Joey Bianca's 2006 Saratoga Diary

ateamstupid · #1 08-23-2006, 09:33 PM

Carryover fever [Aug. 23rd, 2006|10:22 pm]
Who's got it?

Not us, considering we've been 'capping for about three hours straight and have only come up with a $480 ticket that none of us have any confidence in.

Paddock draw for The Travers was today.. Went there, but realized I forgot my camera. Could've gotten a great shot of Durkin looking like The Phantom of the Opera and **** up in a gazebo with the curtains down around him.

You know what I love? All the Bernardini naysayers.. If these guys' wallets were half as big as their mouths, I might actually get a decent price on that ****ing monster this Saturday..

Spent some more time discussing the game and trying to pick some winners with Chucky Simon today. I broke even for the day even though I hammered that Schwartz baby and Low Creek later on..

Figure I gotta nail something huge this weekend and either send me off right or carry me through the rest of the meet. I'm still just treading water, and it's no good.

Think I'll do a real nice writeup for Saturday's card tomorrow night.

All the girls are leaving.. Julie looks ****ing tremendous outside of work.. Got the digits just in case.

Stay cool folks.

ateamstupid · #2 08-24-2006, 10:15 PM

Building up [Aug. 24th, 2006|11:04 pm]
You can feel the tension mounting as we get closer and closer to the big day. Today was fairly slow, and was my kinda day.. Just enough customers to keep me from being bored, but not so many that I'm overwhelmed.. I'd be very shocked if tomorrow wasn't at least 25% busier. Barry tells me that Ace is gonna be my wingman this Saturday.. Great, they give me the dude that can't even see over the counter.. Nah.. Ace is my man, I just have to figure out how the hell I'm gonna organize ****.. That's not really my strong suit.

Started out on Saturday's pick four and pretty much gonna go balls to the wall and hope for the best. Bernardini will be a single on every ticket.. I'm not pulling any sissy ****. If he goes down, so to will I.. I don't think he'll disappoint me.

I'm still incredibly torn on whether I wanna cut out early.. I'd love to stick it out for the whole meet.. If only school got pushed back a week.. Ugh..

Had three of four in today's pick four and made the mistake of singling Cherokee Jewel.. She was a big flop. Tomorrow, I'll probably **** around with a couple of cheap tickets.. Sky High Flier, Battle Chant, Manchu Prince and Fleet Indian all look like solid singles, with SHF and FI being my most confident ones.

Watch out for Weaver's babies, especially on the grass.. He's been doing VERY well with his 2-year-olds, and I don't think the public has caught on just yet.

Back tomorrow with as much Travers **** as I can come up with.

ateamstupid · #3 08-25-2006, 09:37 PM

Have to hammer tomorrow [Aug. 25th, 2006|10:02 pm]
It's imperative. Gotta nail it. Not sure how.. pick six? Pick four? Combination of the two? 'dini is a lock.. Henny's close to a lock.. I like Ashkal Way a lot.. I like Sweet Talker a lot. So know that if those four horses get it done, or if 2-3 of those four win and no total bombs come in.. I'll have it a few times.

Frankel's horse in the seventh, On Board Again, is a must bet.. And here's rooting for Chucky Simon to get that elusive win with Brilliant Son if OBA doesn't run.

Well, it's the big day.. About to get outta here so I can get (hopefully) five hours of sleep.. Gotta be at the track for about fourteen hours tomorrow.

The coronation tomorrow..

And on a related topic.. HOW THE **** ABOUT DISCREET CAT TODAY.. I really can't remember the last time I was that blown away after watching a race.. 'dini had a similar performance in the 'Dandy, but I was EXPECTING him to roll.

I mean.. This horse apparently was short.. Was facing a solid field.. Coming off a long layoff.. Broke from the far outside.. And just ****ing totally romped. All by himself. He probably could've won by twice the margin he did.. Then to bust out 1:21 on the timer.. This is gonna be a 150 Beyer.. It's almost unfathomable what this horse is capable of.

Enjoy this time, racing fans. In the span of two days, we might be seeing two of the best 3-year-olds in a LONG, LONG time.

Have a fun, safe and profitable Travers day, folks.. 'diiiniii to the rescue..

pick4 · #4 08-25-2006, 11:09 PM

Someone posted that Discreet Cat ran a 112 and what a performance he put on while running in hand 4 wide round the turn and being geared down in the stretch. A prep for the Jerome the connections say. Hmm.. the Jerome was Silver Train's prep for the BC Sprint. I think Discreet Cat could be a champion sprinter/miler and turn back in distance will not be a problem for him. It's good to have a great horse like Discreet Cat back on the track in the States.

Sweet Talker ran a real game race last out at a distance which was probably a tad too far for her and she still ran a great race. She's 4 for 4 at the 8 1/2 furlong distance and with her post some sit a ground saving trip. There appears to be a bit of pace in here with My Typhoon and Stella Blue to let Sweet Talker sit a nice close to the pace stalking trip.

The Baruch might have a pace setup which suits Ashkal Way perfectly. I read somewhere that my top choice Fishy Advice is hurt and will skip the race. If that is so my top choice is the Godolphin entry since the pace should be swift and Ashkal Way has a good closing kick.

ateamstupid · #5 08-26-2006, 08:03 PM

And that's that [Aug. 26th, 2006|08:53 pm]
I don't wanna hear anything negative about this monster again. Until he proves that there's something he can't do, SAVE IT. This ****ing horse was a MAN AMONG BOYS today, and he will continue to be against anyone not named Invasor or Discreet Cat.

Here's a rough transcript of the Javier-'dini interaction in today's stretch..

Javy: Let's go 'dini..
Bern': Chill man.. This Bluegrass Cat still thinks he's catching me.. I wanna tease him.
Javy: No 'dini, it's time to go..
Bern': C'mon son.. Just let me string him along a little longer.
Javy: No 'dini.
Bern': C'mon..
Javy: *CRACK*
Bern': Fine, fine.. WE OUT!

Did okay at the windows, but had Dreadnaught nosed out Ashkal Way, it would've been a VERY good day.. pick four would've paid about $300 and I had it six or seven times. As it is I had the $58 ticket seven times.. Can't complain.

Spoke to the old man and told him he HAS to come out to Belmont to see this horse.. He agreed.

Aw yeah.. Forgot..

Might as well have gotten this started Wednesday night..

Canoe tomorrow.

ateamstupid · #6 08-27-2006, 09:54 PM

Gotta make this quick [Aug. 27th, 2006|10:52 pm]
As I'm about to fall asleep last night, I hear "zzzZZZttt" and see a bright ass light on the side of my bed.. Turns out the wire of the charger for my laptop got burned through.. So I'm not taking any chances trying to plug that back in and therefore, I have to make this short in order to conserve battery.

I'm outta here Saturday.. Told the boss man I'd work Wednesday, Thursday and Friday..

As much as I wanna leave, it's kinda hitting me now how quick this summer has gone by and how much I'm gonna miss it. There's a lot of **** I didn't get to do, but hopefully we can have a lot of fun this week. Tomorrow is a Byk AND Barry-free Monday, so we gettin' hammered son.

Whoops.. battery just died and now I'm on Byk's computer.. Guess the Travers canoe pictures are going to have to wait.

See you tomorrow.

ateamstupid · #7 08-29-2006, 04:05 PM

Whoops [Aug. 29th, 2006|04:59 pm]
Got way too drunk last night to make an update.. By about 11:00, I was at the point where I couldn't even stand up straight, so I knew I wasn't going to be able to make a coherent, non-offensive entry.

It's just me and Matt at the crib right now. Barry's in PA, Steve's in VT and Sam is back home. We trekked to Albany today and hit the Crossgates mall, but not before getting lost about thirty times. Matt also got fined for making an illegal U-turn, and we couldn't figure out how they knew at the tollbooth that he did an illegal U-turn like twenty miles away..

So I might be here until the end of the meet after all. Thinking I'll just hang out and you know, HAVE FUN this weekend.. I'm pretty sure this is Saratoga and you're not supposed to dread going to the track.

Every night now, it's get drunk and listen to the rat pack.. Absolutely outstanding. Sinatra's on pump right now.

LOTS of rain here today.. Can't see them running on the turf tomorrow.