guess many days have there ups and downs… and, frankly, if my worst downer is a bad perfomance from my horse and a dinner special that’s no longer available, I’ll take it?
Sunday saw what I considered a good race from Cameron Lucky at Saratoga Harness, even though she came in 5th. She was in the #7 position, yet cam out quickly to get to the rail 5th. Then, at the 3/4ths, she was taken to the outside and made up ground on the leaders which was very exciting. She tired a little at the end but ran crdiebly for a 56-1 shot. Maybe we’ll get one next time.
Today, Arch Traveler had a fast breezet at Belmont. Now we have to find a race for him over a fast track. He’s the only one of our recent claims not to run yet. That makes him the last hope at present.
We did try to claim another horse at Keeneland. In fact, this horse came in 2nd but beat Inchcape in his first race. Apparently, others liked his perfomance, so we had 4 trainers competing for him and we lost “the shake.”
I’ll try to have an update on the problem horses soon. We hope to visit Saratoga at the end of the month and see horses training on the Oklahoma track in our backyard.
Best,
A.
Sincerely,
Avram Freedberg
Everything’s Cricket Racing
